4/1/10 - Happy April!

Wow, it's April already! Where is this year going? It's hard to believe, and the weather we've been having is AMAZING. It seems like just yesterday we were in the midst of our month long snow storm, and now, just green grass, blue skies and fresh air!

It's Thursday, so as usual, nothing super exciting is going on. Today is Christian's sister's birthday, so he and Olivia went over to his parents house for dinner after work, and I headed home for a night of peaceful TV watching...and it was wonderful!

Christian got home a little bit before bedtime, so I got some playtime in with the energizer bunny, then it was bathtime and off to bed. The right side of Olivia's gums are pretty swollen these days (and she's back to not sleeping so great), so those darn molars are up to no good again. She has one basically all the way out, one peeking through, and the right side trying to do something. Poor thing. Even through that, we get these amazing smiles from her...

3/31/10 - 23 Weeks...WOW!

That's right, I'm 23 weeks today! How does this happy...only 17 to go? I'm now up 10 lbs...ugh, double digits! That sucks, but I think that's pretty good for 5+ months. I'm feeling really well, sleeping great, seem to have a "normal" appetite going on, and we're just getting more and more excited every day, and just can't wait. Although, now that we officially won't know what we're having, I think it's going to make these last 4 months go soooooo slow. Hopefully we'll be super busy and and the time will just fly by...although, we're still a little anxious about having 2 little people in the house, so maybe we don't wish that...hmmm.

The big development is that other people can feel baby now!! YAY, that's always the best. Christian and I were sitting on the couch watching some TV last Friday. Baby started doing some acrobats, and I could see my tummy moving, so Christian came over to feel, and he got lots of good kicks. He was so proud :) Then Saturday, after dinner, I was sitting next to the BFF, and she got to feel baby too! It's such an amazing feeling, and actually seeing your belly move about it so wonderful. I just love it!!

For some reason, people have been telling me lately that I don't see "that" far along. I don't know if they are lying, just trying to be nice, or if they are for real. I have a little less than 4 months to go, and I'm definitely not as big as I was last time, but I don't think I look small by any means. I'll take it though...it's better than everyone asking me if there's "two in there" all the time like last pregnancy!!

On another note, I have date night plans with the BFF tonight...going to dinner, YAY. Can't wait :)

3/30/10 - Tuesday!! That's it...

The weather keeps getting better and better, and it's so exciting!! We were in the 70's today...in MARCH! It's crazy. We're coming to a close on our first snowless March here in Minnesota, pretty much ever. I'm worried that means we're in for a brutal summer, and I'm NOT looking forward to being 9 months pregnant, in July, the hottest month around here, especially if it's going to be that bad. Tonight we took a little walk when Christian got home, and stopped at the store to pick up some milk for Olivia (she loves her milk!). Then it was home for dinner and some American Idol (which I've just about given up on completely at this point). Olivia was in a much better mood tonight...full of laughs, smiles and energy. YAY, I love when my sweet girl is back! And, she is still in the putting herself to bed mode, which is wonderful!

3/29/10 - Happy Birthday Grandma Renny!

Today is my stepmom's birthday....HAPPY BIRTHDAY :) It's hard to coordinate time with her being right around Christian's birthday (especially with his actually being on the weekend), so we didn't get a chance to do anything this year. I decided today was a good day to leave work a little early...I wasn't feeling too hot, and was just a little overwhelmed, so I stopped over to my dad's to drop off a little gift and visit for a little bit. Then I was homeward bound.

The evening was very uneventful. Olivia had another tough evening, so she wasn't too happy. Poor thing. We just ate dinner, played (tried to anyway), and it was bedtime. A good, new development is that Olivia has decided she is a big girl, and does not need help going to sleep anymore. YAY! So, we get her ready, we each say our goodnights (I cuddle for a couple minutes...) and down she goes. It's a huge relief, and I'm surprised even with the teething madness she's up for it, but I'll take it!

I thought tonight would be a good night to showcase our other babies! Our cats, the poor cats, who no longer get much of our attention. It's funny...they were TOTALLY our babies, for years...I remember when we went on a week long trip to Utah a few years back, I was seriously emotional about being away from the cats for so long! Now, I don't even know where they are half the time. They will always be our "other babies", but the poor things have definitely taken a back seat.

This is Chloe....she's a minx (she doesn't have a tail). She's short and fat, and I love it! She will be 8 years old in September. She is very much a loner, and just likes to be left alone...yet, she feels the need to sleep with us still (which I love). She won't even be in the same room as Olivia, and she sleeps ALL day long. I think she's beautiful :)

This is Rico...he's a farm cat we got from my supervisor. He's the BIGGEST baby you've ever met. He follows us around, he sleeps between my legs all night, he comes to greet us when we get home...he just loves us to death. He is also the only cat that will let Olivia get near him...but I don't think he's particularly happy about it. He's actually the perfect cat...the kind just about anybody would want, and he's our little sweetheart. He will be 7 years old on the 4th of July!

