Overwhelmed

Sunday marked the 7 week countdown til my due date. I am positively OVERWHELMED with everything that I have left to do before the arrival of our daughter. Some things are minor (like stocking up on groceries, organizing the linen closet, my dresser, and bedroom closets), others are rather big. Like setting up her room. Trying to get Jeremiah into his new bed was an absolute joke. It took all of 30 seconds after I left the bedroom for our little stinker to get up and play... and when he would hear me come back to his room to put him back in bed, he would run to his bed and hide under the covers. After an hour of playing this game I gave up and stuck him in his crib. Louis and I talked about it, and since Jeremiah does so well in his crib (and refuses to sleep in anything other than a crib or play pen- not even in our bed!) that we would just get a second crib and leave the twin bed in his room to get more used to. I don't have the energy right now to switch him into his twin bed, and I don't want to push something new on him so close to the arrival of his new sister- especially with how well he does in his crib and how much he truly loves it. When he starts climbing out of his crib on a regular basis (he's only done it once so far and it was when he was PISSED!) then we will start to do the whole transition again. For now it's a battle that we aren't ready to fight. The only reason we were even attempting the switch at this point was to avoid buying a second crib when we already had one, and a free twin bed from my parents (they gave us my brother's old twin bed). Luckily we found a great deal today on Craigslist- a crib, mattress, changing table, changing table pad and dresser for $250. We took it as a sign that Jeremiah needs to stay in his crib =)

I was planning on writing more but I can barely keep my eyes open right now, and would prefer to have a short and coherent post tonight than a long and sloppy one. Tune in for part 2 tomorrow.

I survived Christmas

With the grace of God (and a little bit of help from my husband!) I survived five Christmas celebrations in two days with a sick two year old while being 32 weeks pregnant. I pray to God that I am never ever this far along in a pregnancy around the holidays again. If Louis had it his way (and he has me halfway convinced as well!) this will be my last pregnancy, so there is (hopefully) no risk of that happening again. Unless God has other plans.

We still dont' have a digital camera! Our plan to get one as our Christmas present went down the drain when Louis found a set of speakers he wanted for his truck dirt-cheap on Ebay last week. So now I have to wait to get my dad's digital camera from him to upload Christmas pics. Oh and my Christmas present from him? A Wii fit and a new Ipod! =D Jeremiah has more toys than can fit in his closet.

Look for another update tomorrow; Louis and I are going to watch TV now!

To answer the tummy pic question... I actually haven't taken one yet! I'll take one over the holidays and post it hopefully this weekend. The entire rest of the week is CRAZY so don't expect too much until after Saturday =)

Just a quick baby update- I think the baby "dropped" yesterday. I started getting all those not-so-fun symptoms that the baby has officially lowered herself into position for being born but has every intention of sitting cozy for the next 6-8 weeks (6 if I'm early, 8 if I deliver on time. I'm praying she doesn't stray more than a day or two past my due date). If I could have her at the end of January or first week of February I will consider myself a VERY lucky mama... I'm so through with this thing called pregnancy right now! I see my OB/GYN again on Monday. Hopefully by then I will have somehow burned off the two dozen or so cookies I have polished off last weekend alone and the tamales, chorizo and eggs, cinnamon rolls, ham, and potato salad (among other things) that I will be enjoying on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Stepping on a scale after a huge holiday weekend is not exactly pleasant, and I am hoping to avoid a repeat of the scolding I got for the weight I put on from eating too much Halloween candy.

'Twas the week before Christmas...

Is it just me or is anyone else in as much of a shock as I am that one week from today is Christmas Eve?! Honestly... where did the entire month of December go... scratch that... where did this year go?! I still have much to do to get ready for Christmas Eve (when we celebrate with Louis's family) and Christmas Day. On my list to do are the following:

*Send out Christmas Cards. I"m doing that today... we had to wait to get our Christmas pictures back, which we did yesterday. All the cards are already written and addressed; I just need to stick the pictures in the envelope, seal them and stick a stamp on the envelope. I'm hoping to drop them off at the post office on my way to Jeremiah's speech lesson this afternoon.

*Finish buying gifts- for my Dad, Jeremiah's teachers, and stocking stuffers for Louis and I. I thought I still had Louis's haul of presents to buy, (I was waiting for his last paycheck to come in before I hit the stores), but we just agreed this morning that rather than exchanging presents, we would do a joint gift of getting a new digital camera and buying "Band Hero" for the Wii. Band Hero won't be too much of a splurge since we already have the instruments from Rock Band, and enough Best Buy gift cards to make up half of the cost of the game. I'm excited about getting a new camera at last- I hate having to constantly borrow my dad's or my mother in law's!

*Decorate our Christmas tree! We bought it on Sunday (Day of Louis's birthday party), but didn't get around to decorating it, since Louis spent most of the afternoon hanging up our Christmas lights outside, and then he was in Phoenix from Monday night until last night. We're going to make a romantic evening out of it tonight after Jeremiah goes to bed. (Speaking of bed, we're putting Jeremiah in his twin bed for the first time tonight. Definitely send some prayers our way if you think about it; our little guy isn't known for staying put very well and he LOVES his crib!)

*Bake, bake, bake cookies. Lindsey is hosting a "cookie exchange" party on Saturday, where everyone in attendance brings a certain amount of cookies to share, including the recipe, and you leave with a nice assortment of cookies. I'm making strawberry jam thumbprint cookies- I'll bake those up tomorrow. Then on Sunday, Morgan is hosting her annual "cookie baking" party, where a big group of us spend all day baking up dozens upon dozens of cookies. Each recipe that we make (usually around 5 or 6 cookies from what I remember) gets tripled or quadrupled- and everyone also gets to take home a nice assortment as well. We've been doing this since high school and everyone looks forward to cookie baking- it's usually the one day a year where a lot of our high school friends see each other in person rather than just facebook!

*Wrap presents... I still have quite a few presents left to wrap, and the ones that I have wrapped already need to be decorated. I've been storing them in the baby's closet, since Jeremiah is known to climb on top of boxes, throw them, you name it, and I didn't want to have to wrap things more than once. I haven't decorated any presents yet so that the bows and ribbons don't get too smashed before they get opened.

In the midst of all this chaos, I still have to take my second glucose test to test for gestational diabetes (which will take up at least an hour of my time; you have to wait an hour after chugging the glucose before you can draw blood), clean our house, watch the last few Christmas movies that I haven't seen this holiday season yet (Home Alone 1 and 2, the Nativity Story, and A Christmas Story), take Jeremiah to look at Christmas lights and visit Santa, and find a few moments to stick my feet up and relax. Every little thing wears me out... and being 8 1/2 weeks away from my due date that is to be expected. Everything I eat also gives me heart burn, but since I' m constantly hungry (and needing to nourish my daughter) I can't exactly give up food. I can't wait for all of these horrible pregnancy symptoms, especially the leg cramps, to go away!!

Here are a few more pictures from our trip to Disneyland on Jeremiah's birthday:

T Minus 10 Weeks!

As of today I am 30 weeks along in my pregnancy! Starting on Friday I no longer have monthly OB/GYN appointments; instead I will be going every other week for the next six weeks, and then weekly up until I deliver. With Jeremiah I knew all along that he was going to be late (and boy was I right- 10 days!) but I have a hunch that our princess is going to be either just a little early or right on time. Or perhaps I"m just having some more wishful thinking, who knows.

Jeremiah turned two years old on Wednesday. His birthday party two weeks ago was wonderful, and our family day at Disneyland on his actual birthday was even better! Louis refuses to set foot in Disneyland unless it is on Jeremiah's birthday. He will endure a long day of walking around and Mickey Mouse for our son on his special day but that's it! My annual pass expires the third week of January, and I honestly can't see myself going back before then =( I would not have been able to handle Jeremiah by myself at this point of my pregnancy. Louis helped out SO much with carrying Jer in line, pushing the stroller, and keeping up with him. I don't know how I would have done it by myself, so as sad as it makes me to not be able to use my pass up until the very end, it's probably for the best. I won't be renewing it until sometime next fall, or possibly closer to Jeremiah's 3rd birthday. I refuse to take a newborn to Disneyland, especially if I have to take care of Jeremiah on top of it. Louis does not have a pass, nor will he ever get one! We took lots of pictures on my mother in law's camera (yeah we're still working on getting another one) but I forgot to borrow the cord to transfer the pictures from the camera to the computer, so those will have to wait.

I can't believe that the holidays are here again! I have been really on top of Christmas shopping this year, doing lots of it all year round, that I really haven't had to fork out a ton of cash at once or do lots of massive purchasing all at once, either. I still have to get Louis his Christmas gift; I just decided to give him the present I got for him on his birthday (which is in one week). I have a hard enough time coming up with one great gift for him, but having to come up with two great gifts so close together is extremely difficult!

Anyway, once again I apologize for the lack of posts. I have barely had a moment to sit down at the computer, between Jeremiah's party, hosting Thanksgiving, Louis being gone a LOT, Jeremiah's lessons, his birthday at Disneyland, and attending my cousin's baby shower. Look for another update in a day or two, I promise I"ll be good =)

Our Happy Family

We took our last family Christmas portraits as a family of 3 tonight!

Two more weeks!

