Easter, Birthday, Mothers Day, Misc

We have had some fun and busy weeks! Here are some pictures:

Okay...last month we took Gabbie to the doctor once again for her 'pooping issues'. I had a doctor appointment that day for the baby, and while in town I decided to stop at the second hand store for some clothes for Gabbie and for the baby. Also that day I started shopping around for carpet for the house. Gabbie decided that after 4 days of not pooping she would do her job while we were in one of the carpet stores. Lucky my Mom was with me and said she'd take care of the job. They were gone for a LONG time...when I went to check on them Mom was scrubbing the floor, cleaning Gabbie's shoes and socks, etc. So, Gabbie came home in a pair of her new pants and one of the shirts that I'd bought for the baby (size 3 month)! Note to self: carry extra clothes until we get this problem under control. And as I learned last week, carry extra clothes for myself as well (long story short-we both came home from the park covered in her poop).

Another try at the Easter Bunny :-) She came just in reach to get a bag of candy, no closer!

One Saturday night we decided to finish making Brice's deer into ground meat. Gabbie was awesome at helping clean up...sometimes a little too helpful!

Family picture on Easter. Gabbie is holding her new bubbles from the Easter Bunny, and under her coat is her new swimsuit ;-)

The tub is installed! Since I took this picture the drywall/cement board has been put up, and yesterday I was able to prime the walls. This week the walls will be textured and I can paint! Almost done!

Preparing for Brice's birthday. Someone has to clean off the frosting!

The birthday boy and Gabbie. The cake is supposed to look like a farm scene, and we did fit 30 candles on it!

We continued celebrating with friends a few days later. Brice was thrilled that I told the restaurant staff multiple times that it was his birthday!

Me with the old man...

Gabbie and I have been making frequent stops at the park when I get off work. I love the way kids look on swings...so happy!

My tulips were looking awesome! I told Gabbie to go pick me one; I was trying to find tasks for her to do while I finished some painting. Well, she decided to pick all 25 tulips that were blooming! I should have shown her how to pick wild flowers in the yard. Oh well :)

My Mom and I finished painting and decided to sit outside and rest. She commented on how warm it was, then it dawned on me that I had left a Twix bar in my purse in the car. Of course it was melted, but Gabbie and Gypsy took care of it for me!

Gabbie and I today, Mother's Day. Right now she is sitting on my lap going "That's Gabbie!"

We hadn't taken a big belly picture in awhile, forgot about it after my last appointment and didn't post an update anyway. Yesterday Brice said "Woah, that's getting big!" Yes dear, trust me I notice it too!

I got a Mothers Day manicure!

Gabbie did hers as well. She kept holding up her hand saying "Look at me, its pretty!"

The weeks have been busier lately. I took on some extra home health jobs that are 45 minutes to an hour from home, but really since the sun is up so early anymore the days don't seem much longer (though I do feel more tired, for some reason extra time in the car does that to me). Evenings and weekends I usually work on painting, with my goal being to have everything done so the carpet can be installed by the end of the month. Everything should be done for us to move up there except for the baseboards and trim around the windows. Getting those done will require time spent stripping wood, staining, and varnishing. I would prefer to do that either while on maternity leave or this winter when there isn't as much to do.

A few weeks ago we had our monthly baby check-up, I think we were around 22 weeks or so then. Everything is still going well. We do have to have another ultrasound in the next couple months due to a blood leak in the placenta. Not sure I said that right or not; and I'm not sure I understood the explaination. Doctor didn't seem too concerned, so I didn't see it as much of an issue. He just said to watch out for heavy lifting and if we were to start bleeding to give him a call. The little guy (yes, I am saying its a boy although we do not know) seems to be very active the last week or so. I feel tons of movement, and just like Gabbie was its usually around 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. Yesterday I was still able to do my weekly 7 mile lake walk. Thankfully I do this with a friend or I probably would have given up by now! I remember being not quite this far with Gabbie and having trouble walking 3 miles. I'm hoping it will assist in having a shorter labor this time! We'll see.

