7/9/10 - Weekend Time!

It’s the weekend, and I couldn’t be happier! This has been a long week…I think every week until baby gets here will be a long week though! Work has been going really well though. Working at home part time has really been helping. I feel like I get some good, solid “rest” time, even though I still get my work done. It’s been nice getting away from the chaos of my work environment! Our plans for this weekend are slowly fading away, which is actually really great. I’m hoping that means we can get some baby stuff done, get a few things done around the house and get some quality family time in. We’ll see what happens! My goal is to make a dent in the baby stuff…get the car seat base installed, get the bassinet and swing out of “storage” and up where they need to go, and oh, I don’t know…pick a name!! We could probably take bets on if this will actually get done…and by the way things are going, it’s a pretty safe bet that not much, if anything, will actually get done! Only time will tell…

Tonight I did escape the house for a little while. Today was Aleena’s birthday. Aleena is the reason we started doing the Relay for Life…today would have been her 14th birthday. Every year on her birthday her family and family friends get together to launch purple balloons (her favorite color) and sing happy birthday to her. It’s a very touching thing, and I’m so happy to be a part of it every year. Olivia on the other hand was completely rude and refused to let go of her balloon…but I did kind of expect that. Maybe next year she’ll grasp the concept a little better! Here are a couple pics from the event…

7/8/10 - Just Another Thursday...

Today was just another Thursday, nothing exciting, nothing exhausting…just another day. Christian worked some over time tonight, so I put in a little extra time working at home. Olivia decided to make a huge mess of her Goldfish tonight when I wasn’t looking…she took them out of her snack container, one by one, and smashed them up…in the carpet. Oh joy…at least it was just crackers. Of course, we put her to work cleaning them up though…

7/7/10 - 37 Weeks = FULL TERM

Well, we’ve officially “made it”! Today we turn 37 Weeks…which in the medical world is considered full term! So, baby girl Duran can come any day, without a worry. Such a huge milestone, so exciting! To know that any day she could be her, WOW!

I’ve been feeling so-so lately. The heat, well really the humidity, has really been getting the better of me. I can’t eat much, I’m always too hot…in fact, I lost a couple pounds over the last few weeks! Which isn’t so bad, losing is keeping me at my goal weight gain, so yay for that! I’m pretty tired a majority of the time, but I feel like that stems from the overheating feeling I have non-stop, and it’s a horrible feeling. But, as far as my body goes…no pain, I’m not terribly uncomfortable, I’m happy with where I’m at and I’m actually physically feeling great. Couldn’t really ask for much more at this point!

As usual, we have not made any further progress in getting ready. Still no name, although, there was brief discussion over the weekend, and Christian seems to be coming around to Amelia, so we’ll see. No bags are backed, all of the baby “stuff” is still down in “storage:, I have yet to register with the hospital or anything. TOTAL slacker here! BUT, after the part time work orders came down from Ann last week, we did get the ball rolling on my FMLA paperwork at work, so I did do something! Ha. Hopefully THIS week we’ll make some progress!!!

7/6/10 - Finally, Some Good News!

I had my ultrasound and weekly check with Ann (my midwife) today…and finally got some news, some GOOD news! The ultrasound confirmed that baby is indeed HEAD DOWN, and she is in fact a SHE! I almost broke into tears when I heard she really was head down, it’s so unreal to me. People actually look at me like I have two heads over my excitement to “go natural”. It amazes me that people really do think having a c-section is “easier” or in fact “taking the easy way out”…to the point where they think I’m crazy for wanting to actually give birth to my child. Honestly, a c-section is a major surgery…yes, common, but still major. They can, and often do, lead to major complications, for mother AND child. But, it’s not the surgery itself that I want to avoid. I can handle surgery, and I’d obviously know what to expect from it. But, it’s the recovery. Who has time to recover from a major surgery when taking care of an extremely active toddler AND a newborn baby?!? No thank you! I’d rather get home and live life like normal, no “take it easy” and heal! So, here we are. I’m scared to death really…I mean, I’ve had a kid, but it’s almost as if I am a first time mom when it comes to this. I only know slightly what to expect from my experience with Olivia, otherwise, I’m completely in the dark and a bit freaked out! I have to tap back into our childbirth preparation class from last time….A Woman’s Body Is Made to Give Birth…and keep repeating that to myself!

The check-up went well. My blood pressure was completely normal and my swelling had gone down a bit. I didn’t gain any weight this week…Ann was very happy about all of these points. Baby’s heartbeat was spot on and I’m measuring just right. Now, we just wait. Now, we just hope she decides to come by 41 weeks; otherwise my VBAC is taken off the table! Come on little lady, you officially have 4 weeks to get out!

