So last Friday night, I put Hazel to bed and left the house around 8:30pm to do some grocery store pricing. I had some coupons that I was looking forward to using and I wanted to figure out who had the best prices between Albertsons and Safeway before dragging Hazel to four stores with me the next morning.
One of the coupons I was most excited to use was one for Coffee-mate hazelnut creamer. It was $1 off, and I knew that Albertsons was coming out with a coupon that would double my one dollar, so I'd get two bucks off the store price. I found that Albertsons had both the 16oz. and 32oz. sizes of creamer (for some reason I can usually only find the 32oz. size)...and they were on sale. I would have to wait until Sunday to actually purchase the creamer, but it would end up costing me $.29 - ACK!
When I put together grocery shopping lists these days, I focus on what will feed Hazel lunch and provide dinner for Nate and I. Breakfast is pretty simple most days, and lunch for myself, well, let's not talk about that. I eat what's available (which speaks to the annoying extra pounds right now).
Because I have to focus on dinners and Hazel's lunch, my budget doesn't accommodate too many "pleasures" - Nate still gets his wine (the man works too hard not to be able to wind down at night) and coffee, but I've been by-passing some of the things I like best, creamer being one of those things that's fallen by the wayside. Needless to say, I was STOKED when I figured out I'd only have to pay $.29 for creamer!
Yesterday, when I picked Hazel up from Nate's parents' house, Karen reminded me that we still had a box of freezer items in their chest freezer. [This might seem like a tangent, but bear with me.] When Rae Ann moved to Baltimore, she unloaded an incredible amount of freezer food on us - and it's been amazingly long-lasting and wonderful. I should have asked for help pulling the box out of the bottom of the freezer; it had to weigh at least 60 pounds...
Even though my grocery budget has shrunk considerably the last six months, since being married to Nate I've always had one and worked within it. So last year during summer, when I wanted to make jam, I only made raspberry (with a few jars of marionberry jam also) - we couldn't buy strawberries to make my fave jam at the time, so I only made Nate's die-hard favorite.
I hefted that 60-pound box out of the chest freezer because I had to bring some reality to my soaring hopes: I had spotted three huge jars of strawberry jam tucked into it. I swear to you, this year's Christmas was yesterday. I hope you didn't miss it.
Whenever I woke up during the night last night, I would think fondly of the hazelnut creamer and raspberry jam waiting for me when it was time to get up. Most mornings I wake up when Hazel cries out and then I give her a little time to truly wake up (she's a bear otherwise). This morning I raced into her room as soon as I heard her and whisked her off to the kitchen for breakfast. Nate came down to say good morning (his office is upstairs in the attic if you didn't know...) while I was feeding the cat and dog and getting Hazel's breakfast made.
I popped my English muffin in the toaster and pulled the strawberry jam out of the fridge. Next I checked the coffee pot and there was about 3oz. of coffee left in it. I balked at that for a split second deep inside, but poured my cup anyway. I grabbed the creamer from the fridge and sensed a problem: It felt light. Like, not new. I opened the lid and there was no foil safety seal. I hollered my displeasure, thinking I had walked out of Albertsons with an opened creamer.
But in the off-chance that that's not what had happened, I asked Nate if he'd had any.
He had.
I wanted to cry.
Why?
Because I'm pregnant and that's what I do these days.
It's totally unreasonable, but I felt so disappointed. I had so anticipated the thought of opening that bottle for the first time and glorying in it's wonderfulness (and newness...and mine-ness). I didn't say anything to Nate about my feelings, though, but I did make sure he wasn't just teasing me, that he had in fact had some and that I had not left the store with an opened container.
Two minutes later I was praying that I would quit thinking about how disappointed I was. Nate was still talking about how much he'd also looked forward to having some of the creamer and how much he'd enjoyed it while drinking his coffee this morning, so I said if I'd known he liked it that much I would have bought the bigger bottle (the $.29 came from my change jar; the $2+ it would have cost to get the bigger bottle would have been supplied by my Mary Kay account - you can understand why I went with the smaller size; plus, it's a pleasure not a staple). He said something along the lines, "Well the creamer is for both of us..." and I interrupted him, overcome by emotions.
"Is it?"
"Well, yeah!" he said with a small smile and a laugh, thinking I was kidding.
"Is it?" I said again with tears in my eyes and disappointment evident in my entire body.
"Oh..." he said and he grabbed me in a huge hug. He felt so bad. I told him I was happy to share with him, it's just that sometimes it's frustrating when there's no small pleasure that's just mine. He has his wine, and I'm jealous of the fact that it's his and his only. Whatever I bring home from the store, I usually assume someone else will be eating, either besides me altogether or in addition to me. Hazel wants everything I have, which is the nature of the parent/child relationship, so I can't escape that; Nate likes what I like, so nothing is sacred there either.
I will admit I cried this morning over my creamer. Sometimes these pregnancy hormones are all-consuming. At least I have a wonderful family to melt down in front of on those occasions. [Oh how I'd love to insert "rare" into that last thought...]
5.31.2010
5.25.2010
He gets it now...I think.
I have a white board by the back door that I write my life on. Nate looks at it very rarely (or so it seems). Yesterday he was putting on his shoes and started muttering.
"Glencoe? What's Glencoe? Wait...Glucose? 8:45, Peggy at 9:30. Huh?"
"Glucose. You know, the test I have to take to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes."
"ALREADY? Why?"
"Because we're in our third trimester..."
"That's ridiculous! Holy crap, you're having that baby soon!"
By this time I'm laughing pretty hard, but I had to ask...
"What's the big deal with the glucose test?"
"Well, the last time you took your glucose test, you had Hazel, like, the next day."
(Which isn't true at all, but it gave me good insight into his thinking.)
You know, I think Nate gets it now: This kid is coming, whether or not we're ready!
"Glencoe? What's Glencoe? Wait...Glucose? 8:45, Peggy at 9:30. Huh?"
"Glucose. You know, the test I have to take to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes."
"ALREADY? Why?"
"Because we're in our third trimester..."
"That's ridiculous! Holy crap, you're having that baby soon!"
By this time I'm laughing pretty hard, but I had to ask...
"What's the big deal with the glucose test?"
"Well, the last time you took your glucose test, you had Hazel, like, the next day."
(Which isn't true at all, but it gave me good insight into his thinking.)
You know, I think Nate gets it now: This kid is coming, whether or not we're ready!
5.22.2010
I feel like it's my birthday...
Hazel is 18 months old today, and I can hardly keep from telling everyone I see.
Oh, and now she says her name! I thought it was an accident the first time, but when I show her a family picture and ask her who each person is, she says, "Dadda, Momma, Hazie." It kills me every time! She's a freakin' genius, I'm just saying.
Oh, and now she says her name! I thought it was an accident the first time, but when I show her a family picture and ask her who each person is, she says, "Dadda, Momma, Hazie." It kills me every time! She's a freakin' genius, I'm just saying.
5.15.2010
Did I post this picture before? I can't remember...It's from my Dad's birthday dinner in March. He decided to invite some family to dinner at Apizza Scholls (which is where I took Nate for his birthday in January). We devoured like 5 pizzas, I think.
Following that, my uncle took us to a nearby police station where his bomb unit stuff is stored. We climbed through one of his trucks, amazed at the equipment. Before I knew it, Dad was trying on a bomb suit! It was incredibly heavy, but he wore it well!
It was all pretty awesome, and it was an experience we could never pass up.
Okay, this picture is from December. I want you to take note of the intensity on Hazel's face. She knew her meal was coming and she was practically climbing out of her chair to get at it. Poor, impatient, starving thing. Just look at her face - she's totally waning away.
Oh yeah, all these pictures are from my cell phone. They really stink, quality-wise.
I can't remember if I posted this picture either. It's worth doing it again, just look at all the food! One of our favorite restaurants in Cannon Beach is Ecola Seafood. We really enjoy splitting an order of clam strips and fish and chips. They make the most wonderful cocktail sauce!
This last trip, though, turned out poorly: Nate put in our order and paid while I saved us seats. The little plate of clam strips cost $8, which we've never paid before. Usually we pay $4. Sad to say, we won't be buying them again, although they are so totally worth it!
Here's another picture I can't remember if I posted (wow, I'm on a roll). It's Hazel's last day at Neurotherapeutics in Oregon City. That's the building behind our heads.
It's been nice to have those two Thursdays a month free again. We're down to therapy once a month...And even then I'm not sure one could call it "therapy." It's more of just play time. In fact, the last time Chris came over, he sat and talked with me about dog training. Hazel had to get his attention by shoving a book into his hands so that he would read to her. We see him again in a few weeks and then not again for probably another 6 weeks, perhaps longer.
This last picture is from Super Bowl Sunday. We spent the day with Nate's family, eating too much and watching a lot of TV on a ridiculously huge flatscreen. Hazel tottered around in the family room, followed closely by Karen - meanwhile, I fell asleep on the couch. Hah! I'm blessed!
Nate took the opportunity to feed Hazel, and so the above is the picture I got. She's an escape artist, that girl.
Now I'm done with my delinquent postings. Sorry to inundate you!
