Totally & Completely Outnumbered!

Such exciting news for the blog today. We had our level two ultrasound today and the most important news to report is that ALL IS WELL! My placenta moved away from my cervix and while accreta is still a bit of a concern, we went home with a positive report from the perinatal office. It's such a relief. During the hour long ultrasounds, they took a million measurements looking for any concern of abnormalities or disorders and both the tech and the doctor said that they found absolutely nothing of concern. Everything looked great which was amazing to hear. At this point, my OB will review the films and findings from the perinatal office and decide if he wants me to follow up with another ultrasound in a bit or if we're good to go and proceed as usual.

The exciting news is that we're having another boy. I am so freakin exstatic that I can't even put it into words. Two boys. Brothers. Love it. I always pictured myself as the mom to girls until I had Connor. After spending the last 2+ years with him I just can't imagine it any other way. We would have of course been thrilled to find out we were having a girl, but being told that it was another boy on the way was just perfect. Jeffrey and I have always imagined that Connor would have a little brother. He loves babies and so I'm thinking he's going to be an amazing little brother.

Now that I'm 18 weeks along, there's more going on with BBB2. (Carly reminded me that I can add a third "B" to the moniker since it's Baby Boy Barnes 2!) We learned in the ultrasound that he's measuring a little small still, but that's totally normal considering it's my kid. I make small babies. End of story. He's about 6 ounces right now--about the size of a bell pepper, which is really just an ounce or two behind normal. He's staying busy flexing his arms and legs which we saw lots of during the ultrasound. He was moving around like crazy. Poor guy looked so cramped in there thanks to the location of my damn placenta.

We're not wierd about telling the baby name (not that I think it's wierd, except that yeah i really do) so as of right now his name is Noah. Noah Jackson Barnes. I have loved the name Jackson for years, but Jeff really isn't a fan. Connor Keith got his dad, grandpa and great-grandpa's middle name so if you think of it, Jeff kinda got to choose that one. This one is mine! Jeffrey fought it for a long time, but today as we were doing the ultrasound he conceded. We were told BOY and Jeffrey said "Hi there Noah Jackson". I think at this point, we have to stick with this name, as that was a really cute moment.

We got lots of ultrasound pics too, so I'll get those posted tonight. Thanks for checking in on us!

Update to Week 17 Posting

Well, last Thursday the doctor's office called and they'd already scheduled my level two ultrasound that my OB ordered. So, that's all set for 8:45am Wednesday morning. Such an inconvenient time of the day, but they said they got me into their first available slot so I guess I should keep the complaining to a minimum. Dad and Corliss (thank you!) are going to come over and watch Connor so that Jeff and I can go to the appointment. I'm really hopeful that all will be well and will post as soon as we know anything...I'm also assuming that we'll know boy or girl after the appointment so I'll be sure to share that news as well.

I'm very happy that the ultrasound got scheduled so fast so that we can put this whole concern behind us--hopefully. Some disappointing news though, is that I was told by the drs office today that I am no longer able to lift anything over 15lbs...including Connor. Yes, obviously he's walking but you wouldn't believe how many times in one day you pick up a toddler--getting in and out of the truck, to change a diaper, before he darts into the street, the list is endless. I'm just happy that he's in his big boy bed now or I would have quite the tough time getting him in and out of his crib. Ugh.

15lbs?!? I think my handbag weighs more than 15lbs. When I said that to Jeffrey he suggested a backpack. It's like he doesn't know me at all. A backpack. really??

That's it for now. I'll post details this week along with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day photos

Thanks for checking in on us...if you're not "following", please do! :)

Merry Christmas 2009 From the Barnes Family

We're getting some rest before the Christmas hoopla kicks off this afternoon. We're heading to Mass at 4pm and then we have our own tradition. Jeffrey, Connor and I will be grabbing In & Out on the way to the Barnes house. The traditional dinner at my inlaws is not quite our style so we fill up beforehand! They have a traditional Slovak dinner of cream of wheat, sausage and sour krout. Again, not our type of thing. Then we all open gifts and go home exhausted. Tomorrow morning my parents come over and we have breakfast and open gifts. Then we'll have a more traditional holiday meal of ham and other goodness. Next stop is to visit our friends Carrol and Danny at their annual Christmas open house. The last step is when my dad and Corliss come over for even more gluttonous gift opening. We're completely exhausted by the time the evening is over.

