Appointments

We made it through the day yesterday, but I didn't get nearly everything I wanted to get done. The day just seems to fly by. I did clean the entire house, which took me about and hour and a half, then I walked on the treadmill, showered and had to run to my afternoon ultrasound.

So here are the statistics:

I have gained 12 pounds so far (about 5 less then I did with Samuel at this time).

The heartbeat of the baby is 149 (I am guessing now that it is a boy. Samuel's was 147 at this time).

It weights 14 oz.

They changed my due date to February 12th.

We didn't find out the sex of the baby, but I am pretty convinced it is another boy. I will be shocked if it comes out a girl.

The baby didn't really cooperate for the ultrasound pictures. It doesn't normally move around much during the day, so it wasn't active at all. We were trying to poke and prod it to move but it just wasn't interested. As most of you know, Samuel is a thumb sucker and was sucking his thumb (the doctor's say) in the womb because he came out sucking his thumb. The ultrasound tech thinks this one was sucking its thumb too, because it had its hands to its mouth a lot and we could only see the four fingers and not the thumb. I might have another thumb sucker on my hands.

Here are some ultrasound pictures:

We didn't get any good 3D pictures because the baby was facing down most of the time and never looked up for a good picture. I was disappointed because I really wanted to get a good look. Oh well.

That is it for now. It is wonderful outside. I love Fall and this weather is just beautiful. As soon as Samuel wakes up and eats we are going to the park.

Busy Morning and Day

I am rushing to get some things done this morning because I have a doctor's appointment at 8:30 this morning. Then I have to take Samuel to Mother's Day out. I need to do some serious cleaning of the house, exercise, shower and then go to another doctor's appointment this afternoon. Hopefully I will be done in time to pick Samuel up from Mother's Day out.

This afternoon I am having the BIG ultrasound done. We could find out the sex of the baby today, but we aren't. I have been trying to convince myself that I don't want to know this time around, but I really do. I really love surprises though and because of that I am going to wait. I shouldn't have another ultrasound until I go in for labor, so I just have to get through this one appointment and I will be fine.

I am going to participate in a study where they take 3D and 4D pictures of the baby, so maybe I can get them to give me a few pictures and I can post it here. We will see. I am pretty excited to get a better view of the baby. After I saw Samuel's ultrasound I knew it was a boy. He just looked like a boy.

I have been having dreams that this baby is a boy as well. Starting Saturday morning at 4 am (when Dave woke up sick), this baby really started kicking. It still isn't active during the day, but it is pretty active at night. Very different then Samuel. He was active all day long and quieted down at night. This baby also sits on my left side and kicks on that side and Samuel was on my right. I am carrying very low again, which is why I think it is a boy, but you never know, I may just carry all my babies low.

Well, I will post some more information about my appointments later. I am off to pack Samuel's lunch.

Yucky Weekend

We had planned to go apple picking again this morning because Eckert's is having their Applefest this weekend. Dave woke up at 4 am sick. When I felt his head at about 6:15 he was burning hot. Needless to say we had to cancel our plans for apple picking.

I was also going to make chicken wings tonight because Dave has been craving them for at least a week now, but he said he is not interested at all. I can understand, they will probably upset his stomach even more.

We went out for Mexican food last night. I had really been craving it and I thought the food settled fine, but I am not sure if the baby liked it or not but it kicked the crap out of me last night. I haven't really been feeling the baby much at all. A little movement here and there, but last night it was going crazy. I think Dave has felt the baby only a couple of times, but last night even he was amazed at how much it was kicking. I was dreaming about having a baby boy and it was kicking me like crazy and then I woke up and realized it really was kicking me. As I sit here right now writing, it is still kicking me. Not sure what the deal is.

So we aren't sure if the Mexican food is what made Dave sick or what, but he is still in bed. It is going to be a long day for me. It just started drizzling outside, so that doesn't help with my plans to go for a walk and take Samuel to the park. I guess we are just going to have to go grocery shopping.

I can't sit around the house all day long. Well, I am off to play with Samuel.

Thursday?