Following that, my uncle took us to a nearby police station where his bomb unit stuff is stored. We climbed through one of his trucks, amazed at the equipment. Before I knew it, Dad was trying on a bomb suit! It was incredibly heavy, but he wore it well!
It was all pretty awesome, and it was an experience we could never pass up.
Okay, this picture is from December. I want you to take note of the intensity on Hazel's face. She knew her meal was coming and she was practically climbing out of her chair to get at it. Poor, impatient, starving thing. Just look at her face - she's totally waning away.
Oh yeah, all these pictures are from my cell phone. They really stink, quality-wise.
I can't remember if I posted this picture either. It's worth doing it again, just look at all the food! One of our favorite restaurants in Cannon Beach is Ecola Seafood. We really enjoy splitting an order of clam strips and fish and chips. They make the most wonderful cocktail sauce!
This last trip, though, turned out poorly: Nate put in our order and paid while I saved us seats. The little plate of clam strips cost $8, which we've never paid before. Usually we pay $4. Sad to say, we won't be buying them again, although they are so totally worth it!
Here's another picture I can't remember if I posted (wow, I'm on a roll). It's Hazel's last day at Neurotherapeutics in Oregon City. That's the building behind our heads.
It's been nice to have those two Thursdays a month free again. We're down to therapy once a month...And even then I'm not sure one could call it "therapy." It's more of just play time. In fact, the last time Chris came over, he sat and talked with me about dog training. Hazel had to get his attention by shoving a book into his hands so that he would read to her. We see him again in a few weeks and then not again for probably another 6 weeks, perhaps longer.
This last picture is from Super Bowl Sunday. We spent the day with Nate's family, eating too much and watching a lot of TV on a ridiculously huge flatscreen. Hazel tottered around in the family room, followed closely by Karen - meanwhile, I fell asleep on the couch. Hah! I'm blessed!
Nate took the opportunity to feed Hazel, and so the above is the picture I got. She's an escape artist, that girl.
Now I'm done with my delinquent postings. Sorry to inundate you!
5.14.2010
Baby Belly, brought to you by Baby Girl Banks #2
[About 24 weeks, so an older picture. And don't mind the food on my shirt.]
Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy!
I love the sun! I also love rain, clouds, storms, wind...all of the elements that Fall and Winter in the Pacific Northwest bring, but there's something to be said about an honestly sunny, 70 degree day. Do you know what I mean about "honestly sunny"? If you've spent any time in the NW, you should. We get a lot of faux sunny days, when the sun is there, but it's a tease. It peeks out from behind a cloud long enough for you to frantically grab everything within arm's reach (including your kid), dash out your door to your car, and hurry to the park, when it suddenly makes a smooth glissade behind another cloud, disappearing for good. The temperature drops 5 degrees, you have no fun at the park, and everyone heads home totally disappointed and still seriously lacking in vitamin D.
Yesterday was not at all like that: The sun came out and it stayed that way ALL DAY. It was marvelous! Mom treated Hazel and I to the zoo, and I have to admit that I was the most excited about this trip. I love going to the zoo. Hands down, I feel it's the best way to spend a warm day outside.
Our timing for leaving the Clackamas area all came down to Hazel and her naps. She's been falling asleep as soon as I stick her in her crib for the last week (which has been wonderful), but yesterday she went back to her old routine and played for about an hour before succumbing to sleep. That threw us off a bit. We finally made it out of the house around 2pm. When we arrived at the zoo, the parking lot was packed and "Lots Full" signs were up everywhere. It was afternoon nap time, though, for most kids, so I felt sure the zoo would be emptying out steadily.
Hazel recognized animals from her books, of course, and could make their sounds, but she mostly enjoyed people watching and walking everywhere on her own. She finally asked to be put back in her stroller about half way through our walk, just wanting to take a break for a few minutes. She walked with gusto and charmed everyone! Quite a few other moms kept sighing, "OHH" whenever Hazel tottered by. My heart swelled every time...
There was a nice breeze out and the zoo paths offered plenty of shade, but it was still nice enough for Hazel to wear a light cotton spring dress and sunscreen. I love her sunscreen but it does get greasy fast. Her hair was so nasty across her forehead! It will look like she's sweating profusely in some of these pictures, but she's not, I promise.
As the day progressed, I saw more and more of her roseola spots. Her little personality was alive and kicking so I didn't feel like she was out of it due to not feeling very well, but I kept my eye on the spots. I guess I should have done my research before leaving for the zoo/sunshine: Is roseola made worse by the sun? She didn't have a fever at all yesterday and her spots are nearly gone today, thank God. (By the way, the picture shows my 26.5 week pregnant belly. I am constantly surprised at how quickly time is passing! This kid will be here with us in just about 11 weeks. Oh, and I'll be 27 weeks on Monday, which is when we started having to monitor Hazel's health closely during my pregnancy with her. If we can make it through the next few weeks without any serious scares, I'll be incredibly grateful. In fact, God, please let's just make it straight through to the end of this pregnancy without any surprises, totally bored because there's nothing crazy to report. Thank You, and Amen.)
I couldn't resist sticking her in the eagle's next at their exhibit. By the way, she is fascinated by eagles. She really does belong to Nate and I! I took an Ornithology class in college and loved it (it was either that or some other science class that didn't include weekly field trips with friends). Nate and I never really talked about birds when we were dating (beyond my crazy list of facts that I had learned in Ornithology), although there is a lake in Bellingham, WA, that we had to drive past to and from my college to Oregon that was home to an incredible number of bald eagles. But it was on our first anniversary camping trip that we fell in love with birds: We had prime seats in our camping spot to watch an eagle fly up and down the river between her nest and fishing. We were enchanted. Since then, we've always become excited by falcons and hawks on our property. We stop to watch them. We are geeks. It's true.
Hazel loves fountains. "Water" is one of her most used words, so she says it whenever she finds a reason. There's a fountain outside of her pediatrician's office, so the last time we were over there we had to stop and watch it for awhile. She was so excited to stick her hands in the water feature at the zoo (in the PacNW exhibit). I kept saying, "Okay! All done!" trying to lead her away. She'd walk a couple steps and then turn right around and head back to where the water was the most accessible.
Don't you just love her dress?
I realize I'm writing this post for myself more than anyone. So far it's filled with all sorts of tangents that can't possibly be THAT interesting to other people...
Continue to bear with me - we're nearing the end, I promise!
Yesterday was not at all like that: The sun came out and it stayed that way ALL DAY. It was marvelous! Mom treated Hazel and I to the zoo, and I have to admit that I was the most excited about this trip. I love going to the zoo. Hands down, I feel it's the best way to spend a warm day outside.
Our timing for leaving the Clackamas area all came down to Hazel and her naps. She's been falling asleep as soon as I stick her in her crib for the last week (which has been wonderful), but yesterday she went back to her old routine and played for about an hour before succumbing to sleep. That threw us off a bit. We finally made it out of the house around 2pm. When we arrived at the zoo, the parking lot was packed and "Lots Full" signs were up everywhere. It was afternoon nap time, though, for most kids, so I felt sure the zoo would be emptying out steadily.
As the day progressed, I saw more and more of her roseola spots. Her little personality was alive and kicking so I didn't feel like she was out of it due to not feeling very well, but I kept my eye on the spots. I guess I should have done my research before leaving for the zoo/sunshine: Is roseola made worse by the sun? She didn't have a fever at all yesterday and her spots are nearly gone today, thank God. (By the way, the picture shows my 26.5 week pregnant belly. I am constantly surprised at how quickly time is passing! This kid will be here with us in just about 11 weeks. Oh, and I'll be 27 weeks on Monday, which is when we started having to monitor Hazel's health closely during my pregnancy with her. If we can make it through the next few weeks without any serious scares, I'll be incredibly grateful. In fact, God, please let's just make it straight through to the end of this pregnancy without any surprises, totally bored because there's nothing crazy to report. Thank You, and Amen.)
Don't you just love her dress?
I realize I'm writing this post for myself more than anyone. So far it's filled with all sorts of tangents that can't possibly be THAT interesting to other people...
Continue to bear with me - we're nearing the end, I promise!
[Tutu and Hazel, who is almost 18 months]
[Can you see the spots? I realize this picture isn't super clear, but still.]
The zoo closed while we were still wandering around. I felt this intense need to "obey" the lady over the loud speaker who was telling us to exit and exit now, but I rebelled. We visited the elephants on our way out (yeah right, it's clear across the park from the entrance) and there's a "garden" of statues by their exhibit. I felt it was really really necessary to take pictures of Hazel on the little stone animals. She was a trooper! She hated the elephant and felt ill at ease, so we moved her from there to the mouse (her above roseola picture) and then to the snail, where she felt totally comfortable. His little humps made the perfect saddle for her.
The sun was warm and wonderful, but I have to say that it kicked all the animals into high gear: Many many of them were mating. I could have lived a happy life without seeing polar bears or bats mate.
We left the park around 5:15 and got home just after 6pm. Hazel was pooped! She fought me when I tried to feed her, so that was awesome. She took a bath and by the time she was dressed for bed, Nate was home from work. We found him outside, working on caulking our house. She said goodnight to him and I put her in bed. She never made another sound until 9am this morning. It's been glorious that she's sleeping so long!