Two weeks from today my baby turns two years old. TWO. This Saturday we are having his birthday party, in order to avoid having it Thanksgiving weekend like we did last year. So far all I have left to do are order his balloons, purchase the plates and forks, and some kid-friendly snacks. By popular demand, we're having our taco man come back and serve his outstanding all-you-can-eat, made to order carne asada and chicken tacos, with all the fixings, so I don't have to worry about preparing any major food =) Since my picky booger won't go anywhere near a piece of cake, we're getting him a piece of his favorite pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread) to enjoy while everyone else devours his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday cake. I can't wait!

After his party, it is time to start getting ready for Thanksgiving, since once again I will be hosting. You might think I"m just a little bit crazy, trying to cram everything in on top of Jeremiah's birthday, at the beginning of my third trimester of pregnancy, but in all honesty I LOVE hosting parties. And having Thanksgiving at our house prevents us from having to run around, having dinner with my side of the family and dessert w/ Louis's side. This way, everyone is together and we don't have to go anywhere but to our kitchen. Last year, Louis flat-out refused to touch the raw turkey, making me wash it and put it in the roasting pan and oven all by myself. I was PISSED. The darn bird was heavy and slippery, plus I was freaking out about making my very first turkey. My husband doesn't get grossed out by much, but apparently an in-tact, plucked, raw bird is too much for him to handle. This year, however, I"m not putting up with such nonsense, and using the baby as an excuse for not being able to lift anything heavy (although, Jeremiah is much heavier than our turkey!), he agreed to help me out, provided that I'm the one that de-guts the turkey and he doesn't have to see any of those guts.

On Saturday after Jeremiah's party, my dad is helping Louis put together Jeremiah's twin bed, because on Sunday night we're going to have Round One in his big boy bed- just bedtime to start; once he gets more comfortable with sleeping in there (hopefully in a week) then we will have naptime in there as well, and the crib will be moved to the baby's room.

Another Week Ahead....

Here we go again, another week where Louis is going to be gone for most of it =( His destination this week: Somewhere outside of Sacramento (Elk Ridge?) He leaves tomorrow night, and will be home Wed. or Thurs. (his meeting on Thursday is TBA). Last week he was gone overnight to San Diego, which was fairly manageable. I just hope this week doesn't drag on; it's double hard to have him gone when Jeremiah and I are scrounging for things to do!

Yesterday my wonderful parents took Jeremiah overnight so Louis and I could have some much-needed time to ourselves! I can't even remember the last time we went out on a date together, probably back in August when we went away overnight for our anniversary. It was time. I spent the afternoon making my registry at Target, then we went to dinner at Marie Callendars and saw "The Men Who Stare At Goats." Don't waste your money on that movie! It was as stupid as the title. But we still had fun just enjoying each other's company =) I thought I was going to sleep til 10 this morning, but no I was up at 8:30 (the time I wake up when Louis lets me "sleep in.") We just got back from a delicious breakfast at Arthur's (best diner breakfast ever!!), and in an hour I leave to go pick up my lil man. I sure missed him!

Progress in the baby's room are coming along quite nicely. The paint is on the walls, the carpet and crown molding installed. The shutters are going to be delayed a little bit, because we desperately need new windows in the kids rooms first. There is no point installing shutters only to take them off later when we replace the windows. But first we need to get a second car before any window work takes place. We've done really well with only having one car for the last six months (or more? I can't remember how long we've been a one car family!) but it's definitely time to get a second vehicle. We're not looking for something fancy; just something functional to get Louis to and from where he needs to go, since he's not working from home as much any more. Something inexpensive on Craigslist until we decide to splurge on something bigger, and until we're we're ready to have a car payment again. Since the Matrix was completely paid off earlier this year, we have thoroughly enjoyed not having that monthly expense. Right now we're looking at pick up trucks.

As soon as the finishing touches get put on the crown molding (painting over nails, cleaning up smudges) we're going to move Jeremiah's crib into the baby's room, which means that we will be transitioning Jeremiah into his big boy bed. Something I'm NOT looking forward to! Jeremiah LOVES his crib... never climbed out or anything. But I don't see a point in purchasing a second crib when he will be ready to be out out of his crib no later than June (when he will be 2 1/2 years old). Not worth it. Plus, I want him to have plenty of time to adjust to his new bed before his sister is born. I read that making the transition 3 months before the sibling is born is ideal. So... probably T minus one week until he makes the switch!

Need a quick laugh?

Today Jeremiah spouted out four new words: Fishie, Jesus, owie, and "Oh shit!" I know he picked the first three up from us... not quite sure who to blame for that last phrase! The last time he said it (three times total) was when I was getting him out of time out today. Smart kid. And he said "owie" after he dropped a bottle of body wash on his wee wee during bath time tonight.

Even on the longest and crappiest of days, my kid never fails to amuse me.

Sometimes you just need a good steak...

As much as I love being pregnant, and feeling (and seeing!) my little girl kick kick kick all day and night, I have to say that there are are a few things I am looking forward to once she is born- and somewhere near the top of that list is no longer being hungry 24 hours a day! I'm not just talking about "hmmm, I"d like a snack," I'm talking about full blown hunger. No matter how much I eat at a meal, I'm ready for more less than an hour later. It's disgusting. Having leftover Halloween candy laying around (as well as the stock pile of clearanced candy that we bought yesterday for Jeremiah's upcoming birthday party), hasn't helped, either. I have been pretty darn good about the amount of "empty calories" that I have been consuming, however chocolate has been calling my name lately. Along with ice cream. I have done everything short of massive bribery to get Louis to fetch me ice cream at 11:00 p.m. from the market. Yet when I finally have him convinced (or annoyed and wanting to shut me up, I'm not sure!) enough to get out of his pajamas, put on some clothes and go get me some Ben Jerry's Cherry Garcia, I take pity on him, hand him back the pajamas and hide the car keys. Today, however, steak was calling my name- big time.

The only problem, is, I can't cook a decent steak to save my life. And I keep forgetting that! I can bake chicken tenderloins, roast a chicken, and bake pork chops like there's no tomorrow. Steak, however... not my forte. And I'm always disappointed with the results once it is on my plate! It doesn't help that I lost my taste for our favorite steak restraunt, Steak Corral, since I got pregnant. Which is very sad, because where else can you get a FANTASTIC $7 steak dinner with all the trimmings on this side of Las Vegas? I love the salad, baked potato and cheese toast that come with the meal, but I just can't get into their steak anymore =( And you don't go to a steak house (especially with the word Steak in the restraunt's name) and order, say, chicken. Or even a hamburger.

The steak I made for dinner tonight was equally disappointing. Oh, and the stereotype that men know how to make the perfect steak does NOT apply to my husband, so handing him the responsibility of giving me my beef is pointless. He can BBQ carne asada, no problem. A regular steak on the other hand? He's as clueless as I am. I'm sad. And still hungry! If anyone has any tips for making a great steak on the stove would be greatly appreciated =)

In other news....
Operation Baby Room Remodel began last Friday! So far her room is painted (Sleeping Beauty Pink walls and dark brown ceiling), we have the crown moldings ready to be installed, and the carpet is being delivered tomorrow (and installed by our painter's friend once the crown molding is installed). We still need to choose and order shutters, and a new light fixture for the ceiling. We are doing a complete transformation of her room because of what poor condition the tenants that lived in our house before us kept that room. Their teenage son slept in there, and we found gum and wax all over the carpet (which is only about 5 years old, by the way), and since the house is OLD, it needed a good sprucing up as it is. We decided to do it up now while nobody is living in there since it would be easier now than having to move the baby out temporarily. Plus, we didn't have the finances to do more than throw a new coat of paint on Jeremiah's walls when we moved in here, so we decided to go all out this time =) Jeremiah is getting new shutters on his windows, too.

Speaking of my boy, one month from today he turns the big T-W-O! He had a lot of fun on Halloween, first at Sydney's first birthday party and then going trick or treating with Marissa and I. He loves wearing his costume, and kept wanting me to sing the "trick or treat" song from Little Einsteins over and over again. I love him =)

Louis goes to San Diego on Wednesday overnight, and most likely elsewhere for 3-4 nights next week. Yeah I'm not looking forward to that... Please keep me in your prayers that I don't wind up with the massive cold and sore throat that he has had since Friday! He's slowly getting better, and I've been doing everything possible to avoid getting his germs, but sleeping on the couch got really old (and uncomfortable) for me after one night. I'm crossing my fingers that the tickle I"m getting in my throat doesn't turn into anything. I hate being sick... especially when there is nothing I can take for it.

Our Little Yoda

Today we took Jeremiah's Halloween portraits! These are the three decent ones out of nearly 40 minutes worth of effort on the part of our poor photographer. She assured me that two year olds are the ones that like having their portraits taken the least and are most likely to NOT stay put for the camera, so I felt a little better about things and didn't expect too much. I"m just glad we got something to commemorate his second Halloween =)

I survived Louis's absence last week rather well. Aside from having a major run-in with our now ex-painter, which resulted the moron yelling at the top of his lungs that I"m a crazy broad, among other things (completely uncalled for, by the way, and which he denied even happened when Louis called him immediately after to yell at him!) it was a rather quiet three days, and it got so much easier to be alone at night as each day passed. Louis is staying put this week, but is off again next week to San Diego for a few days. Oh, and the outside of our house looks FANTASTIC. I'm just thankful this major battle w/ the creep happened when he was coming to pick up his gear after the job was complete, and not while he was in the middle of the project.

