Baby Makes Three!

It's live!

2009-07-20T21:28:00.002-05:00

The new blog is live! Head on over, check it out, and leave some comments :) Make sure you update your bookmarks too. This blog will stay up, but I won't be updating it anymore.

http://www.libbyannphotography.com/blog

Ch-ch-ch-Changes!

2009-07-18T22:45:00.002-05:00

There will be some changes to the blog coming very soon! The biggest change is that I'll be merging my personal blog with a new business blog. The main reason for this is that I feel like I need to start a business blog to show off all my wonderful clients and have a place for my most recent work to be displayed...I think it'll help with my business tremendously and I've spent the better part of the evening getting it set up. I don't want to have two blogs because one would end up getting neglected, so I'm going to combine the two. Don't worry - there will still be plenty of Will posts! And lots and lots of pictures, as always! There will be a new address for it, but I'll link it when it's completely finished. I'm excited!

If you haven't been by the site lately, you should. I've put up lots of pictures from some of my most recent sessions. You also might see your favorite little blue-eyed boy showcased in a few spots! God is really blessing me with business lately...it's picking up and I'm loving every single minute of it! Keep praying for us in this area, though, please! We're working hard to get completely debt free (except for our mortgage) and every little bit helps so much.

Because I love him more than I ever thought possible, here are a few pictures of Will. He has the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen...I know I'm biased, but look at them! I didn't do a thing to them in editing - the color ones are pretty much straight out of the camera besides a little sharpening. Crazy blue eyes! :)

Sleep is for the birds!

2009-07-16T21:11:00.004-05:00

My baby is such a stinker. Sleep in mommy's bed = sleeping through the night and maybe waking up around 2 or 3 to eat. Maybe. Sleeping on his own = waking every hour or two. I think he's going to need me to sleep in the same bed with him when he goes to college ;) Just kidding. I know that's an exaggeration...but our sleep issues are not resolving themselves. I can't just leave him in his room to cry. I know it works for some people, but it eats me away and I just can't do it. So I'm going to talk to his pediatrician on the 5th about what I can do to help and then go from there. Hopefully we'll have this whole sleep thing figured out by the time he's 1! I tell him it's a good thing he's cute, because one look at that gummy little grin has my heart melting and all ill feelings of the night before turning to feelings of love and adoration.

He is starting to really notice food as well. I've started watching a little girl, Marley, and she's just started eating solids. I tried to hold Will on my lap while I fed her, but that lasted all of a few seconds before he got fussy. He kept leaning towards the food, licking his lips, chewing, and drooling. It was a little pathetic and a lot funny! Sorry buddy, you've got a couple more months before we go through that little adventure together! I have a feeling that he's going to be ALL about the food though!

He's sooo close to really rolling from back to tummy. I keep waiting for it to happen, but he hasn't shown off his skills yet. He watches what Marley does, though (she's a very good little roller!) and tries to imitate her. I bet I'll be sharing that we have a real roller soon (since I don't think the little rolling act on the bed actually counts).

Here are a few shots from today...I have a ton to go through, but these are my favorites :) I think I'm going to be constantly changing out photos on our photo wall in the entry way. Every time I take pictures I end up with new favorites! (Pictures of the house to come very soon!)

This is the grin...the one that melts my heart! How can you resist that toothless little face?

I love his eyes...so blue!

Remember the last "hugging" the bear picture? Can you even believe how much he's grown in three short weeks?

The bubbles...the drool. It's just too much cuteness for one picture!

One More

2009-07-14T21:06:00.002-05:00

I wasn't going to edit anymore pictures tonight...I was going to go to bed. But this one caught my eye and I love it, so I had to share :)

We're still alive!

2009-07-14T20:23:00.002-05:00

Sorry for not blogging lately...life here has been a little crazy. Will is not sleeping well at all anymore...in fact, I'm lucky if I can get a 2 hour stretch between him waking! Greg has been awesome helping out, but the little guy is wearing all of us out - himself included! I've had to cross one of the "I'll never's..." off my list. I swore up and down that we'd NEVER co-sleep with him. Yeah...that lasted all of a few nights until I was desperate enough to get sleep that I put him in bed with us. He's totally a fan of it. I'm not really, but it does mean I'm getting some form of sleep, and right now some is better than none. Any ideas for helping with our horrible sleep habits? I'm hoping I'm not going to be forced to grin and bear it until he's older!

Other news...Will officially rolled from back to tummy on Sunday! I'm counting it, even though he was on the bed and my weight made it a little easier for him ;) He's really started to talk - a lot! He babbles and shows off all the time...it is so cute! He grabs his feet when laying on the floor and he reaches for everything. I feel like everyday brings a new milestone...this age is so much fun. As of last Tuesday, he weighs 15 pounds 12 ounces...holy cow, he's almost doubled his birth weight!

Last week we took his first trip to Kansas and I cannot get over how wonderful he was. He had his shots the day before we left, so I was a little worried about how the car ride would go. He surprised both Greg and I by being a wonderful passenger. He slept for a lot of the trip, played with some toys hung from his carseat, and really only cried for the last 30 minutes of the 12 hour trip. He was also amazing in Kansas - he showed off for everyone! He is in love with my grandma...he would light up when he saw her and babbled away with her :) He took his first dip in a pool while we were there too and he loved every second of it. I definitely think we have a water baby on our hands! The water was even a tiny bit chilly and he couldn't care less. We're going to have to start taking him to the pool in our neighborhood or something.

Here's a picture from the 4th to fill your Will quota for the day! I've got tons more where this one came from...I've just gotta get them edited!

14 Weeks: Photo Overload

2009-07-01T22:01:00.003-05:00

Be prepared for some cuteness...Mommy got camera happy tonight!

The Exersaucer has been one of my best purchases to date. He stinkin' loves this thing!

We had a little pre-bedtime fun in it tonight and he giggled and talked and smiled the entire time.

Concentrating so hard so he can...

...grab the dog!

We have to prop him up with 3 or 4 blankets because he's still just a tad bit small for it.

I think this might be one of my new favorite pictures of him. I love how hard he's concentrating on the butterfly and I love his chubby little hand grabbing the dog...he's so precious!

After playtime each night is bath time, followed by some changing table giggles, a story (if he's up for it), swaddling, nursing, and then finally bed. I love his little chubby thigh propped up to fully enjoy his relaxing bath ;)

He studies us intently as we give him his bath...Greg was pouring water over him here and he watched and studied him. It's so adorable!

This is how we wash his back...it looks hilarious and his grunts and babbling while he sits like this make it all the funnier!

I don't think there's ever been a cuter baby bottom than this one!

All wrapped up and snug after his bath. I love this :)

He is always talking anymore!

Checking out the other baby in the mirror. He's still not quite sure that it's him in the mirror, although I think he's starting to get it.

I love this picture. I love his big blue eyes, the bubbles in his mouth, and the cleft in his chin.

This week we made the big transition to sleeping in his crib...and I must say it's been hard on me. I love having him in our room, knowing he's safe and sound right by me. But he's not sleeping well in there (and neither am I), so we decided to move him...he's growing up way too fast for my liking!

Dear Will,

2009-06-28T16:02:00.003-05:00

You're three months old today, baby boy! We've had you in our lives for three amazing months...a quarter of a year. And my, has it gone by fast. Looking back at your newborn pictures, I can hardly believe that you were so little once! You've changed in huge ways and your little personality is really starting to show through. You smile more and more every day, you babble non-stop, and you love to squeal. I feel like the luckiest person in the world because I get to be your Mommy...such a wonderful job that I love with all my heart!

At three months, you've already gone through your first big transition in life...a move to a new house! You've started sleeping in your crib during naps, but Mommy just isn't ready for you to be so far away at night. It's reassuring to hear your steady little breaths and sighs in the middle of the night, to know that you're okay and that you're safe. You've developed a love for your paci. You liked it okay before, but you're just a little obsessive about it now. You just transitioned to a new paci too, and I must admit, putting away the Soothies that you started using in the hospital was a little bit sad for me. I love to see you grow and change, but I wish I could hold on to each moment with you so small for longer.

I'm not looking forward to the day where I'll have to pack up all your 0-3 month clothes, though I know that day is coming soon! They get more snug on you by the day and your 3-6 month clothes aren't as gigantic as they were a few weeks ago. You're still wearing size 2 diapers and you go through more of those in a day than I ever thought possible! :) Your favorite things are your activity mat (you now can grab the animals hanging from it and you quickly stuff them in your mouth), story time (you particularly love reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Armadillo Tattle Tale), and standing up. You still aren't a huge fan of the carseat (though you are getting better) or tummy time (you still pitch a fit after a few minutes on your tummy), even though you'd much prefer sleeping on your tummy to your back. You're getting close to rolling from back to tummy - you pull your feet up in the air and rock back and forth. You love watching the dogs play and even though I hate it, you love to watch the TV. We're starting to see your social side come out a little too. You love seeing other babies - you're mesmerized by them! You stare for awhile and eventually start to talk and babble to them...having your own little conversation, I suppose.

As we see your personality develop more and more, your Daddy and I are realizing that you got just a touch of your Mommy's stubbornness. You voice your opinion about things loudly and make sure that we know just how you feel. If I try to give you a bottle and you want to nurse, you will have nothing to do with the bottle. I usually end up giving in ;) Or if we try to put you down for a nap and you want to talk, you'll have nothing to do with napping. Coming from your very hard-headed Mommy, being stubborn isn't a bad thing. I think it's actually a compliment to be called stubborn. It means that you don't settle - you fight for what you want and deserve. That fight and that drive will get you places in life. I hope that you're stubborn for God, that you don't settle and become complacent in your relationship with Him. I hope that you're stubborn for His Kingdom and that you fight for salvation for the world. I hope that you're stubborn when you're looking for the woman that you'll marry because you deserve to be with the person God put on Earth for you. You, little man, can change the world. You are a strong child of God and He has a purpose for your life...don't ever forget that!

I love you with all my heart, Will.

Love,
Mommy

Our Week in Pictures

2009-06-26T23:17:00.003-05:00

Will and I had several more photoshoots this week. I think my kid is already developing PCS (Photographer's Child Syndrome)...he'll hardly look at me when I have that darn thing in my hands! I thought I'd get at least a year of him looking at the camera. Oh well!

Monday
I brought out trusty 'ol Mr. Bear for some comparison shots. Think the little stinker has grown at all? Geeze! What happened to my newborn?! (Sorry Mom, the Bear still doesn't have a name. I think he's doomed to be Mr. Bear forever...but he's definitely not a Bill! [or whatever it was that you guys named him for me ;)])

...must not look at the crazy Mama with the camera!

This face gets made a lot in our house :)

Finally got a little eye contact and a smile! Hooray!

Will thought Mr. Bear needed a little hug

Tuesday
Will and I went to a playgroup with a bunch of other babies his age. We both had a great time, but Mommy didn't take any pictures. It's so fun to watch him interact with babies his age...he loves them! He'll talk, smile, and stare at them for a loong time. It's so fun to watch!

Wednesday
God is blessing us SO much...and I am SO grateful for it! We had a two couples come over with their children to check out our place and meet us to see if they'd like me to watch their kids. The first couple has a five month old daughter and they're definitely going to have me watch her...she starts on July 13th! I'm incredibly excited - it's going to be so much fun to watch her and be able to be home with Will all day long. The second couple has a son who is just a few days younger than Will. They're still deciding on things, since his Mama doesn't have to go back to work until August...but I'm hopeful that they'll decide to let me watch their little guy too...I think the three babies would have a great time together and I would be in Heaven watching all of them! :) God is doing some great things over here and I'm so, so thankful that he's blessing us and letting me stay home with Will.

Thursday
I was looking through pictures and realized I hardly had any shots of Will and Greg together, especially not lately. So even though Will was being a fuss-budget, I got the camera and got some adorable pictures. They're not technically the best, but they'll always hold a special place in my heart. Sometimes it's hard being a photographer and looking past the "bad" parts of a picture and realizing that any picture that captures your family as they are is a good picture.

I love those blue eyes and those pouty lips!

Starting to fuss for Mommy

This one just makes me smile!

Friday
Today Will and I joined some ladies I met at the playgroup for Baby Day at the Alamo Drafthouse. We saw The Proposal (second time for me) and I loved it! It's definitely my kind of movie! Afterward, Will and stopped by Greg's office to say hi and then went over to a consignment shop and got him a swimming suit, a few pairs of shorts, and an Exersaucer. The Exersaucer is a HUGE hit! He's not quite big enough for it yet and has to be propped up with blankets, but he loves being able to sit on his own and loves being able to reach for the toys.

We are so, so richly blessed. Sometimes I'm blown away with how lucky I am...I have an amazing husband, a wonderful baby that I adore, a gorgeous house, and a job that I love. Life certainly couldn't get anymore blessed and amazing.

(Half of a) Day in Our House

2009-06-19T17:23:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I set out with hopes of capturing our entire day from start to finish. I only managed to make it to his afternoon nap (a trip to Half-Price Books and an incredibly fussy baby prevented the rest of the day from being shot), but I'm in love with the pictures I got. They're so him and just looking at them makes me smile. Enjoy!

He sits in his swing every morning for awhile as I feed the dogs and make my breakfast. Sometimes he'll talk away while he's in there and other times he'll fall asleep.

There was no falling asleep this morning, though! He was all smiles.

We don't always go outside after breakfast, but it was nice outside, so I put a blanket down in the backyard and we had tummy time out there. He was much more tolerant of it outside!

Riley enjoyed tummy time too. (Sammy did as well - she was off killing cicadas in the corner of the yard and then bringing them to me. Insert disgusted look here.)

I love his feet. They're so kissable! He thinks it's absolutely hilarious when I sniff them and then say in a high pitched voice, "Peee-U! Stinky feet!" He giggles and smiles huge and it is absolutely adorable.

I've been wanting to get a shot of his legs for awhile...They're not so chubby, but oh-so-soft.

He's completely fascinated by his hands and feet lately. You can see the wheels turning in his head as he moves them and watches them.

He talks a lot. He loves saying "aaa goooo" and has even started repeating me when I say it to him. Every once in awhile you'll catch him saying "aaa gukkk" and if he's feeling incredibly excited, he'll let out a high pitched squeal or two.

He's started blowing bubbles all the time lately. And drooling. Combined with the spitting up that he's always done, we've started wearing lots of bibs, even though Mommy thinks they look kind of silly.

Afternoon naps happen in a variety of places. They usually start in the crib and migrate somewhere else when he wakes up crying after a few minutes of sleep. (Most of the time they end up being taken on Mommy...she doesn't mind too much ;))

And that's half a day with us :) Could life be any better?

Baby Blues

2009-06-18T21:53:00.001-05:00

Catching Up with Pictures

2009-06-16T21:58:00.005-05:00

This post is going to be short...sorry! Will is (finally) asleep and I've got lots of unpacking to do! I figured everyone would like to see some of the newest pictures of the little guy, though. In actuality, he's not all that little anymore! We had his 2 month Well-Baby visit at the doctor a couple weeks ago and he's:

- 13 pounds 4 ounces (75th percentile)
- 24 3/4 inches long (95th percentile)
- 41 cm head circumference (75th percentile)

I can't believe how fast he's growing and changing. He now smiles and babbles all the time and has the most adorable dimple on his left cheek. His eyes are as blue as ever and I'm pretty sure they'll stay that way. In some lights in our new house they almost look purple...very neat! He loves bath time, hates tummy time (but loves sleeping on his tummy), gets a kick out of looking at himself in the mirror, loves his activity gym, still hates his car seat, and loves to say "a-gooo" and "a-guuuk." He says both of those with a particular gusto and grins afterward. He definitely makes our world a bit more interesting :) Greg and I were wondering the other day what we ever filled up all our time with before him!

10 weeks - Getting a bath from Daddy (at the old house)

10 weeks - Loving his bath time!

10 weeks - First real smile caught on camera!

From today - playing in his activity gym while I unpack the office

I cannot get enough of that gummy little grin!

Caught this one after my run tonight...Watching a Texas baseball game with Daddy. (No, Mommy does not let him watch TV!)

Anyways, I promise I'll update with real stuff soon...including pictures of the house! It's coming together nicely!

Drive By Post

2009-06-14T19:02:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let all my readers know that I'm still here and will be updating with pictures and stories soon! Last week was the week of furiously packing, sanding, painting, and cleaning. We're all moved in now and (mostly) unpacked...and doing very well!

I promise to have a better update soon :)

Videos

2009-06-02T21:37:00.009-05:00

I was able to grab these off my camera while the "No Battery" light flashed at me. They're not too exciting, but I love them and I know I'll love looking back on these when he's older :)

*watch the very end of this one...lots of smiles!

