Random Bits

It's been a while since I've blogged, but I feel like I have a lot to share.

My birthday was fantastic...as mentioned before, mom got me tons of new clothes. A picture of one of my new outfits is posted above.

JW and I spent the night at the Montague Inn, a B+B in town, and we had a really nice time. Thanks, mom, for the date night! Unfortunately, the next few days were a continuation of various illnesses...though J was better, JW got the GI bug again and I had a bladder infection. Fun, fun! We're all better, now, thankfully.

Jackson has been really funny the last few days. He just started to put 2 words together: he can say, "All done," "Fall down," "See Daddy," and "Show me," to name a few. He's been a bundle of energy running around the house; I think we all have a bit of cabin winter and will be very excited for some warmer weather. J has also been obsessed with being naked, and he loves running around in nothing but his diaper. It's pretty funny. There is pic of him being "au natural" in his toy box.

Yesterday, JW was nice enough to let me spend the whole day scrapbooking! I got 29 pages done, which is a record for me. Unfortunately, my buddies couldn't come at the last minute, but I ended up meeting three really nice ladies who I actually hope to see again at the next crop! One of them has a Cricut, a really high-tech scrapbooking gadget, and she was nice enough to let me use it. I think I know what I will be asking for next year for Christmas!

Well, tomorrow I will be 16 weeks pregnant! I am definitely showing now, though I still fit into my jeans okay. If I wear tight clothes, you can totally see the baby bump. I really have to work on my abs after this pregnancy, I think they were so loose after having Jackson that there wasn't anything to hold in this one! Hee, hee. Well, hopefully I will be better about blogging this month.

I'm off to bed; tomorrow I'm trying a new thing, running in the early a.m. with a friend. We're meeting at 6:30, so I better get to sleep!

Some firsts...

Well, the week started out with Jackson getting a cold; fever, runny nose, decreased appetite; but still a ton of Jackson energy! On Thursday morning, I decided to look in his ears, "just to make sure," and he seemed to have an ear infection. So I called him in some amoxicillin after consulting with out pediatrician; his first course of antibiotics in almost 2 years, I had held off so long! So he got two doses. But then yesterday morning, my mom brought him in to see me when he woke up, and he was struggling to breathe, with retractions, stridor, and a very wierd sounding voice/cry; no cough, though. I called our doctor because I wanted to take him to the ER, which he advised, so we made our first trip there as well. It turns out, the kid just has croup, which makes sense now, after the fact, of course. He got a breathing treatment and some steroids at the ER and felt a lot better. They gave us an inhaler with a face mask to continue his breathing treatments, which Jackson has done really well with. In the picture, you see him with the face mask. He thinks it's cool. We put his little arm band on his teddy bear when we got home; I'll be sure to scrapbook it. I was so impressed with how well he did in the ER, with the doctor and nurses taking his temp (rectally!), looking in his ears/throat, listening to his heart and lungs; mommy's little boy!

Besides all of this adventure, it was my birthday--I'm 31! My mom and I went shopping, and she bought me tons of maternity clothes that are super cool, and an awesome pair of boots! I'll post some pics if I think of it as I wear my new outfits! Then, we went to hear Amy Grant in concert--it was a small venue, and we could see her face perfectly! It was a wonderful evening out.

Today, JW and I get to have a date; we're doing a movie, then dinner and a night at a bed and breakfast in town. I'm super excited!

A New Look...

I got my hair cut yesterday! I love it so much. I dried my hair two days in a row for the first time in almost 2 years I bet! It's so easy now. I feel so much better.

Jackson is sick, unfortunately, but Ga-Ga is here to cheer him up, which definitely helps. He is just funnier and funnier every day. The best is when he repeats what he hears us say...be careful!

My 31st birthday is this Friday, so my mom is in town to celebrate. We're going to see Amy Grant together on Friday, along with some shopping. Then, on Saturday, she's watching Jackson so JW and I can have a date night! We're going to be staying overnight at the Montague Inn, a B&B in town, and catching dinner and a movie. I'm super excited! And, I get to go to church for the first time all month, since I've delivered all the pregnant ladies, thankfully!

So if Jackson could just feel a little better, things would be good in the world...

14 Weeks!

This week's big developments: Baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if I had an ultrasound now, we may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though I can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, his hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

I'm feeling good, I think I'm showing a little, though I (thankfully) still fit into my clothes fine. No weight gain yet, still trying to keep the heartburn under control, but the nausea is definitely improving.

I just delivered my third baby this week, vaginally--not bad, 2 out of 3. It went really well, but I'm thankful to have a bit of a break until June.

On Call...

So I've spent the last three days in the hospital delivering 2 babies. And I have one more waiting in the wings--scheduled for induction on Saturday and Sunday, but could "pop" any day now... I really missed seeing my guys, I was very happy to see them again.

Our neighbor Ann got J the cutest little outfit, so I have some pics of my little guy.

Cute things he is doing...

1. When I sing, "Camp town races sing that song," he says, "Doo-dah, doo-dah."

2. If I say "Okey dokey" he says "smokey."

3. He loves lights and telling me if they are "off" or "on."

4. He's trying to learn his colors. The only one he gets consistently right is "blue."

5. He can recognize the number "1" now when written out.

6. He loves playing with his new BIG bulldie, and makes us hold it and him when we read a book.

7. New fave book is "Llama Llama Red Pajama."

8. He puts himself to sleep at night now, no more rocking wanted.

9. He still says "Hmm-ha" for milk and "Ma-num" for banana, though he says "sushi" without a problem.
10. He will be 22 months tomorrow!

13 Weeks Pregnant!

How Baby's Growing:

Fingerprints have formed on baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If I'm having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

12 Weeks Pregnant!

How baby's growing:
The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.


How my life's changing:
My uterus has grown to the point where my OB can now feel the top of it (the fundus) low in my abdomen, just above my pubic bone. I've heard the baby's heartbeat multiple times now, which is great. I'm almost done with my first trimester! One more week to go...

I am definitely experiencing heartburn, though the nausea has abated somewhat. I don't like pop anymore, I love toast and crackers, and I crave ice cream sometimes.

I'm not in maternity clothes yet and haven't gained weight yet, but I can't wait to get a new wardrobe!