precious pictures

While Haley was in the NICU the March of Dimes arranged to have a photographer come in and take pictures of who ever wanted to have their baby's pictures taken. We were so excited and the pictures came out great. It's hard to believe she was once that small ( actually smaller ). This first one if my favorite by far. I love how she is looking up at me.

Kangaroo care ( skin to skin holding ) was so important for Haley's development. It helped her to relax and it helped us bond. Dan was even able to do it and he enjoyed it as well. Our body heat kept her warm while she was away from her heated incubator.

peeking at mommy


Love


Tiny feet

Stop signs
Stop signs is a term used a lot in the NICU. We attended a class on reading our preemies signals. Stop signs are an important one. It's how the baby tells us they have had enough or are over stimulated. It means stop and leave me a lone for a while. Haley used hers a lot. She was a trouble maker in the NICU. She actually earned the nick name Houdini. She was always trying to get the CPAP and leads and feeding tube out and rolling around in the incubator. Her fiestiness got her out of there in 5 weeks. I don't think anyone expected that.

Haley Joy

Haley Joy. Born 9/25/08 29 weeks and 5 days. 2 lbs 9.6 oz 15 in. She only spent 35 days in the NICU. 1/2 the amount of time we were told to expect!

not posting for a while

I will not be posting on here for a while. We have a special site for Haley where I will post updates. It is privacy protected. Dan and I appreciate all the prayers for Haley and if you want to have access to the site just send me your email address and I'll send you the invite. I think you have to join or something after your first visit so you can keep coming back. My mom had a little trouble so if you have trouble feel free to email me and I'll see if I can help you figure it out. It's a site the march of dimes helped us with and we wanted some we knew that we could control who was seeing and reading. Keep praying. It will still be quite sometime before we can bring our daughter home.

a cry for help!

Please has anyone ever experienced bad swelling in pregnancy? As of now, blood pressure is ok so I am just trying to find things I can do to get it to go away! I put my feet up most of the day, drink 1 gallon of water, try not to eat too much salt, and try to get some exercise but not too much. My mom thought maybe some kind of tea might help but we don't know if there is any kind that would be best. If you have any magic tricks please tell me. When I get up in the morning ( which is backwards from how it should be ) I am so huge and sore I just can't take it much longer. I sat with ice on my legs last night, but no help. Thanks.

looking back

5 years ago Dan and I celebrated one of the best days of our lives. Actually 5 years ago tomorrow but I doubt I'll have time to blog. It's hard to believe we've been married for 5 years already. So much has changed too. We have moved twice since then. We had our apartment which we only lived in for 6 months, then our house in croydon where we lived for 3 years and our current home. We adopted our first dog after about 8 months of marriage whom we loved for 1 year before he passed away suddenly. We then adopted our second dog Toby whom we are loving every day with. We had out first baby, Jacob. I can't imagine my life with out him. Now we are expecting our second bundle of joy and we just can't wait to see what this little on will add to our family. We've had good times and bad times. We've grown so much as a couple. I still get butterflies all the time. Through it all I wouldn't change a thing.

It's been a great 5 years. I can't believe it's been 5 years. I have been blessed with an amazing husband who is also a wonderful father to Jacob.

I'll never forget how it felt 5 years ago when we said our vows. I'll never forget the way we looked at each other and how happy we were on that day. I'll never forget because it's all still there. I'm more in love with Dan and he still looks at me as if we just started dating.

Thank you for a great 5 years. I can't wait to see what God has in store for the next 5 and beyond!

I'm ok

Thank God everything is ok. No bed rest for this momma yet. I don't know what I'll do if it comes to that. Midwife's orders were, rest, drink even more ( we're up to 128 oz a day!!! ), and some coke to help with my headaches and hopefully relieve some swelling. Other than that everything is ok. Baby has be super active today and I'm so grateful for that. Whenever I'm worried about it this kid reminds me that he or she is ok. So in trying to obey my orders my post may be brief and not too many. I need to save my time that I'm not laying down for Jacob. He doesn't understand and I don't want him to really know what's going on. I just tell him mommy's not feeling well today and he needs to let me rest. He's so good about it and takes good care of me. I love my little boy.

ARG

So this morning I woke up to not being able to move my fingers and a lot of pain when I try to walk. I've been battling swelling now for a few weeks but this is the worst it's gotten. And I'm sure when I go to the doctor today they are going to tell me it's not that bad, but when I called asking for advice they said I needed to be seen to make sure it's nothing. Gotta love that. The nurses say come in and when you do the midwives wonder what you are doing there. I am due for my next appointment anyway which was supposed to be tomorrow so they just moved it up 1 day. They had openings so it was no big deal. I feel like I'm living in my bathroom lately because of how much water I've been drinking in hopes to relieve the swelling. I've been really uncomfortable in my legs so maybe they can give me some tips of how to help with that.