Sorta Crunchy

2009-06-02T20:19:00.003-05:00

Before Will came along, I was not so concerned about things like all-natural cleaning products, organic food, and green living. But since he's been here I've gone a little crazy. Okay, not really crazy, but definitely a little crunchy. I'm all for exclusively breast-feeding, baby-wearing, baby-food making, and no-cry sleep solutions. I don't cloth diaper or co-sleep, but I'm supportive of those who do. Definitely leaning towards the little-bit-crunchy side and heading there more and more lately!

My most recent crunchy-ness comes in the form of vaccinations. Vaccines have been in the news for how long now? I know I was reading about them well before Greg and I got married...but I didn't really give a second thought to them. I mean, how did it effect me if the MMR caused Autism or not? But now that it's my baby who's about to get stuck, I definitely care. I've spent the last week studying and researching vaccines. Imagine my shock when I found out that at Will's 2 month appointment he'd be due for SIX vaccinations...SIX! In his tiny, two-month new little body. I was a little disgusted, to put it nicely. How could six vaccines at once invading his little body possibly be healthy? That started my ~~obsession~~ research with vaccinations.

I found Dr. Sears and after many late nights researching have decided to place Will on an alternate vaccination schedule. He will get no more than two vaccines at each appointment and I'm still considering opting out of some vaccines altogether, like the Chickenpox vaccine. (I found out tonight that you can do this and still have your child go to public school). Here's what his schedule looks like. I basically followed Dr. Sears' schedule with a few modifications. I'm still undecided on what to do with the MMR. Right now it's not being offered split into three different vaccines, but it should be again in 2011. As it gets closer to the time he'll need it I'll reevaluate. And I have even more love for our pediatrician now...he's totally on-board with Alternate Vaccination Schedules as long as the parents have done their research...Go Dr. Travis!

2 months - DTaP, RV
3 months - PCV, HIB
4 months - DTaP, RV
5 months - PCV, HIB
6 months - DTaP, RV
7 months - Flu (2 doses)
8 months - PCV, HIB
9 months - IPV
12 months - IPV
15 months - PCV, HIB
18 months - DTaP, Varicella (may opt out)
2 years - IPV
2 years, 6 months - Hep B, Hep A
3 years - MMR (may split)
3 years, 2 months - Hep B
3 years, 6 months - Hep B, Hep A
4 years - DTaP, IPV
5 years - MMR (may get blood test to determine immunity; if immune, will not get booster)
6 years - Varicella (may opt out)
12 years - Tdap
13 years - Meningococcal

I have a precious video of Will that I'm going to post later, but my camera battery is dead. I'll post it tomorrow :) The best news of the week? Tomorrow is the LAST day of school! I've gotta go on Thursday, but after that I'm officially a stay-at-home mama. How exciting and relieving is that? I get to stay at home with my baby! I get to raise him, teach him, watch him, praise him, discipline him, laugh with him, cuddle with him, kiss him, hug him, talk with him, grow with him, learn with him, and love him all day long. God is seriously too good to me :)

Dear Will,

2009-05-28T19:55:00.003-05:00

Today you are two months old, baby boy! Time with you has gone by too fast...I can't even remember what life was like before you. You have changed me so much in two months, sweet boy. So much for the better. I knew you would change me, but I didn't realize what a dramatic, wonderful change that would be. You're laying across my lap right now, sound asleep with your little mouth hanging open. Your Daddy says that I sleep exactly the same way and it makes me smile to see how much you take after both of us. Even silly little things like the way we sleep is similar!

You have started giggling in the last couple weeks and it gets me every time! Your Daddy and I know just how to make you smile anymore and I can't get enough of it. You are so cute, little man! But that giggle...oh boy. I'm going to be in trouble when you get older. I can't resist those eyes or that giggle. I love the way your entire face lights up when you smile. I love that you find joy in high pitched voices, ceiling fans, and your Daddy blowing raspberries in your face. You are becoming more and more independent every day. You hold your head up very well - it never falls backwards anymore and most of the time you can catch it if it starts to fall forwards. You love sitting on my lap facing out so you can see everything. You are so curious and inquisitive about the world around you. I have a feeling you are going to be into everything when you get older so you can see how things work! If we put you up on our shoulder, you usually push away so you can look around.

The past week has been really hard on me. I had to go back to work to finish up the school year and I have missed you so much. I get home and I just stare at you and try to soak you in. Your smell, your perfect, tiny nose, your adorable lips, your bright blue eyes. I don't get nearly enough of you when I'm gone all day. I am so thankful that God has given me the opportunity to stay home with you while you're little...I can't imagine having to leave you every day!

You're probably weighing in close to 12 1/2 pounds now...when did you get so big? You've moved into size two diapers and are fitting solidly into 0-3 month clothes. I doubt you'll fit in most of them for too much longer. I'm trying to savor each of your precious tiny outfits because I know that I might not ever get to see you wearing them again. You love to nurse with one arm up by your head. You have perfected the pouty face and can pull the corners of your lips down more than I ever thought possible! (That face gets me every time too!) You're consistently sleeping through the night, usually 7 or 8 hours at a time. You still hate your carseat and scream like there's no tomorrow every time you get in it. You love bathtime, being swaddled in the Miracle blanket, the Moby Wrap, your paci, and being outside. In the past few weeks you've started to reach and grab for things...and anytime you do manage to get ahold of something, it goes straight for your mouth! You love laying on your changing table and talking to your Mommy and Daddy.

I hope you know how much you are loved, Will. I didn't know my heart was capable of such powerful emotions. I usually am not the type of person who is lost for words, but when I try to express my intense love for you, words fail me. All I know to say is my cup runneth over. I have more joy and love than I ever thought to ask for. My life is overflowing...and I love it. I love you :)

God has blessed us so richly with you, Will!

Love,
Mommy

This is hard.

2009-05-27T17:22:00.002-05:00

I am definitely not cut out to be a working mom. It's all I can do to focus during the day and get stuff done...I miss my little boy SO much! Today was worse than yesterday and even though I tried to keep myself busy by starting to pack up my classroom while my kids were working, there just wasn't enough to do!

One of my co-workers asked me today if I was going to miss teaching...I will miss it. A lot, actually! But there is nothing in the world worth more to me than being there for Will. My mom used to tell me that she told my dad she'd "eat beans out of a can for the rest of her life" as long as she could stay home with my brother and me. And I can totally relate now. I'd live in an apartment, with no cable, and eat bean burritos forever as long as I could be with him during the day. I'm so, so thankful I only have six more days of school left. Because it seems like I've been working for two weeks, not just two days.

I think it's been hard on Will too...not just me. My aunt told me that he slept all day today, which isn't really like him. He's sleeping on me right now too and hasn't really woken up since I got home at 4. I'm trying hard not to worry about him (easier said than done!) and keep telling myself that this is an adjustment for him too...he needs his Mommy as much as I need him! He cried this morning when I left, which made me feel awful. I know he doesn't know that I'm leaving him, but the timing worked out just to where he started crying when I gave him a kiss and told him goodbye. It broke my heart! I'm so thankful my aunt is staying with him - I would be a MESS if I didn't love and trust the person taking care of him!

Tomorrow is Thursday, thank goodness...2 more days until the weekend!

Long Week

2009-05-26T20:47:00.004-05:00

I can't believe it was only last Thursday that I posted last...it's been a long six days! I've got lots to post and lots of pictures. All taken with my point and shoot camera - so glad I have that to capture the everyday stuff! Let's see, where to begin.

Last Thursday we had the final walk-through on our house. Everything looked great, but Will was super fussy the entire time. Not to mention the fact that he screamed bloody murder the entire 15 minute drive over to the house. SCREAMED. I've never heard him like that before - it was awful! When we got there, my mom took him and he still wouldn't really calm down. He didn't want a bottle, he didn't want his paci. We went to dinner and this continued. When we got home (lots of screaming and fussing on the way) I took his temperature because it was so unlike him to cry like that. It was 99.9. Since he'd been crying so hard, I decided to give him a bath and see if he'd calm down some. He did, so after he was all dried off, I took it again. It'd gone up to 100.4...our pediatrician had said we needed to call for anything above 100.4 and this was right at it, so I called. Since he was so little, they wanted us to be seen right away, but of course, it was 8:30 by that time...so we had to go to the ER.

We arrived at S&W and were taken back to an exam room. They took his temp (it had gone down some...I think it was around 99?), checked his heartrate and oxygen levels. His oxygen and heartrate were a little off. We waited around and finally some nurses came in and did a catheter to take urine. We waited around some more, they came back in and did a chest x-ray. They never once listened to his chest and I never mentioned coughing or wheezing, but apparently a chest x-ray was necessary.(I got kicked out of the room, but Greg got to stay). We did some more waiting before FINALLY seeing the on-call doctor. This was around 12am. She wanted to draw blood and do a spinal tap. I declined the spinal tap and she went to get a second opinion on everything. She came back around 1 and said that as long as we followed up with our pediatrician in the morning we didn't have to do the spinal, but they did need to draw blood. Fine, whatever. (Can you tell I was kind of ticked off at the hospital at this point?) The blood draw was probably one of the most traumatic things I've experienced in awhile - same for Will. They blew out his vein and he screamed :( I hated not being able to comfort him! Finally around 2am we were sent home with strict instructions to follow up with the pediatrician in the morning. All three of us were beyond exhausted.

The next morning we followed up at the pediatricians. His fever had gone back up to 100.4. We talked a lot and Dr. Travis said that he figured it was probably viral. We decided to watch him closely for the weekend and wait for the cultures on the blood and urine to come back from Scott & White.

I came home after the pediatrician's, Will ate, and then took a long nap on our bed. Poor thing was so tired from all the poking and prodding :( My mom came over around 12:30 to watch him because I had to go close on our house! In all the craziness of the night before, closing had kind of lost the exciting-ness that it had held before the ER visit. But it was great to sign all those papers and realize that the house was finally ours!

The weekend held lots of running around shopping for appliances, paint, and furniture. Everyone was having GREAT deals because it was Memorial Day weekend so we got a fridge and a microwave for an awesome price and got all our paint for $5 off a gallon! We decided to wait on furniture, even though we found a bedroom set and a dining set at Ashley that we absolutely loved...we'll save up and get it soon :)

Sunday night we had dinner at my parent's house. Yummy grilled chicken and shrimp (thanks Matt!) and then Monday my Aunt Gena flew in from Albuquerque so she could watch Will this week...Today was my first day back at work and it was hard. I was alright as long as I was busy - recess, lunch, planning, and all those little in between moments where I didn't have a lot going on were really tough for me. I missed him like crazy and my heart ached to be home cuddling with him, nursing him instead of pumping, and watching his cute little smiles. The only thing that got me through the day was repeating to myself "seven more days." I'll be honest, though...seven days seems like a LONG time to me right now. :( Will has been nursing non-stop since I got home, which in a weird way makes me feel good. I feel bad for Greg though - he doesn't want to leave his Mama at all!

I'll try to post another update later this week, but it's going to be hard with teaching and all...Seven more days :)

We're About to be Homeowners!

2009-05-20T08:11:00.003-05:00

We close on our house on Friday and I am SO excited! We found exactly what we were wanting in an awesome neighborhood for a great price...I can't wait to paint, arrange all our furniture, and watch Will grow up there :)

I'll have more pictures to come in the next few weeks. It's getting a new roof today, then we do the walk-through tomorrow after Greg gets off work, and then we're closing at 2:00 on Friday!

I'm super excited for Friday to come because of the closing...but I'm also dreading it because it's my last weekday off of work :( I know I only have to go back for 8 school days, but I am not happy about leaving Will. It doesn't make it any better that I'm not going into a great situation at school and I have no clue what state my classroom or kids will be in...things have been incredibly "inconsistent" (their words) since I've been out on maternity leave. I have a feeling I'm going to come back to a group of 90 terrors. I worked so hard to get them trained and on their best behavior before I left and I'm pretty sure they're going to make me want to pull my hair out again. Eight days...I can do it for eight days!

Will has been sleeping so well at night...which makes for a much happier Mommy! We generally get him down around 10 and he slept until 5 last night...that's 7 whole hours! I woke up and actually felt okay. I mean, I was still tired, but I wasn't falling asleep nursing him! He usually won't sleep for more than an hour and a half more after he gets up to nurse, so I just leave him in the bed with us and snuggle with him. I get some of the best smiles at that time :) He seems just thrilled that he doesn't have to go back into his stupid bassinet and that he can cuddle with Mommy. It makes my heart melt! :)

7 Weeks

2009-05-16T21:38:00.006-05:00

My baby is getting so big! He's seven weeks old today...seven weeks sounds so old, so grown up, more baby and not newborn. But it still seems like yesterday that I was meeting him for the first time. (Are you sick of me saying that yet?! haha!)

Today was my first day to be away from Will for a long time. I had a wedding from 10:30-4 today and while I had a ton of fun shooting, I missed him so much! Will and Greg had tons of fun hanging out at home, though. He napped forever with him...I think Greg is going to stop believing me when i tell him that Will is usually a terrible napper ;) They slept from like 11-1:30! I'm glad they got to hang out all day and get some bonding time in!

Will has been changing so much. He smiles at us pretty regularly now. I LOVE his little grin. So, so precious. The other night he woke up at 5:30am and I was feeding him and he pulled away and gave me the hugest, gummiest grin ever. And even though I know you're not supposed to talk or have much interaction with them in the middle of the night (since we're trying to promote the whole sleeping at night thing), I couldn't help but grin back. We sat there for a good five minutes smiling at each other...It is something I won't ever forget! He's also begun "talking" to us a lot more. He's still pretty quiet, though. He likes to study things and take every single detail in. And just this week, he started rolling up onto his side for a second or two at a time. I don't think it'll be much longer before he rolls from tummy to back - he's getting really close! I didn't want to mention it before, but he's consistently been sleeping for 6 hours a night! If we get him in bed by 9, he sleeps until 3. Usually though, bedtime is closer to 11 (have I mentioned how everything takes twice as long with a baby around?) and he doesn't get up again until 5. I'm feeling so much more rested and less sleep deprived these days...it's wonderful!

The photography stuff is going really well...I've had lots of inquiries and people who have said they want to book a session with me. Keep the prayers coming - I'm so excited about how everything is playing out :)

Here are some pictures of Will from this week. Remember the bear picture from his first day home? Check out how much he's grown! (By the way, he almost has grown out of his coming home outfit...*sad Mommy face here*)

Playtime on his mat

...not so sure how he's feeling about playtime anymore.

He's done!

But mean 'ol Mom keeps taking pictures anyway!

Mom, what is this bear doing in the chair next to me?

Mom, this bear is totally crowding me!

Seriously, Mom. Get him off!

Lessons Learned + The Big Reveal

2009-05-13T21:47:00.003-05:00

Tonight, I learned hard lesson #1 as a mom. What's best for them is not always what they want. Will has been on a nap strike lately. He'll get up at 7 or 8 and then be awake for the rest of the day. This creates the perfect situation for an incredibly unhappy, fussy, over-tired baby. So by the time 6:00 rolls around and Greg gets home, I've had it up to my eyeballs with the crying and the soothing and I just need a few minutes to get away by myself.

Yesterday I had my 6-week postpartum check and I was okayed to resume exercise. I've still got some baby weight left to lose and I've been SO ready to get active again. I really wasn't able to exercise from my second trimester on...so that's like 5 months of pregnancy + almost 2 months of post-pregnancy that I haven't worked out. Towards the end of my pregnancy, running again was something I seriously was looking forward to - I would get incredibly jealous of women I saw running on the street. So you can understand how much I was looking forward to being cleared for exercise.

Back to the story. So, today, Greg gets home and Will hasn't slept for more than 15 or 20 minutes all day. He's fussy. And all he wants to do is comfort nurse because it helps him fall asleep. But I needed to work out. I needed to work out for my sanity, but I also needed to work out for him. I passed a semi-sleeping baby off to Greg and promptly had a screaming baby. He was giving me these "how dare you leave me" looks that broke my heart, but I hurried into the office and started the workout DVD. I could hear him crying off and on through the entire thing. Try as he may to comfort him, Greg just doesn't have boobs ;) And that's all Will wanted! I wanted to stop so bad and go comfort him, but I had to keep telling myself that me losing the rest of the baby weight is what is best for Will. I can't stay overweight and inactive because of HIM. I want to teach him a healthy lifestyle - how to eat right, how to learn to love exercising, and how to stay fit for life. I never want him to have to struggle with his weight. And that starts right now, with me losing the weight that I put on during pregnancy and getting back into shape. He hated it - HATED it. But I had to keep telling myself that I was doing what was best for him, even though he wasn't too happy about that fact.

In the end, I got a great workout (two thumbs up for the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred...it kicked my butt!) and Will eventually calmed down and fell asleep. And the same thing will probably happen again tomorrow - but we're both going to be better for it.

