SNOW!

With grandpa


The three of us, mommy, aurora, and johnny!



Aurora and mommy!

Aurora in the snow.

So we took the kiddo's (we being my father and I, hubby had to work ) to the mountains to see snow. Mostly for aurora since i didnt really intend on having the baby out of the car in the snow. We packed them up for it to be very cold then headed on our way.. Got halfway up to big bear, where we had intended on going... and were making great time, except for the minor part of my father getting us lost.. his age is starting to show. Well halfway up we hit a HUGE traffic jam.. bumper to bumper going barely 2miles an hour. Stopped at a turnout so i could breastfeed the baby and aurora could eat and walk around. It wasnt very cold and i was undressing the baby to change his diaper and he was soaking wet with sweat. Dad took Aurora out into a bit of snow on the side of the road but apparently all she wanted to do was try to eat it, so they came back.

Got back into the traffic and headed back towards big bear in the bumper to bumper traffic, contemplated turning around and heading home because we thought it might not be worth it. Got to where the road turns off to go to running springs, big bear, or arrowhead. Said forget big bear and turned of to go to lake arrowhead. BEST decision we made! No one was on the road..no traffic, it was beautiful.. so we get to arrowhead village and its like 1pm.. dad hasnt eaten and neither have i, but the place was packed! So we drove around a bit and ended up taking a long drive around the lake where aurora started getting a bit upset about being in the car so long, but i think she handled it very well. No crying, so screaming, just an occasional whine to remind us. Baby J also gave occasion protests. Found a McDonald's, finally got us Adults something to eat. Headed back out of arrowhead to a place we had seen on the way in for good snow play.

Dad ate in the car, while i took aurora out into the snow. At first she didnt want to be put down and would cry. But i sat her down and threw tiny tiny snow balls at her and giggled..did that for a bit then dad came over, took a few pics. Gave me the keys to the car, which was like four feet away. And i went to feed and change baby john. They played and took pics for a bit and then came back. Aurora got her diaper changed then got back into the car. We headed home. The traffic was still bumper to bumper into big bear, thankfully we didnt go there!

On the way home we had to make another stop because johnny was having a melt down and wanted to eat. We were so close to home, but i didnt want to make the poor guy wait. So we stopped fed him, dad and aurora ate again..and then headed home. We got home about thirty minutes before John got home from work. I wish he could have been there : ( Next year we are totally taking a family snow trip!

Video of aurora in the snow

Progress

We went to the lactation consultant yet again today for another weight check and thankfully he gained 9ounces in 7days! Seems like switch nursing and chucking the nipple shield has worked! YAY. Not only that but he took 4.2 ounces from me while we were there! Thats a whole 1.2 increase from last week. She said she was very happy with all the progress he is making and said his suck is about 70% of the way there, still a bit of learning for him to do. She also said we can continue letting hime sleep seven hours during the night, because whatever we are doing now its working. He normally eats every hour during the day and sleeps seven hours during the night.

He has now gained his birth weight back and then some..hopefully it just keeps going up and up. She asked if i wanted to come back in a week or two weeks, she said she felt comfortable with two weeks, but i said i wanted to do one weeks. Just to make sure everything is on track.

Christmas!!!

Some of my fave moments of the day

Family moment

aurora moment

john moment

Christmas was wonderful!

Christmas eve we trimmed the tree, yes we waited till christmas eve to decorate! Sent our little girl off to bed in her cute winter pj's...they have snowflakes all over them. Then Santa came and dropped off all the gifts..and it was then that i realized.. Our little girl is SPOILED! Its okay though..thats how i remember christmas, so i guess thats why i go so big on christmas, i really didnt think i had until i saw all the gifts in one spot... Took some pics and went off to bed.

