Pregnancy whining

Hello my friends! I'm kinda whiny tonight :( Last night I watched that episode of "Friends" where Rachel is like 8 days over due and she's miserable and gets really mean and picks on Ross and her other friends.

I feel that way and I'm not even close to overdue! The last couple three days I've felt really cranky and the tiniest, weirdest things get on my nerves! What is that all about??!!! Is it just the discomfort that is inevitable at this stage? Is it nervousness about bringing home a baby? I mean, I've done this before, I shouldn't be nervous, right? But I am bringing a third baby home to a crazy house! Jaxton is almost 5 and really into pushing his limits; Hayden is 21 months and a little spitfire and then the girls are here half the time and things get twice as crazy around here.

Now, I'm not complaining about the craziness, that's what a family is all about, but I feel less prepared to bring this baby home than I have my other two babies. And both times I've brought babies home, we've been getting ready to move! There's not a chance of that this time, but there's something going on in my head. Maybe it's just hormones.......

But, tomorrow is a new day, my last work day this week and then I have a busy weekend! It's Scrapbook Expo Friday and Saturday, so I'll be there with my friend Susan helping in her booth both Friday and Saturday. Then Saturday there is an Open House at TOSH that I'm going to help with from 8 to Noon (stop by and say hello if you're around!). And Sunday is just for recovery.

Hopefully my fun weekend will snap me out of my pregnancy crabbiness and then starting on Monday I can start on my list of things to do before Baby Boy gets here.

Take care everybody and be sensitive to pregnant ladies out there! They know not what they do sometimes!

Latest news and happenings

Hello my friends! It's been a bit since I've blogged, but things are crazy busy (as usual).

First, I must tell you all that I am blogging from my very own laptop! I found a refurbed Dell Latitude on eBay and managed to snag it for about $200. I did have to go buy a wireless router and wireless card, but with the help of my favorite tech guru--I love you Brandon!--and a thousand questions later, here I am! Of course, the reason I insisted on having a laptop is for when Baby Boy #3 arrives! I'm such a nut, I know, but I want to stay connected to all my friends and family in the hospital and while I'm on maternity leave from work. And yes, it is my intention to blog while I'm at the hospital and after Baby Boy is born. Hopefully, I can get pictures of him up for all my friends to see the day he's born!

Speaking of Baby, I most definitely have reached the uncomfortable stage! I feel HUGE compared to when I was pregnant with Hayden. I'm feeling a lot like I did when I was pregnant with Jaxton. Huge, uncomfy, waddly......insane heartburn..... I go to the doctor next week and we'll see what she has to say. I'm afraid it will be just the same as last week--it's okay, everything looks good, it's almost over, hang in there. I'll be okay, I just forget that the last 5 weeks takes almost as long as the first 7 months!

Anywho, Shane (bless his heart) is giving my little monsters a bath right now (it's really difficult for me to bend over the edge of the tub at the moment) so I can help them put on their jammies and tuck them in.

Love to all and Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Comfort is a myth at this point.....

Hello my friends. Here we are, another day at work. My work is done and now I'm just waiting for it to be 4:30pm so I can go home.

I'm afraid I've reached that stage of pregnancy where true comfort is a myth. I'm fairly certain now that Baby has had a growth spurt and is feeling cramped in his warm quarters. In particular he likes to kick (or headbutt) into my right rib cage, causing me to stop occasionally and catch my breath. At the end of the day, my lower back is a little sore and my ankles are generally swollen. But, I have also reached the stage of pregnancy when Baby gets the hiccups :D Which is one of my favorite parts. He had hiccups today for almost a half hour and it was really funny.

I've also reached that stage of pregnancy where I am panicking. After our little adventure at the hospital last week, I realized that I am absolutely not ready for this baby! I have NOTHING! I think I was lulled into complacency by the fact that I have millions of hand-me-down boy clothes-both from my boys and my nephews-but Baby needs some of his own things! I have not bought him ANY new clothes; I have bought NO diapers; I have NO BLANKET to bring him home from the hospital in! I'm such a slacker! Baby doesn't even have a dresser of his own-not that there's anything to put in it.... So, now I am looking at ads for dressers and keeping my eyes open for yard sales; if anyone has a dresser they need to part with (preferably tall with 4 or 5 drawers), talk to me, okay? I have to go to Nephi and get the cradle, get the car seat out and wash it, find the base, wash the swing, find the Boppy and wash it, etc., etc., etc.! Wow, there's so much to do and I only have 49 and a half days...