And now for the "big reveal" that I was talking about in my last blog post...Libby Ann Photograhpy is up and running! I purchased a website last week, worked on it hard over the weekend (further adding to my sleep deprivation) and it went live yesterday. I'm so excited to have it finished - I'm one step closer to staying home with Will. Anyways, I'm running a special for the rest of the summer. Anyone who books a session in May or June (that will take place before September 1st) will receive 15% off the session fee, their print order, and a free 8x10 from the session. Feel free to pass this on to family and friends - all they need to do to redeem the special is ask about the Summer Special. Please be praying for me in this photography venture. Pray that God will bring business in, that I will get great clients, and really be able to jump start my business this summer. Anyways, here is the site!

http://www.libbyannphotography.com

Secret Smiles and Tub Baths

2009-05-11T22:02:00.003-05:00

Will is having a fussy day today. It's almost like he's going through another growth spurt...although I know that can't possibly be right since he had one just a week or two ago! But he's wanted to eat nonstop today...Greg got home and he nursed all evening long. We had a really fussy stretch before he finally passed out from exhaustion. I hated to wake him up a couple hours later, but he needed a bath. To make it better for him, I decided to give him a bath in our tub (instead of the sink) and get in there with him. He loved it! We soaked for awhile before he pooped in the tub and everything had to be drained, rinsed, and scrubbed down before we could finish the bath. I think he's going to be a little water baby - he really enjoys floating (with help, of course!) in the water.

He's started giving us secret little smiles too. He rewards my mom with huge grins all the time, but he has yet to do that for Greg or me. We must be boring or something ;) But when we get him in a really good mood where he's not studying every detail of the room, we can sometimes coax a smile out of him...and that gummy little grin makes my heart melt! He was eating today and pulled away, looked me in the eyes, and grinned. I have no idea why or what I did to deserve it, but it was precious! He's started rolling up onto his side during tummy time...it won't be too long before he rolls from tummy to back, I think. He only does it when he's really frustrated and about ready to be finished with tummy time ;)

Tomorrow I go in for my 6-week post-partum appointment at my OB/GYNs office. Hopefully everything has healed the way it should and I can start really exercising again. I can't wait! I'm so ready to lose the rest of the baby weight and get my body back in shape. It's been a good five or six months since I've really been able to work out and I miss it a lot. I've got some big news coming in the next couple of days...I've just got to get a few more things together before the big reveal. I'm super excited about it, though!

Hopefully I can catch a smile on camera soon and share it with you all!

Catching Up

2009-05-06T21:32:00.004-05:00

Last Friday, Greg and I had our first "date night." My parents watched Will and we went to see Wolverine at the movie theater. We had a really good time, but man, it was weird being away from him! I missed him so much, even though I knew he was being loved and well taken care of with my mom and dad. I told Greg it was a good thing we were at a movie where I could focus my attention on something other than how much I missed my baby. I have two more weeks left of my maternity leave before I have to return to school to finish up the last 8 days of the year. Can I just say right now how much I'm dreading this? My Aunt is coming to stay with Will for part of the time and I'm SO excited to see her and so glad that she's staying with Will...but there is not anything in this world that could make me want to go back to work for those 8 days. Sigh...I'm going to be a mess, I can already tell! It just makes me even more thankful that I'm going to get to stay home with him :)

Then on Saturday, we headed out to the Round Rock Amphitheater to see our good friend Justin and his band, The Justin Cofield Band, play a benefit concert. We got to see a ton of people from our old church and we had SO much fun! It was the first time that Will had been outside for any significant amount of time and he loved it. He was so alert all night. He also loved the music. My mom was holding him and she said she could feel his chest vibrating as he "sang" along...I'm not sure he was really singing, but I do know that he enjoyed it! ;) I think he's going to be our music baby - he's loved music ever since he was in my tummy. At one point during the concert, he started to get a little bit fussy. But when Justin and the guys started playing again, he hushed up right away! I got asked two questions over and over by our friends that we saw there...the first was if I was breastfeeding and how it was going (yes I am, and it's going really well!) and the second was if I was going to be returning to work. Every time I said that I wasn't going to be, I got told what an awesome decision that was and that God was going to bless us for that. It really makes me feel good to know how much other believers value investing in your family. I know that we'll have people praying for us and I know that God will take care of us. We may not have all the toys and material things that others have (and that at times we may want), but we will always be fed, clothed, and loved. And in the end, that's all that matters. After the concert we bathed Will, I fed him, and then he was out for the count! He slept for 6 1/2 hours straight...it was amazing! He hasn't repeated that performance since then, but it does give me hope that one day the kid will learn how to sleep longer than 3 hours at a time! :)

Will has been going through a growth spurt the past few days. He's been eating non-stop - literally every hour to hour and a half pretty much around the clock. It's been an exhausting few days, but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Supposedly after growth spurts end, they're followed by lots of sleeping...we'll see! He's outgrown several of his newborn outfits now (I think only one or two still fit him) and is fitting in 0-3 month stuff pretty solidly. I have a feeling that he's not going to fit in 0-3 month clothing for another month and a half! He's also losing a LOT of his hair...and it's being replaced by hair that's a lot lighter. I'm not sure I'd call it blonde, but it's definitely not as dark as we thought it was. His eyes are lightening up every day and I really, really hope they stay blue. They're such a pretty shade! He's been off his reflux medicine since Friday and I can definitely tell a difference in him, at nighttime especially.

So all is well in the Johnson household. I can't believe my baby will be six weeks old on Saturday!

Pictures

2009-05-05T21:49:00.007-05:00

I have a lot to post about, but I need to give Will his bath and get in bed...so until tomorrow, here are a few pictures from the weekend!

One-Month Old

2009-04-30T16:03:00.003-05:00

I still can't believe I have a one-month old! Time goes by so fast. Here's the rest of the pictures from his one-month photo shoot...too bad it didn't tire him out like is one-week photo shoot did. He was up all night again last night :( I'm not sure if the reflux medicine isn't working or if he just had a bad night. We shall see tonight!

(This one seriously cracks me up...check out that belly!)

Not from yesterday, but I love it. The blanket is called the Miracle Blanket and it is a miracle! :)

Let me know which your faves are!

A Preview...

2009-04-29T18:40:00.004-05:00

...of Will's one-month photo shoot. He's grown so much since his newborn shoot!

Happy One Month Birthday, Will!

2009-04-28T21:41:00.003-05:00

Dear Will,

Today you are one month old...I can't believe how fast the time has gone. It seems like yesterday that I was laying in the hospital bed staring at your sweet little face completely in awe that you were mine. Now you've grown into a baby who is developing his own personality and learning about the world. At one month, you:

- love the hair dryer. It calms you down in seconds...I use this as an easy way to get ready in the morning. I plop you in the Moby Wrap, turn on the hair dryer, and I have a good 10-15 minutes to do what I need to!
- love tummy time. We have tummy time/play time about twice a day and you love the tummy time portion of it. Most of the time you just look around you, but every so often you'll do a "superman" pose with your head, arms, and legs off the ground. It's so cute!
- have outgrown the first setting on your car seat straps. We drove to Houston last weekend and realized that we need to raise them up some!
- have started sleeping for about 4 hours, once a night. Mommy and Daddy are SO thankful for this!
- are wearing size one diapers and 0-3 month clothes. There are a few newborn outfits that still fit, but most of them are too short.
- are very alert. Your Daddy loves to come home and hold you - you pick your head up and look all around!
- are an expert at fighting sleep. Thankfully, you only seem to do this during the day. You just don't want to close your eyes and miss out on anything!
- love sitting on my lap and reading. I read you at least one story a day and you stare at the colors on the pages with your curious face (wide eyes, eyebrows raised, mouth in an "O" shape).
- love your paci! You're still using the ones they gave us in the hospital...when you're tired and we give it to you chomp down and make an "ah ah ah ah ah" noise.
- are becoming more vocal. We hear your sweet little noises mostly when you're eating and are perfectly content.
- make a "turtle" face when you stretch...I love this face! You pucker your lips so your top lip sticks out (a bit like a turtle) and your wrinkle your forehead.
- have smiled a couple times, but you still don't do it very consistently.
- are awake and active about twice a day - once in the morning around 10:00 and once in the afternoon around 4:00. We have our playtime then and you usually sleep for a couple hours afterward.

Your Daddy and I are so proud of you, Will. You have changed our lives so much and we are so happy with our little family. We're getting ready to move into our first house with you and I'm so excited imagining all the things we're going to do there...all the smiles and memories that will be made in the walls of that house. I can't thank God enough for blessing us with you - you are truly a gift to us :)

I love you, Will!

Love,
Mommy

Poor Boy

2009-04-22T13:07:00.005-05:00

Will has acid reflux. We've thought something was up for awhile - he gets fussy right after eating, he spits up a ton, he pulls his knees into his tummy and arches his back, he fusses if he's laid down flat, etc...Yesterday we went to the doctor to get his belly button checked out (it was oozing some stuff, but everything looks fine), and I mentioned to the doctor that he's been really fussy and seems uncomfortable at night. Our conversation went like this:

DR: How do you know he's uncomfortable?
ME: Well, he cried from 12am-6am last night. And he pulls his knees into his chest and screams.
DR: -chuckles- Wow, 12-6? I bet your tired.
ME: You have no idea.

He gave us some Prevacid to try with Will to see if it'll neutralize the acids in his stomach. It won't stop the spitting up, but it will keep it from being painful when he does spit up. Unfortunately for me, the Prevacid takes 3-5 days to see results. I could tell it helped a little last night, but I was still up with him from 1am-5am last night...Greg stayed up for awhile too, but he had to go to work today, so I told him to go to bed. Today has been rough too - if I can get him to sleep (and that's a BIG if, he's been fighting it a lot lately), he'll stop crying...but unless he's eating or sleeping, he's been crying all day. And it's a poor, pathetic little cry :( Nothing I do seems to make it better and I feel so bad knowing he's hurting and knowing that I can't help.

So send some thoughts and prayers our way...All three of us are just plain exhausted (actually, Sammy and Riley are too!) and poor Will is in pain, which is just awful. We're crossing our fingers that the medicine works and Will will be feeling better in no time!

Edit: In my tired stupor, I forgot to add our great news! Greg and I got a house :) Not the short sale, but a different one in a great neighborhood. I'll add details later - off to try to nap now.

Edit #2: (I swear, I am going to go nap) Will now weighs 9 pounds 13.5 ounces! He's really doing great on his weight gain - that's a pound in 11 days. They didn't measure him, but I suspect he's grown a little length wise too.

Baby Jewelry

2009-04-20T20:13:00.006-05:00

I'm officially a "baby wearer." And I couldn't be happier about it! Last week I wasn't able to do anything but sit on the couch and hold Will...not that I minded that in the least, but our house was starting to suffer in cleanliness and I was starting to get mighty sick of daytime TV and the Food Network. I had about a five minute window from the time I put him down to do something (ie: make myself food or use the restroom) to the time he was screaming to be held again. I had a sling that I tried to put Will in - he screamed bloody murder the entire time and gave me a splitting headache in 2 seconds! So I figured I was destined to sit on the couch until he learned that being put down isn't all that bad.

I got online and found The Moby Wrap. I ordered it and it finally came yesterday. I cannot tell you how my life has changed since it arrived! I am finally able to get things done around the house. I wore Will all morning and he was snug and happy and his momma was happy that she was able to get the dishwasher unloaded and the dishes put away! He snoozed the entire time and didn't make a peep. I would've worn it all day long, but he spit up all over it (and me and himself) and forced me to wash it. But by the time Greg got home from work, it was dry and ready to go again! We took a walk and Will enjoyed the Moby and eventually fell asleep. He's still asleep in it and couldn't be happier!

I'd say it's worth it's weight in gold, but honestly, I think it's worth quite a bit more than that! It does make me feel like I'm pregnant again, though ;) My hips were aching after our walk! Something about having all that extra weight out in front really does make you waddle.

In other news...how is it possible that I have a three week old? I feel like time is flying by so, so, so fast and I just want to stop it and soak in every little second of time with my baby while he's still a baby. I know people say it all the time, but he's growing up so fast and he changes so much every day. I'm so thankful for this time to be home with him so I don't miss a second of it :) (Remind me I said this when it's 3am and he won't let me put him down!)

I also feel like I get "it" now. What is "it?" It is the love a mother has for her son. I remember growing up I used to get a little frustrated that my brother seemed to get away with everything when it came to my mom. She'd laugh and say, "I just love him so much!" I mean, she laughed when he took his spare tire out of his Mustang (to make it go faster, of course), hid it in the attic, and then dropped it down the stairs and put skid-marks on her fireplace. She laughed! I remember thinking that if I'd done that, I'd be grounded for the rest of my life (so not true, but I do remember thinking that). Well, I get "it" now. Will can scream in the middle of the night or pee on me, and then make a funny face or coo and I laugh and say, "I just love him so much!" I didn't know I had enough room in my heart to love another person like this - it's overflowing with love for my two guys :) I also always felt like I'd be incomplete if I didn't have a daughter...I LOVE little girl things and though I still really would like to have a daughter some day, I'd be
perfectly fine having all little boys too. He's just so much fun!

I'll leave you with a couple more pictures of my guy from this week:

Showing off his pretty blue eyes

So not happy about posing for a picture with Mommy!

All snuggled up!

Love my guys napping together :)

Gansta in his car seat with his paci and new "Snuzzler" to keep him comfy!

Three Weeks Already?

2009-04-17T21:56:00.003-05:00

Sorry it's been almost an entire week since I've updated...life is definitely more complicated when you throw an almost-3-week-old into the mix! :) Speaking of that, has it already almost been 3 weeks? I seriously can't believe it. It's a strange feeling - it seems like yesterday that we were in the hospital getting ready to meet Will, but at the same time I have a hard time remembering what life was like before him. He's changed our lives so much (all for the better) and I don't know how we ever got by without him. :) He brings so many smiles to our faces and so much joy to our lives.

He's a stubborn one though, just like his mama ;) He refused to go to sleep (even though he was exhausted) and stayed awake from about 3:00 this afternoon to 8:00pm. Babies are not supposed to stay awake that long! Greg and I went to dinner with our good friends, Kasey and Shelby, and seriously thought he'd pass out in the car on the way to the restaurant. He dozed off and on, but decided to wake up once we got there. He took 3oz from a bottle and then fussed until we decided to leave. He was SO tired and SO cranky, but he refused to close his eyes and just let himself fall asleep. We got back home and I nursed him and he FINALLY fell asleep, after fighting it for awhile longer...I felt so bad for him, but none of the usual tricks were working to put him to sleep.

He's becoming so much more alert and fun during the day! He follows objects with his eyes and has his "excited face" when he sees something he likes. His eyes get all wide, he puckers his lips into an O-shape and raises his eyebrows. It's precious and I totally need to get a picture of it! He's learning how to control his head more and more everyday...we're going to start doing tummy-time next week on the boppy. So far, tummy time has consisted of him being on Mommy or Daddy's chest and lifting his little head up to try to look around. I think he'll like it on the boppy, but we shall see :)

Thank you for all your prayers in the past couple weeks. Greg and I have had quite the time since Will has been born. First, we bought a new car just a couple days before he arrived. Then we got him home and started looking for a house! I told Greg that we're never allowed to have this many huge, life-altering events at once again. It's hard enough recovering from the c-section and learning how to be a mom...not to mention adding in the stress of looking for a house! We put an offer in on a house on Wednesday. It's a short sale, so we're not sure if it'll work out or not (and we won't know for awhile), but it would be a HUGE blessing if it did!

We're also taking a huge leap of faith and trusting God to provide for us with me staying at home with Will. This is what I was asking for prayers about last week...and I've finally come to peace with the decision. There have been so many things that have fallen into place (or out of place, actually!) that have solidified this decision. I am completely and totally at peace with the decision and I am so excited to raise my little boy the way that God wants him to be raised. I know that we are going to struggle more financially...but there is nothing that money can buy that will be worth more to us than investing time in our family. I'm going to look into watching a couple of children from our house and really start pursuing photography full time to help make ends meet. And I know that God will take care of us, no matter what.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T20:35:00.011-05:00

Happy Easter everyone! I wanted to share a few pictures from our first holiday with Will. We went to church this morning (despite getting less than remarkable sleep last night!) and he was wonderful. Then we went back to my parents house to eat lunch and we all had a great time :) Life with our baby is truly more fun!

I love tiny baby toes :)

And chubby baby hands.

Will and his Daddy

Love this one of my two guys :)

All curled up!

The next three pictures are courtesy of my Mom! Thanks! (And I promise I'll get you copies of these!)

Love this one!

Will is thinking he's about done with this picture-taking business...

