Monday, November 28, 2016

Thoughts for your Thought

  I had my first baby dream (between 1 and 5am) on the morning of November 23rd. We had a baby boy. Michael wasn't in the dream though. I was in Gainesville with my mom, Jessica, Zach, Jacquie and one of their friends (Taylor Lautner?) and it was Halloween again. Although my baby was only a week old and by Halloween next year he, or she, will really be almost 4 months. I stayed home by myself while the baby slept. Aunt Paula was holding him while he had an explosive poopy diaper, but I didn't mind cleaning it up. Oooh I love him so much already and am picturing him laying on the floor in his diaper while I kiss him and my hair falls in his face and he smiles a lot with his eyes closed and makes some laughing noises.

Last Tuesday, one of the girls at work asked what I thought I was having, but I told her that I don't have enough "feeling" about stuff like that to know. She is predicting that we will have a boy (and also predicted the genders for the four other growing babies on our shift!) I told her that Michael wants a boy, partly because he doesn't want me trying to sneak Peyton and Helena's hand me downs into Target bags when I come back from Gainesville- although Peyton's had a lot of cute outfits. But buying our own kid's clothes is something I really want to do with Michael. He won't let me buy anymore clothes until closer to time. His reason is "in case we have a fat baby that doesn't fit into the first 20 outfits we buy". I got upset on Sunday when he wouldn't let me buy a gender neutral Halloween 3-month shirt (orange with the cute jack-o-lantern face) at Kohl's. It was only three dollars! I sulked. So the rule should just be that I can't buy any holiday clothes, but picking out specific boy or girl clothes would be more fun than always asking myself "is this gender neutral enough?" Yes, the super cute long john jammies with little gray/silver stars all over them definitely were! But I wasn't allowed to buy those either. I'll put them on my Christmas list! 
Michael's progress with new light/paddle fan and added beadboard. Almost done!
  So back to the question: (Oh, also another girl at work asked if my pregnancy was planned and I quickly answered, "Yes, it definitely was! We've been trying since Christmas.")  Michael also thinks a boy may be easier to raise (I've heard that's true for little kids- aside from getting peed in the face when changing a diaper) and maybe also less drama when they are teenagers? Only one way to find out. I know I was too very dramatic when I was growing up. Even all the way up until summer 2009, when I turned 22! Sheesh. And he says a boy would be less money since we wouldn't have to pay for a wedding. Whatever! Because of my dream I would love a boy and I keep thinking of the super cute pictures I took of James at the beach in April 2012 when he was about 16 months. However I also keep trying to be strongly not caring if it's a boy or a girl because I don't want to get my hopes up for one and then am like "oh, okay" when they tell us in February what Chip is. I just want a healthy baby that we get to keep for 80-90 years!!

  The picture of Sasha in that little robe is one of the few things I have been able to buy before Michael said no more. It's sized for 12 months, but would look cute on a smaller baby just to wrap him all up. I also got a mesh bag of three burp clothes, two which have bunny designs. The first thing I bought was a three piece set with a sheep on the front and back, and the third piece says "I love Mommy" on the front. Yep! I had to get that. I hug it when I see it hanging up in the closet. Oooohh, baby!! I wish I was eight months pregnant already. Come on, July!

*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~* 

Written 9/26/16 while in Naples: Dear Baby Gore,
I want you to know how much I love you. I cried again tonight (while reading the blog "Barren to Beautiful") because you are not here yet and I miss your brother or sister (Shrimp) so much. But I also cry just thinking about how happy we will be when God introduces us on the positive pregnancy test, and finally when we hold you in our arms for the first time. I think of you every day, but sometimes I try not to just because that makes each day seem too long while we have to keep waiting and waiting. But I know God is making you perfect for us. He is timing it so you arrive exactly when we need you, even though I felt like we need you here already. I want to be such a good mommy for you. I have bought you some books already. Some you won't be able to use until you are older, but maybe I can read them to you when you're in my tummy and you can hear my voice. You'll get to hear all the Teletype details and bad guy secrets that I'm not allowed to tell Daddy about. That will be fun for us. Goodnight baby. I love you. 