I'm so ready to not be pregnant, but I'm so NOT ready to have a baby in the house.....

Cricuts, pregnant lady paranoia and leaking ceilings

Hello friends! Today it is Friday and it's been an interesting week. Kinda makes me wonder about this old life of mine.....



Monday, I got the email from JoAnns.com that they were having a special sale on Cricuts. $99!!! Can you believe it? I was shocked and knew I had to have one, but then decided that we couldn't afford it, and I probably wouldn't use it enough to justify it and blah, blah, blah. Then, on my way home from work that night, I found a $50 bill! It fluttered in the breeze in front of my car and I stopped in the 7-11 parking lot and THERE IT WAS! I laughed hysterically, called my mom, who wisely told me that now a Cricut would only cost me $49 of my own money and there was no reason not to buy it. As usual, she was right. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the JoAnns store on Tuesday they were sold out :( So, I had to order my Cricut from the website, which was okay, since I had a free shipping coupon, but I still have to wait a few more days until it arrives! So, I had to use bank money instead of cash and now I have to deposit my cash find and my birthday money (since I spent it on my Cricut). But, it'll be fun when it gets here.



Wednesday, I had a mild but debilitating bout of pregnant lady paranoia. PLP is common, and usually results in hysterics, followed by many phone calls to Mom and the doctor's office, the occasional trip to the hospital and finally, embarassment as you realize it was mostly in your head. My PLP began early Wednesday morning. I woke feeling much different than usual. I honestly felt like I was wearing a corset! There was so much pressure in my stomach, my back and my pelvis. But I shouldered on and went to work, but as the day progressed, I realized baby boy was not moving nearly as much as usual. During clinic days when I'm working on the laptop he really kicks a lot because of the position I sit in, but he wasn't doing that at all. And, there were hours in between kicks. Finally, at around 3pm I called Mom for reassurance that I was being paranoid and to relax. Did she reassure me? Tell me to relax? NO. She told me I should call the doctor's office! So, I did, feeling ridiculous, and when the nurse called me back after consulting with my midwife, I was told to go to the hospital!! Okay, now I'm terrified! I left work, called Shane and went to Utah Valley. Of course, I felt Baby kick while I was driving, making me feel more ridiculous. We arrived and got checked in and nurse #1 comes in to hook up the fetal monitor. And she can't find Baby's heartbeat. She leaves the room to find a helper while I hyperventilate. Nurse #2 comes in and immediately finds Baby and gets us all hooked up. The relief was overwhelming once we heard that little heartbeat thumping away. They took some blood and various other bodily fluids and ran some labs and watched Baby on the monitor. After a while, I began to get very uncomfortable laying in the bed. So I would shift my position and as soon as I was comfortable, Baby would go off the monitor. Nurse would come in, adjust the monitor, pick him back up and leave. Then, I would get uncomfortable again, shift positions, become comfortable and Baby would go off the monitor. And so on and so on for about an hour and a half. Finally, labs came back, everything looked good, and they said I could go home. They pretty much attributed everything to Baby having a growth spurt and a quiet day and reassured me repeatedly that I did the right thing by calling and coming in. The pressure has mostly gone away; I still have a lot in my stomach, but not anywhere else, making it all the more likely that Baby did have a pretty good growth spurt. I still feel ridiculous about the whole thing though. I'm glad I went because you never really know what's going on and it's better to be checked and find nothing, then avoid it and have a problem. So ends my first bout of PLP. Let's hope there's no more of that, shall we?



Then, last night, the ceiling in the bathroom had a bit of a leak. You could tell that it had leaked that way before because the last patch job became very visible from the newest leak. Shane kinda wigged for a minute, but I then I realized what had happened to cause said leak. There are two water valves in our basement along the ceiling above the washer/dryer. One of these is for the swamp cooler upstairs that is, coincidentally right outside the bathroom. The other runs water to our refrigerator for the ice maker/water dispenser in the door. Last night, I tried to get water out of the dispenser, but it didn't work. So Shane dutifully went downstairs to turn the valve and make sure the water feed was working. I'm pretty sure he turned the wrong one, thereby turning the water on for our winterized swamp cooler and leading to a flood of water into the ceiling of the bathroom. It wasn't a huge flood, just enough to wet the edge of the carpet in the hallway, run across the ceiling, down to the vanities and onto the rugs. I chose not to worry about it, because, as previously stated, it was obvious this type of leak had happened before. No damage done, no harm, no foul, but I'm guessing my father-in-law will be over sometime this weekend to take a look at it with Shane. I'm just going to pretend it never happened and when they decide to look at it, I'm going to the store......after all, ignorance is BLISS.



