Our Pets Heads are Falling Off

In the wise words of Harry and Lloyd, "We got no food, no jobs......our PETS HEADS ARE FALLING OFF." (Dumb and Dumber)

I feel like I've hit a small insignificant (in the big picture) run of bad luck lately, and I think of that quote which makes me laugh. It always could be worse. Bentley's head is NOT falling off ;)

Wade is holding on tight in my ever-growing belly. This pregnancy was sailing by, and I was dealing just fine with the aches and growing pains of child growing. Late last week I started experiencing (for lack of better words) a heaviness in my chest, slight palpitations, and a headache. I recognized these symptoms immediately as the same symptoms that lead to my gestational hypertension diagnosis with Cale (which of course, later progressed to pre-ecclampsia). Ugh! So, when Alan got home that evening I had him check my blood pressure. Sure enough, 146/102. Lovely. Needless to say, I'm on blood pressure medication again. This time I'm taking Labetalol. The jury is still out on this one: I guess it does it's job, but I definitely experience some side effects. I'm not necessarily scared or frightened by this situation since we've walked down this road before. I was more-or-less frustrated and defeated by this diagnosis. I totally understand that it's nothing I can help---just my silly, noncompliant body. I was really just wanting things to end differently this pregnancy. I did the normal hormonal, female worrying about this situation, and I think I've got all that silly nonsense out of my system :) I just have to remind myself that God's hand is in this situation and He knows exactly when Wade's birthday will be! We thought Cale was so early and tiny, but look at him now?! So, I will just hunker down these last few weeks, and if Wade's arrival is early, so be it! God is in control and His plans are always THE BEST! :)

So one week into dealing with medication and blood pressure checks, and I wake up one morning with a rash all over the top of my belly, my boobs, and my forearms. It's itchy and annoying. I know there are several rashes associated with pregnancy, so I'm just planning on running this by my physician at our appointment on Tuesday. I'm just trying my best not to aggrevate it or scratch at it excessively. It makes my giant belly really pretty, let me tell ya.

And lastly, in my pathetic sob story, I lost my phone over the weekend. There is no story here, I just got careless and laid it down somewhere. It makes me sick to think about. Honestly, I don't mind being so disconnected from the world or social media, but I think about all my pictures and videos of my guys on there vanishing into thin air :( Blah!

So, in my own words "Got high blood pressure, nasty rash......and NO CELL PHONE FOR FACEBOOK OR INSTAGRAM."

Gah.

What a Week

This week has been a doozy around our house :/

It all started last weekend. I worked my  little big pregnant tooshie off doing chores around this house (ie: cleaning, scrubbing baseboards, laundry, furniture painting, etc), trying to get everything done before my husband came home from a short weekend trip. It was like I turned Amish--trying to get every last detail taken care of so that I wouldn't have to unnecessarily lift a finger on our family day (Sunday!). Well, mission accomplished. Only Alan came home from his Nascar trip with some sort of stomach bug. Figures. He was laid up in bed for about 24-hours, so our fun family day was non-existent.

After his recovery we knew we had Tuesday coming, which was a day we'd looked forward to for quite some time. We had our big 32 week anatomy scan with Wade's doctor, meaning we got to spend a considerable amount of time spying on him in my belly.  Didn't go as planned. During the ultrasound, things got considerably awkward as he scanned Wade's belly and associated organs. The doctor was spending a long amount of time in silence, obviously focusing on something in the belly cavity. Without even finishing scanning the remaining organs, he abruptly ended our ultrasound stating, "the baby has an enlarged liver." He quickly picked up my chart and asked us to follow him to the front desk. He scheduled us for another scan at the imaging center for the following morning and told us to immediately report to his office afterwards. Hellllllllooooo? That was it. No explanation for all this madness. Nothing. We were two very freaked out, worried parents!

During a discussion at lunch, we decided we would sit down together that afternoon and do a little internet research. We realized that there is always plenty of false information on the internet, but we figured we were 'medical' enough to decipher the good from the bad information.

