17 weeks

PREGNANCY HIGHLIGHTS:

WEEKS: 17 weeks 

BABY SIZE: 5 inches, 5.9 ozs, Baby is the size of an onion!

TOTAL WEIGHT GAIN: So far only 4 lbs...but I have my appt on Wednesday and we will see if that number goes up!  

SLEEP: I had my first full night of sleep on Friday.  We went to bed at 10:00 and I didn't get up until 7:30 to pee!  I slept like a rock and was so excited!  

MOVEMENT: Not yet!?  I think I feel a little something so then I stay really still forever and it never comes back so coming soon hopefully!  

SYMPTOMS: Crazy dreams!  

WHAT I MISS: Occasionally I get a whiff of coffee and I miss my weekly mocha's.  I imagine this will only get worse once the snow flies and I am freezing in the mornings again ; )

CRAVINGS: Oranges!  Lot's of oranges.  NOT the juice though.  I remember the horrible heartburn I got from drinking that with Riley so I stay far away from it now!  

MATERNITY CLOTHES: No but I only have a limited amount of short/jeans that fit so I will be hitting the stores soon!

WHAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO: Finally hearing a fast little heartbeat hopefully at my Wed appointment.  I am super nervous for this appt so keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  Ever since my 13 week check-up I have been 'fragile' to put it nicely and have been waiting for the worst to happen.  I need to hear this heartbeat or I will be a mess.  

We spent the day at the fair and Riley had a blast people watching, going down the giant slide with Mommy and eating mini donuts.  We saw some baby animals and talked about the new baby but I think he would rather have a baby lamb after today showing up in Feb!  Here's my little one riding the bus. 

I made the mistake of telling him that his Grandpa Bob used to drive the bus and I started crying.  I think the people around me thought I was a nut job.  D was still working so it was Riley and I, the stroller, my huge purse and a bag of laundry detergent riding the bus home and from the heat and excitement of the weekend I couldn't stop crying.  We love Grandpa Bob and miss him dearly!  D and I were talking about the new baby and realized it he/she will be born shortly before the one year anniversary of Bob's passing and we both think that is a great reminder of Who is in charge and why things happen the way they do.  

Beach Bum

Wednesday was my last official day off for working a Saturday...(tear).  I loved having a day off during the week but didn't like going in on Saturdays when I had to leave behind the sweetest little face as he waved bye bye-so instead of spending 8 hours reading and watching movies (easiest shift ever!) I am now promoted to no Saturdays!  We spent our last day off together in style and at the beach!  We finally checked out 'The Lakes' in Blaine and were taken in by the huge park, splash pad and nicely groomed beach.  Riley had a blast playing in the sand, running in the water and turning on the splash pad.  We went with other Mom's clubs members and a few of the kids we were with grabbed and took off with toys that weren't theirs.  I saw that one of the boys was leaving with his Dad so I asked Riley to return a few of his toys that ended up near our camp.   I proudly watched as he walked up to the Daddy and said "here" as he handed over the prized sand truck.  He has grown up so much and I love watching him problem solve, interact with others and learn to get along.  Our day at the beach was one of my favorites and I will love the pictures I took for a long time.

Couldn't love him anymore!  

16 weeks

16 weeks has come so quickly this go around and I am not looking so skinny anymore.  I am in that in-between stage where it looks like a few pounds have been added but if you didn't know I was pregnant you would have thought I visited the State Fair everyday and eaten everything in my path (which I fully intend to do next week!)  Although, my co-workers have been flattering me with comments like "you look like you have lost weight" and "Only 4 lbs, you could pee that out in one sitting!"  Thanks ladies but I look skinnier probably because of the dark circles under my eyes and the sunken cheeks from being so tired ; )

PREGNANCY HIGHLIGHTS:

WEEKS: 16 weeks

BABY SIZE: 4-5 inches, 4 ozs, about the size of an avocado!