  ..When I get mad and yell at the clouds, telling God that He is wrong and His timing is off, He will stand up, quickly reminding me that I am small, and firmly tell me in a calm, but deep thundering voice that knocks me off my feet with a gust of warm wind, "No. You are just a silly human with a pea-sized brain. You are wrong." Then gently add, "Also I love you."
*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*
  We were supposed to be able to see Chip today (11/28).  Michael left work early and we went to the first doctor's appointment (I'm 9 weeks and 1 day now) but the sonogram nurse left early, so we had to reschedule for Friday morning. My doctor tried the Doppler device on my stomach to see if she could at least let us hear a heartbeat, but it was just a lot of static from my breathing. Lindsey looked up that the heartbeat is not usually able to be heard on a Doppler until between 10-12 weeks. I'm jealous that she's already had three sonograms done for her 9 week baby! Oh well, out time will come. :)

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Extra Thankful

  Have I mentioned lately how much of a sweet gem/ wonderful prince Michael is? This year we volunteered to host Thanksgiving at our house since Michael built that stupendous dining room table that looks like we bought it for $2,000. It is made to hold eight people, but we fit nine with me and Abby sharing the end with our white plates that did not match everyone else's red and black plates. But I like stuff like that. Hence all the bowls I buy being different colors, shapes, and designs. Options are fun!

  Michael prepped all the food on Wednesday, (green bean casserole, hash brown casserole, stuffing) the night before Thanksgiving. We picked up the turkey Wednesday morning from Publix (it was "fully cooked", but still had to be cooked for 2 hours the next day.. um??) I vacuumed, cleaned the guest bathroom, and did laundry with all the sheets for the blow up mattress where Greg would sleep in Chip's room. In the evening Michael installed a white fan with light in there too. Then when I didn't feel good around 9:30pm, Michael drove to the airport by himself to pick up Greg and Abby (my cousins) while I slept the night away. He said he didn't mind. Such a sweetie, but I felt bad that I wasn't feeling good enough to go with him. 
  The next day, my parents drove down with Aunt Sue Ann, Uncle Tim, and Grandpa, arriving at Noon. Shortly after, Michael began cooking everything and we had our big meal around 3pm, followed by pie! Mommy brought her delicious sweet potato soufflé and mashed potatoes. I really liked the stuffing Michael made- from scratch! No cheaty mixes for my man! Later we realized we forgot to cook the rolls and serve the cranberries. We took some family pictures before it got dark and everyone left around 5:30. They celebrated Peyton's 2nd birthday last night. 
  Fun fact: the last time I blogged about Thanksgiving was also with our Indiana family, in 2012. In 2013 we had Thanksgiving in Birmingham since we were there for a week after moving back from California. I assume the two previous years were also spent in Gainesville. Also Uncle Tim decided Chip's real (birth) name should be Tinman.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Painting Chip's Room

I have been asking Michael if he would paint the baby room, since we never got that done when we painted the rest of the house, since in June there was no "real" reason to. But now that I am 8 weeks pregnant, he was able to get a bit of motivation and finish it in about two hours! It's a small room. Here are the "before" pictures, when it was just a guest bedroom/ clean-ish junk room:
I took it from each corner of the room just so I could have better comparison photos when it's a super cute nursery. And here is one boring picture of it just empty before Michael painted the next day:
Michael said the color of gray he picked is called Argos. The bottom portion is not painted because he is going to add white bead board around the bottom 1/3 of the wall like he did in his makeup room.

& Here are a bunch of baby notes that I have written over the past few days:
I've been saying thank you prayers every time I go to the bathroom and there isn't any blood. That keeps me hopeful that Chip is growing strong and that everything will work out nicely. We have passed the "Shrimp point" (7 weeks, 6 days) and that also makes me feel good.

Michael mentioned to someone the other day that he wanted to watch some CPR videos so he could have the knowledge if anything ever happened and our baby choked on something. I thought that was very sweet and responsible. He also started talking about getting a new car (maybe next November) but he has mentioned wanting a truck. However the next time I asked him about it, he said a truck wouldn't be very good for car seats and kids. He's such a sweet man.

The last few nights have been really good, maybe because I've been going to bed later than usual (11pm on Thursday after seeing "Fantastic Beasts" and 10pm on Friday after dinner with Jennifer), but I was sleeping better, less uncomfortable, and didn't wake up really hungry/ sick feeling in the middle of the night. I'm still taking two naps on most days when I don't work.

I learned that Chip does not like Reese's McFlurrys. Nor does (s)he like regular yogurt; only Greek yogurt. When we were talking about when I would get an epidural and I started worrying about if I got it too early or waited to the point where it was too late to get it. Michael put his hand up to stop me and said, "Don't worry Shnooks. I'll take care of it for you."