In other news, Jacob has been wearing underwear for short periods of time and keeping them dry! I'm so proud of him. He's growing up so fast. I can't believe it. He's taking care of me today and just told me to I need to go lay down. I told him not to let me off the couch for too long and he's doing what I asked. So I must go and do as my little doctor orders! Maybe he'll give me a check up with his medical kit again.

Baby

Just a few ultrasound pictures from our 3D ultrasound today. It was my early birthday present and I couldn't have asked for a better one. It was so amazing to see this little life that's been kicking me, waking me up, and making me pee so much. I love you little baby!

Just a little attitude

Feet crossed like mommies always are

Sprained Ankle

Poor Jacob fell in a hole walking around my parents backyard last night. He was limping quite a bit so we put some ice on it and had him rest the rest of the night. I also gave him motrin. Well today he's still sore and limping. It seems to be a mild sprain. He can still walk which I am glad about but it's hard to keep him off it. We called the doctor and they said we're doing the right thing and if it's not better in a few days to take him in to get it looked at. It's not swollen and he's walking ok so I think in another day or so he'll be fine. Sometimes it seems to hurt more than others and he wont really walk then and other times he seems to be able to run. Of course after running he sits and holds his foot telling me it hurts again. So I'm letting him watch cartoons so he'll sit still. He's even eating lunch on the couch so we can keep it elevated. He's getting the royal treatment today. I love that kid and I feel so bad that he's hurting. I had no idea a 2 year old could sprain their ankle. Luckily when they do it's almost always very mild.

As for me, I'm pretty swollen again. Not sure what's going on but I'm doing all I can today to try to get it to go down and if it's bad tomorrow again I'll have to call the doctor. This baby is really giving us some trouble. I'm sure it will all be worth it when we finally meet this little one. I'm in the home stretch of the pregnancy. We've made it to the third trimester! I started exercising again to help with some weight gain I was unhappy about. I know I have to gain weight but I think it was happening to quickly lately.

So here's my question for those who have been pregnant before....send me your healthy recipies and exercise tips to get through this third trimester with minimal weight gain. I've done pretty good with the weight gain until recently. I've cut out junk food, but my sweet tooth is driving me nuts....Help!

Julie

a play date

Jacob and James had a great time at the playground on thursday. Earlier this week I noticed Jacob trying to hand his mitt to his shadow so he could play baseball. I felt so bad. He just wanted someone his own size to play with. He's been really missing Sarah lately. I'm so glad it's only a little more than a week left and they'll be back. I think we'll have to plan to go visit as soon as possible when she gets back!

I have chocolate on my finger!

Not words you want to hear from a 2 1/2 year old sitting on his potty not actually eating any chocolate! We had our first poop success although I have to say it was hardly anything, but we made a big deal anyway because he tried his hardest. My boy is growing up!

In other news, I spent a few hours in hospital last night. So far everything came back ok, but I'm still in pain! We still have no explanation for the pain and I am not waiting for one of the doctors to call me with some ideas and what they want to do next. I'm actually surprised they haven't called already. They were supposed to discuss it at their morning case study meeting and then call me. I'll call them if I don't hear from them by 11:00 or so.

I'll try to keep you all updated.

Where have I been??

Well home sick :( I am not on bed rest but I have another appointment on wednesday next week to see how things are going. As of right now everything seems ok. So since that was all good I decided I would just get sick. Not really but that's what happened. I really don't know what is wrong I just feel crappy. I have pains in my stomach which are concerning but I think it's totally unrelated to the pregnancy. If I have no relief after trying some things today I'll have to call the doctor and see what they think. Dan ( the best husband ever ) was able to find someone to be at the office so he can bring me some stuff to help me feel better. I'm glad he could find someone because I can barely walk let a lone drive to the store. So that's where I've been. Now I have to find a way to get myself out of this chair and back to my couch. Jacob's been taking care of me and he's been pretty good. I'm lucky he's been so nice and tomorrow is saturday. I'm sure he only has so much good left before he gets tired of mommy just sitting around all day.

bad day

I going to the doctor at 12:00 praying my blood pressure isn't too high. I am pretty swollen and water is only helping a little. I'm hoping it's just me being crazy and it's not as bad as I think. Anyway, I am supposed to stay off my feet and keep drinking water until I leave so I guess I should get back to that. I'll hopefully post when I get home provided my blood pressure is low enough they let me come home. She said it's very early for pre eclampsia but if can still happen. I guess we'll wait and see.