I'm still job searching. Starbucks isn't going to happen - no one wants to hire a six-month pregnant lady who has to have a c-section (aka 6 weeks off from work following birth). I put in an application at New Seasons, so I'm following up on that today. Wish me luck!
5.13.2010
Titleless.
Nate and I took another trip to Twin Rocks, around my 25 week mark. We had a good time, and it was all thanks to Rick and Karen. We couldn't have gone without their help - they sent us with funds to cover our reservation and gas, and it was such a huge gift! We had actually called them a few days before the trip to see if they would want to use our reservation and they both vehemently insisted that we still go on the trip - Hazel was spending those nights we'd be gone at their house, after all!
It was so wonderful and refreshing. Nate and I can't get enough of the beach. Here's the obligatory pregnancy picture, which is just plain messy.
Mother's Day was wonderful! I realized that it was important to communicate fully and clearly with Nate to tell him what I needed and what would be fun for Mother's Day. Clear-cut and specific seems to go a long ways. Don't get me wrong; I didn't tell him what to do for me or anything like that, but I did make it abundantly clear that the best way to start the day would be with Joe's Donuts (from Sandy).
Yum! Nate got up about half an hour before me and insisted I stay in bed, ignoring Hazel's chatting from her crib completely (hard to do). He took off and returned home within thirty minutes (this was one of those things we'd talked about, with clarity - he's usually gone like two hours when he takes off in the mornings to "surprise" me with flowers and a card; I asked if he could shorten his time a bit so I didn't feel abandoned).
When he returned with flowers and a card, which was signed also by Hazel (and how he finds such suiting and perfect cards the morning of floors me - it's magic, or he's just seriously talented, either is fine with me), he got Hazel out of bed and ready for the day. We loaded up the car and headed to the donut shop. We splurged and bought too many donuts, but it was so worth it when we were still eating them three days later.
Hazel napped for a long time that morning. When she finally woke up, she was groggy and much less chatty. She felt hot to the touch and was glassy eyed. We piled into the car and met Rick and Karen at Macaroni Grill for lunch. They treated us to an excellent meal - Nate and I were both adventurous and tried new things (that usually never works well). We tried to share our meals but then I realized his pizza was covered in soft cheeses, a no-no for preggo ladies. Ah well. I kept my lemon chicken pasta all to myself...such a bummer.
I really wanted to spend the day outside, but we ran out of time. We had about thirty minutes to walk around somewhere (after calculating drive-time), so we headed to the rhododendron garden by Reed College. It was chaos! We parked before we realized it was a huge Mother's Day plant sale. We decided to leave and go straight to Mom and Dad's hangar. We picked up Dutch Brothers on the way and actually arrived on time for dinner, rather than being harried and stressed.
We played for quite awhile, just enjoying the weather and being together. Mom felt Hazel was hot also (I thought I was going crazy) so she took her temperature. 101 degrees. Are you kidding me. The poor thing! My thermometer at home was off by like 3 degrees.
Soon after that, we knew Hazel needed a fever reducer, so we loaded up in the car and headed home, stopping to pick up some meds on our way through Canby. Hazel had a hard, hard time getting to sleep that night. She woke up every 45-60 minutes for the first four hours she was in bed. It was jarring for everyone. The worst thing was that she was nearly inconsolable every time she woke up - it took Nate a lot of *shushing* and cuddling to quiet her.
On Monday her temperature was up even higher, so I took her to the pediatrician, who said it was either the stomach bug or roseola. On Wednesday, her fever was gone but she broke out in a rash...Good ol' roseola.
She's on the mend now, thank goodness! I'm glad to see her improving, although she's still cranky. And tired, like all the time. But so am I so we're getting along great! She let me sleep in until 9am the last few mornings, which was a gift from heaven.
The pregnancy is going well. We start our seventh month on Monday. Yikes! Time is passing so quickly! I'm feeling good most days, but still starting each morning with a Zofran. I find I have an incredibly strong gag reflex if I don't take it first thing. I'm not feeling nauseous most days, though, so that's been wonderful.
We had an ultrasound a few weeks ago and the kid looks amazing! She has her dad's nose for sure! I can hardly wait to meet her...
It was so wonderful and refreshing. Nate and I can't get enough of the beach. Here's the obligatory pregnancy picture, which is just plain messy.
Mother's Day was wonderful! I realized that it was important to communicate fully and clearly with Nate to tell him what I needed and what would be fun for Mother's Day. Clear-cut and specific seems to go a long ways. Don't get me wrong; I didn't tell him what to do for me or anything like that, but I did make it abundantly clear that the best way to start the day would be with Joe's Donuts (from Sandy).
Yum! Nate got up about half an hour before me and insisted I stay in bed, ignoring Hazel's chatting from her crib completely (hard to do). He took off and returned home within thirty minutes (this was one of those things we'd talked about, with clarity - he's usually gone like two hours when he takes off in the mornings to "surprise" me with flowers and a card; I asked if he could shorten his time a bit so I didn't feel abandoned).
When he returned with flowers and a card, which was signed also by Hazel (and how he finds such suiting and perfect cards the morning of floors me - it's magic, or he's just seriously talented, either is fine with me), he got Hazel out of bed and ready for the day. We loaded up the car and headed to the donut shop. We splurged and bought too many donuts, but it was so worth it when we were still eating them three days later.
Hazel napped for a long time that morning. When she finally woke up, she was groggy and much less chatty. She felt hot to the touch and was glassy eyed. We piled into the car and met Rick and Karen at Macaroni Grill for lunch. They treated us to an excellent meal - Nate and I were both adventurous and tried new things (that usually never works well). We tried to share our meals but then I realized his pizza was covered in soft cheeses, a no-no for preggo ladies. Ah well. I kept my lemon chicken pasta all to myself...such a bummer.
I really wanted to spend the day outside, but we ran out of time. We had about thirty minutes to walk around somewhere (after calculating drive-time), so we headed to the rhododendron garden by Reed College. It was chaos! We parked before we realized it was a huge Mother's Day plant sale. We decided to leave and go straight to Mom and Dad's hangar. We picked up Dutch Brothers on the way and actually arrived on time for dinner, rather than being harried and stressed.
We played for quite awhile, just enjoying the weather and being together. Mom felt Hazel was hot also (I thought I was going crazy) so she took her temperature. 101 degrees. Are you kidding me. The poor thing! My thermometer at home was off by like 3 degrees.
Soon after that, we knew Hazel needed a fever reducer, so we loaded up in the car and headed home, stopping to pick up some meds on our way through Canby. Hazel had a hard, hard time getting to sleep that night. She woke up every 45-60 minutes for the first four hours she was in bed. It was jarring for everyone. The worst thing was that she was nearly inconsolable every time she woke up - it took Nate a lot of *shushing* and cuddling to quiet her.
On Monday her temperature was up even higher, so I took her to the pediatrician, who said it was either the stomach bug or roseola. On Wednesday, her fever was gone but she broke out in a rash...Good ol' roseola.
She's on the mend now, thank goodness! I'm glad to see her improving, although she's still cranky. And tired, like all the time. But so am I so we're getting along great! She let me sleep in until 9am the last few mornings, which was a gift from heaven.
The pregnancy is going well. We start our seventh month on Monday. Yikes! Time is passing so quickly! I'm feeling good most days, but still starting each morning with a Zofran. I find I have an incredibly strong gag reflex if I don't take it first thing. I'm not feeling nauseous most days, though, so that's been wonderful.
We had an ultrasound a few weeks ago and the kid looks amazing! She has her dad's nose for sure! I can hardly wait to meet her...
4.16.2010
Easter!
So, this video is long, but it's Hazel's egg hunt, and I feel (as her first true egg hunt) everyone should be privy to her excitement. Mom spread eggs out all over Hangar 52, so you'll see the adults battling some metal and equipment, but Hazel has eyes only for her lovely eggs...
[Nevermind about the video. For some reason Blogger is no longer allowing me to upload videos. I guess they want me to upgrade my blog but I really don't want to.]
I carried the camera around with me on Easter, but still managed to walk away with very few pictures! These are a couple shots from home, just before taking off for church. I was excited about the book in Hazel's basket - I like the Bernstein Bears, so when I saw the "New Baby" book I thought that would be fun for Miss B.
We started the day out with church in our brand new building. Athey Creek has held its various services at a nearby middle school for the last 11 years. This past year or so it became very clearly the time to move our church body to our own building. As far as I know, we don't outright own the building we're using now, but we have alot of leniency when all is said and done. We've built out a warehouse to suit our needs, so there are offices and classrooms along with the main sanctuary and the kids' hall.
Perhaps it's cheesy but I was so emotional at the service. It felt like such a blessing to be spending our first service in our new building talking about the resurrection. Here's a picture I took with my phone of the back of the sanctuary:
I'm not sure if you can tell or not but by the time we got to the service, it was packed. There was only standing room available...and we were 15 minutes early! ACCF went from three Sunday morning services (8a, 10a, 12 noon) down to two (9a and 11a), so I'm sure that, combined with it being Easter, is what filled up the sanctuary so fast.
When the kids were dismissed for their church, several seats opened up, but still not enough for everyone standing around the outside of the sanctuary. It was incredible. The sanctuary seats 1,200!