Yesterday and today were really nice because I got to spend lots of time with Michael. Saturday morning he asked if I wanted to go jogging with him. Yes, you read that right!! I rode my bike behind him while he did intervals of jogging (mostly) and some walking. I was so proud of him. And then back at the house he was doing squats, lunges, push ups and crunches. He's been jogging with his new best friend, Jennifer, and wanted to keep up the exercise to get in great shape so he can reach "ultimate hot dad status" by July. I think his goal is to lose 20 pounds and be toned within the next seven months. So after that, we had a yummy lunch date at Panera, then went to Dick's Sporting Goods and Bed, Bath & Beyond to pick up placemats, fancy cloth napkins (although I also got paper turkey napkins last month) and leaf napkin rings for Thanksgiving. I taped the plastic paint tarps around the baseboards of the baby room while Michael made dinner and then we drove to Target.

This morning I went to church, then Michael came home and painted the baby room. I was iffy about gray before, but its a nice light medium color, especially with the sun flowing in the window. I played "chase" with Sasha in the backyard when I could start smelling the paint in the living room, then took a short nap until Michael was done (yay, split floor plan)! He asked if I would go to Kohl's with him, then to JC Penney's because he's still trying to find matching curtains for the dining room. When we were driving to Clermont, he asked, "Did you notice that I'm taking the long way so we can spend more time together?" And then at Kohl's he was giving me the cutest beardy smiles while he tried on shoes. 

*** My second niece (although I also consider Jordyn to be my niece) Helena Rey was born at 4:55pm today, 6 lbs 8 ounces, 20 & 1/2 inches long. I'll take pictures of her when I visit in a couple of weeks. They will be the youngest baby pictures I have taken. She'll be 2 & 1/2 weeks at that point. So far the youngest has been Tonia's baby Ashlyn at about 9 weeks. I didn't start taking pictures of Peyton on the Canon until she was about 9 months old. 

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Peyton's Pumpkins

    Lindsey showed me a comment that I left on her blog when she was 23 weeks pregnant with Luke in 2011. I told her, "When I'm pregnant, I'll be posting three times a week!" Since today is my three week mark (3 weeks since I found out I was pregnant!) I'm apparently already 7 posts behind. I told her today that I didn't have anything to say that often, at least while not much is happening yet, but I was able to come up with these notes.
   Today was my first day having to call out of work after getting sick in the shower this morning. Luckily it was just a lot of water, but still not pleasant. I weighed myself today (113.2 compared to 112.8 on 11/10) which is pretty great considering I thought I would be 116 again by now since I feel like all I do is eat and sleep when I'm not at work. And even at work, one girl was commenting about how every time she looked over, I was eating again. However, when I really thought about all I had eaten, it didn't really sound like that much. I can't go more than three or four hours without eating, or I feel sick. That's probably why I usually start to feel sick around 2am. I'll just have to start getting up then for a cup of cereal if it means getting better sleep. And sleeping on my back is the only thing that is comfortable, except maybe a 45 degree side angle, but not fully on either side. I have been taking a lot of naps, partly because of how looking at the TV or computer screen too long makes me feel gross with a headache. I've been forcing myself to do loops around our tiny neighborhood and last night Michael went for a good walk with me (out of our neighborhood and into the one behind ours). We went around 6:30, but it seriously felt like 10pm. Stupid day light savings.. I haven't been eating the healthiest, but Michael seems happy about that since he was worried I would eat "too healthy" and somehow mess up the baby's development. I told him that eating chips and cookies would be what messes it up. Plus eating better will probably help me feel better, so tonight I bought my favorite pear salads with grapes and cantaloupe. Michael asked me to buy him some salad too!! I have not currently cared for scrambled eggs or bananas like I normally eat for breakfast at work, so I'll have to find a good banana bread recipe for the three browning bananas on the kitchen counter. I have stopped drinking Diet Sprite and Ginger Ale and have just been sticking to regular water.

  To Jacquie, thank you for being patient on these overdue pictures of your most precious child. Did I mention that Peyton calls me "Raysh" (Rach) now?! It was great hearing her say lots of words last time I saw her. I'll have to write them all down next time. They aren't full words, but they are understandable. These pictures were taken in the field in front of the Gainesville Church of God on Halloween morning.