YAY

You're probably all sick of hearing about potty training from me. Well that's my life right now. Jacob had a great day and is finally getting the hang of it! He now goes right away or with in 15 minutes instead of sitting there for 45 minutes waiting. I'm so proud of him. He earned himself $1.25 because he went 5 times! And the day's not over yet! I think we can get at least 1 more time as long as we are not out all night. We have a few things to do before our crazy weekend. I'll be at my parents all day tomorrow helping prepare for Saturday and My brother and sister-in-law will get there around lunch time. Since they are staying with us we are trying to get the house ready tonight since we wont be home tomorrow. Dan's going to go straight to my parents after work and we'll all have dinner together. My Aunt and Uncle and Cousin are also coming up from NC tomorrow and should arrive around lunch time also. I'm so excited they are able to come. We don't get to see them alot since we don't have a ton of vacation time. We hope to have enough money to go there next summer again for vacation but with gas prices we're just not sure. Sometimes they'll stop by around Christmas if they are in NY seeing family. This year they'll have more of an incentive if they go to NY because they can stop in and see the baby! I can't believe we'll have another baby in december! I'm being reminded by tons of kicking and flipping as I type this. I'm starting to think this baby never sleeps which is scary! This post is so all over the place it makes me laugh. Don't you like my no separate paragraphs?

Well I guess that's all for now. Busy weekend ahead of us so I'll post updates early next week!

why?

I just don't get it. As soon as we think we're getting caught up with bills something happens. I broke a window in our family room today. If it were anywhere else I'd just leave it and board it up for a while. This is the room we spend most of our time. It also only has 2 windows so with all the bags I have on it right now not much sunlight is coming in. I hate having to have the lights on, but poor Jacob only likes it to be really light when he's playing. Now that he's asleep I can deal with the way the lighting is with the light off. It took me forever to get it cleaned up. I was using a towel to kill what I thought was a fly ( actually a bee ). My dog was freaking out and Jacob wasn't too found of it either. I never thought a towel would break a window. Apparently it was already weak. I'm glad I did it and not Jacob when he was playing and threw a ball near it. He would have been so upset. He was good to stay away while I cleaned it up. I did cut myself, but it's not that bad. Hopefully Dan can replace it tonight. It is a standard size window and home depot has it in stock. Now we just need to figure out a few financial things to still be able to pay all the bills. It never ends! I feel so dumb for breaking a window and it couldn't have happened at a worse time.

Is it the weekend yet?

It's been a rough week. I'm so glad that tomorrow is friday and then it will be the weekend. Not that I'll get much of a break but I get some. Dan's been helping my dad out with a lot so he'll probably be there most of the day but I usually go over too and then I have my mom to help with Jacob. It gives me a little break. Friends invited us over for dinner Saturday night so we're looking forward to that. It should be fun. They have 2 kids that are around Jacob's age so he should enjoy playing with them also. We're again struggling with the whole money thing. We just realized the commission check that's coming tomorrow is basically spent! That kind of sucks, but part of it is going to pay a bill so at least we wont have to pay that bill later this month. Most of the rest goes towards the carpet we just got in Jacob's room. Thank goodness we don't have to buy anything else to finish his room. We already have all the trim and Dan will work on getting that up a little at a time in hopes that Jacob can sleep in there maybe by monday. If not we might just put it off until next weekend after my brother and his wife go home. They are staying with us for the weekend. So now I have a lot of cleaning to do but that's ok. I don't mind because I needed to get it done anyway. It will be good to have the house clean again. I think I might have to recruit Dan to help me a little each night next week so we can actually get it done. I wanted to get a good cleaning done and have Dan take some stuff up to the attic for me also. The hall closet needs to be organized badly so I can fit more in it. That's one bad thing about this house, there's not enough closets. And of course when we added the hallway and redid Jacob's new room we didn't put in a closet! Oh well. It's something we'll have to add before we want to sell which isn't for like 10 years so it's no big deal. By the time we sell we'll have done a lot to this little house. It will be nice and hopefully sell with out any problems. Our next house needs to be exactly what we want though. I don't want to have to move again for a long, long time after that. It should be our last house before we retire and get something much smaller. We'll see how everything goes.

Ok enough nonsense rambling. I should go get some rest before Jacob and Jack both get up and the craziness starts all over.

a little regression

So today is no where near as good as yesterday. Jacob successfully went on the potty 3 times yesterday. So far today nothing. He did however pee on the dinning room floor. He doesn't seem to want to sit on the potty today but we're trying to make it fun and a good thing. I know he has to go but he's being stubborn and I'm sure he'll just pee on the floor again if I'm not too careful. It's very frustrating and I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever happen. Maybe yesterday was a fluke. I don't know. I know it was only 1 accident but he just doesn't want to be on the potty today and I feel like I'm being mean. I don't want this to be negative but today I think it might be. I don't want to go back to diapers. He's been good so far. I just wish today was a little better. I was hoping for a better day. Nothing is interesting enough today to get him to be convinced to stay on the potty. He's been naked for a while so I can watch him more carefully and know when he starts and get him on the potty right away. We'll see how that goes. Any advice?