That's about all for now... I'm falling asleep at the keyboard, but didn't want to forget to upload the pics. I promise a more decent update within the next day or two =)

He's Gone =(

Last night Louis left for Sacramento. The original plan was for Jeremiah and I to go with him this week. However, while researching my airfare, I found that starting today, through the month of November, Southwest has a special fare of $44 each way to and from Sacramento. Much better than the $144 I was going to pay if I were to go yesterday... Louis was willing to pay it, though, until he found out that he will pretty much be in Sacramento nearly every week for the next month! Yeah I can wait a week to see Kappie =) He doesn't know his exact schedule as of yet, but it looks like our trip is coming up pretty soon!

I was really sad last night when Louis left. I think I've only been on my own at our house for 3 nights since we've been married (not counting my trip to Colorado, or a few other random nights here and there where I spent the night at my mom's house for one reason or another). I just love sleeping next to Louis at night, despite all the snoring, blanket fights we have, and stinky feet. I love waking up next to him in the morning and cudding close when it gets cold. Sleeping alone just feels wierd to me now after 3 years of marriage. Plus, I get creeped out at night... badly.... if he's not around. Even in college I hated being the only one home at night or overnight! However, last night I was pretty proud of myself. Once I realized I had to suck it up not just for my sake but Jeremiah's as well, and found some decent TV to watch, I was alright. I'm sure tonight's not going to be nearly as nervewracking as last night! However, I can't wait for Thursday night when my precious is home.

I"ve been keeping busy since Louis left. I think that is the key to not going nuts! Last night I took Jeremiah to the park on our way home from the airport. By the time we got home, it was time for dinner, bath and bed. This afternoon, I helped my mom at her shop, and then stayed for dinner. In between work and dinner, my dad and I went to take Jeremiah to get a haircut. He HATES haircuts, with a passion. The last time my dad took him, when Louis and I were away for our ann., the stylist had to cut his hair while he was hanging upside down from my dad's arms! Talented lady. Today was MUCH MUCH better... there was some fussing and crying, which was to be expected, but he stayed put REALLY well. All this is thanks to the TVs that are at every station in the kiddy salon by my mom's house, and they put on one of his favorite Sesame Street DVDs. It was worth paying the extra $7 to get his hair cut there vs. the barber Louis takes him to! Tomorrow after his Speech lesson, I am taking him to Disneyland for just a few hours- mostly to see the Pixar parade and take a picture with Mickey Mouse, to enclose in his birthday invitation. I can't believe his party is a month away!!! We're having it two weeks before his actual birthday to avoid the Thanksgiving rush.

Anyway, it's time for me to catch up with some TV and reading. Goodnight!

Oh Where Oh Where Has My Baby Gone?!

Once again, I am absolutely marveled by how much Jeremiah is growing up by leaps and bounds. Just a month and a half away from his second birthday, he is definitely NOT a baby any longer! The 7 pound 12 oz baby that I gave birth to, and who could not get enough of me holding him and singing to him for hours on end is no more (minus the part about me wanting to sing to him. If I even start humming a tune, he will beg for more and more, especially if the song is a favorite of his!) Instead, this baby has been replaced by a 25 pounds (as of August- I think he's gone up a pound or two) boy who will not sit still, and whose cognitive abilities never cease to amaze me. For example...

*Just 20 minutes ago Jeremiah found his PJ bottoms and put one leg on all by himself, no help from me! I was so amazed, and gave him such huge praise that he kept taking his leg out and putting it back in for 10 more minutes, just wanting to hear me applaud him. WOW. He's not going to need my help getting dressed much longer...

*or with his shoes! He won't keep them on if he's in his car seat, and has come SO CLOSE to putting them on all by himself so many times.

*Speaking of clothing, he went through another growth spurt, and as of last week none of his pants fit him and most of his shirts didn't, either. He now wears 2T shirts and PJs, and size 24 month pants (rolled up just a smidge on the bottom so he doesn't trip). However, the pants NEED to be the kind with the adjustable waist; I think his true waist size is 12 months, but since he's on the taller side, of course those are high waters on him. I was tired of having to roll up the waist (since they don't have belts for 2 year olds) and even then his pants would fall down, so I splurged on some pants with the adjustable waist from the Children's Place (normally I'm a Target or JC Penny shopper) . Best investment EVER!! By the way, it seems every kid out there is wearing 2T right now- I had such a hard time finding shirts in his size! There were plenty of 3T but hardly ANY 2T shirts. Even the 24 month size (practically the same as 2T) were hard to come by.

*And his vocabulary! I honestly don't know if it's the one week of speech therapy that he has been through, or just the fact that he's almost 2 and everything is finally starting to "click," but this boy is now a chatter box! Whenever he wakes up now, he spends a good 20-30 min. just chatterng away in his crib, saying things like "I do," "I go," "I gotta go," and other garbled words/phrases that I"m starting to be able to decipher. He still spouts out random words once in a while but then I don't hear them for quite some time. I'll take what I can get!! I"m really hoping to cancel his speech therapies in six months or so. I like the program and am SO thankful for what God and our state have provided, but it's taking up SO much of our time. Four sessions of speech a week and one session of learning how to feed himself with utensils on his own. Lots and lots for one little boy to handle.

And since I"ve bragged about my son for quite a bit, it's time to mention my daughter =) Yesterday I had my big mid-pregnancy ultrasound, and my worries about a wee wee popping out were proven wrong- the three little girly lines showed up loud and clear. WOOHOO! Our princess was very active during her ultrasound; waving at us, kicking, wiggling her toes, sucking her thumb. I love her!! I am 22 weeks pregnant and am starting to get so impatient to finally meet her. We bought her crib bedding yesterday, since Baby Depot was having a 25 percent off sale. Louis and I wound up completely changing our nursery theme, and it is now a very girly looking jungle- girly monkeys, giraffes and elephants are on her bedding. The colors are purple, pink and brown, so Louis and I both got what we wanted =) I love it! We're going to have her room painted within the next week or two. The outside of our house is being finished TODAY (Thank God!) and as soon as the painter is finished painting our storage shed to match the house, we will put him to work on her room. Not sure of the color yet, considering we changed the bedding theme.

Tomorrow Louis starts traveling for his job =( Thankfully, he will only be gone one night this week, to San Diego. Next week he will be gone for 3 nights, but Jeremiah and I will be with him for two of those nights! He is going to Sacramento, where my wonderful friend (and old APU roommate) Kappie and her hubby and son live, so Jeremiah and I will be tagging along to hang out with them while he works. I haven't seen Kappie in over a year, so I can't wait! Again, I am amazed at what a seasoned traveler my son is; this will be his third plane trip. I told him we're going on an airplane and he got SO excited, thinking we were leaving that moment to go on one. I hope he understood me when I tried explaining "not now," but he kept looking around for the plane.

That's about all for now! Show my blog some love =)

More progress...with some changes!

*Finish unpacking our boxes that are stored in Baby's room
*Purchase and assemble a storage shed for our back yard. Transfer all holiday decoration bins out there . We are in the process of buying a storage shed! Louis found a great one on Craigslist for dirt cheap... it should be here this weekend.
*Figure out how/where to store my boxes of scrapbook supplies.
*Go through Jeremiah's baby clothing bins. Sort clothing according to type and size. Separate what can be saved for Baby DONE.
*Have another yard sale. (or two or three). DONE. I had one on Saturday and that will be my LAST one, seeing as I donated the remaining products (an entire car full!) to Goodwill immediately following the yard sale.
*Move Jeremiah's changing table into Baby's room
*Shop for a twin sized bed for Jeremiah DONE! My parents gave us my brother's twin bed and a newer matress. The bed even has storage drawers underneath, sweet! It is disassembled at our house and will be put together in December (when he turns 2)
*Shop for a love seat or comfy couch for Jeremiah's room to replace the glider/rocker
*Move glider/rocker into Baby's room once couch has been purchased
*Move Jeremiah's crib into baby room once bed transition has been made
*Shop for a dresser for Baby's room DONE. We brought over my baby dresser from my mom and dad's house. It just needs a new coat of varnish and some new knobs and we're good to go!
*Shop for crib bedding for Baby (and sell Jeremiah's old bedding) I showed Louis the bedding that I wanted to buy for Baby... however he has differing opinons than me! Rather than lavendar bugs and butterflies he wants light pink and brown birds... or something like that. We're finalizing our choices this weekend. Will sell Jeremiah's bedding once we get his twin bed around his birthday
Shop for curtains or blinds for Baby's room
*Paint Baby's room. In the works- we're having the outside of our house painted this week, and the guy that's doing it is fantastic! His project for next week (or as soon as we get the storage shed in our yard and everything transferred from baby's room into the shed) will be to paint her room.
*Purchase a new Exersaucer; sell old one
*Purchase a play mat/ play gym Found a cute, rather inexpensive one that I will be registering for at Target
*Continue purchasing 1 box of diapers and 1 box of wipes per month I have bought one more of each- The grand total is 6 boxes of diapers in various sizes and 3 boxes of wipes (8 refills each)
*Make a final decision on if I"m going to register for my baby shower, (I am!) and create my registry (will do that closer to the shower. I think my shower is in January so I'll register around Christmas. There isn't a lot that will go on it- mostly bottles, onesies, bathing supplies, a swaddler blanket and of course diapers)
*Buy Baby her first doll. I want to be the first one to buy her a dolly =)
*Figure out financial responsibility for hospital stay not covered by insurance and set up monthly payments. Make it a goal to be payed in full come January 15th (one month before due date) I pre-registered at our hospital, and after they ran our insurance policy we found out that it is cheaper to do the cash payers route without running our insurance! I'm PISSED!! Why even have a policy?! We are making our first payment to the hospital on Friday, and we are slated to finish paying off our OB the beginning of January

Inquiring Minds Wanted To Know...