Woke up in the morning, fed baby john in the living room. Aurora was still sleeping. My father came over, didnt want to miss her opening her gifts The neighbors Son, who is a friend of Auroras..even though he is 14..they are buddies : ), came over to watch her open her gifts. John got aurora up, brought her into the living room and she didnt even look at her presents..lol..she was just amazed that Ross, her buddy, was in the living room! LOL.. So we had Ross stand by the presents and thats when she noticed. First she pointed at the chair, then the gigantic puppy dog..then we started opening presents. She enjoyed that part.. Though once in awhile certain toys would distract her.. like the little xylophone, the bitty baby, and the toothbrush in her stocking. She wouldnt open anymore gifts until the bitty baby was taken out..she loved that doll. And the toothbrush and toothpaste were both stocking stuffers. Once they came out, her teeth had to be brushed. She finally upgraded from the finger brush to a big girl toddler toothbrush! She justs loves having her teeth brushed! Then we took a abreak for her to eat breakfast..Then continued opening gifts. At some point Ross went home, realizing it was going to take a LONG LONG time to open all her gifts..lol

She got a ton of stuff...books, dolls, balls, shopping card, tons of fake food and groceries, a box of animal crackers, a whole baby set(stroller, bouncy seat, diaperbag, swing, high chair..etc), another baby swing, sesame street remote, sleeping beauty on disney blu ray, a chair, a gigantic dog, a table and chairs, a disney princess tea set, building blocks, a daughter ornament, clothes, two pairs of shoes (she LOVES shoes), tooth brush and toothpaste, a recorder..the instrument, mini dolls, xylophone, new bath letters, tadoodles bath crayons, tadoodles markers, gigantic coloring book, and more...

I got a diamond necklace, john said he picked it out cause it had two hearts for two kids. And designer scrabble..which is a pink scrabble game! awesome! and tons of candy! And some socks from my mom. And money from other family members.

John got a fountain for his desk at work, the dark knight on blu ray and walle on blu ray, an energy shot, a lysol to go, air heads, two christmas ornaments, an icy penguin. My father got him an engraved desk clock/pen for his desk at work. Mom got us both a gift card to black angus. Other family members gave him money. Oh and his G1 phone was considered his big christmas gift. He got it early though.

After everything was opened..except for baby johns gifts...we asembled everything and played with aurora. She had a blast! Then we ate and hung around the house all day. We watched sleeping beauty. My grandma, aunt, and cousin came over and opened gifts with us. They played with Aurora a bit and then left. Aurora went down for a nap, begrudgingly but she was rubbing her eyes she was so tired. We watched Wall-e... and just hung around the house. In the evening my mom came over and opened gifts with us and played with aurora.

Then we had aurora open up johnnys gifts for him and she did very good realizing they were for him and would try handing them to him.. the only one she wanted to keep was a blue elephant someone got him.. He got a basketball hoop game for babies, a baseball game for babies, his own tool kit for babies, a hammer, three ornaments, clothes, a bib, and more.

Well id like to spell check this now, but ive got to go..so sorry for any spelling errors.

Lactation appointment number 7

Well its been one week since I saw the lactation consultant yet again. Well we went in today and found out that he had gained no weight nor lost any. So then she wanted to try without the nipple shield. She said he has a choppy suck and wanted to see how he does with the shield. Apparently it got even worse so then we went back to not using it. We also did switch feeding whrn his suck got too choppy or he fell asleep we would switch breasts. So then she checked after awhile and he had taken a total of 3 ounces...we have only ever gotten him to take 2 at theie office with the shield. So she wants me to chuck the shield and go without. She taught mt what ro look for in the difference of sucks. We go back in 1 week. She wants me to continue to give him a few bottles a day to total 9 ounces in a 24 hour period, but not after every feeding and only till he is on track and back to birth weight. She also wants me to pump 6 times a day and use just breastmilk for the bottles.Oh and he turned a month old yesterday

Well gotta go..here is pic to enjoy

Holiday christmas party

We went to a family christmas party today. Had fun. Aurora was all over the food table..lol..lots of fruit and crakers.. and water. Baby john slept mostly..though he did wake and want to be fed..where we retreated to my grandmas bedroom and i tried to feed him..and suceeded..even though it was a bit awkward...missed my boppy pillow..thought about bringing it but didnt. Aurora had a blast playing with cousin cody and it was fun to see all the distant family members.

Some family members gave Aurora and John some gifts for christmas, which was very nice. Came home and then realized a few hours later i had forgotten my

purse..luckily we dont live that far from grandmas and john went to retrieve it for me. Tomorrow we have lactation appointment number seven..wish us luck..and pray for weight gain..

Gamer chick

So this pic is from last night. Aurora was wearing daddys xbox 360 headset..she loves to pretend play. : )

Today was a good and productive day. John had the day off..we went to the store, then the post office and omg there were so many people there. Thank God for my moby wrap..john slept the entire time! And Aurora was good too..it was amazing. Then to sears to pic up our christmas cards..then home..fill out the christmas cards..then mail those off... then out to go grocery shopping..then home. All in all its been a great day.