Happy Easter, May Day, and Mother's Day to everyone! Happy Spring!

Easter Egg Hunt and more!

After her nap last Sunday, Gabbie put on her coat, shoes, and backpack and said "Mommy, I go to school". I'm sure she wasn't trying to break my heart...but it was hard to keep the tears back. Not sure what will happen the day she really does go to school!

We're on top of the world!

She insisted on helping me wash windows! I would follow behind and wipe them up. She helped for over an hour!

Below are some pictures from Gabbie's first Easter Egg Hutnt :-)

Not so sure about the Easter Bunny...neither was the kid next to me who said "Look, the Easter Bunny has a zipper taped to his back!"

The first find...guess she wanted to enjoy one at a time!

Now I get the idea...time to fill the basket!

She stopped to eat from this one too!

This is what I love about my daughter. Words I have used to describe her recently include "Difficult", "Miss Independent", and at times "Bratty". Many moments she reminds me of why I also call her "Sweetheart", "Lovey", and "Cutie". Today instead of always adding to her own basket she thought she should help the other kids fill theirs, even gave them some of her candy from her open eggs. As irritating as her increased attempts at independence have been, I do enjoy that she is kind hearted :-)

"Look at my basket!"

Fun times...life is good :-) I think Gabbie liked the twirly flower she got even better than the candy!

Busy times

Thankfully we have 1 room almost finished on our ongoing remodeling project! Once I get some carpet picked out we will be able to move into one of the bedrooms (although the trim work and closets won't be done, it will be done enough to live in!) I have never shopped for carpet before, and I am not really looking forward to it since I do not have a clue what I am doing.

The pictures below will show the painting we have done so far. I am hoping by the end of the week we are ready to paint the stairway, hallway, and the other bedroom. Then its time to get Gabbie back in her own room, in a 'big girl' bed, empty the furniture out of our storage unit, and get somewhat back to normal!

We have also been working in the garden. Radishes, brocolli, lettuce, peas, spinach, potatoes, and beets are all in the ground. Gabbie has been a big help with that...it will be interesting to see what comes up in what row!

Miss Independent. She can take her little wagon anywhere, including down to the mailbox. I went inside to check on supper, looked outside and she was half way down the lane.

I need more zoom on my camera :-) Lucky her Dad saw her going for her walk, and decided they would go together. I'm surprized at how far her little legs can travel!

Priming the bedroom walls...what would we do without Gabbie's help?!

Taking care of "Dolly" is the new thing. She's in the wash machine now as Gabbie naps. I'm hoping cottage cheese will come out of her clothes fairly easily.

After the room was primed and textured, now time to paint!

Another 'before' picture, looking out into the hallway.

'After'.

Dolly apparantly has to wear shoes to go outside.

I had to take a picture of the garden before it fills up with weeds :-) Gabbie is at one end scooping up the dirt and planting peas in random places, her 'dolly' is on the other side apparantly sleeping (anytime I said anything I was told to "shhh")

All done...time to take dolly home...

Ultrasound day

Disclaimer: this blog is going to involve some complaining, so skip to the bottom if you just want the good part :-)