Here's hoping that the weekend is quiet, next week is uneventful and my Cricut arrives with no damage due to shipping.



Take care everybody!!

Updates and more

Hello friends! I know it's been a while since I've blogged and I have no excuses.....I'm just busy! And then I decide I'm going to blog, but then forget and so on.....

Anyways, things here on the home front are good. Baby is growing and growing and is very healthy; so far it has been a healthy pregnancy, especially now that the constant morning sickness is OVER! We are all set and scheduled for a C-section on Wednesday April 22nd, unless our little bean decides to come early, but I don't see that happening :D I'm starting to get really excited about having a newborn around the house again and I'm looking forward to all those days of maternity leave and being home with the boys. BUT, I'm really going to miss work!

Isn't that crazy? I absolutely LOVE my job! Well, there are parts I don't like so well, but for the most part? I have such a good job! I work with awesome people and we have a good time and we really help people. I'm going to be sad to be gone for awhile, but I know I have to come back!
**Note: while I was typing this very blog, Dr. Bill came to my desk (which was a surprise, as I usually don't see him at all on Tuesdays) and we chatted for a minute and he asked me what I was doing and I of course replied that I was blogging. He laughed and said okay.....How can you NOT love a boss like that?!?

Shane is doing very, very well. I make no promises, but I'll try to get some new pictures of his handsome face posted soon either here or on FaceBook. He looks so much better than those scary day-after photos. There is some scarring, but it's barely noticeable at this point... I must say, too, I never pictured myself as a van mom, but I absolutely LOVE the van! I love to drive it, I love to ride in it, I love to see it in the parking lot at the end of my work day. I'm totally converted!

Kaitlyn is also doing good. She just got back last night from a week in Maryland where she is doing a drug study for a new cancer drug. So far, she really seems to be doing well with it; no bad side effects and she's actually told us that her lungs aren't bothering her as much as they used to. She goes back on March 15th with her dad, but they'll only be gone overnight. They fly in on Sunday and back home Monday night, so that will be good.

All in all, we're doing just fine! Lots going on, lots to get ready for, but we're just happy to be where we are and doing what we're doing :D

Love to you all!

Nightmare on Christmas Eve

So, as detailed in my last "word" post, I was looking forward to wrapping presents, being off for a few days for the holidays and most of all, SLEEPING IN! As I saw it, my only day to sleep in was on Christmas Eve morning, until my busy boys awoke. Well, as some of you know, my Christmas Eve and Christmas Day plans, for that matter were pretty much derailed very early Christmas Eve morning.

Shane had to work that morning from 6am to 2pm and then once he got home, we were going to load up the boys and head for Nephi for our traditional Christmas Eve at Grandma Phyllis's. Shane kissed me good-bye and left for work at about 5am. I sort of remember him leaving and them I promptly went right back to sleep. I was trying to milk my one sleep-in day for all it was worth!

Some time later, someone knocked on my door. And oddly enough, my first thought was, "I think that's the mailman. I'm not getting up. He should just leave the package on the porch." The knocking was persistent and so I cracked one eye open and looked at the clock. 5:30am. Odd, I don't think the postman comes this early.

I staggered out of bed and down the stairs to the door. Standing on my porch was a Taylorsville City police officer. He asked me if I was Amy and if he could come in. Too stunned to blink, let alone speak, I nodded and motioned up the stairs. He asked me if Shane was my husband. That immediately woke me up. I said yes and asked if he was okay. The officer was far ahead of me at that point, reassuring me that he was okay. He asked where Shane was going and if his "normal route" to work was east on Twilight Drive. Then he asked if Shane had a medical condition. My heart immediately sank as he told me the bad news.

Shortly after leaving for work, Shane had had a seizure and lost control of the car just east of 4000 West and had gone through a fence and hit a house.

He reassured me again that Shane was okay, that he was awake, he did have some injuries, but they seemed fairly minor and the paramedics wanted to get a confirmation that he did have a medical condition. They were taking him by ambulance to IMC. He asked if I was okay and if there were any children home. I told him yes, but that my in-laws didn't live far and I could call them to come over. The nice officer left and I started making calls. I woke up Shane's parents, woke up my parents as I tried to throw on some clothes and think of anything I would need to take to the hospital.