And another

So after I updated Jacob was successful once again! I'm so proud of my little boy. Two times yesterday. This is huge for him. Nothing yet today but he hasn't been awake that long so we'll see what happens. I promised him a new toy if he has a good week. The carpet comes tomorrow in his new room and then it will be almost ready for him. A few last minute things and then it's done for him. He will likely be in his room by the end of the week. I'll post pictures of the progress later this week. We still have some painting to do but he'll be in the room before that's done. I think I'll paint the big yankee symbol next weekend and all the retired numbers should be able to go up with in a few weeks. Dan still has to cut out the circles for me and then I can paint them.

Nothing else new. I'm so proud of Jacob. I hope this week will be the turning point for him with potty training. All I need him to start doing is knowing before he goes so he can tell me and then we'll be much better. Right now the poor kid has to sit on the potty every 20 minutes and he sits there for a while. It's been working so I don't plan to change it just yet. If anyone has any tips please let me know. I'm willing to listen to any advice and try anything if this doesn't work for him.

We're having success

Yup that's right Jacob has successfully peed in the potty 2 times in the past 3 days! Finally we're getting somewhere! I'm so proud of him so I had to share. I just found out my best friend had her baby so I'm so excited for her! I think that's all for now. I'll update later I have to go wake up Jacob.

Today's appointment

Everything is going well. The baby is healthy and perfect size! I am still contracting but everything is fine so we are just taking it easy and keeping a close eye on things. After my next appointment we might have a Fetal Fibronectin test to hopefully put our minds at ease or prepare us for another early baby. We're just really hoping for a negative result on that test. Jacob really had a good time seeing the baby on the screen. The baby moved around a lot and he seemed to like that. My blood pressure was a little high again but it's still ok.

updates

It's been a while so here we go. Jacob is sick again. This poor kid seems to always be sick. I think it's related to being a premie. He's feeling a little better today which is good. Hopefully this will be it for a while. He's gotten really into Thomas the Tank Engine which has been neat to see. He loves to play with his trains, but I am getting sick of watching it on TV. It's all we watch now.

The pregnancy is progressing along. I have been having contractions for almost 2 weeks now but they never last or progress so I just keep on going along with my day. I hope I can make it to a safe point in pregnancy before they do progress. I have an ultrasound tomorrow which we are excited about. We are not finding out the sex. I have been tempted but I think we'll stick with our original decision to be surprised. Jacob is excited to see the baby on the computer screen again. I'm glad he's so excited about the baby. He was talking to the baby last night and rubbing and kissing my belly. It was so cute. I love when he does stuff like that. I wish December wasn't so far away. I'm trying my hardest to optimistic that I wont deliver until December. I would mind late November but not too early this time. I don't want my baby to have to spend any time in the NICU. We have chosen a hospital with a great NICU though just in case. I have been very impressed so far with the hospital. I was there a week and 1/2 ago praying I was not in labor already and the nurses were really nice and the room I was in was a good size. We're planning to do a tour soon so we can see everything before hand and know where to go. Even though it's early I'll probably make my next appointment a longer one so I can ask questions about delivery since I never got to do that with Jacob. This way I know where to go and have an idea of what I can do to avoid any medication.

Well that's probably more than you all wanted to know.

pictures

Just some new pictures for now...I need to go eat lunch

Our new little peanut!

Jacob and Jack

Painting his new room

Playing with Uncle Ray and Aunt Marie

Looking out the window of Uncle Ray and Aunt Marie's 10th story condo!

Me and my best friend Karen. She is is expecting her first any day now. It was great to see them again.

Happy 4th of July

I'm so glad Dan is off today. It's almost like having a day off myself because I get help and someone to help entertain Jacob. I love being with him everyday and playing with him and watching him learn, but every once in a while it's nice to have some help and a chance to relax a little. We're going over friends tonight which will also be nice. Tomorrow I get to see my cousin for the first time since March and we get to meet her baby! I think and then sunday we'll be at Dan's mom hanging out with his family. It should be a good weekend. It's going to be a busy week. I have an exam this week and I want to spend some time with my cousin. I have Jack 2 days again plus tons of studying!