...and Will is done with the photo shoot ;)

Tough Guy

2009-04-10T21:27:00.002-05:00

Will had his two week check up today! He's doing fantastically and he's such a tough little guy...he didn't even cry when they pricked his heel to do the second part of his newborn screening. He did pee on me though. All over my shirt - little stinker! I'm going to have to put a "mommy shirt" in the diaper bag just in case he does that again!

He's grown an inch in two weeks...how is that even possible? He doesn't seem bigger than he was two weeks ago but he's grown a whole inch! He's also gained back all of his birth weight and even put on an ounce - yay Will! Here's how he measures up to other newborns...

90% percentile for height (22 inches long)
50% percentile for weight (8lbs 13oz)
25-50% percentile for head circumference

So far we've got a long, lean little guy. Just like his Daddy! He had a huge day today and was awake for nearly 3 1/2 hours this morning before and during his doctor's appointment. He soaked up every ounce of everything in the room. He then crashed for the rest of the day (along with his Mommy once we got home) and was wide-eyed in time for Daddy to get home and spend some time with him. He gets more alert and responsive every day - it's been a lot of fun to watch him learn about the things around him!

Wish us luck - we're looking at some houses tomorrow. Hopefully something will stand out! And I'm sorry I haven't been posting pictures - I have a ton on my camera that just need to be put onto the computer. That will be my goal for the weekend.

Hallelujah!

2009-04-09T08:52:00.002-05:00

In my pre-baby days, I would have considered last night's sleep to be awful. I would've woken up and grumbled about how horrible I'd slept the night before. My feet would've been dragging all day and I would've felt like I needed to go to sleep at 7:00 just to catch up.

Post baby? In my post baby days, I'm praising the Lord that Will only woke up three times during the night (well, two if you consider the 7:00am wake up an appropriate time to get out of bed). I feel refreshed and have a whole different outlook on life. I actually feel like I got restful sleep, which is something that I have been seriously lacking this week. I actually feel good! Amazing what a difference a week and a few days can make on your outlook on life ;)

Will is doing great and I'm loving him more than ever! (Currently he's curled up on my chest making the cutest little snores...and today I actually appreciate it because I got sleep last night!) We have his two week check up with the pediatrician on Friday and I'm pretty sure he'll have gained some more weight back. Yay! Greg and I are starting to adjust to the whole 'parenting' thing too...we're both getting faster at baths and diaper changes. Last night we started a bedtime routine that seemed to make all the difference in Will's ability to sleep for more than 20 seconds at a time. We're both looking forward to getting out of the house this weekend to go to church on Easter Sunday. It will be nice :)

I don't want to go into the details of it on the blog, but if you could be praying for God to show Greg and I the direction he wants us to head in, that would be awesome. We're facing a tough decision and really feel like we need His hand in everything before we make a committment one way or the other. So prayers would be great right now.

And last, but certainly not least, we got our slideshow of pictures back from Will's newborn photography session. They are amazing!! I can't wait to get some printed huge for our walls.
http://www.lifeinmotionphotography.com/slideshows/will/

Chubby Cheeks

2009-04-05T15:49:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, Lyndsay, an amazing lifestyle photographer came over to our house to take pictures of Will. We had SO much fun with her documenting Will as a tiny little baby :) She posted a sneak peek picture from our session and I'm in love with it (and even more in love with the little boy in it!)

I can't wait to share the rest of them in a couple weeks when we get them! Isn't he just the cutest? Be sure to check out her blog and leave her some love on it - she is amazing!

One Week

2009-04-04T14:08:00.006-05:00

Dear Will,

Today you are one week old! This makes Mommy both happy and sad. I'm happy that you're healthy and growing (you were 8 pounds 3.5 ounces at the doctor yesterday!), but I'm sad that my time with you is already going way, way too fast. I can no longer count your age in days - you're now a whole week old! Your birth seems like it was forever ago, yet I can still remember the details so vividly. My favorite part was seeing you for the first time - seeing your perfect little nose, your adorable cleft chin, your long fingers and precious tiny feet. I love this stage with you, even though it means I'm up several times during the night nursing you and comforting you.

You make the most adorable faces! We say you have an "old man" forehead - it wrinkles up a thousand times when you frown. And you frown a lot! Anytime Mommy or Daddy does something that you're not too crazy about, you frown. You also have the most pathetic and adorable little pout. I'm going to have to be careful when you get older because I think that little pout could get me in a lot of trouble :) You are so snuggly right now too. I'm soaking up as much snuggle time with you now a I can. After I nurse you, you love to curl up on my chest and I'm content to let you lay there for as long as you like. Actually, I'm content to just be near you always. I can't believe how much my life has changed in the week that you've been here. I never could have imagined what it would be like with you here and I never, ever could have thought it would be so, so wonderful.

You got your first at-home bath last night, and boy, you were not a happy camper! Your Grandma and Daddy helped me bathe you while your Granddad took pictures. You screamed your head off and threw a huge fit. But once we were ready to start drying you off, you calmed right down! We swaddled you tight in a cozy warm blanket and you fell asleep right away. And you slept so well during the night - you let your Mommy and Daddy get three long stretches of sleep that were three hours each! We were glad to get the sleep and even more glad to see you get well rested too.

Whenever you get fussy, I put my face very close to yours and "shhhhush" you. It works 95% of the time. You nuzzle your little nose into my face and bury your face in my hair. This works when Daddy does it too. You love being close to us and you love being wrapped up in blankets. You also love your paci. You are definitely a paci guy! You know how to "hold" it into your mouth all by yourself too. When you're hungry and ready to eat, you usually start to scream your head off. But you know exactly what time it is when you get put down on a pillow next to Mommy. Just as you are about to latch on, you give one last little fuss - kind of an "ahh ahh" sound. It's like you're so relieved that you're getting to nurse again and it is so completely adorable!

Though I'm sad you're getting older, I love learning new things about you every day. I have such huge hopes and dreams for you, little boy. I pray that God will protect you and that he would lead you in a life that would glorify him. I want to see you grow up and learn all the Bible stories and learn to sing all the children's songs at church. I want to see you learn how to be submissive to God's will and how to listen to Him when he whispers to you. He has a purpose for your life and plans for you that are greater than your Daddy or I could ever imagine. I pray that you would always turn to God first - even before me or your Daddy.

I love you, Will. I love you so much it makes my heart ache.

Love,
Mommy

Birth Story

2009-04-03T16:46:00.019-05:00

I really want to post this story, not only for everyone to read, but also for me to have to remember all the little details. They're already fading away fast and I don't want to lose the memories! :)

On Saturday, 3/28, I woke up still having contractions. The night before, some stuff had happened (though I'll spare you the gory details!) that had me convinced I'd be going into active labor in the next few days. I hardly slept at all that night out of excitement! The contractions were very irregular and not incredibly painful, so I assumed I'd have all day to wait it out. Greg and I picked up around the house a little bit, ate breakfast, and I ended up able to take a little nap. When I woke up, the contractions were almost stopped, so I decided to go shopping to see if I could jump-start them again, and possibly push myself into active labor.

I drove to Target around 2:00pm, got in the store, and realized that my vision was a little "off." It seemed like I'd been staring at the sun for several minutes and everything had that dark, fuzzy look to it. I walked around and picked up a few things, hoping that it would get better. After about 5 minutes, I realized it wasn't getting better and then remembered that my doctor had told me that if I experienced any blurry vision that I should call or come in, because it could be a sign of pre-eclampsia. I called Labor and Delivery and they wanted me to come in right away. Of course, Greg and I only had one car at the moment (which I was driving), so I had to drive myself home.

We got to Scott and White and they hooked me up to the monitors. My blood pressure was fine and shortly after we arrived, my vision went back to normal. Greg and I relaxed a little, watched an episode of Dirty Jobs on TV, and waited to be discharged. We'd made plans to go to dinner at Chuy's with friends and were hoping we'd be able to make it there in time. The OB on call, Dr. Chapman came in and told us that every time I had a contraction the baby's heart rate dropped. When I wasn't, he was perfectly fine with a heart rate in the 140s, but because of the decels she wasn't comfortable sending us home. They were going to induce me that night! She checked me and I still hadn't made any progress since my last appointment - I was 1-2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. They usually use a medication called Cytotec to dilate the cervix, but once they start that medication, they can't take it away. She wasn' sure how Will's heart would handle the medicine, so instead they were going to use a Foley Bulb to manually dilate my cervix before starting Pitocin to get my contractions started.

Greg decided to go home to get our bags and feed the dogs since they basically had to take me from zero to 60, which would take awhile. A nurse came in and started an IV line in my hand after he left and I asked if I could use the bathroom before they got started. They unhooked me from the monitors and left me alone in the room. When I got back to bed, I plugged the monitors back in. Nothing was registering on them, but I just figured I'd plugged them in wrong. A nurse came in and moved the heart rate monitor around on my stomach and finally got a heart rate to register, but it was in the 60s. She started lowering my bed down, pushed the nurse call button and said, "I need Heather and Dr. Chapman in here NOW!" She rolled me over to my left side and people literally came running into my room. I started crying, realizing that there was a chance I'd never get to meet the little person who had been growing inside me for the last 9 months, who I already loved so much. Heather put an oxygen mask on me and kept telling me to take deep, slow breaths. After what seemed like an eternity, Will's heart rate came back up and stabilized in the 140s. Dr. Chapman said, "Well, he just told us that he's not going to tolerate labor, so we're going to get him out of there quickly and safely." Heather, one of the awesome nurses called Greg and had him turn around and get back to the hospital ASAP. Since Will's heart rate was stable, they were able to wait for Greg to get back to the hospital before doing anything.

Greg got back about the same time that my parents arrived. I had to sign consent forms, get a catheter inserted, and drink an incredibly nasty antacid since I'd already eaten that day. The anesthesiologist and pediatrician all came in to talk to me about what would go on and one I was all prepped, they wheeled me back to the operating room. The operating room was freezing and one of the nurses brought me a warm blanket so I'd stop shivering before they gave me the spinal block. The anesthesiologist had me lean over one of the nurses and he gave me a local anesthetic to numb the area for the block. Heather held the heart rate monitor on my belly and I worried the entire time that his heart rate would drop again since I was sitting up and not on my left side. Thankfully it didn't. The spinal really didn't hurt at all...The local felt like a tiny pinch, but the spinal just felt like lots of pressure. I was really worried about it hurting, but it really was no big deal! Before I'd even sat up completely, my feet were already feeling numb. They had to help pick up my legs and lay me back on the because I already was losing feeling from about chest level down. I really hated the way the spinal made me feel...it was very claustrophobic not being able to move your legs at all. It also came up to the bottoms of my lungs and made it feel like I couldn't get a deep breath. Heather started cleaning off my stomach with iodine and it was the strangest sensation ever! I could feel the touch of the sponge with iodine, but I couldn't feel the temperature. The nurses assured me that I really was numb, but I wasn't entirely sure I believed them!

Afterwards they put a drape up that was incredibly close to my face. Everyone was moving around and they started monitoring my blood pressure intermittently. I guess my pulse shot up because the anesthesiologist said, "Are you alright?" I told him I was just a little nervous. He put an oxygen mask on me to help get my heart rate down some. After he put the oxygen mask on me, I started feeling very claustrophobic. I couldn't breathe very well, I couldn't move my arms because they were strapped down to the table, and I had this blue drape about an inch in front of my face. The anesthesiologist could tell I was getting a little panicked and he came back over to talk to me and took off the mask. At 7:25, Greg came in and held my hand and brushed my hair away from my face. It calmed me down so much just knowing he was right there. I kept my eyes closed most of the time and focused on taking really deep breaths. They started cutting right when he got in there, but like they said, I couldn't feel a thing! I could feel them tugging on me and there was lots and lots of pushing as they tried to get his big head out of a tiny incision on my stomach. At 7:36, they pulled him out and wisked him off to the warmer to make sure everything was alright. I was disappointed that I hadn't gotten to see him right after he was born, but it was so relieving to hear him crying. I didn't know this while they were doing the c-section, but afterwards Greg said that his heart rate had dropped really low again while they were cutting into me and I think they were probably worried about him when they got him out. We're still not sure what was causing his heart rate to drop. The cord wasn't wrapped around his neck or anything, but it was draped by his shoulder. Dr. Chapman said it was possible that each contraction put pressure on it and cut off his blood supply, but we really won't ever know.

Greg went over to the warmer to take pictures of him when he was just a few seconds old. I could hear him crying and I remember feeling so relieved that he was alright. Greg came and sat back down by me and told me how gorgeous and perfect he was. Once they got him cleaned off, they brought him over to Greg to hold. He scored 9 and 9 on his Apgars and screamed his head off until he got all wrapped up. I remember touching his cheek for the first time and loving how soft he and warm he felt. I think the first thing I said to Greg when I saw him (a nurse brought him over after they checked him out) was, "Oh, he has my chin!" He inherited my cleft chin and it's pretty adorable on him! Greg held him while I was getting stitched up. They moved me from the operating table back to my bed, handed him to me, and wheeled me back into my room. The whole thing really only took about 30 minutes, but it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life!

I remember thinking during the c-section that if I had to go through this again, I was never having kids again. But looking back on it, it really wasn't that bad. The worst, scariest part was not knowing if everything was going to be alright or not. I was so worried about Will and so scared that he wasn't going to make it. I can't thank God enough that he gave me that little warning sign of blurry vision which tipped me off to head into the hospital. I can't even bear to think about what would have happened if I hadn't gone in. Luckily, I did, and now we have our perfect little blessing from God in our arms :)

Here are a few more pictures of our little boy.

Heather explaining something and helping to calm me down. The nurses at Scott and White were SO fantastic!

Getting ready to have our little boy! :)

Just seconds old.

Back in our room yawning while I get checked out.

His precious little feet!

Greg and I in awe with our little boy :)

Our first family photo!

Our amazing night nurse, Tina, giving Will his first bath.

Will's first bath. As you can see, he was not a fan of it!

Hanging out in the warmer all clean from his bath.

Sleeping on Mommy's chest. Snuggling with him like this is one of my favorite things ever!

William Matthew Johnson

2009-04-01T16:49:00.005-05:00

William Matthew Johnson was born on March 28, 2009 at 7:36pm. He weighed in at a whopping 8 pounds 12 ounces and is 21 inches long. He scored a 9 and 9 on his Apgars and is pretty much the cutest thing I've seen in ages :) His mommy and daddy are pretty much in love with him (and his chubby little cheeks!) and we think he's pretty much perfect!

Being a mom is one of the best feelings in the entire world - I cannot believe that God entrusted me with this little life to nurture and protect. I love him so much already and I've only known him for four days...I'd already do anything for him. It was so surreal taking him home from the hospital. We had been waiting for that moment for so long and to actually get to leave with our baby was wonderful! I can't stop staring at him, especially when he's napping with his daddy! My two boys are awesome :) I will come back later to post my birth story (because it's quite interesting and ends with an emergency c-section), but right now, I'm off to take a nap with my boys!

Focus on the Positive

2009-03-27T21:16:00.004-05:00

I wanted to title this post "What's Wrong With People?" because I think I've said that about 15 times today. But I'm also 9 months pregnant, 3 days away from my due date, and incredibly uncomfortable. So I think that I might be just a teensy bit grumpy! Instead of dwelling on what the heck is wrong with the dealership general manager who'd rather back out on a sale than give us an extra key for the car, or the kids that ride skateboards in the middle of the road without getting out of the way of cars, or the people who don't take care of their houses, I'm going to focus on the positives of today.

1. It rained. A lot! Our crepe myrtles in the backyard are starting to get tiny green leaves on them and everything around here is greening up. Plus the bluebonnets are coming out and I'm excited to try to get some shots of Will in them!

2. Things are a-happenin'. That's all I'm going to say about that, because just because I think things are happening the way they SHOULD be happening doesn't mean anything. But I feel significantly different today than I did yesterday (oh, the pressure!) and even though I'm more uncomfortable, it's gotta be a sign that it's getting closer!

3. I had the car today, so I got to do some shopping. I spent some cash at Target and got a couple books at Barnes and Noble. It was SO good to get out of the house!

4. A cold front is coming in tonight. Whether it's statistical or not, there's a wives tale that says that more babies are born when there is a low barometric pressure. Add #2 on top of that one, and I'm crossing my fingers for a 3/28 baby! Although I'd take a 3/29 baby, or even a 3/30 baby. But I'm really, really hoping for the 3/28 baby.

5. Today was Friday. That means in one way or another, Will will be here or be on his way out by next Friday. I can make it seven more days. I might be a little more grumpy and a lot more uncomfortable, but I can make it 7 more days.

6. Will has been moving around a ton lately. I think he's trying to let me get my fix in before he comes. I enjoy it, unless he's trying to break free through my ribs. I do not enjoy that one single bit.