I hope you have an equally exhausting holiday scheduled!

Merry Christmas!

Week 17 Update

Had another dr appt last night and it was full of conflicting news. The great news is that BB2 is doing great. Another strong heartbeat at yesterday's appointment. This baby has been at 160 pretty much consistently, while Connor started at 161 and then gradually slowed down from there.

I talked to the doctor again about not wanting to attempt a VBAC and that I was happy having another c-section. He had me sign my life away agreeing to the section and then again for the tubal that I want to have done while I'm there. Jeffrey and I know that having two children is perfect for us and why mess around with the details, ya know? I kinda feel like I had to talk the doctor into that part, but it's understandable. I'm sure they see it often when women come back needing to have the procedure reversed. Not me doc. I'm good.

We went over my hospital visit from the previous week and that I was really starting to have some minor relief from the nausea/puking/hating my life. He then talked to me about my placenta previa and his concerns. Apparently, if you've had a prior c-section and you have previa in a subsequent pregnancy there are some risks involved. The technical term is placenta accreta. In my case, it means that what they are concerned with happening is that the placenta attaches itself too deeply to the uterine wall and can penetrate the uterus. So, when you have previa as I do, not only is the placenta in the wrong place, but it can try to work its way out of my uterus through the weakened spot, my c-section scar. This is dangerous I guess for a number of reasons, both for BB2 and myself.

I've read that accreta occurs in 1 in 2500 pregnancies, so perhaps I have the odds on my side. Of all cases of previa, about 5-10% experience accreta so I'm hopeful that I will be the 90%. Unfortunately, the fact that I've had a c-section doesn't help my chances. On the other hand, the liklihood of accreta is increased by the number of sections you've had and i've only had the one at this point.

For BB2 the main concern is premature delivery and complications related to that. For me, the concerns are a bit more well, concerning. The issue is with removing the placenta from wherever it ends up attaching itself. If it manages to get out of the uterus, it can attach to the bladder or other organs. When the baby is born and the placenta manually removed, the risk of hemmorrhaging can be severe and life threatening. The chances of having a hysterectomy are pretty high as well, depending on what the placenta attaches itself to.

So...anyway. At this time this is all just 'what if' and we don't even know if I have accreta, so all this research will hopefully be for nothing. I am now waiting on a call from someone with my drs office to schedule a level two ultrasound. A level 2 US is just a more detailed scan of the baby and my uterus and surrounding areas. What I'm looking forward to is that these pictures may be much better than the typical ultrasounds I get. This ultrasound has to be done at a perinatal office, so it won't be at my normal office. I'm really hoping they can get me in next week.

Best case scenario is that my placenta will have moved itself to where it should be and the whole concern will be gone. If the placenta is still previa then I'll have ultrasounds scheduled monthly so my dr can keep track of it and determine any sort of treatment or steps. Bedrest is possible, but for now I've just been told to avoid any sort of heavy lifting and other "activities" that I won't detail here because my parents read this blog sometimes. Use your imagination...there you go. I can't do that.

That was obviously the bulk of the appointment last night. Jeffrey comes to all of our appointments and I love that. Yesterday, he brought Connor. I'm really torn between wanting him to be a part of the whole experience and not wanting him freaking out if something goes wrong and I'm freaking out. Oh, and by "part of the whole experience" I mean the drs appts, NOT the delivery. We're not those people.

We realized when we got home that the dr didn't mention if I'd gained or lost so I'm hoping that it's because I'm ok in that area and not because he figured he gave me enough to worry about with the accreta.

I'm also waiting on a call at this point to schedule the delivery. My technical due date is June 1st, but I'll never get there. They tend to want to deliver at 39 weeks so that would be May 25th. We were hoping for May 28th so that it would be a Friday and would result in the least time off work and would correlate with Connor's summer break. We'll see what the hospital has available when they call and I'll for sure update. It's crazy to think that we're selecting our baby's birthdate. Creepy kinda.

whew, ok i think that's pretty much it for now. it's been a long week, even though it's a short work week. So, for the next several days we're going to enjoy Christmas with the family, open gifts in a super glutonous manner and think positive thoughts that this worry will be for nothing and that the rest of the pregnancy will continue perfectly. :)