Monday, November 14, 2016

Chip Chipley

  I guess I've been blogging "too much" the past few months because I really haven't felt like adding anything new the past couple of weeks. However, I have to declare our special announcement after these three trumpet blasts: I'M PREGNANT!!
  7 weeks and 1 day today, with a current estimated due date of July 2nd, but that might get pushed back after my first doctor appointment which is in two weeks (November 28th). I want to be sure I get safely past the "Shrimp point", which ended very sadly at 7 weeks and 6 days last time.

   When they say "the minute you let it go and stop trying and stop only focusing on that one thing, it will happen". I hated hearing it all those times, since I had spent the past few months crying every time I got my period or the pregnancy test still only showed the negative line, but it's really true! (This is how things played out in my life for finding a boyfriend/ husband, to getting pregnant.) If you remember the few posts that I wrote about in August, I really thought I was pregnant then because I didn't get my period for over two months. Turns out my body just wasn't ovulating. We went to the doctor and she gave me medicine to get my period, then I took pills for my body to ovulate. I was upset when I didn't get pregnant that month and trying for a baby was unfortunately less fun in September since we "had to" do it on certain days. That's when I was like "this is such a waste of emotions! I'm tired of this controlling my life." So I dove back into doing lots of fun things, mostly involving hanging out with my UBF, Mia, since she just moved to Colorado with her boyfriend. They should actually be arriving at their new apartment today! Michael and I enjoyed each other and went on dates and only "did it" when we wanted to. And apparently taking all the stress out of it was exactly the magic we needed!

   So here is Chip's story so far. Chip being named since one of the food sizings (at 6 weeks) says "your baby is the size of a chocolate chip". Michael voted for that name last time, but I overrode him and we used Shrimp instead. The apps don't say the baby is the size of a shrimp, but at 5 weeks according to my Pregnancy+ app, the CGI embryo looks like a cute little shrimp. Anyway, so on Wednesday October 26th, I took a test kind of more "just because". I was expecting to get my period the day before, but didn't.  However I was 95% sure I was not pregnant because I didn't feel or see the changes in my body like I did last time.  I took a pregnancy test - the one from Dollar Tree. I've heard they are actually very accurate! And it showed two lines (positive). I was pretty shocked and had to look at the parallel pink lines several times, then back at the box. It was kind of a mixed bit of thoughts such as, "Wow.. what?.. okay.. well, that's good!.. Hmm.." I layed back in bed and said a ton on prayers. However, I still bought a second test (Equate) a couple hours later, since I figured Michael wouldn't trust the Dollar Tree one. That result was also wonderfully positive, with a blue cross. Doing the math, I was 4 weeks and 3 days along at that point.

  I told Michael over the phone on his way home from work late (he couldn't understand why I randomly wanted him to come home from work so badly). He was also very shocked at the news since after our fun New Smyrna day, I was on another angry tangent about not being pregnant until I'm 87 years old. We hugged, kissed, and cried a lot, then I drove up to Gainesville and told my parents - in the most boring way ever - then told Zach and Jacquie, and my good friend Lindsey. She's been trying to get pregnant again too. (And that weekend she told me that she is pregnant too! We're just a couple days apart. *Pregnancy twins*!!) Oh big point, was how proud I was of not telling Mia that I was pregnant since I had hung out with her for 3 hours the afternoon of the day I found out. But I had to tell Michael first. So I told Mia the next day, then my friends Tonia and Sharanya. Since then Tonia sent me a long list of all her tips, tricks, and recommendations with her baby, Ashlyn. She also gave me the rest of her prenatal vitamins!

  While we were at the cabin with Michael's family the first week of the month, we told them - in a less boring way. Michael had boxed up the gender neutral sheep outfit I had bought Chip and put a bottle of champagne in a tall bag. His dad opened the bottle, then his mom opened the box. She saw the baby outfit and looked at me, "Oh honey! Are you expecting!?" His dad exclaimed, "Whaaaat?!" And I even saw Parker wipe his eye after everyone hugged. I was only 5 weeks and 2 days then, but last time I felt so anti-social. I never got a chance to tell anyone I was pregnant (except Michael, my penpal Jenn, and our relator Anita) and share in all the excitement and prayers like I have this time. Also I have taken a lot more pictures. For Shrimp we only took the few I posted in April, but now I have about 50, holding my stomach every chance I get. Here are some of my favorites so far:
   Tomorrow is now considered National Shrimp Day and hopefully I will remember every year with a bit of happiness. November 15th was my estimated due date for Shrimp. It's crazy to think that tomorrow I could have been in the hospital, already delivering a baby. Although I have complained so much about how I'd be 30 before I really had a baby, now it seems like we are still so young. But that's a good thing. I've had 1/3 to my life to enjoy doing whatever, sleeping in, moving around the country. I can be happy with the next 2/3 of my life being the mom of at least one baby.  With how things are right now, having a baby in July, one month after my 30th birthday, seems like "perfect timing".