I've had a couple people ask me to update on my pregnancy, so here's a general rundown!

*On Sunday I reached week 20, which is the halfway mark!

*My belly seems to have popped over the past three weeks or so. I still don't need maternity shirts, and my belly isn't huge (tall people hide babies very well!) but I think you can tell that I"m not just chubby and that there might be a baby in me at first glance. I am working on a belly pic for those interested. I didn't really take too many with Jeremiah

*Even though I'm halfway through my second trimester, I feel like I'm well into my third. The leg cramps appeared big time this week (especially at the Star Wars concert last night- being crammed into a tiny seat at the Honda Center wasn't fun!). Thank God the horrific Charley-Horse-like pains, lasting 30 sec-3 min at a time and causing me to cry every single time have not shown up (yet).

*However... the Braxton Hicks (practice) contractions have shown up WAY earlier than last time! I don't think I had them until around 7 months along w/ Jeremiah. They hit me this week (roughly 4 1/2 months along). Fortunately, all of the second time + mommies in the Feb. 2010 babies group that I"m part of on Cafe Mom are experiencing the same thing, and their OB's say it's perfectly normal. Even though they don't really hurt, they freaked the heck out of me when I started getting them this time... not just because of their early arrival but because the reality of this baby is becoming more and more clear. And the fact that I'm not at the beginning of my pregnancy anymore is becoming evident as well.

*Our princess has been kicking kicking kicking for around a month now. She kicks more frequently than Jeremiah (through most of the day vs. night only) but her kicks are very ladylike and gentle. By the way- she either loved or hated the concert last night, I couldn't tell. But whenever the music got to be especially blaring she would run a stampede in my tummy!

*I have my mid pregnancy ultrasound on Monday, October 12th. Even though we took that ultrasound at 15 weeks and were told it's a girl, I am still a (teeny) bit scared that I'm going to be told that she is really a he. Like having a girl is too good to be true. If she really is a boy I have a LOT of shopping to do because Jeremiah's baby wardrobe is practically gone.

Growing Up

Okay, I know this picture is over four months old (taken at my brother's wedding!) but it is honestly the newest picture of Jeremiah and I that I have on my computer. It has been quite a while since I have uploaded pics onto a computer, since the one we have is Louis's work computer. (As for that free laptop I was waiting for?! It turns out that if you are even late on your payment ONE time, Verizon excludes you from the free laptop offer. We were one day late, one time. Boo...) The little boy that you see in this picture is so much more grown up now, in both mannerisms and physique, but because my blog has been lacking pictures lately, and this one is my new favorite of us, I decided to go ahead and post it anyway =)

Anyway, I just had to take a few moments and brag about my precious little boy. The fact that his second birthday is two months from tomorrow scares me quite a bit. He is no longer a baby- and he spends quite a bit of time kissing his baby sister and patting my tummy! All of this being done on his own accord and not prodded by me. Because, trust me, if you ask him for affection he will usually not give it to you. Every hug and kiss I get from him is given on his own terms- and greatly appreciated! Lately I have been getting showered with hugs and kisses, so I"m a happy camper =) He is more than happy to let YOU give him hugs and kisses; but when it is time for him to reciprocate, you're better off waiting for him to come to you =)

The past week or so I have noticed so many signs of "growing up" with Jeremiah. His intelligence never ceases to amaze me. Just yesterday at Disneyland, for example, he was sitting in a high chair eating his cheese. He would take a napkin after almost every bite and wipe his mouth! Something he has never done before. Normally I have to fight him at the end of a meal when I wipe his mouth off. He is also starting to spout out words at random moments- yesterday I was taking a picture of him, counting down "one, two..." and all of a sudden I heard him say "fwee!" (For those that don't speak Toddler that means three). Then this morning, we were playing with the remote for our DVD player. He handed it over to me, and I swear I heard him say (a rather garbled) "Here you go!" The inflection in his voice was mimicking mine and everything. Whenever he spouts out a new word I am always amazed... especially since a lot of these words don't stick around for long. Just the plain and simple fact that he is expanding his vocabulary is good enough for me. He starts his speech therapy program next week, and I'm crossing my fingers that within six months he won't need it anymore. Although I am truly thankful for all of these free intervention programs our state has to offer! Every little bit helps.

Today is the first day of October. I love the fall season. My house is halfway decorated, and surprisingly, Jeremiah is being rather respectful of the decorations. Louis would prefer if they didn't come out at all (men....) but of course I won that one =) By the way... have I mentioned how much I love my husband lately?! I'm so sad that starting this month he will be traveling for work roughly twice a month for 2-3 days at a time. I hate being home overnight without him. I miss him terribly... and I get freaked out. And with two sets of our neighbors moving this weekend, two sets that we actually know and talk to regularly, I'm going to be even more uneasy being home by myself. Especially when the time comes for me to be home alone at night with an infant, doing the multiple feedings a night and then having to wake up early and take care of a toddler on practically no sleep. But God is in control and I am truly thankful that my husband has this wonderful job!!

That's about all I have time for right now. Louis and I are going to the Star Wars in Concert show tonight, hosted by the guy that played C3PO. Not my choice for a date... but Louis has barely been able to sleep since we bought the tickets a month ago. At least it's a night out on our own, and Jer is with Grandma and Grandpa tonight!

Well, the inevitable happened- poor Jeremiah caught my cold =( So far it isn't as bad as when I had it. Right now he just has a runny nose and a little chest congestion (from what I can hear). I pray that it turns into nothing more! He's a little more lethargic than usual but is still in very upbeat spirits, running around as much as he can.

He needs to get well because we have lots of fun activities at the end of the week! On Thursday we have a playdate at Disneyland with my friend Rosanna and her 8 month old son, Anakin. I haven't seen either one of them since I visited them in the hospital when Anakin was born, so I definitely don't want to miss out on this. Then on Saturday, we are attending a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese for my friend Michelle's son's 2nd birthday. Another thing I don't want to miss out on... but of course my son and his health come before any of this stuff. I was hoping to take Jeremiah to the L.A. County Fair this Wednesday as well, but will most likely push that back til next week.

My parents leave tomorrow morning for their last convention of the year, to Portland. Which means we get stuck watching their dog, Candy. Again. I LOVE my dog to pieces, don't get me wrong. But this will be her 4th visit for 1 week+ at a time since June. It's a bit much having to care for an active toddler AND a dog. Making sure she's locked in our room every morning so she won't wake Jeremiah up with her claws on our wood floor... letting her in and out and in and out again... keeping her from bolting out the door every time I need to go somewhere. They will be back in one week.

Yesterday I pre-registered at the hospital! It feels so good to have that checked off of my list. We will get a packet in the mail within the next month outlining our financial obligation after insurance, and I'm hoping it's not too bad. Although with only 80 percent coverage, it's bound to be a chunk of money...

No witty title comes to mind!

Remember the list of 101 goals to complete in 1001 days that I made, which included bi-weekly blogging? Yeah, that so has not been happening. I apologize. Again. Because it always seems like I am apologizing for an empty blog. Yet... there is life outside of blogging and the internet! And I am still without access to a computer with sufficient time to blog for most of the day... Verizon is taking their sweet time shipping me my free laptop. It's free... so I guess they take FOREVER...

I have decided that mommies need to have sick days built into their schedule. Not only for our comfort and relaxation, but to prevent our little ones from getting sick as well! The sore throat and stuffy nose I have right now is bugging me to no end... but it doesn't bug me half as much as my fear of Jeremiah (or Louis) catching it from me. Do you know how hard it is for me to remember to only kiss the back of his head rather than his sweet, kissable cheekies?! My mom is such an angel and has, once again, come to my rescue. I'm not feeling SO sick that I'm bedridden, but I have no energy to run around and chase after Jeremiah. So she took Jeremiah around 3:00 this afternoon so I could relax at her shop, chill on the internet and answer the phone. She will bring him back here, fed and dressed in his pj's, at 7:00 tonight. Her shop normally closes at 5:00, but on Wednesday nights a class is taught from 6-8:00. I love my mother!

Yesterday my brother celebrated his 25th birthday and my parents their 30th wedding anniversary. Yes, my brother was an anniversary present to them! Had he been born just a few minutes later, he would have had his own day. Growing up, he would taunt me all the time, saying that September 15th was THEIR day and not mine, trying to make me feel left out, little bugger that he was. It got to me (sometimes!!) but now that I"m older and married I can fully appreciate having my own birthday and own anniversary. My parents have always been such troopers and celebrated their anniversary by themselves on a different date so that my brother's birthday could always be special to him. We're taking them out to dinner at this fancy steak/seafood restraunt, Le Cave, in Huntington Beach on Saturday. Lobster... yumm....