Santa Baby

Connor loves santa. looked forward to it all day and was super excited to chat with him. we decided to skip the mall santa this year because the prices were CRAZY. seriously, $20 for one photo? No gracias. We decided to take him to visit Santa's House in downtown Chandler last weekend and I'm so glad we did. He got to see the Chandler Tumbleweed Christmas Tree and there was no line, that's right, no line to visit Santa. Plus, a group was sponsoring it so we donated to them and that was the entire cost. Amazing. We'll do this every year. You have to take advantage of this beautiful weather and it's so much better than standing in line in the mall for an hour plus. Here are a few of the pics from our day at Santa's House. I didn't get a ton of great ones, because I was just watching him with Santa, but he had a great time and went back to hug him right before we left.

giving santa a hi-five.

this photo is hilarious...connor is thinking santa looks a bit shifty i think :)

strolling with daddy

here's connor by the huge tree in downtown chandler, the tumbleweed tree. So ugly during the day, pretty all lit up at night.

i had to put this one in because our kid is a wacko and he looks like he's doing some kind of kung fu here.

16 week update

Oops. the 16 week update is a bit behind...considering i'm 17 weeks tomorrow. So...because we'll have a post tomorrow I'll make this one short and sweet.

I have been feeling a wee bit better. I'm still nauseaus all the time, but the big focus here is that I am down to getting sick maybe one or two times a day. I even had a day last week where I didn't get sick at all. That is amazing for me! Otherwise, I'm still pretty exhausted and thankful for Jeffrey every single day. He's always amazing with Connor and stuff around the house, but when I'm pregnant he really, really steps it all up a notch. He's always telling me to sit down, lay down, relax, etc. and I just refuse to argue with his logic! I'm feeling the normal stretching and slight pain down in my belly from things growing and getting in place so that's somewhat familiar. I swear though, when I was pregnant with Connor it all seemed to go so fast...this time, not so much!

My big thing right now is desperately trying to feel the baby move around. I didn't feel Connor until pretty late along, which I was told was largely due to how sick I was. I couldn't differentiate between movements/flutters/kicks and the action going on due to my morning sickness. I just really want to feel all that movement going on now...when you are at this point, it's really the only way you can know that all is well :) Unfortunately, due to the numbness on my tummy from my c-section, I still can't feel too much stuff in that area. Every once in a while I think I feel something, but that could certainly be wishful thinking. what the heck do i know!?

According to my weekly email, this week the baby is the size of an avocado and about 4.5 inches from head to bottom. There's big growth spurt in my future over the next few weeks so baby will be doing lots of growing, which means I will too hopefully! Creepy thing this week...baby's eyes are moving from the side of the head to the correct placement on the front of the face. sweet. Click here if you are at all interested in seeing a pic of what baby most likely looks like now.

BTW-we've started referring to the baby as "she" and "her". we're pretty convinced it's going to be a girl this time around which is thrilling. We'd be crazy excited with a boy too though, so really, whatever!

Friday Dose of Brilliance

Wow, it's been a long time since I've done a Friday post like this. I thought I'd run out of hilarious sites to feature here, but alas, I was wrong! Tis the season for creepy, creepy Santa Clause photo ops. I posted about this last year which I still believe is one of the funniest things I've ever seen, but this site has a whole mess of these beauties. Enjoy Sketchy Santas!

BTW-we're taking Connor to see Santa this weekend. He's obsessed with his this year, so it's doubtful that I'll get my long hoped for pic of him hating on Santa. Don't judge me, they are just way more funny when they are horrible. I'll post pics next week for sure.

Thursday can be for posting pics too...

Christmas of 2007 was amazing because it was Connor's first Christmas. Christmas of 2008 was wonderful because Connor was totally mobile. He could hand out gifts, open them a little bit and eat the good food. This Christmas though, is going to be even better. First off, we're excited about expecting BB2. But more immediately, Connor gets it this year. He's obsessed with Santa, and Christmas trees, Christmas lights, snowmen...all of it. He's perfected opening presents and checks his stocking daily just in case there's something in there. I love that he gets it.