Finally, this is Frank...old Blue Eyes :) He's our baby of the bunch...and we think he's a little mental. He's scared of everything....EVERYTHING. He'll cuddle with us here and there, but for the most part, hangs out on his own or tortures the other cats. Poor Frank has heart problems...they knew immediately that he has a pretty serious murmur, but we haven't been able to afford an echo on him to find out exactly what's wrong. He's very active, and seems happy, so hopefully he's not in any pain or anything. They don't expect him to live quite as full of a life as most cats, but we'll just have to see what happens. Frank just turned 2 in February, and he is CRAZY!

3/28/10 - Easter & Birthday Celebration

We headed to the Mall of America to visit the Easter Bunny. We went there last year, and it's a little spendy to buy their photos (which you don't have to actually buy), and after seeing bunny pictures from other places...there's no way we'd go anywhere else. They have the best bunny for sure! The line wasn't too long at all, which was great. As soon as Olivia spotted the bunny, she got so excited and wanted to get over to him right away....waiting in line became very hard.

Then, as soon as we got over to the bunny, she was so amazed by him, she wouldn't cooperate for pictures :) She kept staring at him like he was just so mesmerizing. We finally got her to look at the camera, but she really just wanted to look at him, so she wasn't having much to do with pictures. We snapped a couple, but didn't get a chance to get a picture. Hey, I'll take interested over freaking out any day though!

Since we got done so quickly, we headed to an Easter party at the "American Legion"...my in-law's go there once in a while, and told us about the party. Since it was free, and we had some time to kill, we met my sister in laws and her girls there. We did some face painting...the painter was amazed by Olivia's cooperation! One of the great things about Olivia is that even though she's a total energizer bunny, when something new is going on (like the bunny, and now face painting), she becomes so interested in it, she just kind of turns into a statue to see what's going to happen. Luckily she lasted long enough to get her little flower done! After that, we finished up lunch then headed outside for some pony rides! Then grabbed our treat bag and were off to the in-laws for Christian's BBQ dinner.

Dinner was YUMMY...chicken mole, rice, beans and BBQ ribs (kind of an odd combo...). The girls ran around and played the whole time...Olivia cannot get enough of her cousins! Then we finally headed back home. Olivia was exhausted, napped for a bit, ate a little dinner, then was PASSED out. Luckily the molar teething hasn't been keeping her up at night, so we've actually been getting some sleep, which is so GREAT!

Now, I just can't believe the weekend is OVER, and Monday is so close! Back to work we go!

3/27/10 - Party Day

Today was GREAT!! We spent the morning/afternoon just relaxing and hanging out at home. Then, it was time to go out!! Going out, two weekend in a row, WOW, that's weird! My mom was on babysitting duty, so we dropped Olivia off over there. With her newest teeth, we were a little nervous for my mom all night, but it sounds like everything went OK!

We met up with our friends at Buca's for dinner. YUM YUM!!! We got a bunch of different stuff and just had a big ol' buffet of food, and everything was so good! It was so much fun to be out and just have fun with our friends. It's so rare to get together, and we always have so much fun, so it was long overdue! After dinner, we went over to a friends house for the evening...chatted, had a bonfire, and just hung out. It was nice :)

Unfortunately, on the way home, I got pulled over! Cops, in any circumstance, scare the crap out of me....really bad. I'm kind of a speeder, it's a bad habit of mine...."luckily" I wasn't going as fast as I usually do, since it was night and you never know what kind of crazies are on the road at that time anyway! But, a trooper got me! Came up to the window, and asked "what's your hurry". I didn't really respond to that. As I was getting my license out, he proceeded to ask me how much I'd had to drink :) I assured him I was 5+ months pregnant, and had NOT had anything to drink. He went to do his thing, came back and THANK GOD just gave me a warning. Maybe because I have a clean record...maybe because I was honest about my speeding and didn't try to lie my way out of it...maybe because I'm so darn cute...I have no idea. But, I'm SO grateful! I thought I was going to have a heart attack the whole time, and baby was not enjoying my stress level at all. Poor thing. I was happy to get on my way again, and happier when I was safe and sound at home!

Here are some pics from dinner...our wonderful friends!! First: the birthday boy; Next: me and my BFF, Kari: Next, Dan and Skaar; Next: The Madrids; Next: Nate and Gini; Next: John and Michelle; Finally, a Group Shot! YAY.