I can't believe how fast this week has gone. We have been pretty busy around here. Today Samuel starts his first Music Together class for the season. I am pretty excited to see how he does this time around. He really enjoyed it the last time we did it.

I have also started a new project that has been keeping me pretty busy. I am making Christmas stockings. I bought two patterns and I am making one for Dave first and if it turns out okay, I will make one for Samuel. I didn't find any that I liked for myself or for George, so I will have to keep looking. I didn't realize how much work it was going to take. I have to do lots of sewing, cutting, stuffing and gluing. When I get portions of it done I will post pictures. I am really excited to see the finished product. Hopefully I will have it done by Christmas.

I am going to eat some breakfast before Samuel gets up. He has been sleeping in this whole week and it is awesome. I get so much done in the morning. I hope this continues.

Forgot to add

I was just walking on the treadmill and remembered I didn't post something very important. this morning Samuel had another first. He normally takes a little while to wake up. When he starts stirring in the morning he needs a good 10 to 15 minutes to fully wake up before anyone goes in to get him. Sometimes he goes back to bed when he doesn't feel like getting up. Twice this weekend he slept until 8:15 and 8:30 am. Anyway this morning at about 7:30 he started to wake up and made a little bit of noise. I was downstairs cleaning up the kitchen. All of the sudden I heard a huge thump. I thought Samuel fell into his crib or his music box which he has done before and left huge bruises on his face. Anyway, I went running upstairs and as I got to the hallway, a little boy named Samuel flew his room door open and came running out of his room.

I was in total shock. This is the first time he has ever even tried to get out of his crib and he was successful. He cried a bit, but there were no bruises or anything. I think we are going to see what he does tonight and tomorrow morning. But if he tries and succeeds getting out of his crib again, we are going to convert it to a toddler bed. I don't want any hurt appendages.

That was part of my exciting morning.

It is only 1 pm and I am so exhausted. I have been so busy this morning and I only have 2 more hours to myself.

This past weekend, Oma and Opa came in town to visit. It was Opa's 60th Birthday on Sunday (sorry I didn't post a happy birthday yesterday, but I was super lazy in the afternoon). So we were busy all weekend playing and celebrating. Oma and I took Samuel to the St. Louis Magic House. It is a really cool place. It is a hands on educational museum/play centers for kids. There were musical instruments, bubble rooms, water rooms, sand rooms, etc. I could go on forever. It was a really cool place and we wore Samuel out. We also wore us out too. I have pictures below.

This morning was Samuel's second day of Mother's Day out. He was so excited to carry his lunch box again. When we were walking in an older boy was crying a little and holding on to his mom. Samuel pouted a little bit, but I told him it was okay and he stopped right away, which surprised me. When we walked in the door, he started waving as soon as he saw the ladies who take care of his room. I sat him down and he ran right away from me to play. He didn't cry at all, even when I told him bye. I was really surprised. I can't wait to get a report from the teachers to see how he did today. I have to pick him up in 2 and a half hours and I have barely done anything for myself today.

I had to take George to the vet this morning. He had some spots on her body that didn't look normal. They weren't growing any hair and she has never had a problem like that before. Also her left eye was really red and I was worried that she might have scratched it at her doggie day care.

We an hour and a half later, she was diagnosed with an eye infection that may move to the other eye and a skin infection. She has to have drops put in her eye twice and day and she has to take pills twice a day for the skin infection. They aren't sure yet if the skin infection is contagious, so I have to keep Samuel away from her skin for the next two weeks. That is going to be difficult because Samuel loves to give George hugs and kisses. It completely grosses me out to think that she may have a skin infection that we could catch. Hopefully the medication will work and there will be no additional issues.

So, I had plans to run a ton of errands and grocery shop, exercise, shower and write, but I am not going to be getting that much done. Hopefully Samuel will cooperate in the next few days and run all my errands with me.

Here are some pictures:

Samuel looks so ugly in this picture, but he loves to put Dave's swim goggles on. He goes through Dave's gym bag until he finds these goggles and puts them on. It is really funny.

Here are pictures from the Magic House. Samuel is trying his hand at a little fishing:

He loved driving the truck:

He was making some very interesting music on the piano:

Here he is really getting into it:

Some other musical instrument:

The Birthday Boy with Samuel:

Fast Week

I can't believe how quickly this week has gone. I am going to post something really quickly since I haven't posted all week. We have been super busy.