Our friends Jill, Ben, Chloe, Cadence and Brody - AKA, the Smiths - brought a present over for Connor this past weekend. I told Jill I'd take pictures of it so she could see how much he loved it. Who am I kidding though? I love taking pics of this kid.

hating mama for making him wait so I could take a pic of him with his pretty present.

the minute he opened it he shouted "mickey mouse". obsessed.

really cute book. kinda like a where's waldo where you find photos within the big picture. he loves it.

and of course, zoey wanted to play along

ok, this is hilarious. i saw that he'd dumped cheerios all over his playroom so i told him to go and pick them up. he was in there for a good ten minutes before I realized how quiet he was. I peeked in and found this. it's a horrible photo because i didn't want to use the flash, but I found him totally passed out asleep under the table, mid-cleaning. he even had some cheerios in his hand. we left him there and let him have his nap under the table. he was not too pleased when he woke up there though.

practicing his swimming in the bathtub.

Hootie Hoot, so damn cute!

My last post talked about how much of a slacker I was when it came to getting my friend Christy a cute owl themed baby shower gift. Next time one of my Sisters has a baby or a shower, I'm going to be on the ball. There are just so many flippin cute options out there. I'm so glad that owls are cute now, and pretty popular. When I was in college, they were all creepy and gross. Here's a few items I'll be sure to pick up next time!

hootie dress. love it so much. if I have a girl, i'm totally getting this.

shut up with how wonderful this sweater is. seriously.

this little owl hangs on the crib, a door knob, a carseat, wherever and plays music. love.

There are millions of owl onesies out there, but I think this may be my favorite right now.

I love the look of large alphabet wall hangings. This one is made even better with the cute little hooters.

OMG I'm dying about how great this is. I think I need this gorgeous Personalized Owl Wall Hanging

adorable owl pillows - these come in several different patterns, but i really love that this one has even more owls on it!

Hootie Blanket - There are lots of cute baby blankets with owls out there, but I just thought this one was darling. Love.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Going to try and get back to getting my Nearly Wordless Wednesday posted every Wednesday. Since I take photos of nearly every mundane thing we do, I have plenty of pics! This week is a pretty random assortment.

My good friend Christy, from our Chi Omega Alumnae Group is due to have their first baby next month. Because she and her husband have only lived in AZ for a couple of years, most of her closest friends are out of state. She's from Minnesota so she flew home last month for a shower that many of her close friends threw for her. I dont think she ever expected to have a shower thrown for her here in AZ. We totally pulled off a great surprise baby shower for her! She always attends our monthly book club meeting, so this month I set it up to be at her favorite restaurant. We made sure that she'd be there by contacting her mom who was in town for the weekend-it was so special that she could be there as well! When Christy showed up she was so surprised! We had cake and lots of fun gifts for her.

From the moment Christy found out that she was expecting, I planned on getting her tons of cute owl or chi omega stuff...but I slacked and time flew by and I wasn't prepared. Luckily, my Sisters didn't slack and she took home several wonderful owl gifts! Here are just a few pics from the shower.

super cute owl blanket

hootie hoot!

super cute Night Owl onesie

Christy and her mom, Nancy

LOVE this onesie - especially since we're a book club!

Liz, Linds, Christy, Nancy, Laura, Raquel, Marcie, Alona, Rheana, Kimberly, Caroline, Angela, Shelley and Jill--hooray Chi Omega Alums!

Week 15 Update

I'm a couple days late on the weekly update, but I think I have a pretty good excuse if I do say so myself. Ugh, it's been a rough week, but all is fine so I'm going to take a few moments to update here on what's been going on.

Monday night started like anyother. Eat dinner, throw up. The norm. But then i kept throwing up, and then I would wake up in the middle of the night needing to throw up. Even with my severe "morning sickness", or Hyperemesis Gravidarum as I was diagnosed with earlier in the pregnancy, I've never been woken up to get sick. I could tell this was a bit different than normal pregnancy stuff for me, as I wan't just throwing up but had other fun stomach stuff going on. Use your imagination folks...I can't bring myself to type the D word here. After spending an hour in the bathroom with no reprieve, I had Jeffrey get me some toast and water. When they came right back up immediately, I knew I had some sort of stomach bug/GI stuff.

The rest of the night went much the same so I called my OB office when they opened in the morning and was told to get to the ER. Because I'm not yet 24 weeks and viable in my pregnancy, I couldn't just go to OB Triage so I had to go to the actual ER. Groan. Fortunately, the ER was pretty quiet on a Tuesday morning around 8 so we got to a room pretty quickly. I was told I was severely dehydrated from not being able to keep fluids down for over 12 hours. The deal is, when you are pregnant you can go a bit without starvation becoming an issue, but you can't go any time at all without dehydration becoming a big concern. They quickly got me all IVd and gave me a couple bags of saline laced with anti-nausea meds. The anti-nausea didn't do anything for me, but the saline did. I could feel it working by the time the second bag was almost done.