After church we headed straight to the hangar to meet Mom and Dad for lunch. I felt very mean to poor, tired, teething Hazel, but she did okay. She slept in the car for maybe 40 minutes and then we arrived at the hangar and she woke up.
Hazel was excited to run around the hangar and ride the tricycle Mom and Dad keep there. She fell in love with the little bell. We had lunch and Hazel opened a basket of gifts from Mom and Dad and chased down all the eggs scattered around the hangar. We ended the afternoon with lemon meringue pie and coffee before loading back up into the car to head to Nate's parents' house for the evening.
Just before heading out, though, I had Nate take a couple of belly pics. They're not that great. My hair is an absolute disaster, which I totally blame on pregnancy. Once I become pregnant, my hair (which usually grows more than a foot a year) stops growing almost completely - this round, I have fringe around my face trying to grow in after giving birth to Hazel. I'm all a mess these days!
I am 21 weeks pregnant with Baby Girl #2 in this picture. Still nauseous most mornings, tired every other day or so, but able to eat pretty much whatever I want now! I struggle with soup - I can't have that too many nights in a row - but it's been okay with me that that seems to be my only real problem. Oh, and I can't cook raw chicken or ground turkey from start to finish. Nate usually has to step in and help (I gag like crazy and then can't eat the meal). Oh, and I want pop, like, all the time; either that or a really good nectarine. Pop is year-round, while it isn't quite nectarine season, so you can guess which one I pick when I have the option.
This picture is bad, but not nearly as awful as some of the others. I was facing the other direction for most of the pictures and my hair is crazy poofy, which no one told me - I spotted it in the mirror later that night. Excellent.
The baby moves like crazy these days, which has been so fun! Nate has felt some of her big movements and I've watched her kicking - I look forward to reaching the point where it's easy for him and Hazel to feel her and see her right along with me.
Karen sent me some photos from Easter with them, so here is Hazel playing at their house. The headband was in her basket - it's so cute! She loves to have things on her head, especially headbands, hats, and a plastic Burger King crown that Rae Ann's girls left at Mom's house.
So I think that sums up our day! We made it home in time to put Hazel to bed in her own crib - she spends the first couple hours of her bedtime on Monday nights sleeping over at Rick and Karen's so that Nate and I can attend BSF. I try to not mess up her sleep schedule too many nights in a row...
Hopefully I can figure out how to attach videos again! I have a growing pile I'd like to share! Soon, soon.
[Nevermind about the video. For some reason Blogger is no longer allowing me to upload videos. I guess they want me to upgrade my blog but I really don't want to.]
I carried the camera around with me on Easter, but still managed to walk away with very few pictures! These are a couple shots from home, just before taking off for church. I was excited about the book in Hazel's basket - I like the Bernstein Bears, so when I saw the "New Baby" book I thought that would be fun for Miss B.
We started the day out with church in our brand new building. Athey Creek has held its various services at a nearby middle school for the last 11 years. This past year or so it became very clearly the time to move our church body to our own building. As far as I know, we don't outright own the building we're using now, but we have alot of leniency when all is said and done. We've built out a warehouse to suit our needs, so there are offices and classrooms along with the main sanctuary and the kids' hall.
Perhaps it's cheesy but I was so emotional at the service. It felt like such a blessing to be spending our first service in our new building talking about the resurrection. Here's a picture I took with my phone of the back of the sanctuary:
I'm not sure if you can tell or not but by the time we got to the service, it was packed. There was only standing room available...and we were 15 minutes early! ACCF went from three Sunday morning services (8a, 10a, 12 noon) down to two (9a and 11a), so I'm sure that, combined with it being Easter, is what filled up the sanctuary so fast.
When the kids were dismissed for their church, several seats opened up, but still not enough for everyone standing around the outside of the sanctuary. It was incredible. The sanctuary seats 1,200!
After church we headed straight to the hangar to meet Mom and Dad for lunch. I felt very mean to poor, tired, teething Hazel, but she did okay. She slept in the car for maybe 40 minutes and then we arrived at the hangar and she woke up.
Hazel was excited to run around the hangar and ride the tricycle Mom and Dad keep there. She fell in love with the little bell. We had lunch and Hazel opened a basket of gifts from Mom and Dad and chased down all the eggs scattered around the hangar. We ended the afternoon with lemon meringue pie and coffee before loading back up into the car to head to Nate's parents' house for the evening.
Just before heading out, though, I had Nate take a couple of belly pics. They're not that great. My hair is an absolute disaster, which I totally blame on pregnancy. Once I become pregnant, my hair (which usually grows more than a foot a year) stops growing almost completely - this round, I have fringe around my face trying to grow in after giving birth to Hazel. I'm all a mess these days!
I am 21 weeks pregnant with Baby Girl #2 in this picture. Still nauseous most mornings, tired every other day or so, but able to eat pretty much whatever I want now! I struggle with soup - I can't have that too many nights in a row - but it's been okay with me that that seems to be my only real problem. Oh, and I can't cook raw chicken or ground turkey from start to finish. Nate usually has to step in and help (I gag like crazy and then can't eat the meal). Oh, and I want pop, like, all the time; either that or a really good nectarine. Pop is year-round, while it isn't quite nectarine season, so you can guess which one I pick when I have the option.
This picture is bad, but not nearly as awful as some of the others. I was facing the other direction for most of the pictures and my hair is crazy poofy, which no one told me - I spotted it in the mirror later that night. Excellent.
The baby moves like crazy these days, which has been so fun! Nate has felt some of her big movements and I've watched her kicking - I look forward to reaching the point where it's easy for him and Hazel to feel her and see her right along with me.
Karen sent me some photos from Easter with them, so here is Hazel playing at their house. The headband was in her basket - it's so cute! She loves to have things on her head, especially headbands, hats, and a plastic Burger King crown that Rae Ann's girls left at Mom's house.
So I think that sums up our day! We made it home in time to put Hazel to bed in her own crib - she spends the first couple hours of her bedtime on Monday nights sleeping over at Rick and Karen's so that Nate and I can attend BSF. I try to not mess up her sleep schedule too many nights in a row...
Hopefully I can figure out how to attach videos again! I have a growing pile I'd like to share! Soon, soon.
4.01.2010
Another anniversary.
We left Hazel with Rick and Karen and took off for Twin Rocks Friends Camp on Friday, March 12th. It is incredible how much less I had to pack for just Nate and I...
We took our time leaving the city, running errands on our way to the coast. We checked in around 9pm and I craved bed immediately. We emptied the truck of our bags and coolers quickly and then went to bed.
On Saturday, we spent the morning reading (I napped, too) before heading toward Cannon Beach. We decided to keep this trip pretty simple, just hitting up the places we are most familiar with. On the drive I called Rick to check in and see how things were going with Hazel. I had to laugh at what he told me: Rick said that Hazel had made sounds throughout the night and every time she did, he got her up, like out of bed to play with toys. He was exhausted, as was Hazel, because they had spent so much of the night playing in the living room! I told him he might have just set himself up for trouble.
Cannon Beach was packed with people from all over - turns out that our weekend to celebrate Nathaniel's due date (3rd anniversary) was also a wine tasting tour weekend! It was okay, though - the little town was super busy but there was a ton of good parking because most of the tourists had been shuttled in.
Down on the beach I found a great stick to write in the sand with, so I took some time to try it out. As soon as Nate saw me writing this message, he took off - apparently I embarrassed him...So I snapped this picture of him fleeing the scene of my silliness:
So we wandered the beach, ate lunch at our favorite pub in Cannon Beach (truth be told, the only pub), had coffee at the Sleepy Monk, and then headed back to our little cabin for the night. We had dinner and watched a few episodes of "30 Rock" before finally being tired enough to go to sleep.
On Sunday we started the day of fairly slow again: Nate read and I napped (all that extra sleep was marvelous - even though my morning sickness seems to be diminishing, I'm still so tired). He woke me up around 11 so that we could pack up and head back home. We loaded up the truck and then parked at the camp entrance; we crossed the pedestrian bridge over Hwy 101 and walked to Twin Rocks beach. Ready for this? It's my 18 week pregnancy picture:
I'm wearing a thick sweater but I think the baby bump is still plenty visible. There hasn't been a real moment of "popping" like I experienced with Hazel (17 weeks, in Exeter, California, the morning of my cousin's wedding), but more of just a thickening and then "plumping" outward. I'm very much in the I-feel-fat stage, but I think that things will begin to change fairly drastically pretty soon. This kiddo is getting bigger by the day!
Speaking of the kiddo...
We found out yesterday at my 20.5 week ultrasound. Wahoo! We're pretty stinking excited! I can hardly believe we're already this far along - it's crazy how quickly time is beginning to pass.
Nate and I drove from Twin Rocks to Cannon Beach for more Sleepy Monk coffee (it's just that good). We tried to take a good beach picture of ourselves with Haystack Rock in the background, but, alas, no real luck. Here's what we did end up with, though:
Very typical beach self-portraits!
Nate wanted to finish our trip with a lunch at our favorite seafood place at the coast, so he treated me to fried deliciousness! I can't usually say that - my stomach does not handle fish and chips well, except from Ecola Seafood and Restaurant! I don't know what they do differently but it doesn't make me feel sick for hours afterward.