TOTAL WEIGHT GAIN: So far only 4 lbs...I am trying to watch what I eat and continue to power walk everyday for 45-60 minutes but Summer Sanders Pregnancy videos just don't sound appealing.  I guess I have only had to workout to lose weight so working out when pregnant isn't making alot of sense to me yet.  Plus I have the appetite of a vulture and very little self restraint! 

SLEEP: I became a back sleeper since Riley was born and am having a heck of a time not waking up on my back all night long without having nightmares about how I just cut off the baby's blood supply by laying comfortably, so 2 body pillows are being used and I am starting to sleep a little better minus the one sometimes two visits to the bathroom : )

MOVEMENT: Not yet, but I can't wait to feel that first kick in the next couple of weeks.

SYMPTOMS: Crazy dreams!!!

WHAT I MISS: Occasionally I get a whiff of coffee and I miss my weekly mocha's.  I imagine this will only get worse once the snow flies and I am freezing in the mornings again ; )

CRAVINGS: Anything with buffalo sauce, state fair food, green olives and lots and lots of chocolate covered raisins. 

MATERNITY CLOTHES: No!  Thank goodness not yet!  I will need to buy all new clothes anyways since I hardly bought anything last time around and this time around it will be winter that I am huge! 

WHAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO: Finally hearing a fast little heartbeat! 

Pregnancy brain rears its ugly head

Because I enjoy laughing at myself I thought this would brighten your day a bit as looking back on it has made me giggle. 
For Riley's b-day I bought 50 balloons thinking this year I would save some money and blow them up myself.  So Saturday evening I sat down and started on #1.  I was confused and decided to see if #2 did the same thing-that same thing being falling right to the floor and not floating at all.  After #3 and #4 I yelled for Derrick to come to the living room and help me.  He assumed I had ran out of air (ha!) and I assumed my air was not good enough or that I was doing something wrong because the balloons weren't floating.  After I  explained to him that I wanted the balloons to float and that I had my matching string sitting out waiting for a balloon to float from it-he couldn't stop laughing.  Yes, I knew that you needed helium to make a balloon float for days but I totally thought my air would at least make the balloon float for a few hours before dropping.  Indeed that is not the case (something I would have surely remembered had I not been pregnant (ha!))  So instead of saving money, they charged me the same amount for the helium as they would have if I'd have bought the balloons there and I still have 40 balloons left.  I have been told by friends NOT to repeat this story.  I just couldn't help myself. 

Fun with Friends

We had a wonderful weekend!  We kicked it off Thursday night with the "Performance in the Park" at the CR Dam after a healthy bike ride.  Riley got to 'drive' a firetruck again and started flirting with a very pretty blue-eyed blondie of about 5 years.  She showed him how to play tag and he was the all time tagger/pursuer because he didn't understand running away from her.  It was 2 cute and we just sat back and relaxed.  It was the perfect night to finally break outside and enjoy the summer!  
Friday was my day off and our first 'to do' was a make-up 2 year old shot...poor boy.  He only needed one and he was a trooper especially when he realized it was one and done.  We headed right to Aquatore park afterwards to host the "Performance in the Park" with some of our Mom's Club friends and although the entertainment was cute and funny Riley was a bit young to understand the "magic" involved.  Instead he sat and snacked on chick-a-dees laughing when the big kids laughed and wanting very badly to get up on stage and play with the mind reading racoon Rocky.  Of course half-way through the performance he had to go pee pee and I tried to get him to go in the shelter but it was dimly lit and huge toilets are a little intimidating for him so after some advice we are now going to be carrying around the potty chair seat that makes the normal size toilets toddler friendly.  Poor kid has been EXCELLENT at potty training and there have been many afternoons/evenings where we haven't changed one diaper so I hated telling him to go in his unders. 
I enjoyed another beautiful evening on Friday with book club at the Dam talking, walking and enjoying a candlelit snack. 
Saturday was a LAZY day with pj's staying on until nearly 2:30.  We LOVE our naps and lazy mornings!  We were so excited to see Rachel, Sorin and Baby Leah until she actually arrived.  Riley hid in the other room and was extrememly upset to see his Mommy holding another baby.  So we tried to get him interested in her by showing him her 'owies' from shots that she also had on Friday and from there on out she was his buddy.  He held her and wanted to carry her, when she rolled over he rolled over (continously for like 20 minutes), when she was in her seat ready for dinner Riley Man wanted to help carry it.  We ate at Red Lobster to celebrate Rachels B-day and because when we get together we really like to eat good!  Rachel brought all kinds of fun pregnancy books for us me to read and a doppler so I can start trying to find this little hidden heartbeat that we are dying to hear. 