They also sent me for an emergency ultrasound so that they could be sure that all was ok with the baby. I hated that Jeffrey couldn't be there with me for this part, but it's patient only. I imagined getting bad news-alone and just couldn't even handle it. The tech told me that she wouldn't be able to tell me anything anyway and that the doctor would give me the results of the US. She could tell how concerned I was and she was really great. She asked if I knew what to look for in the ultrasound meaning that the baby was still alive. I told her I did and so she showed me the monitor. I saw the heartbeat and felt immediately at ease. Thinking now, I guess that wouldn't necessarily mean that we were out of the woods, but at that moment I could relax. Of course, I asked her if she could tell the gender and she said that at 15 weeks it's still really difficult and that the baby has to be really trying to show off their stuff for you to see it at that point. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see anything. boo. At that point, gender was obviously the least of my concerns and we were told by the doctor that all looked great with the baby, my fluid, blood flow, etc. My blood tests all came back great as well so they were happy that they caught the hydration issue early. The only concern the doctor had at this time was that I had marginal previa, meaning that my placenta is partially over my cervical opening which isn't great. Fortunately, I'm only 15 weeks which means that I have plenty of time for it to move and end up where it's supposed to be. I'm betting that by the time I have my ultrasound around 18-20 weeks it will already have moved up and away from my cervix. Fingers crossed anyway.

After getting some morphine for the cramping, I eventually got to go home. It was an exhausting day for Jeffrey and I both. We got home and just about immediately passed out. My SIL Sarah was wonderful and picked up Connor at school and he stayed the night with them. Since I have a virus of some sorts, we really wanted to try and avoid passing it back and forth to each other if possible.

That's about all the drama from this past week, so here's the fun stuff. At 15 weeks, BB2 is measuring about 4 inches long from the tip of his/her head to the bottom of his/her...well, bottom. BB2 is about 2.5 ounces now and about the size of an apple. An apple?!? This week, the lungs are working harder and taste buds are forming. Pretty amazing stuff to think of.

I think that's it for now. Very happy that it's Thursday which means it's almost the weekend. Not a ton going on this weekend which is a nice change. We have Jeffrey's work party on Friday night, swim on Saturday night and then I have book club and a baby shower on Sunday...actually I take back that "not a ton going on this weekend" statement two sentences ago.

St. Nick 2009

I've written about it here and here previously, but our family celebrates St. Nick on the morning of the 6th. This year was no different except that I didn't roll out of bed until 9ish so Jeffrey and Connor had to wait a bit for St. Nick. :)

St Nick is all about the stockings so each person gets a small gift that is meant to be $15 or less. For the first time in years, Jeffrey and I are actually vowing to stick to the dollar limits we place on gifts. Most years we make a limit and both have to sheepishly admit that we went over. Self-Control...not our best quality :) But...this year we're sticking to it! With BB2 on the way, we're trying to reign ourselves in when it comes to our holiday spending. Now, that being said - i went over on his St. Nick gift. BUT...I plan on backing the overage out of the main gift. Now that I'm still writing about this I have no idea why I explaining it so much here...probably trying to justify it. Convinced?

Connor is really into Cars, the movie, right now. Dare I say it...even more than Mickey I think. Shocking. So, we got him four new cars. He loved them and played with them all day. Then he took them to bed with him. Hilar. Jeffrey has been wanting a new business card case. A nice one-engraved and all. I've tried finding one that falls somewhere in between boring and gaudy and finally found one recently. Perfect timing. He loved it. Jeffrey got me Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist because I love that movie. It came with the digital copy so that I can put it on my iPod so that's a bonus.

All in all, great St. Nicks this year! Right now I'm just wishing that I'd taken a moment to wrestle a shirt on him that morning since I took a ton of photos. Oh, and of course, he got a big scratch over his lip...just in time for holiday photos to start :) I love this kid. Here are some pics of the morning festivities.

um, ok...now what?

zoey really wants to help out

Connor gets an ornament every year for St. Nick...this year we let him pick his out. He picked out a baseball ornament which was shocking.

i love this photo. he's just so excited!

showing off a couple of his new cars

Week 14 Update

Hello Second Trimester. I'm currently waiting for all the 2nd trimester good stuff to start rolling in...more energy, no sickness...waiting... We'll see I suppose.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and all went well. It took forever again to hear the heartbeat which is just torture. This time the nurse/tech person said that everyone grabbed the "good dopplers" and she got stuck with the static-y one. So, once she grabbed another one, we were able to hear the heartbeat, nice and strong...around 150 which is great. She told me that this baby is a real mover and that everytime she'd catch the heartbeat, the baby would move around. Hilar that the kid is already ornery. Love.