We got to Rick and Karen's just in time to pick up Hazel and get her home to bed. It was so wonderful to walk through their front door and have her squeal at the sight of us! She was so excited! She wanted to show us everything she'd been playing with. When we got home, she was asleep in no time. Nate and I were able to unpack and decompress before bed.
Even though I was a bit emotional on Nathaniel's due date, it was so good to be at the beach. It was so fresh there that I just stood on the sand and breathed as deeply as I could for as long as possible. It was invigorating and renewing. Nate and I treasure our time together every day, but there's something to be said about our special beach getaways. We've been so swamped lately that this trip shone as a wonderful reminder of what good friends we are, besides being husband and wife. Oh man, how I love him.
We took our time leaving the city, running errands on our way to the coast. We checked in around 9pm and I craved bed immediately. We emptied the truck of our bags and coolers quickly and then went to bed.
On Saturday, we spent the morning reading (I napped, too) before heading toward Cannon Beach. We decided to keep this trip pretty simple, just hitting up the places we are most familiar with. On the drive I called Rick to check in and see how things were going with Hazel. I had to laugh at what he told me: Rick said that Hazel had made sounds throughout the night and every time she did, he got her up, like out of bed to play with toys. He was exhausted, as was Hazel, because they had spent so much of the night playing in the living room! I told him he might have just set himself up for trouble.
Cannon Beach was packed with people from all over - turns out that our weekend to celebrate Nathaniel's due date (3rd anniversary) was also a wine tasting tour weekend! It was okay, though - the little town was super busy but there was a ton of good parking because most of the tourists had been shuttled in.
Down on the beach I found a great stick to write in the sand with, so I took some time to try it out. As soon as Nate saw me writing this message, he took off - apparently I embarrassed him...So I snapped this picture of him fleeing the scene of my silliness:
So we wandered the beach, ate lunch at our favorite pub in Cannon Beach (truth be told, the only pub), had coffee at the Sleepy Monk, and then headed back to our little cabin for the night. We had dinner and watched a few episodes of "30 Rock" before finally being tired enough to go to sleep.
On Sunday we started the day of fairly slow again: Nate read and I napped (all that extra sleep was marvelous - even though my morning sickness seems to be diminishing, I'm still so tired). He woke me up around 11 so that we could pack up and head back home. We loaded up the truck and then parked at the camp entrance; we crossed the pedestrian bridge over Hwy 101 and walked to Twin Rocks beach. Ready for this? It's my 18 week pregnancy picture:
I'm wearing a thick sweater but I think the baby bump is still plenty visible. There hasn't been a real moment of "popping" like I experienced with Hazel (17 weeks, in Exeter, California, the morning of my cousin's wedding), but more of just a thickening and then "plumping" outward. I'm very much in the I-feel-fat stage, but I think that things will begin to change fairly drastically pretty soon. This kiddo is getting bigger by the day!
Speaking of the kiddo...
We found out yesterday at my 20.5 week ultrasound. Wahoo! We're pretty stinking excited! I can hardly believe we're already this far along - it's crazy how quickly time is beginning to pass.
Nate and I drove from Twin Rocks to Cannon Beach for more Sleepy Monk coffee (it's just that good). We tried to take a good beach picture of ourselves with Haystack Rock in the background, but, alas, no real luck. Here's what we did end up with, though:
Very typical beach self-portraits!
Nate wanted to finish our trip with a lunch at our favorite seafood place at the coast, so he treated me to fried deliciousness! I can't usually say that - my stomach does not handle fish and chips well, except from Ecola Seafood and Restaurant! I don't know what they do differently but it doesn't make me feel sick for hours afterward.
We got to Rick and Karen's just in time to pick up Hazel and get her home to bed. It was so wonderful to walk through their front door and have her squeal at the sight of us! She was so excited! She wanted to show us everything she'd been playing with. When we got home, she was asleep in no time. Nate and I were able to unpack and decompress before bed.
Even though I was a bit emotional on Nathaniel's due date, it was so good to be at the beach. It was so fresh there that I just stood on the sand and breathed as deeply as I could for as long as possible. It was invigorating and renewing. Nate and I treasure our time together every day, but there's something to be said about our special beach getaways. We've been so swamped lately that this trip shone as a wonderful reminder of what good friends we are, besides being husband and wife. Oh man, how I love him.
3.25.2010
Totally annoyed.
I have a little post that I've been working on for like 2 weeks, but it won't post! I think there's something about the attached video...I'll keep at it until it works, but for now you're stuck with this: a very bland, picture-less update.
Hazel is officially 16 months. I was thinking today about how well I know her when it hit me: There's actually quite a bit to her that I'll never know. She's her own person and I might understand some of her tendencies or desires in any given situation, but there's a lot going on in that little head and heart that I can't even pretend to understand. She floors me every day with how smart she is.
Last Friday she added snake, rabbit, and fish noises to her list of animal sounds. The day before that she added lion and bear. On Monday she added rooster and chicken sounds, and today she began to include quacking.
This past Sunday she began to walk unassisted - FINALLY. Wahoo! She's flying now, practically. I lock her in the bathroom with me whenever I'm in there, and as I was doing my hair yesterday I kept seeing her head zoom past me in the mirror. She's her own biggest encourager, too - Nate and I can clap and cheer as much as we want, but it's her own clapping and laughing that keeps her going. She's currently pulling moves out of the bag that I didn't imagine she'd even conceived of. I'm impressed.
Her physical therapy has been going well. Now that she's walking I don't think we'll be seeing either therapist much longer. One of them told me that her walking was likely delayed because she was focusing so much on her talking skills - well, I'm not so sure now. She's on a roll with her everyday vocabulary, and she's walking now. I don't see one being sacrificed for the other currently. He said that once she starts walking, I'd likely see her speaking skills slow down, so I guess we'll see what actually happens down the road. For now she's a good walker and talker!
She began singing just a couple weeks ago. She has a little kid Bible with a picture of Jesus on the front; she points to the picture, looks at me, and starts swaying and humming/singing, so then we sing "Jesus Loves Me"!
She has quite an understanding of her body, too. Catch her at just the right time and she'll show you her bellybutton, elbows, knees, neck, cheeks, toes, fingers, feet, eyes, head, hair, forehead, hands, mouth, tongue, and teeth. She also understands, "Close it," "Open it," "Put it down/back," "Go under,""Turn it on/off," "Turn around," "Feet first"...and others.
She says:
dad
doggie
kitty
duck
milk
water (waa)
up
keys
cheese
juice
pop
hi
buh-bye
this
hot
poppa (for my dad)
socks
bottle
tickle
She signs:
milk
water
more
please (but only for her dad, the stinker)
and a variation of help
And now I can't think of the others! Nate needs food, so I should probably start dinner! He stopped at Trader Joe's for wine and lettuce tonight and the guy behind him in line paid for his stuff...What a small, thoughtful, wonderful blessing.
Okay, before I go, the new baby is doing well. I feel the kiddo moving all throughout the day and it's so comforting. We find out in less than a week whether we're having a boy or a girl. Crazy...Time is flying!
Hazel is officially 16 months. I was thinking today about how well I know her when it hit me: There's actually quite a bit to her that I'll never know. She's her own person and I might understand some of her tendencies or desires in any given situation, but there's a lot going on in that little head and heart that I can't even pretend to understand. She floors me every day with how smart she is.
Last Friday she added snake, rabbit, and fish noises to her list of animal sounds. The day before that she added lion and bear. On Monday she added rooster and chicken sounds, and today she began to include quacking.
This past Sunday she began to walk unassisted - FINALLY. Wahoo! She's flying now, practically. I lock her in the bathroom with me whenever I'm in there, and as I was doing my hair yesterday I kept seeing her head zoom past me in the mirror. She's her own biggest encourager, too - Nate and I can clap and cheer as much as we want, but it's her own clapping and laughing that keeps her going. She's currently pulling moves out of the bag that I didn't imagine she'd even conceived of. I'm impressed.
Her physical therapy has been going well. Now that she's walking I don't think we'll be seeing either therapist much longer. One of them told me that her walking was likely delayed because she was focusing so much on her talking skills - well, I'm not so sure now. She's on a roll with her everyday vocabulary, and she's walking now. I don't see one being sacrificed for the other currently. He said that once she starts walking, I'd likely see her speaking skills slow down, so I guess we'll see what actually happens down the road. For now she's a good walker and talker!
She began singing just a couple weeks ago. She has a little kid Bible with a picture of Jesus on the front; she points to the picture, looks at me, and starts swaying and humming/singing, so then we sing "Jesus Loves Me"!
She has quite an understanding of her body, too. Catch her at just the right time and she'll show you her bellybutton, elbows, knees, neck, cheeks, toes, fingers, feet, eyes, head, hair, forehead, hands, mouth, tongue, and teeth. She also understands, "Close it," "Open it," "Put it down/back," "Go under,""Turn it on/off," "Turn around," "Feet first"...and others.