I think that's all the positive I have in me right now. I didn't sleep well at all last night which makes the 9 month pregnant, 3 days from her due date, incredibly uncomfortable pregnant lady even more grumpy. I'm definitely taking the Benadryl tonight!

Update

2009-03-25T21:25:00.005-05:00

I had my doctor's appointment today. Despite having contractions for the past two days, I haven't made one ounce of progress. Still 1cm dilated, 50% effaced. I asked about an induction because I am that desperate to get some sleep and relief from the contractions...she said that she's not comfortable doing one until I'm at least 2-3cm and 70-80% effaced. Oye! The reason is that Pitocin (the drug they give you to get your uterus to contract) is only effective in helping you along if you're already dilated so much. Without being as far along as she recommends, the Pitocin would only make me have painful contractions and wouldn't be very helpful in dilating...which is what needs to happen! The chances of me having a failed induction and ending up with a c-section go way up if that happens.

She did say that she'll see me at my 40week appointment and if nothing is happening still, we could schedule an induction for next Friday (the 3rd). She will be on call and would therefore be the one to deliver the baby, which is a good thing! At least I know there is an end in sight :)

She did tell me I could take some Benadryl tonight to help me sleep. I'm going to try it and hope it helps at least a little bit! After my appointment I had pretty steady contractions (5-6 minutes apart) for about an hour to an hour and a half. After dinner, they slowly tapered off to where they have been for the past few days...about 15ish minutes apart and not super strong, but annoying.

Since we sold our truck and I'm on "bed rest" at home, I've found myself feeling incredibly bored! (I'm not actually on bed rest, but my doctor wants me to take it easy and keep my feet up. She thinks I'm doing too much and doesn't want to put any unnecessary stress on me or the baby). The entire house is clean, I've done every bit of laundry, and I've even started organizing the office...which is a huge, huge task! Any ideas of what else I could do to keep myself busy at home for however long it is before he comes?

Say a prayer and send some thoughts my way that this won't go until next Friday!

Eviction Notice

2009-03-24T19:03:00.003-05:00

Dear William,

Please consider this your final eviction notice. Your lease is up on Monday, however there have been some questionable practices going on in your dwelling place since Sunday night. These include (but are not limited to), painful contractions that don't end up in labor and attempted rib-breaking. You have 24 hours to vacate the premises or your landlord may have to forcefully remove you.

Thank you for your cooperation,
Mommy

-------

I'm 39 weeks today. I know that I'm not to my due date yet, but the past few days have been somewhat close to torture. I've been having fairly regular contractions since Monday morning at 3am. They get further apart during the day (and sometimes allow me a little break and disappear completely), but they strike again in the middle of the night. I'm operating on about 8 hours of sleep for the past 48 hours and it's not pretty! In the past few hours, they've intensified slightly (though they're still irregular and not close together), and I'm also having what I'd consider back labor. My lower back hurts terribly with each contraction. Definitely not a fun feeling! My OB said that this could possibly go on for a week. After two days of it, I'm about to beg for an induction at my appointment tomorrow...I'm SO tired, physically and emotionally...completely drained. I'm not sure how I'm expected to go through labor and then care for a newborn when I haven't been sleeping. I'm going to take some Benadryl tonight and see if that helps any. I'm not too optimistic!

In more positive news, I got one of the sweetest, most thoughtful gifts on Sunday. It's from my Aunt Gena, my cousins, my grandma, and my mom. Way back in October, my mom flew out to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the balloon festival. She stayed with my Aunt. My grandma came down at the same time. Apparently, an idea was concocted then to create a quilt for Baby Will...although we didn't know that Will was a "he" at the time! Each girl created a square for the quilt that had to have a heart and a character on it. After everyone finished their square, my Aunt Gena quilted the whole thing and then my grandma hand-sewed the binding. They sent it to my mom and I picked it up on Sunday. I LOVE IT!! It's seriously the perfect gift :) And the funny thing is, I was able to tell, just by looking at the squares who created them. I'm so excited to have such a meaningful thing for Will to use through his entire life. And I know that thing is going to get lots and lots of love.

Top (Left) - Emily's square, Grandma's square; Middle - Mom's square, Hannah's square; Bottom (Left) - Ruthie's square, Gena's square

I'll update after my appointment tomorrow, although I'm really, REALLY praying that this baby decides to arrive before then. If that's the case, I may not update for a few days :)

The view from here...

2009-03-21T18:59:00.007-05:00

This is my view now-a-days. The swollen feet and belly really complete the picture, don't ya think? Oh, and notice the left side of the belly poking out more than the right side. No, the picture wasn't taken at an odd angle. That's really how the little boy is hanging out most of the time. I have yet to figure out exactly what it is that makes it stick out so much further. The picture is another painful reminder that this baby still has not arrived. Spring break is now over and I'll return to school on Monday, unless he decides to let us meet him tonight or tomorrow...but somehow I kind of doubt that happening! I think he's awfully comfy in there and has absolutely no desire to become an outside baby anytime soon.

Note that the left side of the belly still sticks out more than the right side...Crazy kid!

I've had an incredibly productive spring break and the dogs have really enjoyed me being home! I cleaned the whole house, did every single bit of laundry, got all the last little baby things that we'll be needing once we get home with Will, gone grocery shopping, baked cookies, and started cooking/freezing meals for us to have once Will comes home. The only thing I haven't done? Write lesson plans. The only thing that really NEEDED to be done? The lesson plans. So guess what I'll be doing tonight and tomorrow? Yup. Writing lesson plans. I'm not sure why I'm putting it off so much - it's really not that bad. And maybe once I write them, Will will realize that his mommy is fully prepared for him to come and he'll decide to arrive on his own...we'll see! Here are a few pictures of the cute cookies I made...they were lots of fun and are quickly disappearing!

Last night Will certainly decided to tease us. I took the dogs for a walk before Greg and I went to see Watchmen (very different movie, by the way). I started having contractions that were 5 minutes apart. By the time we finished dinner, they were 6 minutes apart. Then they moved to 10 minutes apart, then 30 minutes apart, and then they stopped about 3/4 of the way through the movie. I was just a tad disappointed! I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to actually believe I'm in labor whenever I actually go into labor. SO many false alarms!

Oh, send some prayers our way tomorrow around 1:00! We've been trying to sell the truck so we can get a more baby friendly vehicle. We haven't had a ton of bites and those that we have had haven't been anything we're interested in. Today, Greg got a call from someone in New Braunfels who is looking to buy a car for his son. He's going to drive up to Austin tomorrow and look at the truck and another car. Say a prayer, cross your fingers, or whatever that he'll love our truck and will buy it!

10 days left...I think I'm changing my vote in the poll to after April 1. That way I won't be disappointed ;)

Houston We've...

2009-03-18T22:12:00.006-05:00

...progressed backwards. Ugh :( I went in today and Dr. Hancock said that I was barely 1cm dilated and 30-40% effaced. (His actual words were, "Well, I guess you could call that 1cm. Hey, that's better than being totally closed up though!") So in two weeks my body has gone backwards? What is that! Definitely not the way it's supposed to happen. After doing some research, I've learned that internal checks are a very subjective thing. So chances are, I'm exactly the same as I was two weeks ago. Which is not what I wanted to hear either, but better than my body going backwards!

Greg and I talked tonight and if Will doesn't come this week (which I don't think he will), I'll go back to school next week and that will be my last week. My due date will be the following Tuesday and if I haven't had him by then, I'll be induced by the end of the week. I'm getting so uncomfortable, swollen, and just not pretty feeling in general! I SO don't want to go back to school, especially after spring break, but I keep trying to remind myself that I'm going to want all the time with him that I can after he comes.

We've made tentative plans to make our first big family outing the Weenie Dog Races in Buda at the end of April. My parents are going to take their dachshund, Gracie, and I think it'd be a lot of fun to take Will out and enjoy the day, as long as it's nice out! Thinking about having my baby here and going somewhere fun in a little more than a month definitely makes the waiting time between now and my delivery sound a little more bearable. I think it's kind of funny, actually...you spend 37 weeks of your pregnancy praying that you won't have contractions and praying that your baby will not come early. Then you spend the last 3 weeks of your pregnancy praying that God will get that baby the heck out of you! But time is still flying fast (spring break is almost over!) and I know the big day will be here before I know it.

Greg and I drove around tonight and looked at some houses we're interested in. And we got a call on the truck that sounded sort of promising - although the guy lives up near Lubbock somewhere, so he wasn't sure he wanted to make the drive down here. But it was the first call that actually had the potential to go somewhere instead of wanting us to trade for a mini-van or wanting us to take significantly less than we're asking ;) It's a crazy, busy, but very fun and exciting time!

38 weeks

2009-03-17T22:00:00.004-05:00

Spring break has been productive so far (although no lesson plan writing - that's on the agenda for tomorrow). I woke up this morning and had this huge burst of energy - I cleaned/mopped the entire kitchen (including bleaching our sinks! They're sparkly now!), vacuumed, picked up the entire house, unpacked from our trip this weekend, and then did all of our laundry. Nesting much? Maybe it's a sign ;) I'm totally kidding - I'm starting to think I'm going to be pregnant forever.

After that, I ate lunch with Veronica and got to ask lots of questions about labor and delivery. It was really fun to see Bryce, who has gotten SO big and SO cute! It definitely made me even more anxious to meet Will than I already was. I think he and Bryce will be great playmates!

Then I took some stuff back to Babies R Us and bought a bouncer seat. I got a great deal on it too. Because they were all out of them, I bought a store model and got 10% off. Combined with the money I got back from returning some toys, I only had to pay $9 for the thing! Next, I went to Target, returned a few more items and bought some wash cloths, burp cloths, and a few other things. I've still got about $20 on a gift card for Target that I'm going do something with after Will gets here :) All in all it was an incredibly productive day!

Tomorrow I have another doctor's appointment. Hopefully he'll have some good news for me! My regular doctor is out of town for the next week (or possibly two, I can't remember), so I'm seeing another doctor. I actually really, really like him because he's so laid back and easy to talk to. I never feel rushed when I'm in there with him! Last week he demonstrated on me how an epidural would work. I'm still torn as to whether or not I'm going to have one. I think I've decided that I'll labor as long as I can without one - hopefully until I'm at least 6 cm dilated. Then if I need one, I'll get one. Just kind of play it by ear!

I'm 38 weeks pregnant - only 14 more days until my due date! Babycenter.com says that Will weighs about 6.6 pounds now and is over 19 1/2 inches long...we'll see about both of those estimates - I have a feeling he's quite a bit heavier and longer than both of those! His organs have all matured and he's ready for life on the outside. So now all he's doing is cooking away and making his mommy mighty uncomfortable. Especially when he stretches out in there like he's been trying to do lately! He sticks his butt up under my ribs (on the right side) and then pushes outward. It hurts like heck, especially if I'm sitting down!

I'll update tomorrow with news from the doctor. I'm secretly hoping (although not very hopeful) that he'll tell me I'm in labor and admit me to the hospital. Wouldn't that be nice? ;)

Still no baby...

2009-03-15T18:45:00.011-05:00

Still no baby...but Jen and Travis' wedding is over now and he can come any time he wants. He keeps stretching out and sticking his butt up under my ribs - can we say ouch!? Greg and I have been trying to tell him he'll have more room to stretch out on the outside, but someone is stubborn and not listening right now ;)

I'm SO glad I was able to go to the wedding though. It was beautiful! Someone forgot to pack her camera, so all I have are some really terrible pictures from my point and shoot. Here are the four pictures I managed to take all weekend...kind of sad, isn't it?

The happy couple!

Sorry for the quality (flash didn't fire), but it's me and Jen!

Super blurry, but still cute, picture of me and Greg.

This week is my spring break and I'm SO thankful for the break! I'm really in need of some downtime to relax, get some stuff finished around the house, and be away from my students. I've also got 6-8 weeks worth of sub plans to write, so this will give me a chance to do that too. I won't complain at all if a baby interrupts my relaxing-sub plan writing-to do list finishing time though! I told Greg I'm going to start running again if Will doesn't make his appearance soon...and as uncomfortable as that may be, I might just try it!

Last Tuesday was our second anniversary...I can't believe we've already been married for two years! In some ways it seems like longer. We've had so many MAJOR life changing events - we got married, got Riley, bought a new car, got Sammy, lost my grandma, moved to our house, found out I was having Will, I graduated from college, and I started my new job at Robertson. It's so crazy how much life can change in two short years. It's been wonderful, though :) I'm reminded daily of how much I love my husband when he gives me backrubs for my aching lower back, does the dishes after dinner, and even comes to bed with me at 9:00 just because I want him to! To celebrate our anniversary, we at dinner at the Salt Lick. It was fun to just get out of the house and enjoy dinner together!

T-minus 16 days until my due date! Even if he doesn't come early, 16 days isn't a whole lot of time! Yay!! :)

The Nursery is Finished!

2009-03-09T20:30:00.005-05:00

Greg and I finished the nursery this weekend and I am in love with it! I could sit in there all day and look at all the cute things. I love that we got such a great deal on everything and that it is so totally "us."

Standing in the doorway, looking into the room. The scrapbook paper will eventually be replaced with newborn pictures.

View of the room from the doorway. Our good friend Veronica made the amazing canvas and curtains for us!

Crib, mobile from my parents, and the canvas. I love the elephants!

Comfy rocker, bookcase, and the awesome curtains. We eventually want to get sheers to go behind the valence in the window, but that might not happen for awhile ;)

Dresser, changing pad, and the wall letters. I love this part of the room! I bought the circles and letters online and then decopauged scrapbook paper on top of them. It took Greg and I awhile to get them just right, but I'm so proud of the way it turned out.

Close up of the letters :) Love 'em!

Close up of the mobile...I think this is one of my favorite parts of the nursery. It plays a sweet lullaby and I'm sure Will is going to love watching it.

Close up of the bedding. The green parts are all corduroy and the white elephant is a fuzzy microfiber material. I love all the textures!

The newborn and 0-3 months side of the closet. You can see our carseat poking out, the elephant boppy from Target, and all the precious little clothes in there!

In other news, I'll be 37 weeks along tomorrow...officially full term! Yay! :) I had a doctor's appointment today and Will's heartrate was strong in the 130s. He is still definitely head down and I'm still feeling a ton of pressure down low. Dr. Hancock said it could be any time now and to be prepared...we'll see when it actually happens! I really have no idea. Sometimes it seems like it could be happening and other times I feel like he'll never arrive. Either way, it's going to be coming up within the next three weeks! I got all the laundry done this weekend and we packed our hospital bags. It's very weird to think that the two of us will go to the hospital and we'll come home with three. Very surreal and exciting at the same time. I have some amazing friends who are all planning to come visit us in the hospital and are wanting to come help out after he arrives. I feel so blessed to have such a supportive husband, family, and friends!

Here's my 37 week tummy picture...I'm feeling very large (and have very swollen feet), but I know it'll all be worth it once he's here :)

Things I'll Miss About Pregnancy

2009-03-06T20:41:00.003-06:00

I'm getting SO ready to have an outside baby...although I'm more ready on the inside than I am on the outside. The mountain of laundry in our laundry room and the unpacked hospital bags definitely need to get fixed this weekend ;) I've had a relatively easy pregnancy...no big complications and it's gone by super fast. But I wouldn't consider myself one of those women who LOVE being pregnant...I'm much more in love with the outcome of my pregnancy! :) I can easily make a list of all the things I won't miss about being pregnant - the swelling, the stretch marks, the peeing every hour, the backaches, etc. But there are some things I'll miss once Will is in my arms.

1. Feeling him move. I love guessing what body parts I'm feeling and I love his daily hiccups (as long as they don't last for 30 minutes!) It will be so weird to not feel him moving in my tummy all the time after he's born!

2. Feeling connected to him. I know that this is the closest I'll ever be to him, physically and emotionally. From here on out he's going to be growing into his own person, and though I'll always be his mommy, I'll never be this close to him again. Kind of bittersweet!

3. Feeling like I'm part of a special club. Everywhere I go, I get smiles and questions about my due date, etc. I don't usually like being the center of attention, but I'll miss this attention afterward. Of course Will will probably get all the attention then! :)

4. Imagining what he'll look like. Okay, so actually seeing him for the first time will be pretty great too, but I love trying to imagine what features of mine he'll have and what features of Greg he'll have!

5. Dreaming of all the things he'll get to do. This goes along the same lines as number 4, but I have so many dreams of what the future with him will be like. I can see flashes of him playing little league baseball, losing his first tooth, his first day of kindergarten, rough-housing with Greg, snuggling and reading books before bedtime, and even his wedding day. I'm sure those dreams won't stop once he's here, but dreaming about all the possibilities is so special to me.