Well, our search didn't lead us to one final conclusion. We found many things associated with fetal liver enlargement---none of them pleasant. We opted to keep this information to ourselves, because we didn't want to scare the bejeezus out of our family, especially since we truly had no idea what was going on. We had plenty of scenarios going through our heads, though.

Our household turned into the House of Prayer for the next 18ish hours. We prayed alone, together, with Cale, with Bentley...... We wanted our sweet little Wade to be healthy!!

Morning came and we ventured to the imaging center for our scan, then onto the doctor's office for the verdict. Of course he was out at the hospital doing a delivery, so the nurse was able to get our reading from the radiologist. Everything looked great on that ultrasound, and they measured Wade to be 4 pounds, 4 ounces. PRAISE JESUS! We were on cloud nine with that news! We are still rejoicing for the life of our healthy, sweet, unborn baby boy! :)

Fast forward another 18ish hours to Thursday morning (this morning). We woke up at 5:30am to Cale coughing in his crib--the same child that was his normal, smily, crazy, happy, playful self the evening before. When I went in to comfort him, I noticed he was burning up. Poor little dude.  As the day progressed he went downhill quickly. He wouldn't even leave my lap. He was pitiful. I couldn't get his fever to break below 101.4. He was just lethargic, whiny, and moaning :( We got into the doctor this afternoon, and my poor little guy has croup. He spent the entire rest of the day in my arms, and I finally got his fever to break by 6pm. He was a fever-ish mess by bedtime again, though.

I've been trying to rest while he is actually resting in his bed, which might be anywhere from twenty minutes to one hour, but a bowl of cereal is taking precedence on this specific occasion ;)

Needless to say, I'm ready to put this week behind us and have all my boys 100% healthy!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Cale is now fourteen months old and changing before our eyes daily. I know I'm pretty partial to my little guy, but he is one of the funniest kids I know ;) I could just sit and laugh at him all day long!

He has become quite the ladies man! He loves to plant one on the lips of any (and every) pretty girl he comes across. He started this behavior with his close friends, but now he's ventured out to "strangers."

Last Sunday when I picked him up from the nursery at church two little girls followed him to the baby gate. As I was talking to the teacher I glanced down just in time to see him kiss both girls on the lips. The younger of the two girls embraced him in a hug and they kissed three times (gasp!) before ending it with a "byeeeeeee." As I mentioned on Facebook, I'd not seen the little girls before. It's usually a class full of boys during that particular church service. Sooooo, I'd like to thank that my sweet little boy with the servant's heart was just going out of his way to make the visitors feel welcome. Right?! (Or he could just be his father's son!)

Then, today while at the park he victimized a pretty blonde pig-tailed girl, Rosie. She was probably 2 1/2 years old and seemed to take a liking to him quickly. After following him around for awhile she went in for the hug, so he took it upon himself to plant a big kiss right on her lips! Phew. I have my hands full.

Just this last week we started to switch up his night time routine. Usually, I would give him his milk in a bottle, cuddle him the recliner in his room, and sing/read to him before bedtime. I've kinda held off braking the habit of the night time bottle just because the momma in me doesn't want to face the fact that he's not a little baby anymore :/  Since we've known about baby brother Wade, we've known that we would remove the recliner from Cale's room so that it could go in the baby's room. Alan suggested that we start getting Cale used to a new routine now (he's a genius!), so we've worked on switching up bedtime habits. I expected a big fuss the first night, but Cale proved him wrong. He took his milk (still from a bottle) on the couch downstairs cuddled in my lap, got carried upstairs to his bed, said prayers, and placed in his bed where he immediately cuddled up and went to sleep. That was four nights ago. Tonight? He sat by himself (not even on my lap) on the couch, drank his milk from his cup, and went to bed. My heart broke a little.

God knew I was going to need a little baby in my arms soon, because this growing up business is hard on my heart. At this sappy rate, I might have a whole football team.