3/26/10 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY Christian (and Ultrasound Day)

Well, today is Christian's birthday...the big 2-6...his GOLDEN birthday :) I already gave him his present last week (the George Lopez tickets), but of course Olivia had to give him something! He had the day off work, so we left him his cards and a couple new shirts to open when he got up. Friday's are tough trying to get everybody together, so tonight was pretty low key as far as birthday celebrating goes. We had the ultrasound at 4:00, stopped for dinner on the way home, then just hung out together at home for the night. Pretty boring for him I'm sure!

As far as the ultrasound....it was not 100% successful. Right away when the exam started, the tech says "uh oh, baby is sideways right under your belly button". There was a shadow from my belly button going right down to baby, right at baby's heart. She went on with the exam, hoping baby would move at some point. She measured the head, the organs, the bones and spine...everything was perfect and right on track for 22-23 weeks. YAY! Then it came time to check the heart. Baby still hadn't moved, so they were only able to get 2 of the 4 heart views needed. The doctor came in and said we would have to come back in a few weeks to finish the exam. The tech did a quick check for a gender view, but we weren't able to get one. On top of being sideways, baby had it's legs tightly together, and feet up over it's head, and there was NO budging. So, it was impossible. Therefore, we'll be remaining on Team Green, at least for a few more weeks. I'm not happy about it! The heart thing of course makes me nervous on top of everything. I have a heart murmur and heart disease, and Olivia's murmur STILL hasn't gone away, so not having the all clear on baby's heart leaves me feeling pretty anxious. I'll be happy when I can get the next ultrasound scheduled, and get in there again!

Here are a couple good pics from the ultrasound. First, baby's position. Baby's head is on the bottom right, and legs are up over the head. It is a pretty talented baby, that's for sure!! Second is a face shot. In this one, the head is on the left side, and you can see the nose and two eyes (black spots) looking right at the "camera". So cute :)

3/25/10 - Random Thursday

It's just another random Thursday. Nothing new or exciting. Well, except for Olivia FINALLY has her two first molars popping through. Ugh, I didn't think it would ever happen. Let's just hope they come through all the way quickly, otherwise we're probably in for some crabby days (and, unfortunately, nights).

Christian went out with a work friend after work tonight to celebrate his birthday, so it was just me and Olivia for the evening. We gave her a little piece of chocolate tonight...against my wishes of course! Not even that cheered her up! Poor thing. She went around collecting all of her cups, that didn't seem to cheer her up either! And, when she couldn't get her little play purse open, that was the last straw! Hopefully we'll get our happy baby back soon!

3/24/10 - 22 Weeks

Yippie, it's the 22 week mark! Very exciting! Still feeling well, and my weight gain is still very low, so I'm really happy about that! If I go these last +/-18 weeks gaining a pound a week (which is more than I have been), I'll be right at my goal, so that would be FANTASTIC! Baby is getting more and more active. I think, if we timed it right, Christian could actually feel baby now. Most of the time the kicks are still just inside, but once in a while I get a good one and see my belly move. So amazing, the movements never get old for me. I can't wait to just lay back and watch my belly move all around all alien like again :)

We've been doing some serious debating about the whole finding out the sex thing. It doesn't get any easier...no matter how many people we talk to, or how many times we discuss it, we just keep flipping back and forth. 95% of the time I want to know...I want to pick a name out, I want to buy some clothes and bedding, I want to make sure the room is all ready for both of the kids when we bring baby home, I want to KNOW so bad. But them the other 5% of the time, I just think how amazing it would be to find out right there, on the spot, on D-Day...how exciting and special it would be. Ugh, I just don't know!!

I think we've decided that if we do find out, we're going to have the ultrasound tech write it down for us so we can look at it and find out together, by ourselves. Maybe go out to dinner and make it a little extra special. With our luck, we'll decide to find out, and baby won't cooperate anyway! We'll see...two more days to decide!! In the end, I just can't wait to see this little one and spend some QT watching him/her!!

3/23/10 - Nothing Clever...

I have nothing clever for today! It was just a pretty normal day. We cooked up our first of the Let's Dish meals tonight for dinner..and YUM, it was super good. Chicken Cordon Bleu...was very tasty, and Olivia enjoyed it a ton as well.

Last night was the most amazing night ever...Olivia slept, all night. It was wonderful! It's funny though...it was harder for me to get up this morning, after a full night of sleep, than it has been after being up half of the night. Guess my body just isn't used to getting sleep anymore...and I suppose it better not get used to it any time soon! I really hope we've made the turn to sleeping all night again...fingers crossed! The down side to this...she didn't really nap well today, so Christian's mom had her hands full all day long! I guess there is never really a perfect scenario!

I have some bath pics to share tonight...she's decided she can wash herself now, so that's fun. And, she was sporting a little whale fin mohawk :) Love em'!