So if you don't hear from me for a while, it's just crazy around here. We hope to get Jacob's room mostly painted this weekend. Hopefully we are able to do that.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday weekend!

on the road to recovery

Jacob is on his way to getting better. He is so much happier these days not that he was very unhappy other days though. He only has sores in his mouth now and they seem to be less painful since he can eat more and actually brushed his teeth! I am hoping he will be well enough to visit Sarah on friday. I don't think he is still contagious but I'm not risking it.

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. I have to get 1 filling but it's really small and should only take a few minutes. Other than that my teeth are good it's just been way too long since my last cleaning. I'm glad to get it over with and glad that we found the cavity early so it doesn't get bad. It will be my first filling which I'm not happy about but I'll survive. I made it through labor with out an epidural so I think I'll be ok.

I guess that's all for tonight. I'm tired from a long night at work so I'm off to lay down and wait for my wonderful husband to get back from the store. I forgot to leave him my car so he said he would go when I got home even though it was so late tonight. I couldn't have designed a better person to spend the rest of my life with! I love him to pieces!

Hand foot and mouth disease

So these are the types of things you read about when you are pregnant and have a young child but never actually expect your child to get. We weren't completely positive at the doctor the other day but we are pretty sure now. His rash has gotten worse. He only has a few sores on his feet so far and I hope it doesn't spread any worse because I know he wont want to walk. For looking as bad as he does he is still pretty happy and good. I think overall he's feeling better with the exception of his throat. His mouth and throat are all full of sores so it's hard to eat and even drink sometimes. We took him out for ice cream tonight which he enjoyed. He just started getting itchy tonight so we added benadryl to the to his routine tonight. He's also taking motrin for pain. I'm impressed with him because he looks like he should be so uncomfortable yet he's still playing and being pretty good. So it isolation from other kids for the next few days for us. It stinks because he's been asking to see Sarah and he can't until he's better. I'm hoping he'll be better by the end of the week and we can get out of the house again. It stinks being couped up all the time. I wanted to let him swim in his kiddie pool today but then the storm started rolling in so I decided not to fill it up. This has been happening a lot lately and I feel bad. It would have been a nice day to go to the pool in my parents neighborhood but we couldn't take him being sick.

Oh enough complaining. I have a good little boy and I am so lucky for that. Dan and I actually stayed up late last night and rented a movie and it was so nice to have that time together. It's been a long time since we've sat and watched a movie together. We're usually in bed not long after Jacob anymore. Ok. I should go lay down because this baby seems to be complaining. I wish this pregnancy was less complicated. I'm learning the signals of when I need to get my feet up.

will it ever end

Jacob has a doctor appointment today. His throat has gotten really bad. He has bumps or sores not really sure what to call them all on his through which have spread more in his mouth. I didn't get to see it really good this morning but he has on on the inside of his lip which he showed me so I know they have gotten worse. He's not really eating but is drinking some. I'm doing my best to keep him hydrated especially with the heat today. His throat is really swollen. My mom is coming with me to help because I know we'll need another set of hands and Dan can't leave work today. I'm lucky to have a mom near by willing to help. I hope there is something they can do because I can't handle many more nights like last night or days like the past 4 days! I need my little boy back! I'll post later with an update on how he's doing.

my poor baby

Well we went to the doctor for Jacob. They are unsure of the cause of the pain but we are keeping track of what he eats and when it happens. Today started out pretty good. He ate breakfast well and was doing great. We sat and talked for over 45 minutes today! It was awesome. Then it was snack time and he couldn't pick something and then told me his stomach hurt so I suggested we just relax and if he feels better we'll have snack later. He didn't feel like eating though. Then I was getting ready to get lunches ready ( Jack came at 11:00 ) and Jacob told me he didn't want anything that his stomach still hurt. This caught my attention because this is rare for him. I thought we'll he's 2 so I guess we'll have this happen ever once in a while. Then he vomited! I felt his head and face and he was really warm. He does have a fever of 102.3 which isn't terrible. The doctor said if the vomiting gets sever we need to have him seen right away in case of apendicitis. So we're pretty worried about him.
He just woke up and seems to be a little better. He slept for 45 minutes on the couch and is now laying down watching his favorite movie. I'm letting him have some crackers because he's screaming for something to eat. What ever is going on it's not a normal virus! Keep us in your prayers.

15 weeks 3 days and a request for prayer

Yesterday was crazy. This baby would not stop moving. I was loving it to some degree. It was so sick though from all the moving inside, that part I could have lived with out. Today things are a little less calm on that part. I still have 1 1/2 weeks until my next appointment so there's not much to update on that end.