She says:
dad
doggie
kitty
duck
milk
water (waa)
up
keys
cheese
juice
pop
hi
buh-bye
this
hot
poppa (for my dad)
socks
bottle
tickle
She signs:
milk
water
more
please (but only for her dad, the stinker)
and a variation of help
And now I can't think of the others! Nate needs food, so I should probably start dinner! He stopped at Trader Joe's for wine and lettuce tonight and the guy behind him in line paid for his stuff...What a small, thoughtful, wonderful blessing.
Okay, before I go, the new baby is doing well. I feel the kiddo moving all throughout the day and it's so comforting. We find out in less than a week whether we're having a boy or a girl. Crazy...Time is flying!
2.25.2010
Because it's been a month.
Nate just noticed that it's been awhile since I last posted, and when he notices that's a call to action. (And he just told me to go back to school because he believes I misspelled/made up the word "awhile." I love having him watch me blog. And I guess I just laughed at him too hard - he's walking away...)
Hazel is doing good, growing leaps and bounds every day. She's starting to take steps, hesitantly but at least the desire is there (finally!). On Monday she started sporting spots all over her little body. I took her to see the pediatrician - turns out she has Hand, Foot, and Mouth virus. Awesome. Poor kid is pretty uncomfortable right now, and she's not up for many pats and snuggles from us. She was super needy on Monday so she did cuddle some that day, but that gene generally isn't part of her make-up. I knew something was wrong on Monday when the clock hit 9:20am and she was still asleep, she who wakes up promptly at 6:45am. I finally just got her up - and then I started noticing the spots. Sores popped up inside her mouth (one or two around her mouth), on one thumb, and on her bottom. I know it could be worse, but I'm sad she's having to deal with this right now. Especially since she's working on cutting two or three teeth at the same time.
Nate is staying busy with his work. He's been doing a lot of organizing in his office, which is a very good thing. I don't say that because it's physically messy - it's not at all (except for my corner). He's working to streamline his processes. I don't know how to say that better...Cody (the black lab that joined our house a few weeks ago) adores Nate, does everything he says. It's been fun having a dog around, although a bit overwhelming at times. Cody doesn't listen to a word I say until I "dominate" him, aka throw him to the floor and lay on him for awhile until he settles. Following that he behaves quite well.
We had an ultrasound last Wednesday night - and I suddenly can't remember why. Peace of mind, I think. Anyway, it was so good to see the kid! It was wiggling like crazy, showing us all its fingers and toes. It was good to see its pumping heart and full bladder. We got a good picture:
The next day I saw Peggy and she answered many of my questions regarding VBACs. I'm not up for saying quite yet what I'm feeling on that front, but soon enough. It's taking a lot of prayer and thought to figure out what's best for this baby and for me. I love this kid already, and all I really want to do is bring it into the world in one great big healthy piece.
My nausea is improving every single day! I'm on Zofran to help curb the harsh edges of my morning sickness, so that's been wonderful. Some days I wonder what it would be like if I wasn't on Zofran - I'd probably be kneeling in front of the toilet. My energy is also coming back, so I've had a much easier time making dinner (aided by my lack of nausea, so now I can eat dinner every now and then, too!) and I've begun baking again. It's nice to take control of the laundry again, too.
My belly is sticking out. I'll show you soon.
OH! And Rae Ann, Stella, and Ivy are in town for five weeks! Much family time taking place these days - it's good to have them close again.
Must run! Spaghetti is calling my name!
Hazel is doing good, growing leaps and bounds every day. She's starting to take steps, hesitantly but at least the desire is there (finally!). On Monday she started sporting spots all over her little body. I took her to see the pediatrician - turns out she has Hand, Foot, and Mouth virus. Awesome. Poor kid is pretty uncomfortable right now, and she's not up for many pats and snuggles from us. She was super needy on Monday so she did cuddle some that day, but that gene generally isn't part of her make-up. I knew something was wrong on Monday when the clock hit 9:20am and she was still asleep, she who wakes up promptly at 6:45am. I finally just got her up - and then I started noticing the spots. Sores popped up inside her mouth (one or two around her mouth), on one thumb, and on her bottom. I know it could be worse, but I'm sad she's having to deal with this right now. Especially since she's working on cutting two or three teeth at the same time.
Nate is staying busy with his work. He's been doing a lot of organizing in his office, which is a very good thing. I don't say that because it's physically messy - it's not at all (except for my corner). He's working to streamline his processes. I don't know how to say that better...Cody (the black lab that joined our house a few weeks ago) adores Nate, does everything he says. It's been fun having a dog around, although a bit overwhelming at times. Cody doesn't listen to a word I say until I "dominate" him, aka throw him to the floor and lay on him for awhile until he settles. Following that he behaves quite well.
We had an ultrasound last Wednesday night - and I suddenly can't remember why. Peace of mind, I think. Anyway, it was so good to see the kid! It was wiggling like crazy, showing us all its fingers and toes. It was good to see its pumping heart and full bladder. We got a good picture:
The next day I saw Peggy and she answered many of my questions regarding VBACs. I'm not up for saying quite yet what I'm feeling on that front, but soon enough. It's taking a lot of prayer and thought to figure out what's best for this baby and for me. I love this kid already, and all I really want to do is bring it into the world in one great big healthy piece.
My nausea is improving every single day! I'm on Zofran to help curb the harsh edges of my morning sickness, so that's been wonderful. Some days I wonder what it would be like if I wasn't on Zofran - I'd probably be kneeling in front of the toilet. My energy is also coming back, so I've had a much easier time making dinner (aided by my lack of nausea, so now I can eat dinner every now and then, too!) and I've begun baking again. It's nice to take control of the laundry again, too.
My belly is sticking out. I'll show you soon.
OH! And Rae Ann, Stella, and Ivy are in town for five weeks! Much family time taking place these days - it's good to have them close again.
Must run! Spaghetti is calling my name!
1.15.2010
Ahem.
If you're checking in here for rumor control, then I am happy to tell you, yes, it's true. We are indeed having another kiddo. Wahoo!
I've been praying since Hazel's birth that the next pregnancy would be totally uneventful, but no luck so far. I felt pregnant almost immediately, so 4 failed EPT tests were just frustrating. I finally called my midwife two weeks into feeling pregnant and she had me go to the lab for a blood draw to test my hCG levels. At about 5 it's safe to assume that you're alive, but you're definitely not pregnant. My first test came back showing a level of 12. The nurse in Peggy's office called me to tell me the results and went on to say that she'd never seen that number before - it felt very low to her. That left her with two assumptions: 1) I was days pregnant or 2) I had been pregnant and was miscarrying so the hCG level was going back down.
Well, that was awesome news. I freaked out; the nurse was totally morose and led me to believe that I was miscarrying. I did a bad thing. I texted Peggy and told her I was panicking, and I asked her what she thought of such a low level. She called back and reassured me that it probably meant I caught the pregnancy early. She scheduled me for a blood test the next morning.
hCG levels should double every 48 hours, so the 12 I got on Tuesday should have been 24 on Thursday - I stubbornly prayed it would be 48 and felt that that would be some major reassurance. It came back at 52. The next test, on the following Tuesday, came back in the high 300s. And a week after that, the hCG count was 8,591. It had skyrocketed. Nate and I began to feel hopeful and expectant.
When we heard from the nurse that the level was at 8,591, she told me to go into the office for an ultrasound. I told her that, by my count, I was barely six weeks along and we wouldn't be able to see anything. She said that the level was high enough my counting was probably off...Yeah, um, not a chance.
We went in for the ultrasound and it was awful. I regretted every second of it. First of all, the tech was the same lady who performed Nathaniel's first ultrasound in June of 2007. She didn't like what she saw at the time and classified me as high risk. And then he died. So I just associate all that baggage with her (sorry, lady - totally unfair, but true).
When I first got into her room she asked about my idea of when I conceived. She interrupted me as I finished saying, "Well, I ovulated on..."
"You can't know when you ovulated."
"I do, though."
"How?"
"I know my body."
"Yes, but how?"
"Um, I've been tracking my ovulation for two years..."
"Well, okay then."
Gee thanks. I guess she gets a lot of idiots in her line of work. Anyway, she spent the rest of the ultrasound being incredibly condescending. She never lightened up. She kept telling me that I was very premature in having an ultrasound done so early - and I answered that with, "I didn't want one, they told me to come in," every time. She told me that she couldn't even tell me much about the pregnancy. She pointed to the yolk sac and said, "Well, there's a cluster of cells. And there's some fluid. That's all I can say about this."
I walked out of there miserable. She wouldn't even meet me in the middle and refer to my cluster of cells as a baby. And she couldn't even tell me it was a viable pregnancy.
Leaving her far behind, since it's been several weeks since that memorable encounter, I have NOT miscarried, and, at last count, I'm 10.5 weeks along, due August 18th. We were going to wait to tell everyone until we were in the second trimester, but then I found myself having to straight up lie when people asked. I wasn't comfortable with that, so Nate and I agreed that we'd tell our immediate family, and then whoever asked us straight out after that we'd tell them, too. The other morning Nate told met that his State Farm agent had asked...so now he knew before any of our grandparents. It was time to tell everyone. Hands down.