Anyway, even though I have been slacking on the blogging, I have been quite productive in other areas! Remember the list of things I made to do before my third trimester a week or so ago? Well, I have made some progress! Here's the list w/ updated notes (tasks completed or in progress are in red):
*Finish unpacking our boxes that are stored in Baby's room
*Purchase and assemble a storage shed for our back yard. Transfer all holiday decoration bins out there After pricing them and realizing they're roughly $800, we decided to put that project on hold until after we buy our new car (shooting to be able to pay cash for a newer used Lincoln truck (can't remember the model name- hubby's in charge of it) by end of October! Our days of having one car are numbered, finally. We're going to move the holiday bins from baby's room to somewhere in our tiny one car garage.

*Figure out how/where to store my boxes of scrapbook supplies.
*Go through Jeremiah's baby clothing bins. Sort clothing according to type and size. Separate what can be saved for Baby DONE. I even sent a box of some of the clothes up to Kappie's house for her new little boy, and the rest will be given to friends or sold in a yard sale
*Have another yard sale. (or two or three). I have one scheduled for this Saturday, providing the cold I have right now goes away in time
Move Jeremiah's changing table into Baby's room
*Shop for a twin sized bed for Jeremiah (Closer to birthday- Dec. 2).
*Shop for a love seat or comfy couch for Jeremiah's room to replace the glider/rocker
*Move glider/rocker into Baby's room once couch has been purchased
*Move Jeremiah's crib into baby room once bed transition has been made
*Shop for a dresser for Baby's room*
Shop for crib bedding for Baby (and sell Jeremiah's old bedding) I found the bedding that I want to purchase at Target! It's lavendar with a flower and bug pattern. My brother is going to pick it up for me w/ his handy 10 percent discount- I still need to buy a dust ruffle and changing table pad cover, though. Will sell Jeremiah's bedding once we get his twin bed around his birthday
Shop for curtains or blinds for Baby's room
*Paint Baby's room.
*Purchase a new Exersaucer; sell old one
*Purchase a play mat/ play gym (we actually never had one for Jeremiah!)
*Continue purchasing 1 box of diapers and 1 box of wipes per month I purchased another box on Monday! The grand total is 5 boxes of diapers in various sizes and 2 boxes of wipes (8 refills each)
*Make a final decision on if I"m going to register for my baby shower, (I am!) and create my registry (will do that closer to the shower. I think my shower is in January so I'll register around Christmas. There isn't a lot that will go on it- mostly bottles, onesies, bathing supplies, a swaddler blanket and of course diapers)
*Buy Baby her first doll. I want to be the first one to buy her a dolly =)
*Figure out financial responsibility for hospital stay not covered by insurance and set up monthly payments. Make it a goal to be payed in full come January 15th (one month before due date) In progress- found out from hospital that I need to pre-register w/ them before I start making payments, and I will need some packet from my OB before I pre-register. I will pick that up at my appointment on Friday. We are slated to finish paying off our OB the beginning of January

Home Sweet Home!

Jeremiah and I got back from our brief 3 night trip to Colorado last night. I survived my first time taking Jeremiah on a plane ride without my husband. God was good to me! I didn't want to risk him not having his own seat without anybody there to help me since he is SUCH a wiggle worm, so I bought him his own seat going to Colorado. Even though there wound up being plenty of seats left on the plane, that peace of mind that I was not going to have to leave his car seat at the gate made it worth every penny. I didn't buy him a ticket going home since Marissa was flying back with us, but it turned out I was able to bring the car seat on anyway. This especially was a blessing because, after an hour drive to the airport plus two hours inside the huge Denver airport, going through security and eating lunch, he only had roughly 10 min. to run around before we boarded our flight. He was not a happy camper and I constantly had to be on my toes, entertaining him with song after song (including a 10 min. rendition of "Old McDonald" using every animal my poor, tired brain could think up!)

We arrived in Denver around 3:30 on Wed. afternoon, and by the time Marissa got through customs (flying in from Germany), the drive from Denver to Loveland and a quick stop at Target, we got to Shiloh's house around 6:30ish. I haven't been back to Colorado since Shiloh's wedding 3 years ago, and it was my first time seeing their home, and I haven't seen Shiloh since she came for a brief weekend May of last year. We had such a great time! Jeremiah did absolutely wonderfully. On Thursday we had a picnic lunch at Lake Loveland by Shiloh's house. Jeremiah had a blast splashing in the water and getting filthy in the sand. That night we went to dinner w/ Shiloh's husband, and after we went home and put Jeremiah to bed us girls went out! We went to this fun Mexican restraunt in Ft. Collins where I had the BEST virgin mango margarita I have ever tasted. On Friday we drove up into the Rockies to this cute little town called Estes park. It was sooo beautiful up there! I'll have to wait until I get pictures from Marissa to post them on here. We had lunch, walked around the shops, ate ice cream and went wine tasting! (Well, Shiloh and Marissa did. I got some free tastes of cider). The winery had this great play room for kiddos, and Jeremiah had a blast goofing off in there. We didn't have to leave for the airport until 2:00 yesterday, so after we put Jeremiah down for his nap (with Shy's husband staying at the house with him) Marissa, Shiloh and I headed out to Old Navy, where Shiloh must have purchased at least half of the summer clearance rack for our little princess. Our girly is certainly blessed. (and she's been KICKING me for the past week!!) Then we went to get some coffee and watched "Friends" before heading to the airport.

Our trip was very short but very good for the soul. Jeremiah has certainly become well traveled in his short 21 months of life and gets excited when we go on airplanes (until he wants loose). And I love hanging out with my girlfriends! Good friends are hard to come by, and I know the friendships I fostered during my 4 years at APU with my roomates are going to last a life time =)

Today

It just dawned on me that today would have been my due date had my prior pregnancy gone to term. I thought that when this day came I would be completely depressed... yet I am at a sense of peace with everything. And I have a full and happy heart- I have a loving husband who provides for me endlessly in all ways possible, the cutest 21 month old son who charms me to no end and is filled with more love than I can imagine, and a precious daughter on the way.

I am blessed.

Much to Do!

Now that I"m officially in my second trimester and know the gender of my baby (I still can't believe it's a girl!!) I'm starting to think of the many, many things that need to get done before February 15th (and preferably before my third trimester begins in November!) Making check lists always helps me to get more motivated to accomplish a huge list of tasks, so I"m going to post my list here as an inspiration to get my rear in gear =)

Here's what I need to get done that's at the top of my head:
*Finish unpacking our boxes that are stored in Baby's room (Yes, 1 1/2 years later we are still not unpacked!). Figure out what we are keeping and get rid of the rest!
*Purchase and assemble a storage shed for our back yard. Transfer all holiday decoration bins out there
*Figure out how/where to store my boxes of scrapbook supplies.
*Go through Jeremiah's baby clothing bins. Sort clothing according to type and size. Separate what can be saved for Baby (lots of gender neutral 0-3 month clothing!)
*Have another yard sale. (or two or three). Donate to Good Will what won't sell.
*Move Jeremiah's changing table into Baby's room
*Shop for a twin sized bed for Jeremiah (Closer to birthday- Dec. 2).
*Shop for a love seat or comfy couch for Jeremiah's room to replace the glider/rocker
*Move glider/rocker into Baby's room once couch has been purchased
*Move Jeremiah's crib into baby room once bed transition has been made
*Shop for a dresser for Baby's room
*Shop for crib bedding for Baby (and sell Jeremiah's old bedding)
*Shop for curtains or blinds for Baby's room
*Paint Baby's room. I know we recently painted it white, but I am leaning more towards light yellow. Something to enhance the walls!
*Purchase a new Exersaucer; sell old one
*Purchase a play mat/ play gym (we actually never had one for Jeremiah!)
*Continue purchasing 1 box of diapers and 1 box of wipes per month
*Make a final decision on if I"m going to register for my baby shower, and create my registry
*Buy Baby her first doll. I want to be the first one to buy her a dolly =)
*Figure out financial responsibility for hospital stay not covered by insurance and set up monthly payments. Make it a goal to be payed in full come January 15th (one month before due date)

That's about all that I can think of for right now. I know there is a lot more and I will be adding to my list as things come to mind!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

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That's right, we're having a little GIRL!!! Louis and I went for a 3D ultrasound yesterday because we just couldn't take the wait any longer, and much to our surprise we found out that we are adding a little princess into our family! Louis and I both had a hunch that we were having another boy, and I was mentally preparing myself for that announcement all day long. Well, our modest lil lady decided to keep her legs crossed for most of the ultrasound, so I didn't even think we were going to find out the gender that day after all. The ultrasound technician had me to empty my bladder a bit to see if that would help the baby change position, and I was praying the entire time not only for the baby to uncross its legs but for it to be a girl. Sure enough, less than 5 minutes later we got confirmation that indeed we were having a girl! I started to cry (and I think Louis did, too- he was sitting on a couch watching the ultrasound on a projector while I was on the examination table watching from the monitor. I'm so excited!! I already went to Wal-mart this morning and bought a few of those cute outfits I saw last week, and I plan on doing a lot more shopping tomorrow =) We're not going to disclose our name choices just in case they change at the last minute like they did with Jeremiah. I can't believe I'm getting my girl!! Hurry up, February!!