Oh and yesterday baby john rolled over..four times! He is a squirmer. Sorry the video is so dark..

Another quick update

Things are good.. just busy..baby j wants to be with me 24/7..but refuses to be in his moby wrap at home..though he absolutely loves it when we are out. Walked around the mall in it, tons of stores.. I finished all my xmas shopping in the last few days. We took aurora to see Christmas lights and Santa, took her to the children's museum..we have been pretty busy around here..However when we are home baby j wants to eat nonstop and because of his weight issues i am inclined to let him feed whenever he wants.

We are co-sleeping..something im not a fan of, but oh well. I am just concerned its not a safe place, but its the only place he will sleep right now..so be it... yes i know we will have to break him of the habit someday.. I still wish we could cloth diaper, but hubby is still very against it.. I told him the other day that i feel i am turning into a granola crunchy mom..lol.. however i will never give up my bleach..nor my MAC make up..lol.. : )

Oh and we got our christmas tree, ive wrapped nearly all the presents though im keeping them in another room so aurora cant get to them...we still need to decorate the tree..oh and i stuffed the stockings... its been really cold and rainy here too..

Gotta be quick

Things going well. Breastfeeding seems to be going better, we will see on Monday if he gained any weight. I changed my appointment from tuesday to monday so john could take me.

We got our christmas tree last night and it cost a small fortune, but its beautiful!

Monday we are gonna try to take the kids to see santa and to see christmas lights in a local neighborhood..

Well gotta go, duty calls.

LC appointment number...ahh who's counting anymore!

LOL.. i am! Number six i believe...

Went in..they said he was 9 pounds 9 ounces..which would be a 2 ounce drop from his pedi appointment, but she said she wasnt going by that because their scales could have a difference and that just him peeing cold throw his weight off by two ounces.. and i also mentioned that i was concerned his weight at the pedi appointment was inaccurate because he had eaten immediately before we went and hadnt pee'd..so i knew he had at least two ounces of supplemental formula in him and then whatever he took from my breast... So she decided to off of his last recorded weight at the lactation clinic...so from that he had a five ounce weight gain. She also said his jaundice was gone...

So we did the breastfeeding and he took two ounces total.. but my right breast is really not keeping up with my left.. the mastitis really left my supply in the dumps on that side..so she wants me to pump at least six times a day on that side. I am also continuing to take the more milk plus herbal supplement.

She agreed to start cutting back on the formula bottles..and supplementing in general.. She says to do 1 to 1 1/2 ounces after each feeding. And i also mentioned how he is a sleeper..goes about five hours in between feedings at night.and she says not to let him do that right now.. that once my supply is established and his weight is back up past his birthweight..then we can let him go longer between nighttime feedings.




And then today was nice..i got some cleaning done around the house. Still stuff to do, but Rome wasnt built in a day! We started getting the christmas lights up yesterday. I visited my grandma today..that was nice.

Well john is finally home from work..yay.. i missed him. gotta go..hope everyone is doing well...

Gettin into the swing of things

Life is starting to get more routine..starting to calm down a bit. Ive been able to get a lot done. We went out tuesday and I did pretty much all of my christmas shopping for the kiddo's...just a few more small things to get and some stocking stuffers. I also picked up a thing or two for john, but we dont plan on buying each other much, plus he has his new phone was his christmas gift..and im fine with that.

Then we got down all the christmas lights.. I had the baby in the Moby wrap which went great.. Allowed me to be out and about with aurora, which i really liked. Took her for a short walk.

I also started weaning the baby off his bottles.. took them down from 2 ounces to 1 ounce..during the day..at night he doesnt breastfeed as well and goes a lot longer between feedings, so i have kept those at 2 ounces...

Well ill update this more later..gotta go..time to feed the little one.

not out of the woods yet...

Well today we had a pedi appointment for Baby J, which went great. However John couldnt go, so i had to take the baby solo. Today is Johns day off and I had a lot planned for today, but sadly john started getting sick last night and is sick today. So all those things we were going to try and get done today have to be put off for another time... Which im kinda sad about.