The doctor was pretty pleased with me this week. Somehow I managed to gain almost 3 pounds. I have no idea how that happened-I swore I was going to get lectured again about eating more, but somehow I did it. I can tell you that I wore my jacket and heavy heels while I was being weighed too...just in case!

Last appointment, the nurse who took my BP told me that it was a little high. I've always had super low BP so that was odd. The doctor saw it during that appointment and took it himself and said her reading wasn't right and that there was no concern. This time, the same thing happened but while the result he got wasn't nearly as high as hers it wasn't "ideal". He explained that it wasn't high, but not where they'd like me to be. He said that I need to drink more water and relax. Ha. Tell your nurse to take less than 10 minutes to find my baby's heartbeat and I'll give you a more "ideal" bp readout buddy. I told him that and he laughed. He said he really wasn't concerned about it but that it was something to watch. Today I'm getting a pedicure with Carly so I'm pretty sure that's exactly what he meant by relax...perhaps I can write it off as a medical expense...?

I was pretty glad that I don't have to go back for 3 more weeks. Usually at this point in pregnancy, you're there once a month...I've been there way more than that and I'm happy to be getting close to normally scheduled visits. My next appointment is on the 22nd of December. I'll be 17 weeks at that point. Unfortunately, you have to be 18 weeks (and no less) to do the ultrasound. This is the US where you can find out if it's a boy or girl. Two minutes ago I called and talked to the scheduler to see if there is anyway at all that I can persuade my doctor to allow me to do the Gender US that day as well, since I'll be there anyway. She said that it's not really a "gender ultrasound" and that the purpose is to check and be sure that all the anatomy is coming along as it should. Yeah, yeah. She said that the only way they'll do it earlier is if I'm having some sort of issue. I'm wondering how Karma would feel about me faking a cramp during that appointment so that someone will ultrasound me. Hmm. Otherwise, I'll know a week or so later. I know it doesn't seem too far away, but it really feels like forever.

I think that's it for now. Will post some more pics of our last week or so on here this week.

Winner Winner Turkey Dinner!

Congrats Keiko for winning the uber-cute giveaway here!! Although since I know how amazingly you're decorating Cash's room, I wish I'd gone with the owl items that the site offers...it's just rare that I find someone else who loves owls as I do!

Thanks to everyone who entered to win :)

Gobble Gobble 2009

Happy Thanksgiving 2009!

turkey on the bbq grill - the best way to do it!

connor and grammy van hook looking at photos

nom nom nom

here's the spread from this year...totally forgot to get a pic of the food before the turkey was carved. oops.

Happy Thanksgiving

Can't believe it's already almost thanksgiving...which means that it's almost Christmas which is just crazy. That also means that 2009 is almost over. My head is spinning.

Speaking of crazy, here are pics of Connor's two Thanksgivings so far. He's such a tiny little baby, I just can't believe it. I'll be sure to post some next week of our holiday this year. Still strange to think that next year, we'll have two kiddos at thanksgiving...I just can't wrap my head around that!

This year we're not getting all the families together which is kinda a bummer, but it may be nice to have a quieter turkey day. It's going to be Jeffrey, Connor and myself, plus my mom and dad. We'll have my dad's yummy bbq turkey and stuffing. I'm making a crock pot sweet potato casserole and some yummy creamed spinach. Jeff's favorite part of thanksgiving is the green bean casserole so he'll be making a couple of those--one with onions and one without. Mom's bringing a yummy relish plate, bread and mashed potatoes. Connor, as usual, is contributing nothing. This may be the year we teach him about pulling his own weight.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Week 13 Update

I love Tuesdays. Not really for it's placement in the Monday-Friday countdown, but more for the fact that it's the day my week turns in my pregnancy. As of today I'm 13 weeks along. This is my last week of the first trimester which is a real big landmark. After week 13 the liklihood of bad stuff happening is reduced significantly so that's obviously great news. By no means am I out of the woods, but it's a good thing. My next landmark week I want to get to is 18-20 which is where I'll be able to know the gender. Also, week 24 since then we'll be considered viable! Hooray for viability!