I would have loved to share an ultrasound picture today…unfortunately, baby had her face completely buried in her hands the whole time, fast asleep! So, I’ll do a flashback to Olivia’s 6 month photo shoot last year…so cute!

7/5/10 - It's Monday, but Not Really!!

Seriously, I don’t think there is anything better about Monday Holiday’s! Staying home, being a “day behind” the rest of the week, making it fly by that much more. So wonderful! Unfortunately, Christian doesn’t get to join in my excitement…his work does not share the general public’s view of Holiday’s, so hi-ho hi-ho, off to work he went. BUT, he was able to duck out a few hours early, so we did get a little extra time together! The entire house was pretty exhausted after a LONG, busy, HOT HOT HOT weekend, so we took it pretty easy. Olivia was pretty low key today, slept in a little bit, took a nice LONG nap. The cats and dog all slept all day. Christian took a little nap when he got home from work. I had some alone time to get pictures uploaded from the camera, clean up a little bit and get ready to head back to work tomorrow. In the early evening, I was overcome with some nausea, an upset stomach and a headache, so I ended up taking a late nap as well. Ugh, this heat! I think we’ll be heading to bed shortly after Olivia for a nice long night of sleep. A nice thunderstorm rolled in tonight…much needed rain and should make for some nice soothing sounds for bedtime. That was a welcomed shift in weather! Now, I’m anxiously awaiting my morning appointments, hoping for some good news…well, hoping for some news period!!! We’ll see very soon what’s going on with this little lady I’m growing!

7/4/10 - Happy 4th of July!

Its the 4th of July….it’s hot, VERY humid and we’re exhausted!!! It was a LONG day. Fun, but almost unbearable at some points throughout the day.

The morning started pretty low key, we ate some breakfast, picked up the house a little bit, and actually tricked Olivia into taking an early nap! We have a long day ahead of us, and wanted to make sure to get at least a little one in. And, it worked! Go us. Around 12:30 my mom, Christian’s Parents, the Madrid’s and Kari showed up for the local parade. Our city has a pretty big parade every year; it’s actually a really good parade. In fact, you have to go out the day before and “reserve” your spot; otherwise you are stuck in the back! It’s ridiculous if you ask me. None the less, I sent Christian over yesterday to get our spot! We made the walk over to our spot, and we were all exhausted and sweaty, just from the short walk! We set up and settled in. The kids took their seats on the curb and the parade started. The parade seriously lasts for about 2 hours…and we just couldn’t make it. Poor Olivia was beat red, sweaty as can be and looked semi miserable. I was absolutely miserable, so finally we packed it up and headed home a little early!

Once we got home, we started the grill, started preparing all of the food, the kids and dogs took over the yard, we ate lots of yummy food, tried to relax to stay somewhat cool and just hung out. The parents all headed home for the night, and around 9:00 we packed up the kids and headed down to the local park to watch the city’s fireworks display. I’ll say it wasn’t the most impressive display I’ve ever seen…but even at 10:00 PM it was still 85+ degrees, 90+ degree humidity and just gross, it was hard to enjoy anything really.

Finally, after the fireworks, everybody headed home, and we were passed out shortly after. It was a good day!

7/3/10 - Celebrate Good Times!

Well, today was a pretty long day. Christian headed outside to do some yard work, in the scorching heat and humidity none the less, while Olivia and I hung out inside. After her nap we all got ready to head to the local “carnival” for the evening. The Madrid’s showed up around 5:00, and it was STILL hot and icky out! But, we packed it up and headed down to the carnival. It was actually a very fun night!! We took the girls on a few rides. Olivia was in heaven, she wanted to go on all the “big” rides that we just couldn’t take her on. Poor thing. After some rides, we headed over to the petting zoo and pony rides. And, they actually had a very cool petting zoo…donkey’s, ducks, llama’s, a yak, goats, bunnies…all kinds of cool animals. Olivia loved all of them, she ran right up to them, even the big yak and llama’s, to say hi and pet them. She is definitely an animal lover! After the petting zoo, Christian took her on a pony ride! She always thinks those are pretty cool. She holds on, looks around…she thinks SHE is pretty cool up there! After the animals, we checked out the fire truck and ambulance, and headed over to the “kid’s zone”. They had a big dance party going on for the kids, and Olivia was in heaven, shaking her little groove thang! We finally pulled the kids away from the fun and headed home for the night. I dropped Christian and Olivia off so she could get her bath and get to bed, and I headed to Target to do some grocery shopping for the BBQ tomorrow. By the time I got home, it was dark, but still so hot and muggy out! So gross! We finally packed it in for the night and that was that. I tried to catch up on a few shows, but just couldn’t stay awake. So, I’ll be packing it in early tonight!