No More Patience

The day after I found out I was pregnant with Jeremiah, we made the decision not to find out his gender during our pregnancy. I left the decision up to Louis, and was completely, 100 percent okay with it. Yes I was curious about his gender, but there was no moment that I can remember where I regretted the decision or became excruciatingly impatient for him to be born simply so we could see what we were having. (Our family and friends were another story- I think the waiting was harder on them!) Deep down in my gut I knew he was a boy, anyway, so it was absolutely no surprise to me when he was born, I asked the doctor what he was (because I was concentrating so hard on pushing that I didn't hear the announcement!) and was told "It's a boy!".

We were debating on whether or not to find out the gender this time around, because it was fun having the mystery throughout the pregnancy, but pretty much decided that the suspense is only fun one time around. I was excited at the prospect of finding out the gender of this baby, and pretty much figured that a 16-20 week wait would fly compared to the 41 1/2 week wait I had to find out Jeremiah's gender. Oh was I wrong!

I got myself all geared up earlier this month for finding out the gender on August 31st. This month has dragged by. And now that August 31st is just 5 days away, and I cancelled that appointment at the suggestion of my nurse practitioner, I"m kicking myself. Several times a day. I even went so far as to call up the office yesterday to see if I could reschedule, but all the ultrasounds in our office our booked through September 14th, which is roughly 2 weeks before when my 20 week ultrasound will be. I'm going nuts. I NEED to find out what I'm having right now!! Maybe I"m just going crazy since my cousin Tiffany finds out what she's having on Friday. Maybe it's because I saw the cutest little girl clothes at Wal-Mart last week and I"m dying to buy something personal for my baby (okay, preferably something pink and frilly versus blue and sporty!) . I thought I was okay with the possibility of this baby, our second and last child being a boy, but I was wrong. I want a little girl SO badly. Someone to bake cookies with. Someone to buy dresses for, play dolls with, and curl her hair. Someone to watch all of my favorite Disney movies with (because, face it, Jeremiah probably won't be into The Little Mermaid and Cinderella). I know deep down that if this baby is truly a boy that I will love him and I won't care one way or another, but since I don't know what I'm having yet, I can still hold out hope that I'll get my little girl- and if it's a boy, well I'm going to do everything in my power to convince Louis in 2 or 3 years to give it one last shot! (No matter what I want to be done after 3 kids).

I think tomorrow I"m going to be scheduling a 3d ultrasound somewhere......

I'm really going to make a conscious effort to blog more than once a week (or less)! So here we go, a rare-for-me-lately Thursday night post =)

It looks like I"m not going to be finding out the gender of my baby on the 31st after all. The nurse practitioner that I"ve been seeing (she sees pregnancy patients until the last trimester) has no clue why the nurses at the front desk would schedule a gender peek ultrasound as early as 16 weeks, so she suggested I cancel it. And, because my friend Nicole's baby didn't cooperate for her last month at 16 weeks, I took her advice. The way things are looking right now, we're going to be waiting until the end of September for my 20 week ultrasound (although Louis was making noise about wanting to splurge on a 3D/4D ultrasound this time around, so possibly earlier!) To say that I'm bummed is a huge understatement. Marissa and Shiloh were really hoping I would know the gender before my trip to Colorado (September 9th!) so that we could go shopping while we're there, but that's going to have to wait. On the bright side, I got to hear the heartbeat on Monday! A perfect 153 beats per minute.

Yesterday afternoon my friend Melissa and I took Jeremiah to Disneyland! The last time I went was 3 months ago before the summer rush began. It's the last week of the night shows and I really wanted Jer to see the Electrical Parade. We arrived around 3:00 pm, had lunch and went on 3 rides- Pirates of the Carribean, Winnie the Pooh, and It's a Small World. Jeremiah went absolutely bonkers when we approached Small World; it's a favorite of his! I hope he enjoyed the parade; he fell asleep for about half an hour before it began and woke up shortly before it started.. He sat in my lap and just looked at everything wide-eyed. I certainly had fun =) And I can't wait to go back again next month when everyone's back in school!

Loving Summer

This pic was taken on Thursday after my cousin Rebecca (left- she was the photographer), Jeremiah and I spent an hour or so swimming in my grandma's pool. Have I mentioned how much Jeremiah loves swimming?! He gets so excited every time we even walk by a pool. Put on his floaties and he's good to go, only staying on the steps for a moment or two before flinging himself into the shallow end. He is quite skilled at maneuvering himself around the shallow end on his own and has absolutely NO fear. He's already getting good at moving his arms and kicking his legs. I'm kicking myself for not signing up for mommy and me swimming lessons this summer- definitely next summer. Perhaps I'll be heading to the Summer Olympics in 18 or 20 years as a proud mother of an Olympic Champion? Watch out, Michael Phelps, Jeremiah Castillo is a champion in the making!

One of our home improvement projects this summer was having a sprinkler system installed in our front yard (our lawn is enormous and Louis was getting tired of spending 2 hours watering it with his hose). Our neighbor/gardener installed it last week and today I thought it would be fun if Jeremiah and I played in the water while the sprinklers were going. After the initial shock that water was coming out of them and knocking him down on the grass, Jeremiah had a ball. He loves getting wet and my little investigator had such fun figuring out exactly how the rainbird sprinklers worked, and playing with the mister sprinklers that were installed by the small patches of grass on the other side of our sidewalk. I wish my camera was working so I could have snapped some pics of him- he was holding onto this huge stick the whole time, and it reminded me of Moses with his staff, before parting the Red Sea. So cute! (Note to self: invest in a new digital camera before going to Colorado in 3 1/2 weeks). We played outside for an hour, gettig wet and eventually splashing in the puddles on the sidewalk and squishing our fingers in the mud. I really wish we had the sprinklers installed at the beginning of the summer rather than towards the end so we could have been doing this more often.

Jeremiah had his first checkup of the year on Thursday. I know, I was sitting on finding him a new pediatrician once we got our new insurance. I was getting so frustrated calling up new pediatricians only to find that as a new patient, we would have a 1 1/2-3 month wait before being able to get an appointment. A nurse at my OB's office reccomended one to me and we were able to get an appointment within 2 weeks. I LOVE our new pediatrician, she's so nice, so wise and has Jeremiah's best interest at heart. And she also understood completely when he flipped out as soon as we entered the examination room- my boy has good memory and HATES going to the doctor! He's the perfect height and weight (25 pounds, 32 inches). Dr. Ali recommended that he begin speech therapy because, at 20 1/2 months, he's saying less than 5 words, and mostly just says "mama," "dadda", and "go." Every once in a while he'll say another word, such as "amma" (grandma) or "abba" (grandpa) but he only says them once in a blue moon and then forgets about the word for quite some time, or never repeats it again. She knows that some k ids blossom at 2 years old, but there is a free program that gives children less than 3 years of age free speech therapy up until their third birthday,a nd she'd rather start it now than wait til his 2nd birthday in order to make the most of it, just in case. I'm hoping the Regional Center is able to fit him in fairly soon because I"m anxious for all the help we can get getting him to talk!

... and eat normally. She also is referring us to a nutritionist that will hopefully get him to eat something other than bread and cereal products, cheese and bread. My boy can't live on carbs alone... and he also can't push away new foods forever! One glance at something "different" and he throws a fit and pushes it away. Although Louis said he did eat a bite of bacon today at Ihop...

That's about all for now.! thanks for reading!

I'm back!!

I honestly have NO clue where the past few weeks have gone. It seems like this summer is just flying by... is the first week of August already over?!

Anyway, things have been super busy over here at the Castillo household, which partly explains my absence from blogging. Louis and I went away last weekend to Coronado just for one night rather than 3 nights, but we still had a blast =) In a nutshell, here's what we did:
*Stopped at the Carlsbad outlets on the way down... Louis surprised me with a new Guess purse and wallet
*Our room at the Best Western was complimentary upgraded to a suite rather than a standard room because there were only really bad-smelling smoking rooms left- we jumped at the offer to have our room upgraded, even though we had no use for the extra bed or kitchen =)
*Sat. afternoon was spent hanging out at the harbor beach and marina area. We saw several weddings and quincaneras (Mexican Sweet 15 parties). I wasn't feeling well at ALL that afternoon; the long drive down wore me out and gave me bad leg cramps, even though we stopped twice- to eat and shop.
*Evening: I was still feeling like crap but we wanted to go out and have a nice dinner. We went by the Hotel Del Coronado, this extremely fancy resort that we wanted to stay at (until we found out it was roughly $500 a night for a standard room). We couldn't find anything there that we wanted to eat.... but we did meet a celebrity! We met Ben Weber, who plays Molly Ringwald's fiance on the "Secret life of the American Teenager" (which we watch eagerly every week). He has a very small part; only on air for maybe 5 minutes per episode, tops, but it was still fun to meet someone famous! He was playing with his kid by the pool when we spotted him and went to go talk to him. I think he was in shock that someone actually recognized him, since he usually plays small parts in shows, and that people our age are huge Secret Life fans. We ended up dining at a fancy little Italian restraunt down the street, but absolutely NOTHING there appealed to me. Louis even sent my meal back and ordered me something else when I thought I was going to be sick... darn pregnancy... but they didn't charge us for the sent back meal, and gave me unlimited virgin Mojitos to drink =)
*Sunday: Slept in, then went Kayaking after checking out of our hotel. We will N.E.V.E.R be doing this again. It's exhausting. And not much fun. But it was an adventure. Then we went to Old Town San Diego, had lunch, walked around and went home!!

