Its June! Wait...its already June?!

Wowza, Spring flew by! A couple weeks ago it dawned on me that I am over 6 months pregnant; when did that happen?! Amazing how nice weather and lots to do can make time go fast! I had more home health clients than usual the past couple months, and our weekends have been busy with graduations, weddings, showers, and other get togethers with friends to enjoy the nice days!

Time for the pool! Gabbie had a blast on Memorial Day at the Breda Pool.

Grilling with the Meisters. Gabbie loves Leila! These 2 girls are quite the busy bees! We laugh that Gabbie treats Leila like she is so much younger than Gabbie.

A little bigger than last month :-) I feel like the baby has grown a lot, and (just like its big sister) enjoys having its feet in my right lower ribs! This is my favorite part of being pregnant. I feel great, have energy-as much as can be expected with 25 extra pounds on me anyway-, and other than numb hands and feet the aches and pains are minimal. I feel like the big day to meet the baby is near, but yet far enough away that I have plenty of time to get ready. Really I am not sure what I need to do to get ready. I have the car seat (somewhere in the basement!), a few outfits, the only major thing left is to get Gabbie in her 'big girl' bed so I can have the crib for the baby. I think anything else could be handled after the baby. We had an appointment a few weeks ago, went well other than finding that back pain I've been having is likely kidney related; as long as its my kidney and not the babies we can deal with that later on, too. We have another appointment next week with a follow up ultrasound due to an issue that arose on our ultrasound in March. Really its all going pretty well, such a blessing!

I can hardly believe it, but the deck project has begun. Enough of the floor is done for us to sit on, so we've been doing that almost every night for at least a few minutes (until the bugs show up!) Here Gabbie is enjoying a cheeseburger :-) My main upcoming project is to paint the exterior of the house, if the humidity ever decreases!

Awesome year so far for the garden! Here are some radishes and spinach, which we have been enjoying nightly. Gabbie loves it in the garden! I've been mostly pulling the weeds...I find my big belly makes utilizing a garden hoe difficult. Someone warned me about that and I thought they were being silly, but the last couple nights I've found out for myself.

Happy Summer!

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.