7/2/10 - 18 Months

Today was my Friday off, usually spent at home with Olivia. But, today my mom offered to come pick Olivia up for the day so I could get some MUCH needed rest. So, once Olivia woke up, my mom was on her way to pick her up. I spent the rest of the day, feet up, snuggling with Chuy, watching some shows and just relaxing. It was NICE! I got the bills paid and got some paperwork around the house taken care of. It was actually a productive, resting day for me!

My mom met me at the clinic with Olivia because she is 18 MONTHS OLD TODAY!! Hard to believe. She had her appointment today to check up on her growth and all that good stuff. Her doctor was more than satisfied with her in every way. She is 25lbs (only up 1lb since her 12 month check), which puts her at 62% and she is 32.5” (up only .25” from her 12 month check), which puts her at 67%. She took quite a dive in her height stats, but they used the “baby scale” rather than having her stand against the wall, so I’m not sure how accurate that was. He was impressed with her physical skills and activity, and happy with her motor skill development. Her heart murmur is still there, but was back to being very quiet and “insignificant” this time, so he was comfortable letting it go this time. We’ll just have to keep monitoring it and check it again at her 2 year appointment. Other than that, she’s happy, healthy and perfect as can be!

I think it will be a pretty early night for us. We’re all pretty exhausted, the weather has been taking it out of us, and we have a long weekend ahead of us! So, should be a pretty low key night in our household!

7/1/10 - Hello July!

WOW, it’s July! Not only are we halfway through 2010 already, but I’m due…THIS MONTH! It’s funny, you find out your pregnant, figure out your due date and that month seems like it’s SO FAR away. But, here it is…July. It’s hard to believe.

Today was my official first day of “part time” work. I went in to work this morning, got all of my printing, scanning, routing, etc. done, then headed home around 12:00 to work for the afternoon. This working at home stuff is going to take some getting used to! I don’t have access to all of our databases and programs from home, so I have to make sure to e-mail myself everything I might need for the documents I write at home. Then, working on a laptop!! Seriously, you’d think I’ve never worked on a computer before! That sucker is hard to get used to! But, I’ll get the hang of it. I just need to get used to everything and get into a new rhythm! I like it though, it’s nice to get home, get in my PJ’s, and snuggle up on the couch with the laptop and work, uninterrupted! It’s like a whole new world!

After work, Christian got home with Olivia and we started on our latest landscaping project! The bench we found a few weeks back is finally done and ready! So, that meant “we” had to finally pull up the hideous bushes in the front and get the space ready for the bench. That turned out to be much more work that anticipated…apparently the bushes were older than we thought because they had some MONSTER roots going on! Of course we didn’t really have the tools for removing huge roots, so Christian was out there for a LONG time hacking away at them with the shovel (with Olivia’s help of course). He did finally get them out though, very impressive! He then got the rocks re-laid and got the bench all set up! I’m so excited to have it all done and have a new look to the entry! Now, we just need some colorful flowers for the flower stands next to the bench, and we’ll be all done (for now anyway!).

Christian’s parents also sent home a little bike for Olivia today…her first bike! She seemed to really like it. She figured out the pedal brakes right away, and thought it was hilarious to use them randomly! It was pretty entertaining. She’s getting so big, and this picture proves it!

6/30/10 - 36 Weeks = 9 Months!!

Please Donate; remember, the life you help save could be your own!

Yes, you read that right. I am officially 9 months pregnant!!! Holy crap; that came really, REALLY fast! So, 36 weeks…1 week until I’m full term (hello, that’s SEVEN days!), 4 weeks until my due date. I just can’t even believe it. I provided most of my pregnancy/baby updates over the last few days. Like I mentioned, I haven’t been feeling well lately. Lots of back pain, on and off nausea, extreme exhaustion. I’ve been really hot, ALL the time. I don’t remember any of this stuff from Olivia (probably why I’m being put on part time work I suppose). Baby is still VERY active, all the time. I keep waiting for the storm inside my belly to slow down, I mean come on, there’s not very much room in there anymore! But, no, she kicks and punches and twirls up a storm in there. Still though, it’s an amazing feeling.

We’re not really any closer to be ready than we have been. Most of what we do have done is only because of Olivia anyway. We have clothes because we’re either reusing hers, got some hand-me-downs and because we had to go shopping for Olivia’s 24 months clothes anyway. We have the crib and the room rearranged, because we wanted her to have plenty of time to adjust to her new room before baby gets here. We still have no name…we don’t even have a final list! So frustrating. No double stroller yet. We haven’t packed any bags yet, surprisingly I haven’t even made a list or anything yet! Time just keeps slipping away!!! We need to get in gear VERY soon here!