Leah was such a sweetheart and a peanut!  She was all smiles and didn't make a peep once.  She dances when you talk to her and by the end of the evening Riley loved her too!  We can't wait to see more of her! 

Sunday afternoon found us up with an alarm clock at 6:30 (YUCK!) and out the door for a s-ball tourtement in Ham Lake.  We lost the 1st game and had a 75 minute break and then played 4 games in a row in 97 degree weather.  It was by far the most hot we have ever been and I don't know how no one got sick!  Our team did AWESOME and we pulled out a few amazing wins with some extra effort.  My performance was (by explanation of my teammates) superb due to the fielding fetus I am growing.  Apparently he/she gave me extra-ordinary powers and I played better than I ever have.  Don't worry-I wouldn't have played (D wouldn't have let me) if it wasn't completely safe.  I made sure to drink lots of water and I sat out when needed too.  Everyone took very good care of me and besides some extra muscle fatigue and restless legs afterwards we all managed to avoid some serious heat stroke.  My pregnancy powers didn't stop at the fielding though-I was able to smell things no one should have to, like the smell of grass on a very hot, humid day (smelled like it was burning, made me want to vomit!) and the overpoweringly strong smell of sweat-lots of it, head sweat, arm sweat, butt sweat, foot sweat, shirt sweat-way too much sweat-but not much one could do about it!  We ended up taking 4th place out of 16 teams and we enjoyed a pig roast and roasted sweet corn afterwards-DELISH!  How I love summertime, softball and swine!  Riley man was so super happy to see us after such a long day-he didn't mind the sweat one bit!  ; )  Til next years season-hopefully one more baby won't make me anymore slow or uncoordinated! 

Nothing routine about this one

We had decided to see the midwives who office right below me in the hospital since this time around I don't have time to go to appts before work and could just use my hour lunch break to run down quickly.  Also we figured Derrick doesn't really have to attend every appt this time around since it's just BP checks, how are you doing questions and peeing in a cup.  So on Wednesday I headed down at 11:40 and saw Amy for the 2nd time.  This time around I was anxious to hear the heartbeat since she couldn't find it at 9 weeks and we both figured at 13 weeks 4 days it should be easy.  Well it wasn't, in fact after 15 minutes she was starting to panic and called in a Perinatologist who also couldn't find the heartbeat.  They stood above me talking as if I wasn't there saying things like "she's skinny and even with a tilted uterus it should be here", "I can feel the uterus plain as day right here nicely swollen so why aren't we hearing your little heartbeat?", and then the kicker "I think it's time to call the husband."  My heart was beating so loudly that the doppler started picking it up and as they exited the room I sat up stunned and terrified.  I immediately called D who was just off of 494 and 100 so he changed plans and came racing to the hospital.  The nurse came in and told me to start drinking water because they were sending me straight to admitting as soon as D got there for a STAT ultrasound.  I almost vomited.  Amy came back in and told me she wanted to see me right away afterwards and that she wouldn't relax until she saw a heartbeat.  I was in a total state of panic by this point and after checking in and making our way up to radiology I just lost it.  I couldn't stop the tears and I had started shaking.  We talked about if there had been anything different with this pregnancy and D questioned the last few weeks over and over again but we couldn't remember anything out of the ordinary.  The ultrasound tech gave us her concerned hello and explained the procedure.  I needed no explanation-just get to IT!  She put the wand on my belly, looked at the screen for a minute and didn't say anything except "let's do this as an internal exam."  We thought it was absurd that she couldn't at least see a heartbeat from this angle or be able to reassure us just a bit but I quickly changed and was ready to go.  Baby #2 wasn't moving at all when he/she finally flashed on the screen but we finally saw the flicker of the tiny heartbeat and after 70 minutes of panic, torture and agony everything in our world was right again.  Baby was apparently in rest mode so we will have another ultrasound at 17 weeks to measure fetal movement again but everything was fine.  We left and went straight home.  I fell asleep and napped for 2 hours and never left my room.  I was emotionally drained, completely exhausted and totally angry and depressed about the situation.  I had horrible nightmares that night and cried as I explained to my co-workers what had happened.  I was pissed off and so disappointed by the way it was handled but after talking/crying to my dear friend Rach who also saw midwives for a short time, realized that they possibly aren't always the best under pressure and are more unsure of themselves and tend to go overboard.  This also happened to her and she switched back to MD's.  We also switched back to MD's so now I will cross Hwy 100 on my breaks and happily sit in the waiting room at Park Clinic and hope it takes less then 60 minutes.