6. Praying for the person he will be. This won't stop either, but I started praying for him once I found out I was pregnant. I pray for the type of person he will be and that God will give him a great compassion for others and a passion for God's work. I can't wait to see the amazing guy he turns into and to watch him grow up.

Thinking about it that way, being pregnant hasn't been so bad :) I might even kind of miss it once he's here!

Oh, vote in the poll of when you think Will might come! I have good reason to believe that I'm further dilated and/or effaced than I was on Wednesday (though I'll spare you the details!). I haven't been having any more contractions than normal, but I have had a lot of pressure from his head. I'm hoping he comes this weekend or during spring break - he needs to stay put wherever he is next week though - Jen's wedding is coming and I'm her matron of honor!

36 Weeks

2009-03-04T21:01:00.005-06:00

I'm 36 weeks pregnant! Next week I will be considered full term and they will no longer take any measures to stop labor. Everything is coming SO fast!

I had an appointment today and I found out that I've made lots of progress! Hooray! Will is head down and fully engaged (aka in the correct position for a normal delivery). I'm 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. This is great news! She did say that this doesn't necessarily mean anything - you can be dilated for weeks without having anything happening. But it does give me hope that Will will decide to move out on or before his due date. Here's to hoping! :)

In other pregnancy news, I no longer have ankles. I go from foot to calf. And my calves are barely smaller than my knees. The dreaded swelling has hit and let me tell you...it is NOT fun! Thank goodness it's just swelling though. Swelling can be a sign of pre-eclampsia, which is a very serious condition in pregnancy. My blood pressure is completely normal though (122/60) and averaging on the low side of normal. So my doctor really isn't worried about pre-eclampsia, but we'll keep an eye on it.

Two of my friends threw me a baby shower this past weekend and it was SO much fun! :) We got our carseat/stroller and pack 'n play, which we were extremely thankful for! We're also all set on bottles, clothes, blankets, bath stuff, and diapers for those first few weeks. On Sunday, Greg and I went to Target and Babies 'R Us and bought a few more things that we'd be needing in the first month or so. My friend Veronica is an amazing interior desinger and she painted a canvas that matches our bedding and made curtains for us. The nursery is almost completed and it looks awesome! I'll post pictures of it after we get stuff hung up.

Not much new on the baby development front. He weighs about 6 pounds and is losing the fuzzy hair that's been protecting his skin for the past 36 weeks. His lungs will continue to mature, but they're really almost there. The position he's in (head down) is likely to be the postion he stays in for birth...yay Will! :)

And now for my 36ish week tummy picture...this was actually taken before my shower, so I'm just a few days shy of 36 weeks. I don't think I changed that much though!

Only 4 weeks left!!

35 & 35

2009-02-24T17:25:00.003-06:00

Wow...Today I'm 35 weeks pregnant and there are 35 days left until Will's due date. How crazy is that?! Very exciting too :) Will's lungs are almost completely developed and if he were to be born this week, he'd have a 99% chance of surviving with no disabilities or setbacks. He'd probably have to stay in the NICU to help his lungs finish developing, but ultimately he'd be alright! He likely weighs more than 5 1/2 pounds - probably pushing about 6 pounds this week. He should be in his birthing position by now...we'll see next week when I go in for my appointment! Hopefully he is head down - my doctor doesn't attempt to deliver breech babies naturally. She says it's too risky and will opt to do a c-section. I'd much rather him cooperate and be a good baby!

I'm feeling much better today, although I'm still coughing and have almost no voice. I went back to school and got (mostly) good reports from my sub, so I'm glad about that too! Hopefully I can keep myself rested and healthy until I go on my maternity leave...I'm running out of sick days quickly!

My baby shower is this weekend and I'm getting soo excited! :) It will be so much fun to get to hang out with good friends and family. Then, the week after that I'll have my baby shower at school. I totally wasn't expecting this since I just started working there, but I'm excited nonetheless! Greg and I are also going to look at some cars this weekend. We've listed the truck for sale and we're hoping to get that sold and an SUV bought before Will gets here. Time is ticking by quickly!

No belly picture this week...I still look sick and am definitely not in the mood to get my picture taken ;)

So Sick :(

2009-02-21T22:07:00.002-06:00

I started coughing on Tuesday and barely managed to make it through the day on Wednesday. I kept telling myself I just had to make it through the day because I had already taken Wednesday off for a doctor's appointment. I woke up in the middle of the night on Wednesday shaking uncontrollably and had a fever of 101.8. I took some Tylenol and managed to go back to sleep for a little bit. Thankfully the doctor's appointment was already scheduled and the doctor I saw was able to treat me.

After listening to my lungs and my horrible cough, she said she thought I had bronchitis. She also said that this was a pretty good explanation for my racing heart on Tuesday. I probably am still slightly anemic, but not bad enough to cause the really fast heart beat. She gave me a prescription for Amoxicillin, a cough syrup with codeine, and an inhaler. Will is still doing well though, thank goodness! His heart rate was in the 130s, which she said was awesome for me having a fever. After the appointment I stopped by Wal-Mart and filled the prescriptions before coming home and planting myself on the couch for the rest of the day.

I had to call in sick on Friday and the jury is still out on whether or not I'm going to be able to go in on Monday or not. I haven't really had a fever today, but it was bad yesterday. I am so sore from coughing though! My chest feels so achy and my ribs/abs hurt so bad every time I cough. I've had no appetite at all and have had to force myself to eat so I can take the antibiotics. They seem to be working, though, because I am feeling slightly better today than I did yesterday.

I was telling Greg that I don't think I've been this sick since I was in high school...It's not fun! Especially when you're pregnant. Thank goodness the little boy is being nice and moving around a lot, which is reassuring when you're running a fairly high fever. Hopefully I'll get feeling better soon!

34 Weeks

2009-02-18T19:57:00.004-06:00

Yesterday marked 34 weeks in my pregnancy...6 left to go before my due date and only 3 until he's considered full term...a little bit scary!!

I "celebrated" being 34 weeks along by heading into Labor and Delivery because baby Will decided that he wanted to scare his mommy by not being very active all day. I have to do these things called "Kick Counts" each day to make sure he's doing okay in there. Basically I pick anytime and count the movements I feel. I should be able to feel 10 in an hour. If I don't, I'm supposed to drink some caffeine, eat some sugar, and then try again for another hour. If I still haven't felt 10 by then, I'm supposed to call the nurse's line to see what to do. Well, I woke up at 3:30am (after being to the bathroom a grand total of FOUR times during the night!) and realized that I really hadn't felt him move at all during the night (which is pretty unusual). So of course I started paying attention to it (and worrying a little bit!) and was up until my alarm went off poking my belly and trying to get him to move. He did move a bit...but not as much as normal!

So I decided not to panic and got ready for school. He continued his not-really-moving thing all day, so at 2:00 on my planning period I called the nurse's line. They wanted me to come in to Labor and Delivery immediately, so I got someone to cover my class for the last 10 minutes of the day and drove over to Scott and White. They hooked me up to the monitors and Will's heart rate looked great...mine on the other hand was not so great! It was in the 140s and my blood pressure was a little bit high. They waited and took it again - same story. They kept me on the monitors for 30 minutes and my heart rate never really went down...at points, MY heart rate was faster than his! The on-call doctor came in and said that they were going to draw some blood to test me for anemia. Apparently anemia can cause your heart rate to go up because you have less hemoglobin in your blood. Hemoglobin attaches to your the oxygen, so your heart has to work twice as hard to get your blood oxygenated - hence the high heart rate. The tests came back showing that I am anemic so it's something we're going to have to watch.

I picked up some bug at the hospital though (or possibly at school - who knows!) and I feel totally yucky. I think there should be a law that you shouldn't have to be pregnant and sick at the same time because it's not fun!! I have a horrible cough and have felt feverish all day (although I haven't actually registered a fever). I'm going to the doctor tomorrow though, and I'm going to talk with her about it and see if there's anything I can do for the awful cough. I'm looking forward to resting at home tomorrow since I took the whole day off, though!

Will weighs around 5 1/2 pounds this week and is continuing to grow and develop. His lungs are maturing and will continue to do so over the next few weeks. His hiccuping is a result of learning to breathe by taking in amniotic fluid. I'd say he's getting in lots of practicing since he's doing lots and lots of hiccuping! :)

Here's my 34 week belly picture. I was wearing the same outfit as my 28 week picture, so I decided to do a little comparison. In the words of my mom, I'm huge ;) Will has done quite a bit of growing in the past 6 weeks!

Hiccups

2009-02-13T22:30:00.002-06:00

Will has the hiccups right now...for the third time today! He gets the hiccups every.single.day - sometimes more than once! They usually don't bother me, unless I'm trying to sleep. Then the constant "popping" in my belly is a little annoying ;)

The other day I heard a story about a family that was expecting a little girl (and had the nursery all decorated and everything!) and instead were surprised with a little boy. It made me realize how much I've grown used to the fact that Will is a boy. If he surprised us at delivery by having girl parts instead of boy parts, I'm not sure how I'd react! I'm sure eventually it would be wonderful and a blessing, but it would definitely be a shock. We have all these dreams for him as a little boy - playing sports, rough-housing with Greg, learning about cars from Matt, etc...it would be so strange to have to change all those ideas of what the future will be like! We're 99% sure he's a boy though - the ultrasound technicians confirmed it at the last ultrasound we had too :) So hopefully, there will be no surprises here!

I'm headed to bed right now...Greg and I are going to have fun hanging out on our last Valentine's Day as a family of two! And I've got to be rested ;) We've been trying to see a movie for the past few weeks, but I get so tired so early that it's been impossible! So we decided to go to a matinee and THEN do dinner. Hopefully I can make it through one of those movies!

Happy Valentine's Day!

33 weeks

2009-02-11T19:32:00.004-06:00

Will is still growing away in there! There isn't a whole lot of new things happening this week - mainly just the usual maturing the lungs and gaining baby fat. He should weigh about 4 1/2 pounds this week and his lungs are almost completely mature. Yay! One thing I thought was very interesting is that his pupils will dilate/constrict in response to light. I didn't know enough light would make it in there for this to happen, but I think it's pretty neat! The experts say that by now, he should be getting in his birth position (aka head down)...I'm pretty sure he's flipped back by now because I feel something shoved up under my ribs. Here's to hoping that he is!

I'm still having a lot of contractions and a lot of cramping. It scares me a little bit that he might be coming early...but I'm going to stay on the positive side and say that it's just my body preparing for labor! Sitting down and putting my feet up really helps those go away, though. So I've been coming home and planting myself on the couch with a pillow under my feet :) Greg has been wonderful at taking care of me, helping to make dinner, cleaning up, etc. He's also incredibly understanding as my bedtime inches closer and closer to 8:00...hey growing a baby is exhausting, not to mention teaching some incredibly difficult 5th graders!

No belly picture this week...I'll get one this weekend for next week!

Dear Will,

2009-02-10T17:39:00.003-06:00

Hi sweet little boy. I wanted to write just to you today because your time to snuggle up inside me is quickly coming to a close. I can't believe that in just 7 short weeks, you'll be here to snuggle in my arms. The past 8 months since your daddy and I found out about you have gone by so quickly!

You have a personality all your own and I cannot wait to see that personality in your smiles, giggles, surprise, wonder, and laughter. You love to wiggle when I get still and you love it when I lay down at night. You kick and squirm and I imagine that you're settling in and getting comfy for a goodnight sleep. You are very responsive to your mommy and daddy's touches. Today, I was walking down the hall and you started poking on my tummy from the inside. I put my hand over where you were poking and you got very still for a moment. Then you started an all out punching war on the place where my hand was. It made me smile - it was almost as if you were saying hi!

I look at your pictures from our ultrasounds almost every day and I can't wait to see what you look like. Your little nose looks like it is perfect for kisses and in your last pictures, we could see you getting some chubby little cheeks! I wonder what color your hair and eyes will be, if you'll have my chin or your daddy's wavy hair. Whatever you have, it will be perfect. When we were choosing your name, we looked closely at the meaning of it. Your first name means "protector." Your middle name, though, means "gift from God." And a gift you truly are. He picked you out especially for us and it makes me smile to think of you hanging out in Heaven with Jesus waiting to come into our lives.

You are very special to us and you are very, very loved. We'll see you in 7 weeks!

Love,
Mommy

32 weeks

2009-02-03T18:56:00.003-06:00

I know I say this all the time, but time is flying by so fast. I'm sure it's because I'm working and days at school go by so fast because I'm so busy. And then by the time I get home, I'm exhausted and totally ready to go to bed. But I still can't believe that I'm 32 weeks along (or that it's nearly Wednesday!)

Not too much different happening in there this week. Will is still gaining weight (they say he should weigh about 3.75 pounds right now) and his lungs are still maturing. He's got fingernails, toenails, and hair (possibly!). He's a very active baby too! Yesterday at school, I was feeling a lot of pressure on the left side of my stomach...I looked down and the left side was sticking out a good 4 inches further than the right side. I nearly started laughing out loud! He was head down at the last ultrasound appointment, but I have a feeling that all that moving and flipping and pushing yesterday had to do with him flipping into a breech position. My suspicion comes from the fact that I can breathe again and it doesn't feel like I have feet in my ribs any longer. Oh well - he still has a few more weeks to flip back over before he gets too big.

Here is my 32 week tummy picture. I feel huge, but I still get comments on how "tiny" I look and how people can't believe I'm 8 months pregnant. My bellybutton still hasn't completely popped out yet...I'm hoping it stays that way!

31 Weeks

2009-01-30T19:05:00.002-06:00

Will definitely made his daddy and I smile last night! I was laying in bed getting ready to go to sleep and Greg came in to tell me goodnight. Will started kicking, so Greg put his hands on my tummy to feel him. Of course, he stopped right when Greg wanted to feel...figures! So Greg decided to poke at him a few times...and what did Will do? He poked back! This went on seriously for about 10 minutes. It was such a neat experience...our little boy definitely knows we're out there :)

Today hasn't been quite as fun of a "pregnant" day for me though. I always have lots of braxton hicks contractions every day, but today they've been accompanied by lots of cramping. It's not fun! I'm sure it's from being on my feet so much during the day...the hazard of being a teacher, I suppose. I'm going to go to bed early tonight though, and hopefully that will help everything.

Since I didn't post a 31 week update, here's what's been happening in Will's neck of the woods this week! His lungs are still maturing, but every day brings them closer to being fully developed. Yay! His ears are fully developed and he can hear my voice and the voices around me. This means he should recognize familiar voices after he's born. My weekly email says he weighs about 3 1/2 pounds now, but in our ultrasound last week he was already weighing in at 3 pounds, 11 ounces (which can be off as much as a pound in either direction). So he could possibly be quite a bit bigger than 3 1/2 pounds!

No tummy picture this week...sorry! I'll get one tomorrow :) Hope everyone had a good Friday!

Tell me he's not spoiled...

2009-01-24T22:20:00.004-06:00

I've just finished washing, folding, and putting away two large loads of laundry...they are solely Will's clothing! And I have two more loads to do, plus his bedding. Greg and I were at Wal-Mart and I picked up 4 10-packs of children's hangers, thinking that 40 would certainly be enough. Hah! I used 30 on the first load alone, and that's not including the things that I stuck in the dresser. I think the kid has more clothes than me and he's not even born yet :) That's a good thing though...less laundry for mommy to have to do each week!

Greg and I spent the afternoon at our friend's, Aaron and Veronica, house. Veronica is an awesome interior designer and we "swapped" talents. I took her maternity and newborn pictures in exhange for some help with the nursery! So while the boys played video games, we talked baby stuff. She is going to make a canvas to hang above the crib of elephants like the ones on our bedding. She's also going to help sew some curtains for me. I can't wait to see what it looks like! In the meantime, I've got to finish decopauging the letters for the wall. I'm about halfway done and then we'll hang them above the dresser. It's all coming together! My goal is to have it finished before my shower in February.

Not much new to update on...Will has been kicking like crazy lately. Greg got to feel him for a long time today. His movements now are SO different from when I first started feeling him. It used to feel like air bubbles in my stomach or popcorn popping. Now, I'm starting to be able to identify what body parts are poking me. We're almost down to two months until his due date...crazy how fast time flies!!

Kidney Update

2009-01-20T18:33:00.004-06:00

We had our ultrasound today and everything looks great with Will's kidneys! The specialist that was in there to look at them didn't even have to measure them to tell that there was no dilation. Thank you so much for all your prayers! They definitely worked :)

Will slept for pretty much the entire ultrasound, but he's looking fantastic. They estimated his weight to be about 3 pounds 11 ounces (although that can be off in either direction by about 10 ounces). All of his measurements are right on target at around 30 weeks, however his femur is measuring ahead by nearly two weeks! Sounds like someone inherited his daddy's long legs!! ;)

We got to see his heart beating away (and it definitely still has four chambers!). Since he was sleeping, his heart rate was about 131 beats per minute. It was so fun to watch him on the screen again...I couldn't believe how big he had gotten, though! They could no longer get his head and his body on the screen at the same time. We could tell he's got some chubby cheeks and he's definitely still 100% boy :)

Here are some of the pictures from today...