So now you get to journey with me through another pregnancy! It's not very exciting...I feel pretty yucky most days so I lay on the couch and watch Hazel (Miss Independent, so no one worry - she's fine) play on the floor. She crawls over to show me things and hollers at me when she can't see my face from the other side of the couch, but that's about it. She has no idea what's going on in our little family. Oh, mealtimes are a joy. I can hardly cook for Nate and I - he's been making dinner the last few nights. Everything makes me gag. Feeding Hazel is such a chore. It's become a balance between holding my breath, breathing out of my mouth, and never looking at her food straight on. Yeah for pregnancy!
I've been praying since Hazel's birth that the next pregnancy would be totally uneventful, but no luck so far. I felt pregnant almost immediately, so 4 failed EPT tests were just frustrating. I finally called my midwife two weeks into feeling pregnant and she had me go to the lab for a blood draw to test my hCG levels. At about 5 it's safe to assume that you're alive, but you're definitely not pregnant. My first test came back showing a level of 12. The nurse in Peggy's office called me to tell me the results and went on to say that she'd never seen that number before - it felt very low to her. That left her with two assumptions: 1) I was days pregnant or 2) I had been pregnant and was miscarrying so the hCG level was going back down.
Well, that was awesome news. I freaked out; the nurse was totally morose and led me to believe that I was miscarrying. I did a bad thing. I texted Peggy and told her I was panicking, and I asked her what she thought of such a low level. She called back and reassured me that it probably meant I caught the pregnancy early. She scheduled me for a blood test the next morning.
hCG levels should double every 48 hours, so the 12 I got on Tuesday should have been 24 on Thursday - I stubbornly prayed it would be 48 and felt that that would be some major reassurance. It came back at 52. The next test, on the following Tuesday, came back in the high 300s. And a week after that, the hCG count was 8,591. It had skyrocketed. Nate and I began to feel hopeful and expectant.
When we heard from the nurse that the level was at 8,591, she told me to go into the office for an ultrasound. I told her that, by my count, I was barely six weeks along and we wouldn't be able to see anything. She said that the level was high enough my counting was probably off...Yeah, um, not a chance.
We went in for the ultrasound and it was awful. I regretted every second of it. First of all, the tech was the same lady who performed Nathaniel's first ultrasound in June of 2007. She didn't like what she saw at the time and classified me as high risk. And then he died. So I just associate all that baggage with her (sorry, lady - totally unfair, but true).
When I first got into her room she asked about my idea of when I conceived. She interrupted me as I finished saying, "Well, I ovulated on..."
"You can't know when you ovulated."
"I do, though."
"How?"
"I know my body."
"Yes, but how?"
"Um, I've been tracking my ovulation for two years..."
"Well, okay then."
Gee thanks. I guess she gets a lot of idiots in her line of work. Anyway, she spent the rest of the ultrasound being incredibly condescending. She never lightened up. She kept telling me that I was very premature in having an ultrasound done so early - and I answered that with, "I didn't want one, they told me to come in," every time. She told me that she couldn't even tell me much about the pregnancy. She pointed to the yolk sac and said, "Well, there's a cluster of cells. And there's some fluid. That's all I can say about this."
I walked out of there miserable. She wouldn't even meet me in the middle and refer to my cluster of cells as a baby. And she couldn't even tell me it was a viable pregnancy.
Leaving her far behind, since it's been several weeks since that memorable encounter, I have NOT miscarried, and, at last count, I'm 10.5 weeks along, due August 18th. We were going to wait to tell everyone until we were in the second trimester, but then I found myself having to straight up lie when people asked. I wasn't comfortable with that, so Nate and I agreed that we'd tell our immediate family, and then whoever asked us straight out after that we'd tell them, too. The other morning Nate told met that his State Farm agent had asked...so now he knew before any of our grandparents. It was time to tell everyone. Hands down.
So now you get to journey with me through another pregnancy! It's not very exciting...I feel pretty yucky most days so I lay on the couch and watch Hazel (Miss Independent, so no one worry - she's fine) play on the floor. She crawls over to show me things and hollers at me when she can't see my face from the other side of the couch, but that's about it. She has no idea what's going on in our little family. Oh, mealtimes are a joy. I can hardly cook for Nate and I - he's been making dinner the last few nights. Everything makes me gag. Feeding Hazel is such a chore. It's become a balance between holding my breath, breathing out of my mouth, and never looking at her food straight on. Yeah for pregnancy!
12.28.2009
Happy Birthday - YOU'RE ONE!
Hazel's big day was November 22, so at this point she's already 13 months. I'm terrible.
She started the morning by enjoying nursery time with her little friends at church. The ladies who work in the nursery love her (I'm not even kidding - they tell me how much every Sunday), and whenever I check on her during the service she's happily shaking the baby gate or taking toys from little boys.
The catch here is that we celebrated her birthday on Saturday, November 21st, because Mom and Dad took Nate and I to Trans Siberian Orchestra on Sunday night. I was so bummed to not spend her whole day with her, but Hazel did alright with Nate's parents.
So on Saturday, Day 1 of her birthday celebration, Nate and I scrambled to clean everything and prep food. I spent about three hours just dipping pretzels in chocolate. They were so good, but I really didn't budget that much time! The pictures I've posted here are from Mom and Dad's computer, so when I have access to mine at home, I'll add a few. I mostly have pictures of the spread before guests showed up.
The party started at 3pm, but folks started showing up around 2:30. We had several helping hands as we put finishing touches on things, so I slipped away to get Hazel up from her nap and dressed for her party.
The kid did awesome! She never acted overwhelmed by the amount of people in the house or the incredible, constant, hands-on attention she received all night. We all mingled for awhile until someone alerted me that Hazel was very ready to rip into presents.
She helped me for awhile, but then she became totally focused on some curled ribbon. I began to open all her presents for her and just hand them to her as I opened them. She was thrilled with each one. As a guest in our house, you might not have seen the "thrilled" aspect, but she was. When she devotes total attention to something, she's quite taken with it. The hollering comes when she finally feel she understands what she's holding.
People were so generous. She received many toys and dolls and books, most of which she visits several times a day in the family room. She has full on conversations with her dolls; she stacks, knocks over, and restacks her blocks; and she talks to the pictures of little boys and girls and baby animals in her books. We were blessed in a huge way by the attendance of so many friends and family.
After presents, Hazel got a chance to dive into her cake. She was interested in it, but not sure what to do with it. Finally she found her groove and started delicately shoving handfuls of chocolate cake into her mouth. Her legs were going crazy (whenever she eats a meal, she kicks the entire time, I think in anticipation of the next bite).
We had such a fun evening! The girl did amazing. She finally showed Nate she was pooped around 7:30, so he slipped away with her to put her to bed while I chatted with the few remaining guests. It was an excellent way to end the day!
Nate and I hosted Thanksgiving for both our families a week later, so I'll post about that next...and then Tree Killin'...and then Christmas.
She started the morning by enjoying nursery time with her little friends at church. The ladies who work in the nursery love her (I'm not even kidding - they tell me how much every Sunday), and whenever I check on her during the service she's happily shaking the baby gate or taking toys from little boys.
The catch here is that we celebrated her birthday on Saturday, November 21st, because Mom and Dad took Nate and I to Trans Siberian Orchestra on Sunday night. I was so bummed to not spend her whole day with her, but Hazel did alright with Nate's parents.
So on Saturday, Day 1 of her birthday celebration, Nate and I scrambled to clean everything and prep food. I spent about three hours just dipping pretzels in chocolate. They were so good, but I really didn't budget that much time! The pictures I've posted here are from Mom and Dad's computer, so when I have access to mine at home, I'll add a few. I mostly have pictures of the spread before guests showed up.
The party started at 3pm, but folks started showing up around 2:30. We had several helping hands as we put finishing touches on things, so I slipped away to get Hazel up from her nap and dressed for her party.
The kid did awesome! She never acted overwhelmed by the amount of people in the house or the incredible, constant, hands-on attention she received all night. We all mingled for awhile until someone alerted me that Hazel was very ready to rip into presents.
She helped me for awhile, but then she became totally focused on some curled ribbon. I began to open all her presents for her and just hand them to her as I opened them. She was thrilled with each one. As a guest in our house, you might not have seen the "thrilled" aspect, but she was. When she devotes total attention to something, she's quite taken with it. The hollering comes when she finally feel she understands what she's holding.
People were so generous. She received many toys and dolls and books, most of which she visits several times a day in the family room. She has full on conversations with her dolls; she stacks, knocks over, and restacks her blocks; and she talks to the pictures of little boys and girls and baby animals in her books. We were blessed in a huge way by the attendance of so many friends and family.
After presents, Hazel got a chance to dive into her cake. She was interested in it, but not sure what to do with it. Finally she found her groove and started delicately shoving handfuls of chocolate cake into her mouth. Her legs were going crazy (whenever she eats a meal, she kicks the entire time, I think in anticipation of the next bite).
We had such a fun evening! The girl did amazing. She finally showed Nate she was pooped around 7:30, so he slipped away with her to put her to bed while I chatted with the few remaining guests. It was an excellent way to end the day!
Nate and I hosted Thanksgiving for both our families a week later, so I'll post about that next...and then Tree Killin'...and then Christmas.
12.26.2009
Hazel's Last Few Months in Pictures.