I left the house as quickly as I could, knowing that I would pass the scene of the accident on my way to the hospital. I wasn't sure what to expect, other than lots of flashing lights. It was a shock to see the scene and know that my husband had survived it:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=5159121

I arrived at IMC and after a short wait, I was taken back to the trauma room where they had Shane. It was a little surreal being there. The doctors were there talking amongst themselves like they do. They let me come to the head of the bed and hold his hand and talk to him. At that moment, I think we were just so glad to see each other that not much else mattered. The trauma nurse gave me a bit of an update while I held Shane's hand. So far, all the x-rays had come back negative, the head CT scan was negative, they had pulled some glass out of his eye and were at that point, waiting for the eye/plastic surgeon to come in and take a look at him.

After a few hours in the ER, most of it spent watching the very talented Dr. Georgescu sew up Shane's forehead and left eyelid, they moved him upstairs to a room on the eleventh floor. Dr. Georgescu had placed a patch on Shane's left eye because he did have a scratch on his cornea and he wanted the sutures on the eyelid to be protected at leasted overnight.

Initially in the ER they assured us that they would probably just keep Shane in the hospital until that afternoon or evening and then let me take him home. After the nurses got him all settled into bed and everything they told us the bad news: because Shane had hit his head, he had to stay overnight in the hospital for observation. They would check on him in the morning and after Dr. Georgescu came in and removed his patch, they would let him go home.

Luckily, my in-laws had the boys and assured me that they were fine and to just come and get them when I could. I stayed with Shane most of the day and finally, around 7:30pm I knew I had to go get the boys and go home. After all, it was Christmas Eve and Jaxton was expecting Santa to come! Even though I knew I had to take care of my boys, it was so hard to leave my husband in that hospital bed and go home.

The next morning, the boys woke up and instead of opening presents right then, we got dressed I took the boys back to Grandma's. I had to go try to spring my husband! After about a two-hour wait, Dr. Georgescu arrived to give us the final go-ahead to leave. He would have been there much sooner, but he had been told the night before that we had gone home!! But he did arrive to "de-patch" Shane and give us some final instructions so we could get home.

Finally, we arrived at Shane's parents' to enjoy our Christmas. The girls had arrived from their mom's and we could finally all relax.

It was most definitely not my ideal Christmas, but, as I reminded Shane many times during those two days and several times after, we were so lucky. It could have been so much worse. Shane had only minor injuries, no one in the house was hurt. Cars and houses and fences can be fixed, but my life doesn't work without him. And as hard as it was to be without him, I knew he would be there when I came back to that hospital room. And even now, three weeks later we still remind each other that things could always be worse.

Christmas photos

Our latest Christmas photos to brighten your day!

Christmas time and sleeping in.

Well, here we are, the day BEFORE the day before Christmas. It's snowing, really a lot actually, outside and I'm here at work, thinking about all the gifts at my house that need wrapping. I did really well this year. I finished my Christmas shopping last night. Just those last odds and ends for stockings and such. The main bulk of my shopping has been done for over a week now, which is definitely an improvement! I'm excited about everything I've bought and I'm really excited to go to Nephi tomorrow night. But tonight is for wrapping, wrapping, wrapping.

But a late night of wrapping will be rewarded with a morning of sleeping in! I love the sleeping in part of holidays and weekends. It's different now than it was when I was single. Sleeping in meant 10 or 11 or even noon sometimes. But then, the nights were much later too. Now, if I get to stay in my bed past 8am, it's a damn fine day! Usually the boys wake up before I do. If Jax is up first, he just comes in and climbs into bed with me. Sounds cozy, right? It is, until he wants the remote to watch SpongeBob and then he needs two pillows and then his feet are cold so he's putting them on my legs and then I need to slide over because he wants to be in the middle, and so on and so forth. There is no snoozing after that. If Hayden wakes up first, it's kinda like an alarm clock without a snooze button. He stands up in his crib and yells "GOUT...GOUT" which is not a medical term to him, it's the term for, "I am awake now and would like to get out of my bed; please come and get me." And he never wants to climb back in bed with me for a warm snuggle! Once he's up he is in full-blown awake mode. Jax is more like me when it comes to mornings. We will grudgingly get out of bed and wander around getting ready with our eyes mostly closed. Once Hayden is awake, it's like a light switch has been flipped. He is wide-awake, happy, babbling and ready for whatever the day brings. Isn't that funny that two brothers can be that different? It'll be interesting to see how that changes as they grow.