Okay, so I was pretty excited about this week because we had our ultrasound scheduled and a doctor appointment to check everything out. I was looking forward to having our first glimpse of this little one, and probably the last until August if all goes well. On Sunday Brice told me he "didn't feel quite right" and by Monday he was running a temperature. Monday night he was in bed by 8 p.m. and Tuesday he was asking me to schedule him an appointment at the doctor. Our family doctor was off, so I had him scheduled with someone else. I called and said "I think he has strep, he sure looks like he feels awful". This was only the 2nd or 3rd time in our married life he has asked me to get him into the doctor. Anyway, he goes, calls me and says "Doctor says I have the Flu; he gave me an inhaler that is supposed to be like the Tamiflu prescription, it cost $65.00". Geez, I thought, better work good. By Tuesday afternoon he felt worse and was telling me we should reschedule the ultrasound. He wanted to be there, and neither of us thought he should be spreading the flu, nor did he feel good enough to go. (Of course this whole week Gabbie has also had green thick snot constantly running, so I'm figuring whatever Brice has she is getting as well). We woke up this morning and Brice was still complaining that he could hardly swallow, and he was even talking softly to keep it from hurting. He still had a slight temperature. We decided not to cancel the ultrasound. By this point it was not our excitement to see the baby as much as it was hoping the doctor would squeeze Brice in while we were there, and while he was at it check Gabbie out too so we wouldn't be driving down again later in the week. So begins another story...

Needless to say it was hard to get the 2 of them (Brice and Gabbie) going this morning. We had to be out the door by 8:00 for sure. The plumber/electrician shows up about 7:40, so Brice is going over things with them including that we can't use the sinks or toilets all morning, perfect timing I figured since we were leaving anyway. By 7:55 Brice is sitting at the table working to get the energy to put his shoes on and get out the door. By 8:05 I'm in the car just avoiding the temptation to honk the horn and hurry him up. We make it to the hospital by 8:35 (yup, for an 8:30 appointment). We go to the hospital radiology department just as we did for both of Gabbie's ultrasound. After waiting 15 minutes they finally tell us that we are not down for an appointment, and of course I didn't bring my appointment card with me for proof-it was sitting on the table at home with my cell phone. Turns out that since we had Baby #1, our physicians clinic now has their own ultrasound machine and technician located 'conveniently' near our doctors office. I guess its convenient for people who have a clue what's going on! So, we make it over to that office, by now its 9:00 and we are super late. I am ready to apologize, but they apologize to me and state they tried to call me but I didn't answer-a reason I should have grabbed my phone I guess. They tell us that their ultrasound tech overslept and we would not be able to be seen until 10:30. Seriously!?!? So they arrange for us to see the doctor first. Here's the best part: The doctor is apologizing to us for the whole mixed up situation, and Brice says "I tell ya' what doc, you can make it up to us by looking in my ears and throat and telling me what is wrong with me." The doctor one-ups him and offers to look at Gabbie as well, all while just billing us the one office visit that we were originally there for, which was for the baby check up. Awesome!

The diagnosis: Brice's strep test came back positive (duh, who knew?). Gabbie is just a 'snot nosed kid' with clear ears and throat. I'm pregnant with a baby with a good heartbeat.

Here's the part that really ticked me off: The prescription to treat Brice cost $5.95. And no, we can not return the $65.00 inhaler although it is essentially useless to us now.

Okay, here's a bit of husband venting. I know he is sick and does not go through the procedure of going to the doctor much, but honestly. I asked him "when you went to the pharmacy to get that inhaler did you show them your insurance card?" He says to me "what insurance card?" Arg... So I say "if you didn't have yours, did you ask them if they had mine on file". He says "no, I just paid for the prescription". This ensued a good 10 minute argument on the way home-basically a lecture from me since his throat was too sore to do much responding with his voice. Luckily we know the pharmacist, I called him, unfortunatly our insurance didn't cover that inhaler, so he is sending me a receipt so I can at least turn it in for our flex account to reimburse us.