Samuel did awesome at Mother's Day Out. They said he didn't cry at all. He slept for about an hour until one of the little girls woke up and started screaming and then she woke up all the rest of the kids. There are 7 kids in his class. I think 3 or 4 boys. I am not sure how it will go on Monday, since he will know I am leaving him for the day, but hopefully he will do well. He was exhausted when he got home and was a complete mess until we put him to bed at 7:30. He couldn't even keep his eyes open. He has been sleeping great the rest of this week. I think it took him a few days to recover from everything that he did on Monday.

I have been fighting a cold this week. I thought what I was feeling last week had gone away, but then the last few days I have been feeling terrible. I don't know if it is allergies or what, but my throat is itchy, my eyes are watery and my nose is stuffed up and running and the same time. I feel just great.

We had an open house this past Sunday and 5 couples looked at the house. One couple came back on Sunday night and then again on Tuesday night. Their agent said that they are still undecided about making an offer. Yesterday another couple came to look at our house. We have had a lot of interest lately which is wonderful, but I am completely worn out from making our house spotless. It is really hard work to keep a house completely clean all the time. I have no idea why anyone would put so much effort into making a house look this nice just because they want to. I guess having an 18 month old running around climbing on everything, putting his grubby dirty hands and mouth on everything I clean especially the windows makes it more difficult.

Today I got Samuel a new pair of kicks. He has been wearing sandals all summer and I pulled out his tennis shoes on Tuesday. When I shoved his feet into the shoes he started yelling "OWWWWWW". I figured maybe they were a little small, but I think I only got them about 6 months ago. We went to the shoe store today and he definitely needed new shoes. He was wearing size 6 and he needed a 7 and a half. Holy cow, he is growing like a weed. I am also going to have to go clothes shopping soon too. I bought him a few pairs of pants and shirts all size 2T. He needs more.

I have been feeling the baby everyday lately. It is such a nice feeling (for now), because I was getting worried that I didn't have a baby in there. There was no movement and I wasn't feeling sick and I just convinced myself that the baby wasn't growing and then all of the sudden it started kicking. I am feeling great lately. For the past week or so, I have loved being pregnant which is a feeling I never expected. My face has cleared up for now and I don't feel like I am sucking all the moisture out of the air and storing it in my body. Hopefully this feeling will last a while. So now everyone can tell me to F-off because I am a happy pregnant woman.

Lastly, Samuel peed in the potty again this morning. We had another song and dance and screaming. I was folding laundry and he was in his bathroom. All of the sudden he started yelling "Mom, Mom". Yes, Samuel calls me Mom, not MaMa or Mommy, Mom. It is pretty funny to hear. Anyway, I ran into the bathroom and he was halfway on the big toilet. He looked like he was about to go head first into the water, which totally grossed me out. Anyway, I asked him if he had to go pee pee and he just looked at me, like "What the hell do you think? I am crawling on the toilet and you ask me if I have to pee. What is wrong with you lady?" So, I turned around and got his little potty. He grabbed his toys that he likes playing with when sitting on the potty. I took his diaper off and it was completely dry, so I knew he hadn't done anything yet. He sat down immediately and went pee. I started screaming and jumping up and down and he started clapping. I think he gets really excited to pee or at least he gets really excited to see me make a fool of myself, either way I don't care as long and he is trying to pee in the potty.

So that is it. Oma and Opa are coming in town for the weekend and I am in desperate need for a shower.

Hard Day for Mommy

I just dropped Samuel off at his first Mother's Day out.  Oh my gosh, I can't believe how hard it was for me.  It lasts from 9:30 until 3:30.  It is a very long day and the longest I have been away from him, when he hasn't been with one set of his grandparents.  When we walked in there was a huge check in line and the kids that were his age or younger were pretty much all crying.  I was so overwhelmed, so I could understand why he started crying and holding on to me.  When I was signing him in he grabbed his lunch box and started walking into one of the rooms, which was not his assigned room.  I took him to his room, which had the majority of screaming babies and let him go.  He didn't cry at all.  He looked around at all the other screaming girls and just looked for something to play with.  I need to check the list of kids, but I think he might be the only boy.  The lady knew who he was right away, so I can't imagine she would have guessed so well, if there were other boys in his class.  