I'm starting to feel better as my first trimester is winding down. I'll be 13 weeks pregnant on Monday! I'm feeling the baby flutter around a lot lately,a nd I cant' wait for those first kicks to come. Or for my "find out the gender" ultrasound on August 31st!! My doctor seems to think that I'll be able to tell at 16 weeks what I'm having. Personally it seems a bit early to me, but I'm eager to find out what we're having,a nd if nothing else, we'll get a clearer picture in four more weeks after that for my 20 week ultrasound. I can't wait, I can't wait. I'm beginning to feel that I'm having another boy... and honestly, I don't mind one bit. I thought I would be so sad if I found out that we're having 2 boys and that's it, no daughter- but I swear, last weekend I saw SO many families of all boys. It's like God was trying to tell me something. The brothers seemed so happy playing with one another, like true pals- not like myb rother and I. Yes we played together but it was definitely not the same thing as what I saw between the brothers. And the mothers seemed to love having their boys. So, either way I know I'll be happy. I've already bought 2 huge boxes of diapers and wipes, a fun musical rattle (that Jeremiah is obsessed with), and a new pump- the top of the line Medela one, Pump in Style. I decided to invest in something more sturdy and stronger than the dinky one I had before, which ended up dying right around the time I had to stop nursing (3 months, so sad).

Tonight we are hosting a UFC fight night party at our house. I hate UFC. And boxing. And wrestling. But I love hosting get togethers. Unfortunatley, just about everyone in attendance are Louis's pals, employees and customers. His auntie Sabrina (who is my age) is coming with Louis's uncle Emmett (also our age) but she's really into the whole UFC thing so I know we wont' be just hanging out and chatting. I'll be doing the whole Suzie Homemaker thing, refilling drinks, serving appetizers and my taco soup that Louis promised our guests.

Some quick updates

*I saw our little peanut on Monday as well as his or her strong and steady heartbeat. This baby is beginning to feel more real to me now!

*...especially because I felt him or her move (flutter) today! I thought I felt it all week but attributed it to tummy rumblings. This time I definitely could tell the difference =)

*Our anniversary was amazing. I love my husband. And the giant lobster tail and creme brulle that I enjoyed during our delicious dinner. Unlike my pregnancy with Jeremiah, I limited myself to one creme brulle and not 5 at once during our Vegas anniversary trip.

*We leave Thursday night for Coronado island. 3 nights of child-less sleep, tanning at the beach, swimming, biking, great food and hopefully Sea World!

*Yesterday Jeremiah and I went to Newport Beach to spend the day with my AZ cousins, Uncle Bob and Aunt Madeline, and my grandma. My uncle rented a boat for a few hours so we cruised around the harbor, then played at the beach, hung out at their hotel and had dinner. I love my family. And Newport. My GPS... not so much anymore. It took me this complete roundabout way that ended with me having to take my car acrosst he Balboa Island Ferry. Didn't see that one coming... what should have been a 45 minute trip took us 2 hours as a result. Only 3 cars can go across the ferry at once. It was a huge line. I couldn't believe my ears when the words "take the Balboa Island Ferry" came up towards the end of our trip. I wanted to chuck it in the water, and by then it was too late for us to turn around and take a detour. We were stuck.

*Jeremiah, Marissa and I are going to Colorado the beginning of September to visit Shiloh and her husband Ryan. I can't wait! 3 of the 4 roommates reunited again.... and the week that we are going is the week that Kappie's baby is due. So she will be stuck in Sacramento, but we're hoping that the 3 of us will be together when we get "the call" that Baby Keates has made his or her appearance! My flight leaves Wed. September 8th and we come back that Saturday. I will be flying alone w/ Jeremiah since Marissa is coming to Colorado via Germany, where she will have spent a few weeks visiting with her parents, sister and aunts.

Yard Sale!!

It's been 3 years (on Wednesday!) since I've been married and moved out of my parent's house. My parents were very gracious to let me keep a ton of my stuff from childhood and college in my old room and their garage while we lived in our tiny one bedroom apartment- but now that I'm in my house (for a year and a half now!) my crap has gotten the eviction notice. So.... I'm camped out on our front lawn right now, praying it doesn't get too hot, and trying to get rid of a lot of my stuff! Yard sales are a BIG thing in Whittier, and we live on a great street for having one. I've been out here an hour and have already made around $20. I'm planning on staying out until 2:00 or until the heat becomes unbearable. Louis is inside with Jeremiah.

Rather than exchanging presents for our anniversary, Louis and I decided to invest in a Nintendo Wii and a new TV! We found both on Craigslist for REDICULOUSLY (and I mean rediculously) low prices. Plus, Louis found somebody that knows how to hook up the Wiis with tons of Wii games in addition to our childhood favorites- Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis! I got my Mario Brother's back!! I LOVE IT. I completely suck at the Wii games right now, coming in DEAD last on Mario Kart every single time I played Louis last night, but I'm hoping to do better as time goes on =) I want to save up and get a Wii Fit to help keep off the flab during my pregnancy and after. I predict that I have a week at most left in most of my favorite pants and shorts. Louis and I went clothes shopping on Sunday and I left the mall in tears, nothing fitting right or looking decent on me. I also knew that whatever I bought would only fit for a short period of time so I felt wasteful spending $$ on clothes. However, I'm not far enough along for maternity clothes right now. It's so frustrating. Your belly is not as cute with the second (third?) pregnancy as it was the first- your belly isn't tight any more. Sure it's growing bigger but there's a layer of flab underneath that baby belly. And yes I'm starting to get a belly. A small one but a belly none the less.

We decided to push back our weekend away an extra week so we will be able to save a bit more cash to spend. We like going on vacation with a set amount of cash and once it's gone- well it's gone! Plastic does NOT come with us when we travel except for hotels that require a credit card rather than cash. We are going to a very nice restraunt on the night of our anniversary but the rest of the festivities in Coronado will wait an extra week. Fine by me! My parents have already agreed to watch Jeremiah since they will be back from Houston by then- but leaving for Ohio a few days afterwards. Summer is SO busy for them, with an out of state convention every month in months June-Sept.

Well our sale is picking up again so I best be going =)

With Apologies

Before I lose whatever audience I have here on my blog, I'd like to apologize for once again slacking off in the blogging department. I don't want to use my pregnancy as an excuse but honestly come the end of the day when I am able to blog I am ready to crash. And, during Jeremiah's naptime I have to go into our garage to use the internet, and most of the time Louis is working in there, so I either can't be clacking away on the keyboard or simply don't have access to one, since sometimes he uses both of his computers at once. However, I"m guessing things will change when my new laptop comes in the mail soon =) Verizon FIOS was having some sort of special for their customers where they will mail you a free laptop if you pay for shipping, and Louis surprised me by ordering it for me. I can't wait =)

Next week is a big week for us- On Monday I have the remainder of my first prenatal appointment, now that I have my pregnancy confirmation from my blood test, plus my very first Ultrasound! I didn't get an ultrasound until around 20 weeks along with Jeremiah, so I can't wait to see what our little peanut looks like- and make sure that there's only one in there! And next Wednesday is our 3 year wedding anniversary. We are planning on going to Coronado Island in San Diego Thursday night after work for the weekend, but Louis has yet to ask his mom if she could babysit- so you never know what could happen. My parents are leaving on Saturday for yet another convention,t his time to Houston, so I can't count on them. Truth be told I"m sad about leaving Jeremiah again for a weekend, but it would really defeat the purpose of a romantic getaway to celebrate the two of us if he were to come along.

That's about all I have time for at the moment- I'll try to post some pics from our Saturday in Hollywood later tonight!

February 15, 2010

That is my baby's due date! I'm secretly hoping for a Valentines Baby- we already have a Halloween baby in the family (Sydney was born on Halloween last year). I also want the baby to be early rather than 10 days late like his or her big brother Jeremiah- first of all, the waiting SUCKED- big time. Second of all, my parents are scheduled to be in Vegas less than a week after my due date for a major convention for their business. Not only do I want them present (well, in the waiting room or taking care of Jeremiah at our house, but none the less in the same city as we are) for the birth of their second grandchild, we were also counting on them to take care of Jeremiah during our hospital stay and for the first day or two at home with the baby. Recovery from Jeremiah sucked soooo bad. Worse than any part of my labor (no pain during the delivery thanks to my best friend Epidural!) I remember wondering where all the pain came from, going into the delivery naiively thinking that the only painful part was the labor and delivery, and if you were sore afterward, it lasted a day or two, tops- not a full two and a half weeks.

Anyway, today I had my first appointment. It was pretty standard and quick- just the initial female exam, and a blood test to verify the pregnancy. Once the lab sends back confirmation that I am pregnant, I will be going back (July 20th) for an ultrasound and the rest of my initial appointment- glucose test, lots of blood work, medical history. Oh, and I absolutely LOVE my new doctor's office. It is sooooo much nicer having insurance, getting to go to a nice office that specializes in pregnancy versus a crowded clinic that sees everyone for all sorts of ailments. Here's a few of the reasons why:
1) Wait time. With Jeremiah, it didn't matter what time my appointment was, I always had a minimum of an hour wait past my scheduled appointment time- or longer! For my first appointment I had to wait 6- yes S-I-X hours. And once I got into my room after blood/urine work was done and weight/temperature was taken, I had another half an hour to go before the doctor showed up. Today I waited at most 20 minutes , and was seen right away when I got into my room.