   Michael and I are trying to stay really positive this time. So far this pregnancy I haven't had any bleeding like I did before, and that is really helping me. Plus the strange fact that a box of baby formula was sent to me at my mom's house (using my maiden name) with a card that read, "Now that you're having a baby..!" I am fairly sure that I did not order that for myself when I was pregnant with Shrimp since I wouldn't have sent something to my mom since she didn't know I was pregnant, until I wasn't anymore. And I wouldn't have ordered it even to our old apartment since those things sometimes take a long time to be delivered and we started looking at houses in March. So yeah, it had to be sent by one of God's angels. Another "sign" that we'll get to keep this baby is from November 6th when Jacquie kept saying stuff like "Peyton where is your nose?" And she touched her nose, then a few other places (eyes, ears). Then Jacquie said "where's the baby?" assuming she'd point to Jacquie's tummy, but Peyton walked over to ME and pointed at my tummy!!! *gasp*

   Last Monday I started feeling sick at work, with two waves of "real sickness", but never had to run to the bathroom, thank goodness. My mom said she never threw up with me or my brother, and now I'm wondering if the couple times I got sick with Shrimp were more because of nerves during Phase 2 of Teletype training? I'm almost a pro now, being on my own ("solo") for almost 5 months. I had been perfectly fine feeling up to last Monday, but even that was my "worst" day. Last Friday being second worst (just the first 3 hours of work) when I had to stare at the wall so I couldn't see the computers or TV screens. I've learned that if I eat a good amount in the morning, within 30 minutes of waking up, then I'm good for the day. My go-to this weekend was raisin toast with peanut butter and chocolate cashew milk. Eggs and bananas don't sound good anymore, which I what I usually eat for breakfast. I still don't even really feel like I am pregnant except for a tiny bit of movement in my uterus as if stuff is moving, which obviously it is. Plus some small cramps here and there that only last for 10 seconds. And since last Monday I can mostly only be comfortable while sleeping on my back.

  Michael has been really great so far about everything too, especially this past weekHe has asked me a lot how I feel (if I feel sick) and has been really great about making the most delicious grilled cheese sandwiches for me. When I ask him in advance, he replies with "I would be happy to", or "If that would make you happy, then I can definitely make that happen" with the cute blushing smiley face emoji's that I love. He even passed the "good husband" test the other night. On Saturday I had enough food before I left work to the point where I wasn't hungry at all when I got home. I went to the mall with him and he even asked if I wanted him to make me a grilled cheese when we got back. I said, "no thank you" and went to sleep around 9pm. However, at 10pm when Michael came to bed, I woke up feeling sick and knew I needed to eat something. I had a cup of cereal, then felt time, but came time for The Test. I sauntered back into the bedroom and in a sick voice, asked Michael, "Could you make me a grilled cheese sandwich?" He paused for a second, but said "yeah" in a sweet voice and pulled back the covers to get out of bed. In my regular happy voice I said, "Just kidding! That was just a test- and you did great! Thank you for your sweetness!" Michael told me to not give him many more tests though or he won't know to help me when I really need it. 

  A few days ago he asked me if he could decorate the baby room himself (in gender neutral colors- light gray and white), without me peeking at it. That is kind of a big deal to me, since I always said I want free reign over the baby's room since, aside from my scrapbook room, Michael has decorated the rest of our house, and other apartments. Right now the "baby room" is the small guest bedroom where my mom, Mia, Sharanya, and cousin Lindsey have slept on the blow up mattress. I think that will get moved back into my scrapbook room when the crib and rocking chair takes over. I told Michael that I do trust him to make it look so great, especially with him having a Pinterest account for extra inspiration, and he did a probably accurate impression of me crying when I see how wonderful it turns out. The only thing is that (since it sounds like he wants to work on this kind of soon- maybe around Christmas or January) is that I want to pick out the pops of color, purple or blue pillows, depending on what we find out in February. He seems iffy about that, but I'm the Mommy!