9 MONTHS:
Hazel spent a Friday with Mom while I worked. I got a frantic call in the afternoon from Mom, telling me that Hazel had been stung on the head by a yellow jacket. We weren't sure if she was allergic or not, so I called the pediatrician as I raced over. They told me what to look for and wished me luck. Hazel was just fine. Mom, on the other hand, was freaking out. She covered what she thought was the bite with a mixture of water and baking soda, so Hazel looked a little freakish when I got to the house. We decided to rinse out the baking soda so that we could see whether or not she'd actually been bitten. She was fine - completely unfazed and unharmed! But the best part of her day was this fancy hairdo, compliments of the baking soda...
This was the best family picture we got in Magone, and it's too bad it's from my phone (all these pictures in this post are off of my phone - I'm very sorry).
And here is Hazel gnawing on our coffee table in the family room! Still no teeth, so I wasn't at all worried about damage. Hah!
10 MONTHS:
Hazel is becoming a big girl! This was one of the first times I let her sit alone, without hovering too much anyway. She was enthralled with this rocking chair, and even more thrilled by her own ability to rock it...
There are quite a few "eating" pictures on this post - just enjoy them. They're good for a chuckle.
I call this one, "I Love My Hat!" My friend Linsea made it and it's the only hat without a chin strap that Hazel will keep on. Sometimes I catch her in her carseat with it half off, but that's to be expected - she has a hard time not playing with it.
I snapped this one as we were getting ready to leave the house. I don't remember where we were heading, but I think it's a cute picture.
CHEESE! The kid loves cheddar.
Making espresso with Dad.
Eating steamed apples. They went absolutely everywhere.
11 MONTHS:
I can't resist her baby behind! I was lucky with this picture, though - the first time I set her down to watch the tub fill up, she peed where she was standing. But not this time! Whew.
I took this picture after we spent some time at the pediatrician's office. Bronchiolitis. Poor kid! Her cough has been awful! She's such a trooper, though. She's really only been fazed by it once, but that was because it was exacerbated by an ear infection.
12 MONTHS:
Tree Killing! We climbed a steep hill. And then crawled back to the car with nothing to show for it. I'm going to get a few better pictures from Mom and Dad and do a separate post on this tragic event, so I'll leave it here for now. I'll tell you this, though: Nate was not involved this year; Hazel nearly lost an eye...twice; I thought I was going to die; my lips lost feeling.
Hazel can ask for anything and I'll give it to her if she's just wearing this outfit at the time. I can't resist her in it.
*Oh, and do you like all the kleenex in the fireplace? Yeah, Nate and I have been sick, so we toss our used tissues in there. It's quite the build-up at this point. I don't plan on having any company over any time soon, let me just say.*
And this last picture has nothing to do with Hazel! Survivor came to our town to host a casting call for an upcoming season. I wanted to join the line, I itched to join the line, I almost joined the line, but I didn't. Nate had somewhere to be, so I would have been standing in the cold and rain with Hazel two hours past her bedtime. Even though I didn't join the line, I plotted my interview and felt convinced they'd cast me, knowing I'd be the highlight of the game for all of eternity. Ah well. Their loss I'm sure.
So this post clears my mind when it comes to my phone pictures. I've uploaded them all and now they're posted. What a relief! Nate and I are staying at Mom and Dad's for a few days (oil furnace is not working and we're out of wood; our house is sitting at a comfortable 50 degrees - and dropping - as I write this), so I'm utilizing their excellent wireless connection and my free time to get some blogging done! Seriously, it's like a vacation. I'm not distracted here. I'm taking care of Hazel, cooking for my family, and getting some laundry done, with naps tossed in there for good measure (for both Hazel and I).
I'm super delayed in posting about Hazel's birthday, but there's a good reason for that. I personally have six pictures of her party and they're all either blurry or dark, or both. But I discovered a wonderful, enormous variety of pictures from her party on Mom's computer, which elicited a huge, "Wahoo!" when I found them. So I'm going to post those next. I can hardly believe my little one is already 13 months old. Weird. But she's a genius. Have I ever told you that? And she's growing teeth like you can't believe. She waited until the timing was just so, as she does with all major developments in her young life. And she's just shy of walking. It's unbelievable.
So I'm off to finish making my chicken parmigiana. Nate is with some of his extended out-of-town family tonight, enjoying a martini and appetizers. Hazel had a super hard night last night, waking up every hour - she just wasn't used to sleeping in her play-pen all night (tonight will be better) - so I thought it best she go down on time rather than having Rick and Karen babysit her for a couple hours (sleeping at their house and then being woken up to come home). That can be quite disruptive to her poor little tired and sick body.
Nate's missing out. I make really good chicken parmigiana.
Hazel spent a Friday with Mom while I worked. I got a frantic call in the afternoon from Mom, telling me that Hazel had been stung on the head by a yellow jacket. We weren't sure if she was allergic or not, so I called the pediatrician as I raced over. They told me what to look for and wished me luck. Hazel was just fine. Mom, on the other hand, was freaking out. She covered what she thought was the bite with a mixture of water and baking soda, so Hazel looked a little freakish when I got to the house. We decided to rinse out the baking soda so that we could see whether or not she'd actually been bitten. She was fine - completely unfazed and unharmed! But the best part of her day was this fancy hairdo, compliments of the baking soda...
This was the best family picture we got in Magone, and it's too bad it's from my phone (all these pictures in this post are off of my phone - I'm very sorry).
And here is Hazel gnawing on our coffee table in the family room! Still no teeth, so I wasn't at all worried about damage. Hah!
10 MONTHS:
Hazel is becoming a big girl! This was one of the first times I let her sit alone, without hovering too much anyway. She was enthralled with this rocking chair, and even more thrilled by her own ability to rock it...
There are quite a few "eating" pictures on this post - just enjoy them. They're good for a chuckle.
I call this one, "I Love My Hat!" My friend Linsea made it and it's the only hat without a chin strap that Hazel will keep on. Sometimes I catch her in her carseat with it half off, but that's to be expected - she has a hard time not playing with it.
I snapped this one as we were getting ready to leave the house. I don't remember where we were heading, but I think it's a cute picture.
CHEESE! The kid loves cheddar.
Making espresso with Dad.
Eating steamed apples. They went absolutely everywhere.
11 MONTHS:
I can't resist her baby behind! I was lucky with this picture, though - the first time I set her down to watch the tub fill up, she peed where she was standing. But not this time! Whew.
I took this picture after we spent some time at the pediatrician's office. Bronchiolitis. Poor kid! Her cough has been awful! She's such a trooper, though. She's really only been fazed by it once, but that was because it was exacerbated by an ear infection.
12 MONTHS:
Tree Killing! We climbed a steep hill. And then crawled back to the car with nothing to show for it. I'm going to get a few better pictures from Mom and Dad and do a separate post on this tragic event, so I'll leave it here for now. I'll tell you this, though: Nate was not involved this year; Hazel nearly lost an eye...twice; I thought I was going to die; my lips lost feeling.
Hazel can ask for anything and I'll give it to her if she's just wearing this outfit at the time. I can't resist her in it.
*Oh, and do you like all the kleenex in the fireplace? Yeah, Nate and I have been sick, so we toss our used tissues in there. It's quite the build-up at this point. I don't plan on having any company over any time soon, let me just say.*
And this last picture has nothing to do with Hazel! Survivor came to our town to host a casting call for an upcoming season. I wanted to join the line, I itched to join the line, I almost joined the line, but I didn't. Nate had somewhere to be, so I would have been standing in the cold and rain with Hazel two hours past her bedtime. Even though I didn't join the line, I plotted my interview and felt convinced they'd cast me, knowing I'd be the highlight of the game for all of eternity. Ah well. Their loss I'm sure.
So this post clears my mind when it comes to my phone pictures. I've uploaded them all and now they're posted. What a relief! Nate and I are staying at Mom and Dad's for a few days (oil furnace is not working and we're out of wood; our house is sitting at a comfortable 50 degrees - and dropping - as I write this), so I'm utilizing their excellent wireless connection and my free time to get some blogging done! Seriously, it's like a vacation. I'm not distracted here. I'm taking care of Hazel, cooking for my family, and getting some laundry done, with naps tossed in there for good measure (for both Hazel and I).
I'm super delayed in posting about Hazel's birthday, but there's a good reason for that. I personally have six pictures of her party and they're all either blurry or dark, or both. But I discovered a wonderful, enormous variety of pictures from her party on Mom's computer, which elicited a huge, "Wahoo!" when I found them. So I'm going to post those next. I can hardly believe my little one is already 13 months old. Weird. But she's a genius. Have I ever told you that? And she's growing teeth like you can't believe. She waited until the timing was just so, as she does with all major developments in her young life. And she's just shy of walking. It's unbelievable.
So I'm off to finish making my chicken parmigiana. Nate is with some of his extended out-of-town family tonight, enjoying a martini and appetizers. Hazel had a super hard night last night, waking up every hour - she just wasn't used to sleeping in her play-pen all night (tonight will be better) - so I thought it best she go down on time rather than having Rick and Karen babysit her for a couple hours (sleeping at their house and then being woken up to come home). That can be quite disruptive to her poor little tired and sick body.
Nate's missing out. I make really good chicken parmigiana.
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