The ultrasound was last today, which turned out to be a blessing. Brice was getting tired and not too happy to have had his throat swabbed, Gabbie was SUPER upset after having her ears checked, and I was just ready to not be hanging out in the clinic anymore. The tech had Brice and Gabbie wait outside while she did the 'technical' stuff...measurements of the baby, checking all the organs and extremities, etc. I had been told to come with a full bladder of 32 ounces of water, so I did, then she asked me to go to the bathroom because my bladder was pushing on everything and she couldn't see much. Whatever... Anyway, the measurements all landed perfectly on their chart of 'normal' and we measured exactly at 18 weeks and 4 days, so our due date is correct. I caught myself trying to catch a glimpse of if it was a boy or a girl (although we agreed to not find out I couldn't help being curious!). Brice and Gabbie got to come in to see the basics-the head, arms, hands, feet, legs, etc. He/she weighs about .55 pounds and its femurs are 2.5 cm in length, those are the only measurements I can remember. The doctor called us after we got home and said everything looked great on the pictures. Aside from my paragraphs of complaining previously, we are so blessed to so far have a healthy, normal looking baby with no complications. We can't thank God enough for the healthy one we have, and to be blessed with another one is amazing...

We got to the car and looked at the pictures. I told Brice "I don't see any boy parts". He said "seriously, if the femurs are 2.5 cm, what boy parts do you think you would see?" Good point dear. Its amazing to think of how much growing that little thing is going to do over the next 4-5 months. We could see everything so well today, and in the end its still just half a pound!

I don't have a scanner (nor would I have a clue how to use it probably), so I took pictures of the ultrasound pictures to post on here. Obviously the quality won't be as good. Brice also took another "stomach picture". I laugh that I am volunteering to pose for an unflattering photograph, but we took so few during our pregnancy with Gabbie that this time I'm hoping to have them to see the progress. Then we can put them away in a box and never speak of them again...

Brice achieved his goal of removing the rest of the sidewalk from the house for the deck.

An unclear picture, but it is a foot...

This was the best profile view she could get. This baby wasn't quite as cooperative as Gabbie was with hers as far as being 'photogenic'. But here you can obviously see the spine (this is my favorite picture-I think the formation of the spine is so interesting...)

The 2 legs.



This is the baby's face apparantly...She made an extra copy of this picture for Gabbie to show at daycare but I'm sure Gabbie was more interested in her sucker and sticker.



One of the arms and a hand. We did get to see the baby moving its hand and opening/closing its eyes. And baby did cooperate well enough to get a perfect view of its heart, kidneys, and stomach. So far he is head up, feet down.

I was assuming that this size of stomach would mean more than a half pound baby so far :-)

While we were gone the plumber got these pipes from the basement replaced.

Getting Busy

Warmer weather and more daylight has made for lots of work to be done that has waited all winter! Gabbie and I have been doing yard work while Brice does a million other things, as you will see in the pictures below. Gabbie's bedtime has become 'flexible', as has supper time since we do not want to go indoors until the sun goes down! I am thinking its time to start shutting our computer off, as today is the first day either of us used it since 1 week ago. Good warm days ahead :-)

Gabbie is getting smarter-I think she has discovered the 'stalling' tactic to delay bedtime. Anyway, now when she has to nap or go to bed all of her teddy bears need to be tucked in as well. The last few weeks have seen another jump in her vocabulary; at times I feel like we might actually be having a conversation. She can say her alphabet other than "W" and count to ten with fair consistency. We are very happy that she is saying "thank you" and "you're welcome" without needing prompting.

One of Brice's million things he has been doing. He removed the cement steps from the front of the house. Hooray for me: Gabbie enjoyed dropping things in the space between the house and the steps, now I don't have to deal with that :-) The main point of removing them was to prepare for the addition of a deck to the east side of the house. Brice is pretty excited about a deck; as hard as he works he deserves a place to sit and relax once in awhile. I am just excited to decorate it with lights for Christmas!

Like I said, she's getting smarter. If the mixer is running, there will be a beater to lick off soon...

Even Gabbie knows that basic housekeeping has failed around here lately. She knows I probably don't have the dishes done, so why not just eat out of the pan?

After vacuuming and sweeping to prepare for insulation. This will be a bedroom. Since I took this picture the room has been insulated, drywall in place, and the first layer of mudding/taping is complete.

Everyone had a hand in cleaning up after the insulation was installed.