Profile shot...still has the same sweet little nose!

A shot looking down at his face. His eyes are labeled "E" and there is an arrow pointing to him smiling!

The four chambers of his heart

It was definitely a good day! :)

30 Weeks!

2009-01-19T11:48:00.009-06:00

Sorry for the lack of updates this week...it's been a rather crazy/hectic week! I took (and passed!) my certification exam on Tuesday and then there was some 'drama' that went on at work for the rest of the week. Luckily, all that was taken care of and hopefully this week will be much, much less stressful.

Tomorrow I'll be 30 weeks pregnant! For some reason that seems like a really big milestone...I guess probably because 3/4 of my pregnancy is over. Time is flying by - it seems like yesterday that we were having our 20 week ultrasound to find out if Will is a girl or a boy! This week, he weighs about 3 pounds and about 16 inches long. His eyesight is improving, but it's still pretty bad. When he's born, he'll have 20/400 vision...meaning he can see at 20 feet what most people can see at 400! That's worse than both mommy and daddy's vision combined! Luckily, though, that won't last and it'll improve as he gets older and his eyes get stronger.

He definitely likes music! We had staff development at school on Friday and they played some loud music while everyone was gathering together. Will thought it was time to party and promptly started drumming on my insides! He did the same thing at church on Sunday morning...who knows, we may have a little musician on our hands. :) He also has quite the little attitude. He definitely does not like any type of pressure at all. When I'm getting ready in the morning, I lean over the counter to get close to the mirror to put on eyeliner and mascara. The edge of the counter presses against my belly. Will goes absolutely crazy punching or kicking at the counter until I stand back up. He definitely likes having his space.

This afternoon I have a doctor's appointment with another one of the OB/GYNs at the clinic. I'm on a rotation for the next several weeks to meet all of them, in case my doctor isn't available when I go into labor. Tomorrow is our ultrasound to see how Will's kidney is doing. I've actually been doing really well with not worrying about it. God has given me lots of things to keep my mind occupied ;) Please continue to pray for him before tomorrow, though!

Here's what I'm looking like at 30 weeks pregnant:

And here's what Will is looking like! I found this awesome picture online of a 30 week old baby boy in the womb...looks like it's a little crammed in there!

I'll update tomorrow after the ultrasound :) Have a great Martin Luther King day!

What a stinker!

2009-01-11T20:00:00.002-06:00

Greg was a mischievous child and apparently our baby is already taking after him ;) Just kidding...kind of! Friday was a long day at school. I felt Will moving around a bit in the morning while I was in the shower, but I really didn't feel much after that. I didn't think anything of it since I was on my feet teaching all day and not really paying particular attention to whether or not he was moving.

When I got home from school, I realized that I hadn't felt him in awhile, which seemed odd. So, I decided to keep an eye on it for the rest of the evening. Greg and I ate dinner then I watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy on my computer and surfed the internet for awhile, all while paying attention to see if he moved. Well, he didn't - not even a flutter or a kick! I drank some orange juice and laid on my side for 15 minutes (which is what my doctor told me to do if he wasn't moving). He still was stubbornly refusing to move at all and I was getting more and more worried. I called the Labor & Delivery nurse's line and they told me I needed to come on in and get everything checked out. The nurse mentioned that he could just be sleepy or he could have his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck...definitely something that scared me!

Greg and I immediately got in the car and drove to Scott and White. I checked in and got wheeled up to Labor and Delivery. The nurse that was with us was awesome - she was SO nice and friendly with us. I changed into a gown and then they put the monitors on my tummy. Right away we heard his little heart beating away and I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. I asked her if it was normal for them to not move for a long period of time and she said that it wasn't normal exactly, but that it was common. She left me hooked up to the monitors for awhile and sure enough, he started kicking away - right where the monitors were. Apparently he didn't care for them crowding his space! His heartrate fluctuated throughout the 140s, but stayed pretty close to the mid-140s the entire time I was hooked up.

When the nurse brought my discharge papers in, she said, "Well, we'll see you back here in about 10 weeks!" 10 weeks? Really? Is it really that close? My actual due date is a little over 11 weeks away, but my doctor won't stop labor if it happens after 37 weeks. So Will could hypothetically be here in as little as 8 weeks. That is absolutely crazy!!

Yesterday and today, Will has been making up for lost time kicking. He was kicking so hard in the same spot yesterday that I had to get up and walk around - it hurt! But I'm not complaining; I'd much rather him make his presence known.

Doctors Appointment Today

2009-01-07T20:26:00.003-06:00

I had my monthly doctors appointment today, along with the Gestational Diabetes test. The test honestly wasn't that bad...the drink was a little gross (tasted like flat orange pop) and I had to down it in 5 minutes, but other than that it wasn't bad! I'll find out in a few days if I didn't pass, otherwise "no news is good news." I think that I passed - I hope that I passed anyways! I really don't want to go in for the three hour test.

Afterwords, I saw my doctor for my appointment. Will's heart sounded great (still in the 150s) and I'm measuring right on target at 28cm...You should have about a centimeter of growth for every week you're pregnant. She said that the fact that Will's feet are sticking into my ribs is a good thing - it means he's probably head down and facing the right way! We did get a little bit of concerning news...on the anatomy ultrasound I had on 11/7, one of Will's kidneys was enlarged. It is called pyelectasis. She didn't seem too concerned about it at all and said it was a very mild case. I, on the other hand, am not so relaxed about it! I've spent the better part of the afternoon on Google researching it. I will have to go back in for another ultrasound on the 21st to reevaluate.

From what I've found out through my Googling, it's very common in boys and usually resolves itself by the third trimester. If it doesn't, it doesn't mean that there will be a problem after birth, but it could. If it hasn't resolved itself, they will continue to monitor it and after he's born he will have to have some tests run. If it's causing problems then, it would mean a minor surgery procedure. It can be a soft marker for Downs Syndrome...which freaks me out a lot! I just want our baby boy to be perfectly healthy in every way. However, the chances of him having Downs are still not high because we've seen him opening and closing his hands on the ultrasound and he doesn't have any other soft markers for it.

I was a little upset at first that I wasn't told right after the ultrasound on 11/7 that there was a problem, however, thinking about it now, it's a blessing from God. If we would have found out about it right after the ultrasound, we would not have been able to have a follow up ultrasound until the third trimester...so even if we would have found out then, I'd still be waiting to find out anything about it. And knowing me, I would have been worrying about it the entire time and not enjoying life! So now we get to wait until the 21st...and I think it's going to be a long two weeks. I'm really trying not to worry. God blessed us with this baby for a reason and he knows what He is doing. I am trying to rest in His peace and trust him entirely. This is something incredibly hard for me to do; but He is all-knowing, all-powerful, loving, merciful, and my God. He will take care of me and Will, no matter what the outcome of the ultrasound is. Keep Will and his kidney in your prayers!

28 Weeks

2009-01-06T19:31:00.004-06:00

Today I am 28 weeks pregnant! Will is the size of an eggplant now and weighs about 2.2 pounds. For some reason his weight gain and my weight gain don't exactly match up ;) That's alright - I'm still well within my weight gain limits! He also has the ability to open his eyes and look around. He's beginning to blink, although right now it's pretty jerky and involuntary. He'll keep practicing and perfect this over the next few weeks. He also now has eyelashes...I wonder what they look like and how long/what color they are!

His movements have really started to feel different. They're much more frequent and much stronger! I used to not feel movements during the day when I was busy and moving around a lot. It was only when I laid down at night that I'd really start to feel him wiggling around. But lately his kicks have been a little distracting while I'm teaching! One of my students asked me today if my "belly was jumping" yet. She said she got to see her mom's "belly jump" all the time last year when she was pregnant. Her terminology made me laugh!

I really wasn't looking forward to giving up my relaxing time at home to go back to school, but the past two days have been great. I really love my students and I'm actually really enjoying teaching math! There have been a few hiccups with me actually getting hired as a "teacher" at Robertson (right now they have me down as a long-term sub). I have to go take another certification test (my generalist exam) on the 13th and then I'll be able to go in and sign my contract and paperwork. It's frustrating, but I know it's for the best. After I take that, I'll be certified to teach ANY subject in grades 4 - 8, which will be beneficial in the future!

Here's my tummy picture for 28 weeks (taken a few days ago) as well as a picture of Greg and I from New Year's Eve...we had so much trouble getting a decent picture! It was actually pretty funny :)

73 and Sunny...

2009-01-02T13:37:00.003-06:00

I can't believe it's the 2nd of January. It's currently 73 degrees outside, bright, sunny, and fabulous! I was complaining a few weeks ago about it not feeling like Christmas, but I'm totally loving the weather today. The girls and I went outside to enjoy it for awhile

Sammy went right to the fence and started running with the dog next door...

...while Riley decided to chill with me by the patio for awhile.

I decided to go down to the fence and see what all the commotion was about.

Sammy was putting that big 'ol dog in his place.

And her ears were flying!

She had to make sure she fussed at him enough...

...And then she was back at the races.

Pretty soon, Riley decided to join us down by the fence.

So Sammy had to show off just a little bit.

She waited patiently for the other dog to reciprocate...

...before she took off again.

Riley showed off her cuteness for awhile...

...

But pretty soon she realized that she should get some exercise too.

But all that exercising...

...sure does make a girl tired!

After a short rest, she was off again!

All three of us enjoy 73-degree January days. :)

Third Trimester!

2008-12-29T21:06:00.007-06:00

Tomorrow marks the beginning of my third trimester...only 13 weeks until we get to meet Will! I could not be more excited. I'm starting to get slightly uncomfortable - my stomach feels like it's stretched to its max (which I know is far from the truth!) and my back gets achy if I sit or stand for a long time. Plus Will has decided to stick his feet under the ribs on my right side and kick...hard! Not so pleasant for mommy! But aside from all the uncomfortable parts, it's fun getting bigger! Strangers have been asking me when I'm due and an HEB employee nearly knocked me over to keep me from picking up a case of water. And I really do enjoy feeling Will moving around nearly constantly...his movements are becoming much more defined and much more noticeable!

He also officially has the most ornaments of any unborn baby ever ;) My parents got him one, Greg's parents got him one, both of my grandparents got him one, and my aunt got him one. Greg says we're going to have to get a bigger tree next year to fit all of them...I agree ;) Speaking of Christmas trees, here is a really horrible picture of our Christmas tree from this year. I took some with the nice camera, but I don't feel like searching through the memory cards to find it right now!

I can't believe it's almost 2009! Time is flying by so fast. My weekly baby email said that Will weighs about 2 pounds this week and is about the size of a head of cauliflower. His lungs are developing and maturing a lot and if he were born now they would be able to function fairly well (with lots of medical help). He's also started opening and closing his eyes...not much to see in there, I'm sure! I can't wait to see what color they are :) Here's a tummy picture for this week, plus a few other fun ones!

Sammy trying out the sling that one of my mom's friends generously gave us...She approved!

Greg and the girls...Riley is showing just how fond of having her picture taken she was!

I hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve and a wonderful start to 2009!!

99 Days Left...

2008-12-22T09:22:00.006-06:00

Sorry it's been so long since my last post! I was sick all last week, then I had graduation this weekend and Greg and I finished up (most of) our Christmas shopping. Let me just say this - being sick is not fun at all, but especially when you're pregnant! I don't know if I had a mild version of the flu or some other stomach bug, but I'm so glad it's gone! I ended up going to the doctor just to make sure everything was okay with Will since I'd been running a fever. He's doing great (and is as wiggly as ever!) His heart rate on the doppler was 155bpm. There was a moment while listening to it that I could hear two heartbeats and I think the panic must have shown on my face because the doctor laughed and assured me that it was just MY heart beating on top of the baby's ;) Whew! I go back in on January 7th for my last monthly appointment before they move to every two weeks. I also have my one hour glucose test that day to see if I'm developing gestational diabetes. Before that I have to drink a sugary orange drink they gave me and then they'll draw my blood to see how my body handles the sugar. I'm a little nervous since I've had some issues with low blood sugar in the past and hoping that I don't have gestational diabetes...Even if I do have it, though, it would only mean that I'd have to go on a restricted diet and check my blood sugar levels for the remainder of my pregnancy. Not too bad!

I graduated from UMHB on Saturday with my BA in Education. I can't believe it's over, but I'm very thankful that it is. I learned a lot through all the hands on experience I was able to have being in classrooms, but I'm definitely not itching to get into graduate school or anything like that! I'm also very thankful that I have a job and that I don't have to begin subbing after the holidays. God is wonderful and He truly has a plan for my life that is greater than anything I could ever imagine!

We almost have the nursery all put together! We bought an upholstered rocking chair from USA Baby (and got an awesome deal on it!) and a bookshelf from IKEA in the past couple weeks. Our JCPenney bedding finally arrived and I love it. Now I've just got to get the decorations in there and it will be completely ready for Will. Here are some pictures:

I don't have a belly picture yet for this week...I'll try to get that before we leave for Christmas! But here's what is going on with Will this week. The nerves in his ears are becoming more sensitive and he's beginning to be able to pick up on the sounds of other people's voices; not just mine anymore. He seems to love when I'm listening to music too - no matter what kind it is, he'll start to wiggle around. He's still gaining all that baby fat and practicing breathing with amniotic fluid. He weighs 1 3/4 pounds and is around 14 inches long. We're hoping to get a 3D-4D ultrasound in the next month, so we'll have some good pictures of him and hopefully some video too!

I hope everyone has a safe and blessed Christmas!

Happy Viability Day, Will!

2008-12-09T17:05:00.006-06:00

Today marks 24 weeks of being pregnant...the special thing about that is that Will is now considered "viable" outside the womb if he were to be born today! All his major organs are functioning, and although his lungs aren't working properly, he could live with a respirator. His mommy definitely wants him to stay in there and cook for awhile longer though...no early appearances, please!

Will weighs about 1 1/2 pounds this week and is the length of a foot long hot dog. My baby book said that he looks pretty cramped in there now...I can imagine so! I can feel him moving around very often! It's pretty fun if he's kicking to put my hand over the spot and press down a little bit. He usually goes into a fit of kicking as if to say, "Hey! I'm cramped enough in here already. Please don't make it any smaller!" He also looks like an infant now and the next 16 weeks will be spent accumulating fat (for cute, chubby cheeks!) and continuing to perfect his breathing/organ functions.

This past weekend we painted our Craigslist find dresser...It looks great! It was an exhausting, all day affair, but we managed to get it completely painted, clear-coated, and moved into his room! The silver knobs we bought for it look great too. Now we just need a rocking chair or glider and a bookcase. Our bedding should be here any day (provided JCPenney doesn't mess up our order again!) and his room will really start coming together. I have a bunch of cute decoration ideas and I have a friend who is an interior decorator to help :)

I started my job at Robertson last Wednesday and was in a math training today. I'm slowly getting my room set up and will start teaching my kiddos on Friday! I'm really excited about working there and I'm really enjoying everyone I work with. I think it's going to be a great fit...God is so good to me!

Big news!!

2008-12-03T20:30:00.003-06:00

I have some big, exciting news...I got a job! It's all been a crazy, fast experience, but I am now the newest 5th grade teacher at Robertson Elementary. I'm so excited to not have to worry about finding a job next August and to have a position in the district I want to be working in.

God is amazing and he takes care of our every need so well! I wasn't seeking this out at all, but it seems like it's going to be a perfect fit. I got to observe today and see my room...I'll fill out paperwork tomorrow and observe for the rest of the week...I'll actually start teaching on Monday. It still seems very surreal - yesterday I was a student teacher and today I'm a teacher! UMHB was wonderful and released me from my student teaching early to go to Robertson (and they all say that they're very proud of me!) They are alright with me leaving in April to have the baby and then coming back in August for the following school year. I know that it will be stressful at times, but it's such a huge weight off my shoulders to have this job.

23 weeks

2008-11-30T21:01:00.001-06:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We sure did. Lots of time with family and great food! On Friday, I braved the crowds and did some Christmas shopping. I got quite a few things accomplished (although I still have to shop for Greg - he's so hard to shop for!) and found some bargains on maternity clothes and baby clothes for Will...he's growing quite the wardrobe of sweet little boy clothes!