Back to my love of Tuesday...I get an email every Tuesday telling me what's going on with Baby Barnes 2 (BB2) and today I was creeped out by a couple things in the email. First, it said that if BB2 is a girl, she already has 2 million eggs. Kinda creepy right? Second, BB2 is the size of a jumbo shrimp. Hearing that news made me immediatly want to eat some shrimp which seems a bit canabalistic. Not great. The rest of the news in the email was good though...BB2 now has fingerprints which makes it seem pretty real. Also, he/she is about 3" long and about an ounce in weight.

Still feeling pretty lousy, but the rule of thumb is that once you reach that 13 week point, the morning sickness typically subsides. I'm really hoping that happens for me-none of my work pants fit anymore and I'm not talking about them being too tight. Too big pants makes me look kinda sloppy in addition to looking exhausted and maybe smelling like vommit. Ok, I don't really smell like vomit but I feel like I do.

Baby names...our girl name will always be Caitlin Grace and so it's the boy names we're struggling with again. Noah and Logan are the top contenders right now, with Grant and Garrett in the running as well. We'll see. We're not really in love with any of them right now so we're still working on it.

Super Duper Friday Giveaway!

The Promotional Team at CSN Baby contacted me and asked if I'd do a giveaway on my blog. What?!? I was shocked but really excited to help them giveaway a few quality items. After thinking it over for about 3.2 seconds I decided Hell yeah, i'd love to play! These great pieces would make amazing shower gifts so even if you don't have kids, enter anyway!

I've been doing lots of online window shopping since we found out we are expecting barnes baby #2. There are so many really, really cute things out there-especially for babies and kiddos-love the nursery decor items. Even more cool stuff than when Connor was born.

I'm really not a fan of the characters and other kitchy stuff so many shops are peddling, so I really loved that CSN Baby had fun, interesting items that don't have Thomas the Train on them...no offense to anyone with an affinity for trains. hooray, trains. Here are the items that are up for grabs - and remember the winner of the giveaway will win all items:

Super cute set of 4 Giggles burp cloths. Moms out there know that burp cloths are used for everything and you can truly never have too many. If I owned these great looking cloths, they'd be the ones I took with me when I left the house. I'd leave the boring ones at home and grab these on my way out the door.

Set of two lovely hanging picture frames. Aren't the colors just perfect? These frames each hold a 4x6 photo and I'm really loving the design and colors. These would make amazing gifts...unless you wanted to keep them for yourself!

Now the fine print :)
*due to shipping charges, the giveaway is only open to US Residents.
*The drawing is open as of the time/date of this posting and will close at noon (az time) on Friday, November 27th
*All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post. I'll do a random drawing and the winner will be mailed the items.

That's it, pretty simple! Please spread the word so friends/family can also enter to win. Everyone loves free stuff--especially free stuff that's cute and makes great gifts.

Week 12 Update

Because of my overall crappy feelings, the doctor had me come back in three weeks rather than a month for a checkup. Last night we had the appointment and Jeffrey brought Connor along. I think he was pretty freaked out seeing me in the doctor's office-not sure but he didn't love the idea. We'll probably avoid that with future appointments, except an ultrasound maybe. I think he may like that part.

The appointment started with the nurse telling me that I've lost 10lbs so far. While this would typically be a victory...it's not when you're trying to sustain a pregnancy. The next part always freaks me out...trying to find the heartbeat with the doppler. Now, since the baby is too small (size of a lime!) right now for me to feel him/her moving and know that he/she is ok, the doppler waiting game is scary. The nurse tried and tried for a few minutes (felt like hours) and couldn't find it. She had another woman come in who found it pretty quick so that was a relief. You can just feel your own heart pounding with every second that passes and they can't find the baby's heart. Such a horrible feeling. But, they found it and that's all that matters.

My doctor was genuinely shocked that his super duper recommendation didn't change my life in regards to my nausea and vommiting. He said to keep trying it and so I will. Today I tried to force down one piece of PB toast. I only got through half before it made it's exit. Fail.