Last night we were able to go food shopping and did really well with savings. I was so glad for that since money is really tight right now. Jacob was actually really good in the store which was so helpful. Over the weekend we picked strawberries. It was so much fun. We actually got 10lbs! We made 2 batches of jam so far and we are excited to share that and enjoy some ourselves. I think I'll have some before work tonight! We of course spent the weekend with my parents again. We have been working on their kitchen remodel for about 2 months now. It's coming along great and it's starting to really look like a kitchen. There are 4 upper cabinets left to install plus the bead board for the backsplash and part of the rest of the room as well. Then trip and some touch ups and it will look great! I'm so excited for them. They deserve to have their dream kitchen.

Right now Jacob and Jack are sleeping. I know nap time is coming to an end so I should go get my work uniform out and ironed so I can get ready once Dan gets home. I was able to get 1 1/2 hours of studying in today which was so great.

Please pray for Jacob. 2 things actually. 1. He's still having trouble sleeping at nap time because he is scared. He's had nightmares only at nap time for about 2-3 months. He is also scared of reflections and I am having a hard time trying to teach him what he is really seeing. We've had to close the blinds at my parents house in the dining room because he was so scared. 2. He's been telling us that his tummy hurts a lot lately. Usually when eating after only eating a few bites. After a few minutes he is ok and can resume with his meal. It sometimes will happen when he is playing or the other day in the car. Sometimes I know it's gas but others we are not quite sure. He is going to the pediatrician on thursday or friday depending on what hours they have available on those days. I just hope he doesn't need any extensive testing. I worry about him and since he was a premie he is more at risk for different things. We recently discovered he is allergic to cats and is likely to develop asthma. He has had croup 3 times since January. What we thought was croup could actually have been asthma so we need to watch him next time he gets a cold. It's so hard not to worry when it's your child. I am trying because I know I need to stay positive and trust God. I know He is in control and has His hand on my little boy. But please just pray for all of us and we try to figure out what is going on in his little body and mind. I hope the pediatrician can also help us with dealing with his fears. He has gotten worse again over the past few days.

Thanks everyone. Now I must get ready for work.

contest

Check out this link for yet another neat contest for baby items
http://funandfreegiveaways.blogspot.com/2008/06/its-whimsical-baby-give-aways.html


Being prego myself I am always looking for new fun things for this little bundle of joy. I'd feel bad if I didn't get a few new things for this one since Jacob had everything new and this baby will get his hand-me-downs especially if it's another boy!

crazy kid!

Yesterday my little boy decided he was not going to take a nap. I went in twice to tell him to lay down in bed and stay there thinking if he would just try he would fall asleep. The first time he tells me " I have poop " Ok so I changed him. The second time he tells me " I can't mommy " I told him to try and the next time I come in because he's being loud and is not in bed he would get a spanking. Well he didn't stay in bed but he also didn't make a sound. I thought it was funny that he was trying to hide it from me that he wasn't sleeping. We have a video moniter so I was watching him and he took all the diapers out of the box on the floor ( which was nearly full! ) and placed them on his bed. When I finally did go in there he told me he couldn't go to bed because it was full of diapies! At that point it was 3:30 so I had given up and told him he had to stay in his room for 15 minutes while I finished the meatballs for his punishment. He screamed the whole time and then we talked and got ready to swim. Needless to say today he is sound asleep and quite as a mouse!

Jacob's newest thing is to tell me something hurts when he is getting in trouble. Today it was his neck and yesterday his throat. Now I know they might hurt some since he was just sick with a sore throat and cough but for him to tell me when I am telling him not to do something or no you can not have cookies and ice cream for breakfast is a little nuts. He's getting way to smart and sometimes it's not for good.

Second trimester!

We made it to the second trimester! How do I feel....crappy! I actually feel more sick then in the first trimester, but as long as my baby is healthy I'm ok with it. It's making it much harder to take this heat. Seriously 90 and 100 degree weather in June! This is nuts. We went to the pool in my parents neighborhood on saturday night and it was so great. It was just what we needed to beat the heat. Today is the worst day and Jacob is sick so I don't think we'll be doing any swimming. We'll see. I told him I could fill up his baby pool and he could swim in that tonight. It might help him cool down if I get the water the right temp. I think I'll fill it in a few minutes so it's ready after dinner while Dan cuts the grass.

I still don't have a belly picture. I need to get on that, but time is so hard to find these days. I have so much to do now that my semester has started for school. It's only 6 1/2 weeks long so I'll be free again soon.

13 weeks 6 days

Yesterday Jacob was so good. He was helpful. I had Jack here and Jacob helped change him and got him toys and shared really well. Today it was just us and he was so grumpy! I hope he wakes up from his nap in a better mood! I wish the weather was nicer so we could play outside. We went out for a little while but could not go in the grass because it's so muddy.

Last week we took Jacob to the playground. He had so much fun. I thought I'd share some pictures from then. I can't believe how big he is. He did the slide all by himself. I could not believe it when he was climbing up and then sat down and scooted to the edge and slid down. He was so proud too.Jacob's new favorite part of the day is when we call Daddy! Here he is all grown up talking to daddy on the phone!