2) The waiting room itself was small, intimate, with nice music playing and MAGAZINES. In the clinic, there were rows and rows of chairs but still not enough for everybody to sit. Sick people were all around, couging up a lung. It was noisy, chaotic, and there were maybe two magazines available. There was a tiny tv tuned into either a Spanish station or the news, but good luck trying to hear it. This office has a policy where if you bring your kids, you have to wait outside for your turn so that they don't spread their germs to the mommies to be. Thank goodness, no foreign runny noses and screams! Because 80 percent of the moms in the waiting room at the clinic made no effort to control their children.

3) The overall visit itself- I did not feel rushed at all vs at the clinic- and the nurse practitioner was SO friendly- and gentle. I didn't even realize she had completed the procedure, it was over so fast. Let me tell you- it's a lot nicer having a pap done by a middle aged female than an 85 year old cranky man!!! Plus it was so nice not having to worry about how much everything was costing. I can handle a $10 co-pay vs. the insane amounts we were paying with Jer!

In all, I'm thrilled to be where I'm at. And thrilled to be pregnant =)

Tomorrow Marissa and I are taking Jeremiah to the beach! Have a great 4th of July weekend!

Hello Morning Sickness

Sometimes I wonder how much empathy I would have for my husband if men were able to have babies and our roles were reversed. I am not one that handles other peoples illnesses very well (with the exception of Jeremiah). I get totally grossed out by vomit- like really grossed out, and I am not so inclined to do things such as mop it up, hold back hair or fetch water. The only times that I have seen Louis throw up are after he has had too much to drink- so, my lack of sympathy and empathy for him is probably well understood, because I don't like either him or I drinking to the point of throwing up. He has had to clean everything up. I have more empathy for him if he is truly sick with a fever or cold, but my patience with him isn't as great as his is with me.

This morning I had my first bout of morning sickness for this pregnancy. And, just like when I was pregnant with Jeremiah and vomiting nearly every morning for two months, my sweet husband followed me into the restroom, held my hair back, kissed my cheek and fetched me a bottle of water. I love him. God bless my husband. With Jeremiah, once I threw up I was fine for the rest of the day- today, however, my stomach ache lingered for a few extra hours- then I began craving Lays potato chips, something I normally don't like to eat (too much grease). Luckily we had some in the house =) And I can't wait for us to bbq some hot dogs tonight!

I have my first doctor's appointment on Thursday. I can't wait! And tomorrow I have my first day with my new Mother's Helper- my best friend's 17 year old sister, Diana =) You have no clue how excited I am about having two free hours twice a week while someone else plays with Jeremiah. I have so many plans for things I want to get done around the house and books to read, but I know I have to use at least part of that time to take a nap. I'm worn out.

I guess I'm having a boy....

I'm not one to believe old wives tales, Chinese calendars or anything like that, but when I want a little daughter as badly as I do (especially considering how much Louis does not want more than two kids), all of these old fables that tell me that I"m having a boy start messing with my head! My friend Michelle is a firm believer in the Chinese calendar for predicting genders, and her trusted one says that I'm having a boy. Then last night, my Uncle Ken told me that I'm having a boy because Jeremiah's cowlick is in the middle of his head. Apparently, according to my grandma Arlene, the position of the older siblings' cowlick determines what the gender of the following baby will be- center means boy, off to the side means girl. It worked for all of my dad's siblings- My dad and uncle Tom each have it in the center of their head and wound up with little brothers; my uncle Ken has it to the side and he has a little sister. Plus there's lots of speculation about me not throwing up yet- more barf apparently means a girl. But... I'm only 6 1/2 weeks along, and I didn't start throwing up with Jeremiah until I was 8 or 9 weeks along. I've definitely come very close to throwing up in the last week but nothing has happened yet. My cousin Tiffany has been throwing up all day for the last few weeks, and so we're convinced she's having a girl. Lucky duck...

Yesterday I bought the cutest little dress at Target that was on clearance for $4. Call me crazy, not officially knowing the gender or anything but I just could not pass it up!! If I do indeed get the announcement that "it's a boy!" when I go for my ultrasound in a few months, then I will gladly give the dress away to some other lucky duck mommy. But for now I like seeing it hang up in the baby's closet =)

Don't get me wrong; I would LOVE for Jeremiah to have a little brother. Little boys are a ton of fun, and from what I hear, less drama-filled =) But if we really are only having two children I would love to have one of each... I need some more estrogen in this house! I know that either way I will be perfectly happy with the blessing that God is giving me, but please- cross your fingers for a precious little girl!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Those two handsome guys pictured to the left (and the baby in my tummy!) are the most important people in my life. Today we are celebrating how that precious little boy, Jeremiah, made my amazingly sweet and handsome hubby the best father in the whole world (well, tied with my dad of course!). So far the day has been perfect- Jeremiah slept in til nearly 7:30 (a big feat for him!), and Jeremiah and I played while we let Daddy sleep in. However... Daddy was SUCH a trooper! I was intending on letting him sleep til 9:00 or 9:30, but after making Jeremiah's breakfast (oatmeal mixed with a stage 2 bananas) one whiff of the bananas made me so close to hurling- oh, pregnancy! Louis very graciously got up an hour before he needed to to feed Jeremiah and even stayed up afterwards to play with him so I could shower! What a sweet husband. Then it was present time- Jeremiah and I filled in some missing volumes of Louis's "Family Guy" anthology collection. We can't wait for Jer to go to sleep tonight so we can start watching it! I love Bryan. After Jeremiah's bath and nap, the three of us went to "Cielito Lindo," this Mexican restraunt that has a brunch buffet and live mariachi show- something that Louis LOVES, and I tolerate on his behalf =) Actually, this kind of show is more my style- 45 minutes long, quick up beat songs, and plenty of yummy food in front of me =) Jeremiah also loves listening to the live music- but is starting to wail like a banshee whenever the clapping at the end happens. I think it scares him... poor guy!

We came home, I fed Jeremiah (since he pretty much lived on Goldfish and punch at the buffet), he and Louis watched some Discovery Channel show, then I put Jer down for his nap. Louis is asleep on the couch. I could really use a nap too, but I hate napping when Jer is. First of all, I hate waking up from my naps. Secondly, I always am scared that I'm not going to hear him (which is darn near impossible because he makes it VERY well known that he's awake!) When Louis wakes up we are going to dinner with his dad and sister. I feel like I"ve eaten all day. Which isn't good- I'm almost 6 weeks pregnant and ALREADY outgrowing some of my shirts, and my pants are feeling tighter. ALREADY!! This didn't happen until towards the END of my first trimester with Jeremiah, not at the very beginning! No, I"m not ready for maternity wear, but it certainly would be nice to fit into my clothes for just a bit longer.......

I really wish I could give my dad a hug right now. As I type this, he and my mother are driving a moving van somewhere through Missouri, coming back from a convention their business participated in in Illinois last week. My mom's birthday was Friday... so I missed not only that but Father's day as well! =( We are going to celebrate next weekend when they get back (they should be home by Tuesday). They've been gone for over a week now and I miss them!

Happy Fathers Day to all the daddies out there!

Pure exhaustion

When I got the good news that I was pregnant with Jeremiah, it was on Easter Sunday. I had an entire week and a half of spring break from teaching and I spent most of it in bed, sleeping or watching TV. This time around... well Mommies don't exactly get a spring break, do they! I am not AS tired as I was last time (then again I found out about this pregnancy around 3 weeks earlier than with Jer so I know it's coming) yet by 5:00 I am pooped. And all those fun pregnancy symptoms are starting to kick in- upset stomach (no barfing... yet)... heightened sense of smell, food cravings (sour cream with fresh black pepper, grape tomatoes, smoothies- pretty much my pregnancy cravings from last time around) and food aversions- anything greasy (no pizza last night), or "fast food," ranch dressing and LETTUCE. Well, nasty iceburg lettuce. I think I can stomach some crisp romaine or spinach. And then there's the issue of me needing to pee on the hour, every hour. Jeremiah thinks it's hilarious when I go "potty." He will stop what he's doing and run at break-neck speed to the restroom when he hears me mention the word "potty" or hear me open the door, and will stand in front of me, grinning his head off until I flush the toilet- then he wants to play w/ the nasty potty water. I'm now locking the door when I go and he's not too happy about that.

I thought last Tuesday was my last day w/ Sydney but it turns out this Thursday is (it's my only day this week). I already miss my little gal. Now that she's crawling and is much more independent and way less needy, we have some great times together and my days go by sooooo fast. Just when it starts to get easy it has to end. Boo.

On Thursday a contractor is coming over to give us a quote for our kitchen remodel. I'm sooooo thrilled about this- I've been dying for a new kitchen since before we moved into our house- ours is ANCIENT. And there's hardly any cabinet space- and the entire opposite side of the kitchen is just bare wall, dying for some more counters and cabinets. And a dishwasher. I'm praying that come the end of summer my title as head dishwasher gets turned over to Maytag.

I'm also in the market for a Mother's Helper to come in and play with Jeremiah for two hours a day, twice a week so that I can clean or nap. If anyone knows a high school or college aged girl that wants some extra cash this summer (or if YOU want some extra cash this summer!) just let me know! Hours and days are flexible.