Time for clean up at the farm Brice rents... this has kept his Dad and him busy the past week or so. I said as long as they were at it they could dig me up a second location for a garden, but I'm not sure that was on the priority list...

Break time :-) Enjoying a lemonade outside at the end of the day.

Somehow Brice managed to leave today at 4 a.m. to haul pigs; not sure how he does it. I have been without Gabbie all day and should probably be using my time more wisely than blogging! She went to my Mom's when I went to work this morning, and since Brice and I actually have plans tonight as well we won't see Gabbie again until the morning. It was strange to go to WalMart without my assistant, then drive home with Josh Groban blaring in the CD player instead of something to entertain the child. Its a strange ache when she isn't here...I always think I'll enjoy it, but then I feel lonely when I am doing housechores without her wanting to "help Mom!"

Its hard to believe we are almost half way to meeting our second child...when I saw on the calendar today that we were 18 weeks along I was surprized. We get our first glimpse of him/her on Wednesday when we have an ultrasound. I'll have to find our ultrasound picture of Gabbie to see if they have similar 'space monkey' photos as we call them :-) On the plus side, I am starting to feel better as far as having more energy again. In exchange for that I am having carpal tunnel symptoms in both hands and a near constant back ache, both of which I expected as they came on about this point with Gabbie and didn't leave until the day I had her. Neither really bother me much until I am trying to lift Gabbie or type at work with numb hands.

Better wrap up and be productive! I hope the windy conditions today are bringing in more warm weather!

March Update

We are happy that the weather is improving and Spring is near! Gabbie and I have enjoyed more outdoor strolls, and this weekend I bought some tomato seeds to grow indoors until we can get them in the garden. We have been able to help Brice more with his chores without taking 20 minutes to bundle up! Winter hibernation is fun up to a point.

Here are some pictures of the last few weeks around here:

For Valentine's Day Gabbie got a new toy for the shower. Somehow its okay when she dumps the water over her head, but not when her mother does it!

Celebrating Grandpa's birthday. I think Gabbie's starting to get the concept that other people have birthdays and get presents instead of just her.

Of course, the ongoing house project. We decided to open the stairway on the west side. It turned out much better than I thought it would. The room you see now will be the office as it was before, only without sharing it with Gabbie. Brice's computer has been packed up for over a month now; catching up on his bookwork when we get this all done will be interesting!

The mess...as much as I appreciate the progress, I'll be glad to be able to come home from work without having sweeping, dusting, and vacuuming to do to keep up. I keep thinking we are doing well enough to be utilizing the space by mid-summer, but when I repeat that estimation to anyone working on it they look at my like I am crazy. I forget its March already and soon they will all be in the field with less time to work on the house.

I felt great this weekend, so Gabbie and I got our cleaning shoes on and went to work. She loves to mop and dust. Not sure what got into us, but we worked all day Saturday. I hadn't cleaned the house that good since before Christmas. We even worked in the basement and did multiple loads of laundry-and the weather was perfect to hang it all outside and get that fresh Spring smell!

Before lunch Saturday I told Gabbie she needed to get dressed. She went and got her 2 piece swimsuit. I figured it didn't matter much; we were inside and she was mopping the floors (more playing in the water) anyway. Later I told her we needed to go outside and help Daddy, so she went and put on a light jacket and shoes.

We wore her out! She fell asleep by 7 p.m. watching the girls basketball championship. Thank goodness; the 2-3 nights before she'd been up nearly every hour crying. We figured it was an ear infection, but she seems better now.

Cleaned the house yesterday, time to do the yard today. We had the front door replaced last fall, but the old one had been sitting in our yard ever since. Here Brice is hauling it away.

Valentines flowers :-) Thought I better take a picture today before they all started to wilt. I was surprized when I got home on Valentine's Day by these. As busy as Brice has been working on the house, plus keeping up with his normal tasks, he managed to get me some flowers and a bird feeder. I haven't seen any birds at the feeder yet...hopefully soon!