He said that he was concerned with my weight loss and that I need to do whatever I can to gain the weight. I'm kinda at a loss. I know I'm not eating nearly enough, but it's truly difficult when you feel as if you are on the edge of throwing up 24 hours a day. Feeling like that does not make you want to have a sandwich. I am eating, just not enough. He went on to explain that the baby is growing--for now--but that we'll reach an impass where the baby stops growing if I don't start gaining weight myself. Well, I can't let that happen so it's game on. I don't really know what I mean by game on, but I'm just going to have to try harder I suppose. He told me that if I like burritos, eat burritos. If I like chicken nuggets, eat chicken nuggets. It's the caloric intake I need now, so whatever sounds good should be eaten.

At this point, I've stopped taking both of the Rx. They don't work and that's ok, I've just got to wait it out. I'm hoping that this baby adheres to the typical 13 week point where all morning sickness subsides. We shall see. As of yesterday, I'm officially 12 weeks along.

He told me that he wants to see me back in 2 weeks to make sure my levels are good. I had more blood drawn and was outta there until next time.

According to my weekly emails, the baby is doing some pretty great stuff in week 12. Reflexes are developing so the baby can open and close fingers, curl toes, and start making the sucking movements with his/her mouth. The baby weighs about an ounce right now and is about 2 inches long from head to bottom. Kidneys are starting to produce urine so things are moving along.

I think that's all the update for now. I'm happy to be nearing the end of the first trimester. I felt like being pregnant with Connor just flew by but this one seems to be taking it's time :)

Excuses, excuses

Dear loyal readers (all 4 of you),

I have really blown it with blogging over the past couple of weeks. I'm really going to have to play the pregnancy card here. Not only am I exhausted (pity me) but I am still really sick (really, really pity me). Everything is going just fine, but I have such a lack of focus that I just couldn't psych myself up enough to get on here and do my thing!! I promise to be better--or to try to be better at the very least!

I do have a fun surprise coming up to thank anyone who has stuck it out though...details and more to follow in a few days!! Are you excited? Good!

Love,
me

Video - Halloween Dancing

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

This year we kinda blew it with the halloween costume. Last year was amazing, and we just couldn't top it so we let Connor pick. Shockingly, he wanted to be a baseball player. Fortunately, we had everything but pants so we were a go! I searched all over for itty bitty baseball pants-size 2t. no luck. we ended up just putting some black sweat pants on him and calling it good.

Friday at school they were having a party with snacks and stuff so we dressed him in his costume. Surprisingly, no one else in his class had their costume on, but maybe one kid. Who knows. That evening, his school, Kyrene de las Brisas had the pumpkin walk where all the kids displayed their pumpkins they'd carved earlier that week. I guess they gave the little kids shapes to place on their pumpkin and the teachers carved them where they landed. Here are some pics from school and the Pumpkin Walk.

connor's class at school

connor and aidan at the Pumpkin Walk

connor and dada checking out all the pumpkins

sitting by his pumpkin. his is on the left with the smooshed in face. Aidan's still has the shapes on it.

Every year on Halloween we go over to Steve and Jean's house. Steve & Jean are my BIL Ryan's parents. We're a big family so we all get toghether with the kids to trick or treat so they can all go with their cousins. It's a great time. They live in this amazing neighborhood where everyone actually knows each other. Shocking. The day or two before Halloween a flyer goes out to everyone who lives there with a code word...I guess there are issues of neighboring communities dropping their kids off in this area and hunting down "the good candy". Hilarity. So, the code word is used to get the really good stuff. Everyone else gets candy, but not the full size stuff I guess.

Jacob was Spiderman again this year. Here he's doing his best Spidey pose

Jacob, Isabelle, and Connor getting ready to Trick or Treat

My sister in law Megan, about 4 days past due. She had her baby girl yesterday btw.

This was Connor's third year trick or treating so he's an old pro by now. Zero patience though and he pushed to the front of the line each time. We'll need to work on his Trick or Treat etiquette before next year!

After every house he'd dig around in his bucket to see what he got

The Blum Family - Ryan, Jake and Megan...Kaden was with his dad this year

not the best family pic. i look largely preg and my kid is picking his nose or something. super.

After Trick or Treating, he dumped out all of his candy to see what he got

he got to pick one piece to have that night and so the blue tootsie pop won

Bella trying to make off with Connor's haul

and Connor subsequently freaking out

nom nom nom - candy

josh surprised the kids with his skelleton puppet that danced to Monster Mash. Hilarious. The kids were kinda freaked out at first, but then loved it and danced for a while.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!