30 Week BUMPdate

It's been plenty long since I've documented anything to do with this lil' pregnancy, so here's my poor attempt at a small update.

Naturally, I've been comparing my pregnancies to each other. With Cale, I was already battling swelling and pitting edema. THANK GOODNESS I have hardly had a drop of swelling, phew! With Wade, the overall theme has been pain.

 From very early on I started experiencing pain in my tailbone and lower extremities, as well as some sciatica during my 2nd trimester. Thankfully, Wade has settled into a more comfortable position in my pelvic cavity, so I haven't experienced that kind of pain in several weeks.  I think most of the pain I experience comes with my anatomical make-up, I'm short and squatty----and, I carry Wade very low. It puts a lot of pressure on my lower extremities.  There are days that I wake up hurting in one hip or another, and I walk with a gimp all day. By the end of most days, I feel like my entire tailbone is nonexistant. On top of this pain, I started experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions several weeks ago. Good Lord, these can be painful!! I never ever had them with Cale, and no one warned me that they were not fun! :/  I can go several days without a contraction, but then there are days that the contractions will wake me up in the morning and linger around allllll day. Occasionally I'll come across one that will stop me in my tracks. After a "bad" day of contractions, my belly muscles will be flat out sore the next day. I guess it's a pregnant girls belly workout, huh?!

Speaking of pain and discomfort, I made the comment to Alan that I'd like to wait a littttttttttle longer than 8 months after Wade is born to start working on his sister. Aaaaand, Alan's response "Who knows? Maybe 'we'll' just decide to go ahead and get it all done." Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! That's why men couldn't handle being pregnant. Sweet, sweet, clueless husband. It was not a good day to make that comment to the waddling, hurting, pregnant lady ;) We will wait.

No one said pregnancy was for the weak. I'm so in love with this little boy in my belly! I'm getting so anxious to meet him. As uncomfortable as I have been this time around, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the whole entire world, and I wouldn't bat an eye if the Lord decided I needed to carry this baby for another 9 months. I'd do it :) again and again and again.  Don't get me wrong, I definitely have days that I'm ready for this lil' guy to be out! But, at the end of the day (even the bad ones) I'm so thankful to be Wade's mom! I don't want to sound so complain-y, just documenting for my own purposes.

We have our next official anatomy scan and ultrasound at our next appointment. I just had my 30-week check up today, and things were looking good! :)  I'm right at a 20-pound weight gain. My blood pressure was good----it was elevated at my last appointment, 130/90, but I really attribute that to a pain response from having several 'bad' days in a row. My hemoglobin checked out a bit low, but I started on some additional iron supplements, so fingers crossed and prayers said, I can escape the bad anemia I had after delivering Cale. I'm anxious to see my little guy at our next appointment, I miss his sweet little face!

We officially (and FINALLY) kinda started on Wade's room. It's cleared out and painted. One of these days I'll have a nursery to reveal on here. So far, I'm pleased with it's progress though.

My sweet, sweet girlfriend has offered to host a "sprinkle" for Wade, which really caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting any gathering, especially since I'm having these boys so close together! I'm so blessed, and I'm so excited that people love this little boy in my belly so much!

I'm ready for him to grow so big and strong so that we can hold him in our arms and love on him! I'm pretty partial, but I think he's getting a pretty good little family :)

Hopefully that's enough of an update for all my blog stalkers!

These pictures are from two weeks ago, I'll work on getting more up.

BUMPdate

I felt like I was able to breathe a sigh of relief when I hit that magical 24th week.....the week that marks a 'viable pregnancy.'  Well, that week has come and gone, and now I'm at wonderful week number 25.

I'm basking in this second trimester gloriousness and soaking in every moment of another great pregnancy. I know that my energy, glow, and comfort will soon disappear when I find myself in that final stretch.

By the end of each day my hips (mostly the left) hurt, as well as my poor little tailbone. I still experience restless leg problems, numbness and tingling, and muscle cramps at night, but at this point I've kinda become used to it. It's like old news.