No pregnancy photos just yet. I'll work on that this weekend. I have been feeling very nauseous, which I am hoping has to do with how much this baby moves. We'll see. I should be out of the morning sickness stage by now. My sister-in-law was really sick when she was pregnant with Sarah because of how active she was. Maybe it's a girl. Who knows. Jacob was so lazy though and it was an easy pregnancy for me. I guess that's all.

13 weeks 3 days

To clarify. The ultrasound picture was from 9 weeks. It says 10 weeks on it but my due date changed after that. I am now 13 week and 3 days! I feel some flutters but my midwife says it's probably not the baby....but what does she know. I really do believe it's our baby moving around. At the last ultrasound it was moving around like crazy. And to answer the burning question...no we do not plan to find out what we are having. The only thing that might change our minds is if they find something wrong at the next ultrasound that would lead them to believe our baby might not make it. I hate that we were not able to find out is Jaidon was a boy or girl. So I would want to know if I could if we were in danger of loosing this baby. Other than that we want to be surprised. It's so fun that way! Not that there is anything wrong with finding out...it's just not for us. I loved hearing those words after all the work of labor with Jacob..." It's a boy". Plus this way no one will know and Jacob gets to tell the family. He's so excited about that. I just hope that everyone can wait that long for him to come back and visit and then go out and tell the news.

In other news I already feel big. I'll try to get a belly shot ( sorry but way too many stretch marks from Jacob so I'll just wear a tight shirt so you can see ) soon. I'm nervous to post it because of how big I feel. I have however only gained 2 pounds so far!

Just in case

I don't know if anyone reads this anymore but......
We're pregnant! Baby is due to arrive sometime around December 6th. So far everything has been pretty good. A few scares, but now everything is going so much better. Keep us in your prayers as we trust God with this tiny little life.

back to normal life and potty training

Well we are back from vacation. It was so great to be away and see my brother get married. It was a fun time and I wish we were still there. I had so much fun spending time with family and now I miss them all. I'm glad tomorrow is saturday and I should see Dan at some point during the day. I still have 3 weeks until school starts back up and it's nice, but at the same time I miss it. It gave me something to do and helped me to not be lazy. I got a lot more done even though I seemed to have less time.

In other news Jacob is potty training. He seems to be resisting a little but we have gotten some advice that I think will help. He is able go long periods with out needing a diaper so I know he is physically ready. Any advice is welcome. We'll try to underwear approach later today and tomorrow. It worked for our niece so we'll give it a try. Anyway. When I locate my camera I'll post the few pictures I did get from vacation. We had a fun day on the beach and we got a few good pictures there.

fun contest

Check it out. Surprise box! How fun. Just check out the site for more details
http://funandfreegiveaways.blogspot.com/2008/05/lets-get-this-party-rolling.html#links

Guess who's a big boy!!!

Yup that's wright my baby is all grown up. He sleeps in a big boy bed now. I can't believe it. He is actually doing quite well and stays in his bed all night so far. Naps are harder because he's been having nightmares so he never wants to go to sleep. This week I have been sitting next to his bed with him until he falls a sleep but he doesn't sleep as long this way because usually after about 2 hours he realizes I'm gone and gets up crying. So we still have some work to do but he's doing so much better than I expected. He is finally feeling better but still coughs when he runs around outside too much. His inhaler seems to help that a lot so we only use it as needed right now. I still have my cold and I can't seem to get rid of it. I am back to coughing a lot today. Hopefully tomorrow it will improve back to how it was 2 days ago. Only less than 3 weeks and we'll be North Carolina preparing for my brothers wedding. I can't wait. It's going to be so since to be away for a whole week. We actually haven't gone away for a whole week since our Honeymoon. We've gona away just only for long weekends. This should be so nice even though we'll be a little busy. We have a few days of just relaxing and enjoying being with family.

croup again

Jacob has croup again. It's so much harder to take care of a sick toddler when you are so sick yourself. Please keep us in your prayers this week as we both try to rest and recover quickly. I can't visit any of the wonderful babies that are around these days until we are both better!

AAAAAAHHHHHHH

I hate being sick. I'm going to the doctors today. I probably wont be able to update much since I have trouble sitting up and pretty much doing anything. I'm so lucky Jacob is so good for me.

I don't understand!