Well, kids, have a wonderful happy joyous Merry Christmas and may the New Year bring you all the blessings you need and all the happiness you can hold!

Merry Christmas!

Yes, yes it's true

Yes, my friends and followers, we are pleased to announce that we are expecting a new baby boy (our third, poor me!) in April.

Baby boy #3 came as quite a shock to us! Everything sort of snowballed onto us in the month of September. You all know I took a new job that started mid-August and then about Labor Day weekend I got really sick. I had a horrible migraine and lots of vomitting and for some reason, the thought popped into my head that I might be pregnant....of course I immediately dismissed it...that wasn't in the plans! Surely I was just light-headed from spending so much time bent over the toilet. But the thought persisted until I found a pregnancy test at the very back of my bathroom cupboard. Lo and behold, two lines appeared. But the positive line was REALLY faint, so I thought....nah, must be an old test that's expired or something. I'll go get a new one and wait until tomorrow and try it again. Four positive tests later...I faced the inevitable, we were having another baby. Of course the panic immediately set in. All those things you think about, like just where exactly was this baby going to SLEEP? In our room until it's 5?? And things like, I don't WANT to have two in diapers and how is my new boss going to feel about a maternity leave so soon after me just starting and for the love of pete HOW are we going to pay for daycare for three??? I am not ashamed to say it took me about a week to get over the panic and embrace the thought of another baby. First, my boys are so good-natured that they'll be able to share a room for awhile longer. We'll find a bunk bed or a daybed with a trundle and they'll be more than happy to share a room until Kaitlyn goes to college and then we can move Jax to the basement and the little ones can stay upstairs for a while yet. And two in diapers, so what? Nothing lasts forever. And my boss was thrilled that I was pregnant. Okay, thrilled may be an exaggeration, but he was happy for me and concerned for my health and told me that everything would be okay and not to worry. It's probably a good possibility that when I do come back it will be for three days a week instead of five and then my mother-in-law would take the boys one day while I work and they would go to daycare two days. In the fall, Jax will be in kindergarten for a half day so that will help too. Lastly, I couldn't help but hope that this would be the time that we would have a GIRL! So, I was humming along and coping well and then we find out that the project Shane worked on at American Express was closing the Utah office and he would have to find a new job. It was really bad for awhile. But, he found a job still with AmEx and he's still looking for a better job and we're okay with that. So the only hurdle left was that magical gender ultrasound at 16 weeks. I kept telling everyone that I was okay with either, but I would rather have a girl. Even Jaxton told me that we were getting a baby sister. Alas, it was not meant to be. We had our ultrasound and after some prodding, there HE was, in all his male glory. And my hopes for pink and ribbons and lace were dashed again. I am destined to be surrounded by males. After a moment of disappointment, I was excited to see his little body and hear his tiny heart beating away. And to know that my boys will have another "little buddy" to play with. There are worse things than another boy and FAR worse things than a baby.

So here we go again, another boy to bless our home, giving us five children and giving my parents their 11th grandchild. Everyone is pretty excited and now, of course, begins the search for a new name and all the fighting that will occur over that. I just hope Grandpa Ken comes up with another nickname worthy enough to join the ranks of "Fred" and "Ralph."

Snow Day

It snowed yesterday and I finally had to say good-bye to summer, warm weather, the leaves on my trees in the front yard. And I was sad. I hate winter! I hate scraping windows and shovelling sidewalks and de-icing the front porch and all of it! There, I think I got all of the bitterness out. I was driving to work today and there's an elementary school across the street from the office. I drove along the street and I laughed at the little boys (I suppose girls do it to, but I didn't see any today) gathered in front of the school scooping up snowballs and throwing snow around. And then as I passed the school and got to the playground and fields that are behind the school I counted not one, not three, but 7 or 8! giant snowballs. Obviously the kids were enjoying yesterday's snowfall pretty much most of the day, while I sat at work and groaned every time I caught a glimpse of the outside world through the windows. Just one more part of growing up, I guess. Snow no longer holds a fascination for me. I only think of the grown-up things like driving in it, knowing that the heating bill is about to skyrocket, wondering if I need a new ice scraper for the car, wondering if the ice scraper is even still IN the car. And then, I arrived home, safe and sound last night and the minute I walked in the door, Jaxton met me at the top of the stairs and he said, "Mommy, it snowed all day today! Can we make a snowman?" And just like that, I remembered why snow is fascinating. It covers the ground with possibility. Maybe this weekend, Jax and I will see what possibilities the snow has waiting for us in our own front yard.