I didn't want to leave, I just kind of hung around in the hallway for a little bit to see if he noticed I was gone and started crying, but he didn't.  He did grab a pen off of the table and grabbed one of the kids diapers off the table too.  If he is the only boy, the ladies that watch that room are going to be in for it, because Samuel is a wild man.  

I may try to get there around 3:15 or so to pick him up so I can talk to the ladies watching his class and see how he did.  I am so nervous for him.  This is a really long day.  

Not only is Samuel gone today, but George is in the kennel because we had an open house this weekend.  So the house is very quiet.  Kind of strange.  I don't know the last time I was in this house alone, maybe like 4 years ago.

So 5 couples came to our open house yesterday.  Then at 6:15 we got a call from our realtor that one couple wanted to come back by and look at our house again at 6:30.  Hopefully they are really interested, but we aren't keeping our hopes up.  

Here are some pictures from Saturday.  Dave loves to get Samuel dressed up for the Michigan football games.  Dave got him this sweatsuit outfit and Samuel loved wearing the sweatshirt with the hood on.  

Here he is this morning, getting ready to leave to go to "school".  He loves his lunchbox.

Potty Dance

This morning I took my car in for an oil change.  While we were in the waiting room, Samuel got out a diaper and some wipes out of the diaper bag and laid down on the floor like he wanted to be changed.  His diaper wasn't full of pee or poop, so I told him that he didn't need a diaper change.  He did it a few more times at the car dealership and then when we got home he pulled out a diaper again and laid down.  So I asked him if he needed to go potty and if he wanted to go upstairs and sit on his potty.  He ran upstairs and tried to pull his diaper off as soon as we were in the bathroom.  When I pulled his diaper off, he immediately sat down on the potty.  I told him to sit still for a minute and I ran to his bedroom to grab a book.  When I came back in the bathroom he was standing up and looking in his potty.  I looked down and oh my goodness, he peed in the potty.  

I started screaming and jumping up and down.  Samuel was looking at his pee and running in place he was so excited.  Samuel loves flushing the toilet, but when I poured his pee in the toilet he just wanted to look at it.  He wouldn't flush.  It was kind of funny how fascinated he was with his pee.  

After we flushed it we danced around while I sang "Samuel pee peed in the potty."  He was dancing around and tapping his feet and I grabbed the video camera, but he of course stopped the minute I turned the camera on.  Maybe he will want to go again in the potty, but I am not pushing it.  I figure if he shows interest we will go with it.  I am not in any hurry to potty train him.  

So, that was our exciting news for the day.  

Moving on from bodily functions.  I made a turkey meatloaf last night and it was delicious.  It is another one of Ina Garten/Barefoot Contessa recipes.  She had never done me wrong.  This was so good, even Dave loved it (and he is very much against any meatloaf).  I suggest unless you are feeding 6-8 adults, you should cut the recipe in half.  It was way too much.  I am going to freeze the leftovers.   I am making this one again, it's a keeper.  

Tonight I made a cheesy bison Italian sausage lasagna.  It smells so yummy.  I can't wait to bake it.  

That is it for now.  

I need to complain

I have been thinking mean thoughts all day and I felt like sharing my pain with you all.  First, Samuel woke up off and on all night.  He had a runny nose last night and I don't really know what his deal is.  He seems fine except he is sneezing and has a runny nose.  I hope he doesn't have allergies.  Anyway, Samuel graced us with his presence at 5 this morning.  He was cranky, but pretty much awake.  There is no way in hell I am getting out of bed at 5 am, unless I want to.  Dave was planning to get up and go to the gym in the morning, but he decided to stay at home and get beaten up by Samuel.   Neither Dave nor I wanted to get out of bed this morning, so we thought we could talk Samuel into going back to bed.  He basically just cuddled with each of us and then when he was done doing that he proceeded to climb all over us, stick his fingers up my nose and smack Dave around.  Not exactly what we were planning for in the morning.  