On friday the heat wasn't working so we called the home warranty company and the guy came out and supposedly fixed it. So yesterday when our heat came on the whole house filled with the smell of gas really fast! So we turned off the heat and opened the windows. After about 1/2 hour the smell was gone. We couldn't find the source of the problem so we left the heat off and went to church. Dan and my dad came back to try to figure it out. The thought it might just be some oil that the home warranty Friday. Later last night the smell was starting to get strong again. Dan called the home warranty company again and they said that heater guys probably wouldn't call us back until morning. Ok this is an emergency! Still they said they wouldn't call back until the morning. So for a company that claims to have 24 hour emergency service....they lied! We called our normal heater people and they came out with in 1 hour. We had a bad gas leak and our heater was not properly put back together. We had this ( much better repair guy ) document what happened and we'll see what we can do. I will never use the home warranty again! Thank goodness we don't think we were breathing in the gas too much since it was only coming out when the heat was on and it was warmer this weekend and we weren't home a lot!

finally

I finally have the time and energy to update. Although there's not much to update on. Jacob is in the process of giving up his nap. This is really scary for me. How will I entertain him all day now. At lease summer is coming and we can play outside and swim, but rainy days are another scary thought. Any advice is welcome. I can't believe he is doing this already he is only a little over 2! Leave it to my kid. The good sleeper. When he naps he sleep for 3-4 hours. It seems to be every other day. He woke up really early this morning so I thought he would take a nap. I'm not so sure now though. He's in his crib playing right now. He did nap yesterday though for over 4 hours. I don't understand it at all. Jacob is also talking a lot. Full sentences. He counts pretty well when he wants to. He can get to 15 by himself, unless he's being silly, and 25 with help. He knows his ABC and tries to read ( although he only says the parts he remembers from when we read or makes it up by the pictures ). He makes us laugh every day which is so great.

Today is Dan's birthday and we are going out to dinner and then to his mom's for cake with the family. I was not able to do anything special for him since he just recently got his dream car which was part valentines day, part birthday and part anniversary. I feel bad not having a gift for him though. He doesn't expect anything though so it's not too bad. I did go out and get him a card though. It was nice to get Jacob out of the house for a little while.

Tomorrow is my cousin's daughter's birthday party. She's turning 2. Her party is at bouncing off the walls so Dan will finally get to see Jacob playing there. It should be really cute. My cousin rented the whole place so there wont be any other kids besides family. It should be fun.
Jacob has recently been picking up on everything we say. Yesterday I caught him lecturing 'Dusty'. He was telling Dusty no tackling him ( because he's not allowed to tackle anymore after he tackled Jack making him cry for 1 hour! ). He kept saying "don't do it" and then the kicker " You hear me?" I was cracking up. It was great.

Another great give away

I promise to post some updates on me soon. But I had to pass this along to anyone interested in trying their luck!!!!

Pink Lemonade Boutique Bags has generously donated their popular Retro Kiwi Flowers Handbag to one lucky winner! To enter, just stop by their site http://www.pinklemonadebags.com/store/default.asp before March 21st and take a look around. Then leave a comment on http://islandlife808.com/and mention which design is your favorite. That’s it! A random winner will be selected and notified on March 22nd.

why not give it a try!!!

Blog Party

Well, it's time to party! 5 Minutes For Mom, along with a whole bunch of sponsors are throwing a 2008 Ultimate Blog Party. There are TONS of prizes to be won and TONS of blogs to visit. Check out the prize list, comment on your favorites and post your blog to Mr. Linky if you have one. It's a cool way to meet new people and just have fun!

GOOD LUCK and have fun!

Edit!
I forgot to post the prizes I like!!!!
1 A Rocking Horse To Love
11 Good For The Kids
12 Happy Panda
29 My Mommy’s Bracelets or Baby Girl Bracelets.
52 Jendi Jean Bag
84 Baby Sling
85 Noah’s ABC Stacking Blocks
97Island Baby Boutique

And anything else. I love them all!!!!!!

update

I felt like I should update, but I don't have a lot to say. I have decided to volunteer with the Angel Teddy Bear foundation. I finished writing out my cards and have my bears ready to deliver to my Ob's office. When I called to ask them if they would like to be involved they were so excited about it. It really helped me to feel like this is the right thing to do. It's a way to honor Jaidon. I am going to deliver them tomorrow.

Tomorrow night we are going to see Sesame Street live. Jacob has been talking about this for over a month! He is so excited. I can't wait to see how he reacts when we are there. On friday we are going to sesame place for the March of Dimes Family teams kick off. It is a small event where the kids will also get to meet with the characters. Jacob should love this. I am also excited to meet some of the people from the organization.

Tonight I have work. Boo. I don't feel like going tonight. Oh well....I guess I have to. I should go and finish getting ready since I have to leave in less than 1 hour. I guess that's all for now.

Pink Lemonade

Please check out http://pinklemonadeoflife.blogspot.com/ They are having their March madness contest and are giving away awesome prizes!