On Wednesday, Greg and I found an awesome dresser off of Craigslist. We'd been looking for something that could double as a changing table and found a great, sturdy one that was selling for a great price. It's an ugly green color that I'm not too crazy about, so next weekend we're going to be spray painting it white. We got some brushed silver knobs for the dresser that will look great on it once it's painted! When we got there, the lady wouldn't budge on the price but she did throw in a changing table. We'll have to paint that white too, but Will's nursery is definitely coming together! We're still searching for a rocking chair...but everything we've found so far is about $200 more than we want to spend!

Yesterday we spent the day doing some Christmas shopping and then put up our tree. It looks awesome and it's so exciting to have all our decorations up. I love Christmas time :) We also found some icicle lights in the attic of our garage that Greg is going to put on the house next weekend. I'll put pictures of everything up later.

As you can see, it's been incredibly busy around here! I graduate in three weeks (hooray!) and I'm trying to get all the last minute things tied up with my student teaching. I had a job interview last Tuesday that I should be hearing back from sometime this week...it would be an amazing opportunity and I'm really praying that it works out. Even if it doesn't, I know God will take care of us and that's all that matters.

I'm 23 weeks along this week...only one more week until his "viability date," or the day when he has a greater chance of surviving outside the womb than not. He's now weighing in at over a pound and is about the size of a large mango. He's able to hear talking and music from the outside and can even feel movement now when I sway from side to side! He gets so active at church when the music gets loud...it seems like he really enjoys it! I'm enjoying all his kicking and moving around too. He's getting so much stronger. Last night I could even see my belly moving from his kicks! I really can't believe how fast everything is going - we're going to be meeting him so soon, which is very exciting! Here's my 23ish weeks picture, taken tonight before church. I had many people commenting on how it looked like I'd "popped out" and was really starting to look pregnant. I'd say so!

Bedding Ordered!

2008-11-16T19:50:00.004-06:00

This afternoon, Greg and I ordered Will's bedding from JCPenney! I had actually picked out a few weeks before we found out that he was a boy...and in the meantime changed my mind and decided to keep looking. Well, I kept looking and kept looking, just sure I'd find something else I liked better. I think I've looked at every single baby bedding available on the internet! After talking to my mom for a long time this afternoon, we decided to order it! It's on back order until December 5th, but I'm very excited to have it picked out (finally!)

Yesterday, I had my last wedding until after Will gets here...and boy am I thankful it was my last one! I've been in tons of pain all day today. I think being on my feet for 10 hours combined with the weight of my camera, lenses, and bag caused something in my lower back to get strained. I've spent most of the day laying on the couch with a heating pad on my back. I also took a hot bath. Everything helps temporarily, but the pain is still lingering. I'm planning to go to bed early (read: after I write this post!), take some Tylenol and hope that a good night's sleep fixes the problem.

He better be a kicker for a pro football team...

2008-11-13T21:44:00.005-06:00

Will seems to be quite proud of his new-found ability to kick me right as I'm about to fall asleep. He then proceeds to wiggle around for awhile, making it impossible for his mommy to go to sleep. I'm hoping that all that kicking inside there is practice for when he becomes the kicker for a professional football team. Then he can repay me for lost sleep ;) He also enjoys wiggling around for me right after I get home from school. I usually have a little glass of orange juice and lay down on the couch for a few minutes. The orange juice really seems to get him going! It feels like pieces of popcorn popping all inside my tummy. It's very fun!

Our good friends Aaron and Veronica had their baby boy, Bryce, last night. We went to see them at the hospital tonight and it was so fun! It definitely made me want April to come fast - and I know it will be here before we know it! I know that before long, Bryce and Will are going to be causing chaos at church! It's really fun to have friends who are having kids around the same time we are - it will be neat to watch the boys grow up together.

Here's a 20 week belly picture. Will's getting bigger by the day :)

(On a side note: I hate the fact that my bellybutton is growing with my tummy. It is stretching and getting shallower, and I fear that soon it'll no longer be an innie. And I hate the fact that despite it being covered by TWO shirts in this picture, you can still see the indentation of it!)

What's in a name?

2008-11-10T19:17:00.004-06:00

After going back and forth for a few days, Greg and I finally made a decision on a name! We will be naming the little peanut William Matthew and calling him Will for short. We really wanted something classic, but not too popular for a first name. William Graham was a close runner up, but we really liked that Matthew was a biblical name, and the meaning of Matthew is much better than the meaning of Graham! :) William means "protector" and Matthew means "gift of God." He certainly is a gift from God, so the name seems fitting :)

Greg and I went to Babies R Us yesterday and completed our baby registry. It was very fun, but also a little overwhelming at the same time. I had done tons of research on the safest (and affordable) carseats, strollers, bottles, etc. So it was more a matter of finding the items we wanted and scanning them with the little gun. Will also got his first real baby items - a onesie, a Kenneth Cole leather jacket, jeans, and white waffle-weave shirt, and then a UT pacifier (courtesy of Greg!) :)

Tomorrow, I will be 20 weeks pregnant! My pregnancy is officially halfway finished. How crazy is that? Time is going so fast! This week, Will is about the length of a banana and weighs about 12 ounces. He has begun to hear sounds, which was very evident at church this Sunday! He began wiggling around every time the music would start and would settle down when it stopped. Very cute! Sunday was also the first time that I'd really felt him move - I think the ultrasound helped a lot! I was able to see him moving on the screen and then put the butterfly-like feelings together with his movements. His eyebrows, different skin layers, and fingernails/toenails are also beginning to grow in this week. All of his organs are completely formed and will just continue to grow with him until he is born. He'll be growing much bigger in the coming weeks!

It's a...

2008-11-07T19:37:00.007-06:00

...boy!! I'm not sure there's many people reading this who don't already know, but the little person who has taken up residence in me for the last twenty weeks is a boy! It's so nice to know for sure and to be able to say "him" instead of "it."

We had our very long anatomy ultrasound today and it was amazing! We got to see him squirming and kicking and sticking his feet in his mouth (yes, he did that a lot!)...and he wasn't afraid to show off his boy parts ;) We had two technicians in our room first who measured everything for about an hour. Then they left and cardio-thorasic specialist came in and did another entire ultrasound to capture some of the pictures that hadn't come out clearly the first time. He spent about 30 minutes studying the little heart (160 bmp this time - he was so active he got his heart rate up!) and he said everything looks perfect! We got to see all four chambers of his heart, his brain, his kidneys, stomach, bladder, hands, and feet. The second technician that came in said that he was opening and closing his hands, which is great because it means that he more than likely will not have Downs Syndrome.

Here are some pictures from the fun day!

His face (looking straight on) and his foot...getting ready to stick it in his mouth!

His precious tiny feet!

His legs (crossed at the ankles)

His hands (up above his head - he was lounging!)

Yup, he's a boy ;) He made sure we got several good peeks!

The technician who came in last definitely had a sense of humor ;)

This picture of his profile amazes me...you can totally tell that this is the same baby from the 12 weeks profile picture! I can't wait to kiss that sweet little nose :)

We do have a first name picked out, but we're still deciding a middle name. I'll let you know once we have the whole name picked out (hopefully by tomorrow!)

In less than 24 hours...

2008-11-06T21:15:00.004-06:00

...peanut will have a new name! I hope that I can get some sleep tonight - I've been counting down the hours until our ultrasound since yesterday! I'll be sure to post an update tomorrow to let you know if Team Blue or Team Pink has a new addition :)

I'm 19 weeks and 2 days along now. This week the baby might be able to start hearing our voices...how neat is that? S/he is sprouting hair and has arms/legs that are in proportion to the rest of the body. The baby is about the size of a large heirloom tomato (one of the big ones)...there's a long ways to go until we reach the size of a small pumpkin, but there's no doubt that growing is happening! I had a stranger at school come up to me on Tuesday and ask when I was due. That was the first time that had happened! I'm glad that strangers are starting to be able to tell that I'm pregnant and not just chubby.

...13 and a half more hours!

Less than a week!

2008-11-01T14:15:00.003-05:00

In less than a week, we will (hopefully) know if the peanut is a he or a she! I cannot wait...I usually am a pretty patient person. Heck, I can deal with sixth graders who throw binders and pencils at me and still be patient ;) But ever since I found out I was pregnant, I've wanted to know if our baby was a boy or a girl. I hate saying "it" all the time. And I want "it" to have a name! So I've been counting down the days until November 7th and hoping and praying that the peanut will be cooperative.

Greg and I both think that "it" is actually a he...although the poll says otherwise! No reason why, really...it's just something I've thought since the beginning! I've played around with some Old Wives Tales just for fun...There is a Chinese Gender Predictor calendar...according to that we are having a girl. Another one says that if you prefer sleeping on your right side at night (I do), then you're having a boy. I've totally craved salty foods my entire pregnancy...I was pretty turned off by sweets in my first trimester, and if you know me well at all, you know that that is weird! I love my ice cream! According to the wives tale, craving salty foods means you're having a boy. Lately though, I've been craving grapefruit. Wives tale says that craving citrus fruits means you're having a girl. One last tale says that if the heartbeat is above 140 you're having a girl; if it's below 140, you're having a boy. The baby's heartbeat was 150 at the first appointment and in the upper-140s at the second. So if we go by that, "it" should be a she! It'll be very interesting to see which tales proved true for us :)

If forgetfulness was a predictor of gender, we'd know for sure by now. Yesterday marked the THIRD time in THREE weeks that I've locked my keys in my car! Poor Greg had to drive them to me at school before he went to work so I could get my stuff out of my car. How do you lock your keys in your car with all your things in it too, you ask? Well, it's easy. I left all my bags in the passenger seat, planning to go around to open the door and get them out that way. I put my keys in my purse and set my purse on the seat too. Then I pressed the unlock button on the door...however, for some reason, that didn't unlock all my doors. Perhaps I pressed the wrong direction? Anyway, I walked around to the other side and the door was locked...Needless to say, the driver's side door was shut and locked too. I think I need to start wearing a car key on a necklace or something!

I've been battling a nasty cold all week long. And it wouldn't be half as bad if I could take something (anything!) that would drain everything out of my head. But I can't...so instead I've been complaining and sniffling and coughing and complaining some more. I even had to stay home on Thursday from school. I was feeling a little bit better yesterday, but after a late Halloween night, it's back in full force :(

Here is a tummy picture from last week. It was taken at exactly 18 weeks. Sorry for the awkwardness of the picture...I was trying to hold the black shirt out of the way so you could actually see how big the peanut is getting! I'll have to take another (better one) this week.

We have a crib!

2008-10-26T20:54:00.013-05:00

Greg and I spent the afternoon putting together the baby's new crib! I'm very excited about it - we love it and we got a great deal on it...always a good thing! Hopefully we can find a dresser and rocking chair or glider that match to go in the room for just as good of a price. We'll see!

It wasn't too complicated to put together. Greg did most of the work while I held pieces up. Riley and Sammy oversaw the entire project and checked out all the pars to make sure they didn't have anything scary hiding inside!

Greg working hard while I take pictures...hey, it's what I'm good at!

Sammy and Riley making sure we're doing a good job.

The finished product! I can't wait to get cute bedding to go inside :)

The "babies" get to try it out! :)

Rough couple of days!

2008-10-24T20:42:00.004-05:00

I know that God has a purpose when we go through valleys and that all of our time on Earth can't be spent on the mountain top, but I feel like it's been a long, hard struggle to get up the mountain for us!

First of all, I apparently hit something (without knowing it!) in our Mustang and came out to a gigantic oil leak. Basically every bit of oil that was in my car had leaked out onto the ground. We had to have it towed to Leif Johnson...and then, since it wasn't a manufacturer defect, we have to pay for all of it. And it's not cheap! We pick up the car tomorrow, and I'm seriously considering giving up driving...I mean, all the bad things in that car happen while I'm driving! Like the rock that cracked the windshield three days after we bought...Who was driving? Me! Or the time that the key wouldn't turn in the ignition and I was stranded at the apartment. Or the time that I was trying to fill up with gas and the gasoline came shooting back out all over me? Yep. Me driving. And then if we go back further in my driving history (before the Mustang) there was the incident in the Explorer where the passenger side mirror randomly shattered. I swear I'm a careful driver. Bad luck while driving just seems to follow me.

Then this morning, I had a scary moment where I thought I was going to pass out. I got really shakey, dizzy, and broke out in a cold sweat with a horrible headache. Since I've had moments of low blood sugar before I got pregnant, I thought that could've been what was causing everything. So I got my snack out of the fridge at school (crackers and a cheese stick) and ate that. Thirty minutes later I still felt horrible, so I went down to our school nurse's office. My blood pressure was on the "low side of normal" (101/70). She had me drink a juice box and then we took my blood sugar. Normal sugars range from 70-120...After eating crackers and drinking the juice, mine was only 84, which is pretty low for having sugar in my system. She had me drink another juice and we waited about 15 minutes and tested it again. It had gone up to 99...I felt a little bit better, but definitely not great! My doctor said to watch it and to mention it at my next appointment. Unfortunately, this puts me at a higher risk of having gestational diabetes - which I do not want to have! Although, if this is the only real complication I have with my pregnancy, I'll be glad. So many other things can go wrong and this is relatively minor.

It's really hard to stay positive when it seems like so many things are going wrong...but I'm trying so hard to trust in God and really put my faith in Him. I know he will provide for us and take care of us.

On a happy note, here's a tummy picture from last week. You can't really tell from this picture, but the little peanut is definitely growing! I'll try to take a better one this weekend.

Healthy baby

2008-10-22T19:50:00.003-05:00

I had my monthly appointment with my doctor this afternoon...after locking my keys in my car at school, having to call Greg and have him leave work to pick me up, and then getting to the doctor's office only to find out that they had my appointment scheduled for tomorrow, not today! Thank goodness everything worked out alright!

My doctor measured my tummy - I think she said it was around 16 inches, which she said was "tiny" for being 17 weeks. Nothing to worry about though - either it means that I'm actually due later than April 1st or I just have some catching up to do. I also got to listen to the heart beat on the doppler...it's so fun to hear the little wa-wa-wa-ing from our baby's heart! It was right around 146-149 beats per minute. Last time it was in the 150s, and she said it sounded strong and great.

She asked me if I wanted to have any genetic testing done, but I declined...it's wouldn't change anything with the way we viewed the baby, so there's really no point. Plus, there's a high rate of having false positives, which would cause me unnecessary stress and worry. I feel good about that decision!

I also scheduled our "big" ultrasound to find out the baby's gender...The big day is November 7th! Pray that the baby is cooperative so s/he can get a name, clothing, bedding and all that fun stuff! I'm putting up a poll so you can vote on whether you think the baby is a boy or a girl...I'll tell you what I think after a few days!

17 weeks

2008-10-21T20:47:00.002-05:00

Today, our baby is 17 weeks old! I get an email every Tuesday telling me about all the growth and development that will be happening that week. This week's email said that our baby's skeleton is hardening into bone and that sweat glands are beginning to develop this week. The baby is now the size of a turnip and weighs about 5 ounces. Last week's email said that the baby would be doubling in weight approximately every week for the next few weeks...Crazy, isn't it?!

I have my second doctor's appointment tomorrow. I'm not really sure what is supposed to go on at this appointment, but I will be scheduling our "big" ultrasound...the one where we get to find out the sex of the baby! I am praying that s/he is cooperative during this ultrasound so we can find out...I don't know how much longer I can last not knowing. Unfortunately, my insurance only pays for two ultrasounds, unless more are medically necessary. So if our little peanut isn't being especially cooperative, we could potentially not know until the delivery!

Greg and I are looking into paying to have a 3D/4D ultrasound done. There are some various centers in Austin that do them...it would be so fun to have "real" pictures of the baby, but we'll see!

New baby, new blog

2008-10-12T21:25:00.002-05:00

I figured it was time to start a blog to keep everyone up to date on what's going on with me and the surprise baby in the next coming months and years. I hate living far away from family and friends, but at least the internet makes it a little easier to keep in touch!

For those of you who need to get caught up on things, here's some background information. I'm in my second trimester, 15 weeks 5 days pregnant (or about 4 1/2 months) with a surprise baby! Greg and I definitely weren't expecting this, but the Lord knows better than we do what He has planned for us. We are only along for the ride, and what a fantastic one it is turning out to be! Our baby is very wiggly and active, although I have yet to feel anything. I hear that will come in the next week or two and I'm very excited for it! I am due on April 1st, 2009 - April Fool's Day. Hopefully there will be no more big surprises to come! I've had my first doctor's appointment so far and have the next on October 23rd. We should find out if it's a boy or a girl sometime around Thanksgiving and I couldn't be more excited!

Here are a few pictures of the baby:

I will try to update this every few days or so to keep everyone informed! I'm definitely looking forward to the coming weeks and months...everything is going by so fast and I'm really trying to savor every moment of it (good and bad!). A blog seems like the perfect way to do that!