So, I know I talk about how my pregnancy is different this time then last, but here are the ways they are the same:

1.  I feel completely fat and ugly.  I feel like I am retaining over 100 gallons of water and I just can't pee it out fast enough.  

2.  I have cellulite moving from its normal place on my ass all the way down to the back of my knees.  Believe me, I looked today in the mirror and it wasn't a pretty sight.  

3.  I am cranky as hell.  

4.  I don't like being pregnant.  I love the end result, I LOVE my baby and I want as many as Dave will let me have but I HATE being pregnant.  (I may feel better in a few weeks.  I also don't know it my extreme hate for pregnancy today is due to the fact that I am exhausted, but I will keep you all posted on that).  

5.  I want carbohydrates, specifically bread, flour tortillas, chips, cakes, cookies, junk food.  I want it all and I want to eat them all day long.  (Difference:  With Samuel I actually ate them all, with this baby I want them all, but I am not eating very much.  Not only does it not settle well, but I don't want to gain 48 pounds.  But the fact still remains...I WANT them.)

6.  My boobs officially have started hurting.  

7.  I didn't have zits with my pregnancy with Samuel, but I have them with this pregnancy, which makes my self image oh so much better.  I wake up every day with more zits all over my face.  I can't stand it.  Yuck!

I could keep complaining, but I actually feel so much better getting out how terrible I feel.  

For all you women who love being pregnant...my nice self is very happy for you and I envy your wonderful pregnancy hormones, but my mean self says F you all.

Nice Weekend

We have had a nice busy and relaxing weekend.  We were planning to go apple picking on Saturday but it rained all day long.  We just played around at home, went to the mall for a little bit and then relaxed.  We also spent the afternoon watching football, which I wasn't so excited about but at least Michigan won.  Also Tulsa won on Friday night which was exciting.  Dave was really excited to watch the Michigan football game with Samuel.  he got him dressed in his Michigan T-Shirt and they thew around the football a little bit.  

On Sunday, we woke up and it wasn't raining so we went to Eckert's for apple picking.  It was about 40 minutes from our house.  He loved every minute of the picking.  We had to keep him from eating the apples already on the ground.  He actually picked some really good apples.  We couldn't keep the apples out of his mouth though.  He loved them.  We did let him eat one whole apple.  Here are some pictures of our trip. 

So a little bit more about this pregnancy.  I can barely eat any fried foods.  I get terrible heartburn and just feel awful after eating anything fried.  I am craving like crazy green beans.  Of all the vegetables around I do not really like green beans and I would never pick corn to eat.  Well guess what? I would eat those two things all day long if I could.  They taste so yummy.  I ate green beans yesterday and today.  I don't like the fresh cooked green beans, I like the canned ones or ones that have been cooked for a really long time and are soft not crunchy.  It is ridiculous.  Last night all I wanted to eat were carrots  with ranch dressing.  Today I am craving Mexican food.  Everyday my cravings change, but I am still barely eating sweets and now I know no fried food.

TGIF

I am so happy it is Friday and a long weekend.  Dave will be home early today too.  I am so excited.  I am really looking forward to the long weekend and spending some family time together.  

Yesterday Samuel had his 18 month doctor's appointment.  I can't believe he is already 18 months old (tomorrow).  Time has really flown by.  He is changing everyday and is so much more fun everyday.  He got two flu shots yesterday.  The one that came out in June and then the one for this season.  In October we have to go back for the Swine Flu shot.  He knew immediately when we got to the doctor that he was going to get shots because he started screaming and crying as soon as they called his name to the back.  Either he was really scared for the shots or he is a master manipulator.  He got two stickers before we even headed back to the exam room.  After he got the stickers he was fine.  So who knows.  

Here are his stats:

Height:  34.75 in (greater then 97%)

Weight: 29 lbs 15.5 oz (91%)

Head Circ: 48.3 cm (66%)  I am still surprised that his head is so small considering how big his father's head is.  

The doctor said that Samuel is the size at a 2 year old and he is really really tall.  They think he will be a pretty tall boy.  She said that Samuel was extremely active for his age and very persistent.  It was amazing that she figured that out in about 5 minutes.  