We had a doctor's appointment for a full anatomy ultrasound during Week 23, and everything looked GREAT!

• I'm up a total of 7 pounds.

• Wade weighed approximately 1 pound 4 ounces based on his measurements.

• All of his systems checked out perfect!

• Our c-section is scheduled for March 27th!

• Wade is a night-time mover, much like his big brother. He seems SO STRONG to me! I love being able to share these moments with his Daddy at night.

• I feel like I'm getting to know him more and more each day. I hate to wish the time away, but I'm so excited to meet my little guy face-to-face. I hope he knows how much he's already LOVED by his little family.

• Much like you hear other mother's talk about the 'classic second child syndrome,' I have done NOTHING to prepare a room for lil' Wade (except start a board on Pinterest?!) Poor kid. I have big ideas, doesn't that count for something ;) I'm waiting on some availability of some muscle help (ahhhhhem, husband!) to get me started.

Overall, things are going wonderfully! I still cannot believe that I'm going to have TWO babies to hold in my arms. I am one blessed girl!

One Year Old

I'm a little lot behind on blogging, and believe me, I've heard about it subtly from my dear sweet husband. I totally missed an 11-month post, so just know that Cale turned 11-months old......aaaaaaand then, ONE YEAR OLD.

Between pregnancy hormones and experiencing my sweet baby turning one year old, I had a very emotional time with it. I literally practiced singing "Happy Birthday" to Cale for an entire week before his birthday and party just so I wouldn't be an emotional headcase at his party. I succeed! My practice paid off :) I know this one year post isn't about me, but I am so incredibly blessed to be living this life. I've always wanted to be a wife and a mother, and I still can't believe at the way I've been blessed---it's so much more than I deserve.

Cale is the joy of my heart!

He is eating like a champ! He loves food :) We've recently introduced a plate to his mealtime, and he's doing pretty good with it. He loves to be independent and feed himself--no utensils yet, though.  He'll eat just about anything, minus a thick juicy steak. Donuts might just be his current favorite breakfast food, generally reserved for a Saturday morning breakfast. He snacks on Veggie Straws, goldfish, and yogurt. Lunch and dinner, he'll eat nearly anything that we do.

He still takes a bottle first thing in the morning and right before bed---I'm documenting this because it's pretty darn funny. He's been using a cup for over a month now, and he'll drink anything from the cup during the daytime ONLY. Milk included. If you try to offer him milk in his favortie cup either first thing in the morning or right before bedtime, he turns into a total diva and refuses to drink it. Crying. Sobbing. Fit. It kinda cracks me up.

He uses many words, of course not all of them make sense to most of us :) He's quite a chatter box. He uses recognizable words like: mama, dada, baby, hi, bye, lights, eyes, Bebebe (Bentley), cat (which is crazy because no one in our family has a cat OR has really worked with him on that word), etc.

We are working on his ability to make an "O-U" with his arms---he's got the "O" down, so we're working on the "U." Proud moment for this mom!

When asked who's #1, he can hold his sweet little finger up (#1!)

He doesn't walk on his own. He walks along the furniture and behind his toys, and he's a fast little nugget on his knees. He climbs the stairs in about 7 seconds flat---much to my surprise. I left him quietly playing with a toy in the living room to run outside on the back porch and hollar something up to Alan who was on our roof. When I returned he was no where to be found downstairs, Surely enough I found him upstairs on his way to his room---obvi he needed something from his room. I had a small momma heart attack at the realization that he could do this so quickly now.

He is a GREAT independent player. He loves his toys and will sit in the floor and happily play with them for a good amount of time.

He is seriously the joy of my heart!

Pumpkin Patch

Last Sunday we took Cale to visit a local pumpkin patch, more so for the adorable photo op's than anything else. He defintely wasn't too sure of being plopped down on the hay and pumpkins for pictures initially, but he cooperated like a little champ! ;)

Just wanted to show off my adorable little dinosaur.