24 Weeks

So I'm beginning to become a little concerned as to where this little lady is going to fit for the next 3 months. She is already spending a lot of time curled up under my right ribs and it doesn't feel very good.

The last few weeks have been a little trying to say the least. I have had kidney stones, sciatica, tail bone pain and lots of braxton hicks contractions....sigh.

I love feeling her kick, it's something I've always really missed after each of my kids were born. I can hardly wait to meet her :)

Summer Camping Trip

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids down to camp down on the Oregon Coast. The first night we camped in Cannon Beach and the next two nights we camped in Nehalem Beach. Kelsey brought along her good friend Nicole (aka Nico.) The older girls camped out in the tent, while the rest of the family camped in our new/old pop up tent trailer.
Last spring, my brother and Mike bought this 1973 trailer. Besides the colors not being too beautiful, it really is in pretty good condition.

One night, some kind of little critter was up on the side of the trailer scratching away, right behind my head and Mikes. I think it was trying to figure out how to get inside.

After listening to it for a few minutes, I asked Mike if he was awake and did he hear what I was hearing. He told me yes and that the noise was really starting to freak him out. All of a sudden the sound was on the other side of the trailer scratching right next to our feet. I finally grabbed the flash light and shined it right where I was hearing the noise. The little critter must have gotten scared because it was silent after that.

There were a few things that went on with our camping neighbors that was a little annoying.

If you have a annoying, yappy, barking dog that is going to bark at every single person walking by....leave it home!!! No one wants to listen to it for 48 hours.

Just because you are having a family reunion and take up 3 slots, doesn't mean it's okay to make LOTS OF NOISE every single minute you are awake (along with your stupid dog.)

If your 3 year old accidentally poops his pants, don't sit and scold him for 10 minutes while your wiping his poopy bottom, where your neighbors have a full view of it while their trying to eat dinner. Take him out of view to spare us your child's poop smeared rear.

Don't come to a state park to set up camp after quiet hours have begun. No one wants to listen to it at 10:45 pm and 12.a.m., two nights in a row.

If you have really annoying neighbors, it's okay to smile while you use your air pump after quiet hours because you forgot to do it earlier....it's a little pay back.

Camp fire time...

and of course a little beach time.

Over all, we had a pretty great time and look forward to doing it again.

Birthday Balloon Release

We've had a lot of "firsts" already. Easter, Father's Day, my parent's anniversary, 4th of July dinner and fireworks, and my Dad's birthday.

All which his presence has been missed, including each day that has passed.

We went out to the cemetery as a family and brought him some flowers and a little laminated birthday greeting.

We gathered around him and sang Happy Birthday.....

and released our balloons with little notes attached.

Off the balloons went together....heaven bound, into the beautiful evening sky.

(The little frog I caught in the grass.)

Memorial Day

I have meant to post these pictures of the cemetery from Memorial Day weekend. The flags every where were so pretty.

Stars and Stripes Forever

by John Philip Sousa

Hurrah for the flag of the free! May it wave as our standard forever. The gem of the land and the sea, the banner of the right.

Let despots remember the day

When our fathers with mighty endeavor

Proclaimed as they marched to the fray

That by the might and the right

It waves forever.

He's a roof man, painter and gutter cleaner....

I asked my brother Brett if he could come over and climb up on our roof and help us finish painting one small section of the house that we had been unable to reach last summer.
I'm sure it's exactly what he wanted to be doing on a Saturday. On top of painting part of a wall for us, he decided he needed to clean all of our gutters and blow the roof off for us.

I'm sure he saved us hundreds of dollars last week.Thank you again for your spider man skills Brett.

22 Weeks

How come no one tells you how much more taxing on the body it is to be pregnant in your mid 30's than it is to be pregnant in your mid 20's? Is that why all the paper work at the doctor's office says I'm high risk and elderly? (Yes, it really says elderly.) All because I'm just a hair over 35....ridiculous I know.

This pregnancy is moving along so far at a pretty decent rate, although I think my poor body is already a little tired.

Can it just be December already?

Jacob's 9th Birthday

Today, my not so little boy turned 9 years old....his last birthday with a single digit number.

We celebrated with chocolate fudge cake, with dark chocolate fudge frosting, decorated with junior mints, chocolate sprinkles and a side of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

While I was frosting the cake, I kept thinking about how much my Dad would have enjoyed this cake...with a glass of milk of course. When Emily saw the cake she commented right away how much Papa would have loved this cake....we all know how much he loved his chocolate.

Jacob was thinking he only wanted us to give him money this year, but I couldn't quite bring myself to only putting money in a card...so he got one present and a card with a some cash.