Yesterday, Dave felt the new baby for the first time.  This baby is extremely active at night.  I really don't feel it all during the day, but once I lay down at night and in the middle of the night it moves like crazy.  

I made one of the best dinners ever last night.  I needed to make a turkey breast for the soup I am making today, so I figured we would eat some of the turkey breast last night and then the leftovers I would use for my soup today.  

I don't know what I did to this turkey breast but it was the best tasting turkey we have had in a long time.  I cooked it in a bag, put onions, carrots and celery on the bottom of the bag.  I put olive oil on both sides of the turkey and then sprinkled on both sides: pepper, kosher salt, seasoning salt and garlic powder.  It had the best flavor and made the gravy amazing.  Then I made mashed potatoes with Yukon gold potatoes and I boiled it with a lot of garlic cloves in the water.  Once they were cooked, I drained them and used some of the garlic that it was cooked with when I mashed it.  I added low fat milk, sour cream, pepper, garlic salt, butter and a little bit of cheddar cheese.  It was the smoothest creamiest potatoes.  The meal was amazing and an early Thanksgiving dinner.  Even Samuel said "Yum" when he had the first few bites.  

I thought the dinner was amazing, but this baby wasn't too excited about it later.  It kicked and pushed on me all night long.  I couldn't believe how active it was.  This baby I think is stronger then Samuel was.  I never felt such strength this early with Samuel.  

Okay, so this post just got very long.  I hope everyone has a great long weekend.  

Pictures from the Weekend

Here are Oma and Samuel at the Fun Fair playing with Play-Doh.  

Samuel and Dave reading a new book.

Samuel is really into taking pictures lately, so here are the two different looks I got when I told him to smile:

Pretty cute.  

We have lots of grocery shopping to do today.  

Last night I made Turkey hot dog roll ups.  I cut hot dogs in half and wrapped them in croissants and then baked them in the oven.  They were actually really good and Samuel ate them too.  I made lots of other side dishes, but those aren't interesting to talk about.  

Tonight I am making Spinach and Artichoke Ravioli with a big salad and steamed veggies.

I am also going to make at some point, Turkey Meatloaf, Turkey Tex Mex Soup and Creamy Tomato Soup.  Not sure when, but that is the plan.  

Exhausted

I am so exhausted today.  I can't seem to snap out of it.  We had a very busy exciting weekend and Monday and now I am just dead tired.  

Oma came in town on Friday night.  On Saturday we went to the Parents as Teachers Fun Fair.  We were only there for about 45 minutes.  They had a petting zoo, emergency vehicles for the kids to get in, games, face painting and snow cones.  All of the things would have been really fun, but Samuel is just too young.  He preferred to play in a puddle of mud under the swings.  We did get a couple of snow cones where were yummy for the first few bites, but then the sugar was just overwhelming.  

On Saturday night we went out with Jonathan and Laura to Lumiere Casino downtown and gambled a bit and ate at The Burger Bar, which was delicious.  By 10:30 we were all exhausted and headed home.  

Neither Dave or I could sleep on Saturday night because we were having our first open house on Sunday.  The house look spectacular.  Thank goodness Oma was there to preoccupy Samuel.  There was just so much little stuff to do.  The open house was from 12-2, which I think isn't the greatest time.  I don't know many people that really get moving that early on a Sunday.  I think next time we will suggest that the open house be later in the afternoon.  Only 3 people came to look at the house.  It was pretty disappointing.  Hopefully we will get more people interested soon.  

So yesterday I had my 16 week doctors appointment.  My appointment was at 1:45 and I didn't get out of the waiting room until 3 pm.  I was pretty pissed.  They were super busy, but when people who showed up much later then me were being called back, I finally said something.  After I complained, I got called back about 10 minutes later.  I got the hear the heartbeat.  It was 154 bpm.  I have gained 7 pounds so far.  

All I want to do right now is drink a huge cup of coffee.  I could fall asleep right now.  

I need to figure out lunch for today and then dinner for the rest of the week.  Hopefully Samuel will take a long nap the afternoon.