We will still be anxiously awaiting hearing our little babies heartbeat for the first time at the next appt and needless to say D will be present as I am unsure if I can do it by myself again.

For 70 minutes our world completely stopped-we thought the worst had happened, for 70 minutes our hearts shattered and for 70 minutes I wondered what I had done wrong.  I questioned everything from my playing s-ball, to my choice to workout occasionally, to my choice to have mac and cheese 3 days in a row for lunch.  I walked around shaky for the next couple of days but once again feel relaxed and positive about this pregnancy.  I will also feel a lot better about borrowing Rach's doppler for the next 24 weeks and finding the heartbeat on my own-whenever our hearts desire.

Oink, Moo, Cocka-doodle-doo

Our Little Man's 2nd Birthday was a fun day filled with farm animals, friends and lots of fresh air.

The Eveland Family Farm was the host of his big day and as you drove up the long driveway we were greeted with lots of cows, peacocks and ducks.  I had set up stations of fun activities to keep the kids entertained and luckily we had some shade to help keep everyone cool.  I found it very helpful to think like Riley when planning out this party.  What does he love to do?  Play, read and be creative so we had three stations.  As my Mom and I were setting up I heard Riley running up to shelter yelling "Whoa, Mommy, Wow, Mommy" he was in utter amazement at the fun that was to be had and I knew that it was kid approved.

Create with Me.  Cute and fun barn themed stickers adorned colorful pieces of paper and even the adults got into it.

Read to Me.  We brought all of Riley's favorite farm books like Barnyard Dance (Sandra Boynton) and a few kids had fun looking through them.

Play with Me.  Didn't expect this to be a hit but bringing toys outside does wonders.  Evan, Owen, Riley and Logan loved playing with the barn and the Little People.  Riley hasn't touched those toys for ages and he was utterly attached to the green John Deere wagon.

The kids were able to roam around the property and enjoy the animals and the peacocks kept everyone entertained and they screamed and screeched.  We made our way over to the pigs, chickens, goats, llamas and one very, very old horse and I completely forgot how very allergic to hay I am.  My whole face started itching and I had to take an early exit from the barns.

Afterwards we had cupcakes that Riley and I made and decorated and they were yummy.  He loved his 2 candle and proudly exclaimed "Two" to anybody that would look his way.

Then came the presents and he received so many nice toys, many were of his favorite Doody and Buzz.
He especially loves the Doody chair he got from Aunty Sandy and Uncle Gregg.  He loves having snack time in it and enjoys the perfect size made just for him.  My sweet Cousin Anne printed out a few of the pictures I had taken and gave them to me framed which was so thoughtful.

We rounded out the afternoon with a hayride and by that time it was super hot, kids were tired and the parents were worn out so the 15 minute ride was more than enough.

Riley had so much fun and was such a good boy.  He didn't have any meltdowns and was just happy to have his friends and family around.  We were really blessed to have so many people show up and I am so thankful that everyone had a great time and that the sun was out and the rain stayed away.