A little cash....

and a R2-D2 remote control thankfully brought smiles to his face.

The dogs were taking all the love they could get from their Nana....it was hot today and some pregnant lady that lives in the house wouldn't let them sit on her lap today.

Some clothes and some more cash from Nana brought some more smiles to this little man who is already planning his next trip to Target.

Happy 9th Birthday Jacob.....we love you!!!

18 Week Ultrasound

We had our 18 week ultrasound today. Thankfully everything so far has checked out healthy for our little lady. As usual, this little one was moving around like crazy making it hard for the tech to get all the shots and she kept having to try over and over again to get everything that she needed....eventually she did succeed though :) The tech wanted to know what I had for lunch and if it was sugary. I told her no, just a tortilla with cheese and some cantaloupe....but then I remembered that I had eaten a small piece of lemon meringue pie in between breakfast and lunch...woops....the tech thought that might have been why our little one was acting hyper active.
She was weighing in at 10 1/2 ounces, which puts her in the 68 percentile for weight. I'm hoping that she will not be as big of a baby as Jacob. After delivering him, maybe this one will just slip on out!

Yes, my doctor was right...she is all girl. We are still working on names, but I'm hoping we are about there...I'm tired of her just being known as "she".

The little arrow is pointing to her left pinkie finger.

And last but not least...the lovely little alien baby picture...yikes!

My 18 1/2 week belly picture taken by Kelsey.

I have always loved this picture. This is a 18 week baby....it's hard to believe that our little one is so developed that she can suck her thumb.

For other news, I do really need to spend a little time playing catch up on things that have gone on over the last two months. The computer I normally use is acting up and almost all my pictures that I have taken are on it. I hate to post without pictures, so as soon as Mike works his magic on the kitchen computer, I will spend a little time updating.

It's a ......

Today I went in for my 16 week check-up on the baby to see how everything was going. Mike was unable to get out of work today, so I asked Emily if she would like to go with me to hear the baby's heart beat. She has been super excited about getting to go. The last time I went in, the doctor found the heart beat right away and the baby was moving all over the place. Today, when the doctor went to listen to the heart beat with the doppler, the only thing he could find was a very slow, quiet heart beat.

I was concerned immediately about the pace and I said to the doctor, that the heart beat was way too slow. He told me that the doppler was picking up my heart beat and that he hadn't been able to find the baby yet. No matter where he put the doppler, there was silence. I looked over at Emily and she looked like she was going to burst into tears. I told her everything was fine, even though I was trying not to freak out myself. The doctor told us that he wasn't worried yet, but that we would need to go to a different room with him to do an ultrasound.

I think it took everything I had, to not burst into tears when I sat down on the ultrasound table. Thankfully, right away we were able to see the baby's heart beating and everything looked fine. I couldn't resist myself and asked the doctor if he was able to tell what we were having. I told him that I didn't think that Mike would be too upset with me for finding out with out him. We are supposed to have our big ultrasound on the 20th when I'm 18 1/2 weeks. He was able to tell almost right away and got a good little shot of the baby's bottom, where there was three little lines......I looked over at Emily and she was grinning from ear to ear.

Emily and I tried to think of a way to share our little secret with the rest of the family. So we stopped at Hallmark on the way home and picked up a cute little pair of baby socks. We wrapped them up and had Jacob, Mike and Kelsey sit on the couch together after dinner, and explained all about our scary adventure that we had.

Here is Mike unwrapping the surprise that would tell them what we were having. I love the looks on their faces. My mom already knew, because she was insistent that we tell her right away when we stopped by her house to tell about what had happened.

Can you tell by Jacob's reaction to the color of the socks what the baby is?

It's a GIRL!!!

Thankfully, Mike wasn't upset with me for finding out and told me he knew all along that it was a girl. Jacob is warming up to the idea, he had really had his little heart set on a little brother. He is actually taking it a lot better than I thought he would. He even told me tonight that he thinks he wants to be in the room when the baby is born. I don't know what I think of that yet. I've always had pretty smooth deliveries, but I would feel horrible if the kids had to witness something scary. The kids watch a lot of baby shows with births, so I think they would know what to expect.....but, I'm going to have to think about his request.

We didn't get a picture today, but this is what a 16 week baby would look like if you could take a peek.

Here is my 16 1/2 week belly. Don't look to closely at me....it was after 10 p.m. when Kelsey took this picture of me....my hair has gone flat....and all my make up has melted off. So far I've only gained about 2 pounds....I wish that I could count the weight that I have put on the last few years towards this pregnancy, but unfortunately it doesn't work like that!