Well anyways. The pedi appointment was for a weight check and his jaundice..well yay he gained 7 ounces in four days! He is now 9pounds 11 ounces... And his jaundice seems to be gone! Yay.. So we have a lactation appointment on thursday and im really hoping that we start cutting back on the bottles or the pumping or something..because honestly its getting to wear on me. I really want to spend more time with aurora. My father has been around a lot and watching her a lot and its driving me nutts. I see some bad habits coming out in her..and my father refuses to follow our parenting style..which would be fine if he only saw her once in awhile, but he sees her everday since he lives right next door.. So it may sound mean, but i kicked him out today. He was getting on my nerves...calling me names..saying im a nazi, because i have discipline in my household. We are starting to get back into a routine, im very thankful for that. Right now aurora is down for her nap, we will see if she actually goes to sleep.. and the baby is sleeping. He needs to eat again by the next hour..so unless he wakes up i have a little down time. I picked up the living room and kitchen. The bedroom needs to be picked up, but john is sleeping in there.

Oh and the pedi told me that the baby could potentially catch this flu...and that there isnt much they can do for him if he does..so keep him away from the sick people...which is what we have been trying to do.. so far no sickness, but im watching him pretty close..i really pray he doesnt catch it..

Its been rough...

Man it seems like we have had a freaking rough two weeks!

Okay, so obviously some of the things that were happening we knew were coming, like the birth of our son. But other things like the tenant giving us her 30 days notice threw us for a loop... and yes we did have a month to plan for that...but things happened that were out of our control and made a tough situation even more difficult.

First Baby John was born..which was wonderful. The birth went great. We left the hospital and he screamed and screamed at night for the first three days.. On the second day being home I became engorged and couldnt feed him. I already have slightly flat nipples and when my breasts become engorged they get really hard and make my nipples very flat. So he was hungry which lead to lots of crying, which lead to him being very gassy the next night. So then we saw the lactation consultant, which ill refer to as LC from here on out... and he had lost weight.. so we started a supplement regiment..which was 1/2 ounce to an ounce of breast milk after every breastfeeding. So we did that, but he continued to lose weight and became jaundiced.. and while that happened, i got mastitis in my right breast on thanksgiving. Which pretty much ruined thanksgiving for us cause i was very sick..had the chills and fever.. so we pretty much skipped out on that. My father took aurora to my moms, where we had planned on going, for thanksgiving.

Then the mastitis started getting better and the back tenant went two days over moving out..which cut our five days to paint, repair, and install carpet to the apartment..down to three...yeah that sucked. So then i started help painting.. I would paint, john would call me when the baby needed to be fed..i would feed him, pump and then go back to painting. Got the living room and most of the hall done that way... So then the next day we saw the LC yet again (oh and in all of this we say the pedi twice two...and this was LC trip number 4) and learned that he had gained a bit of weight...YAY..he gained 1.8ounces at LC trip number 3 and 4.2 at LC trip number 4!!! and his jaundice seems to have gone away, we see the pedi again tomorrow about that..hoping for even more weight gain. Of course by LC trip number 2 they had us giving him 2 ounces of formula or breast milk after every feeding, which is where it has stayed at since then..hopefully soon it will be going down..to almost no bottles after feedings....

Well anyways..on the day we have LC trip number 4...aurora comes down with the flu..poor thing was puking up everything. Screaming cause she wanted to eat but couldnt. I had to give her sips of 1tsp of pedialyte every ten minutes and up the dosage as long as she wasnt throwing up... Well guess what..that night I got the flu...and i was puking up everything. Poor john was emptying out my puke bucket.. feeding the baby, and taking care of aurora..who threw up on him that night. It was a rough night. So now..who is going to paint..well my aunt had my cousins ex boyfriend come by with a friend and dad paid them to paint. Which has actually caused a lot of drama, cause dad thinks they did a crappy and unfinished job, my aunt thinks he should be grateful it got done and thinks he should have paid them more.. oh well..im not gonna be a part of all that...

So then the next day when i was recovering and still had diarrhea... John had to go to work..his boss was being mean and wouldnt let him come home early. So here i was still sick..taking care of a newborn..and keeping up with my breastfeeding.. luckily my father came by to watch my daughter..who was also still getting over being sick... And then when i was sick i couldnt take my antibiotics and i started to feel like my mastitis was coming back or even getting in my good breast...luckily today that feeling has gone away and im back on my antibiotics... and im taking a herbal supplement to up my milk supply..its good on my left side, but the mastitis has left my right side pretty crappy...

Now we all seem to be back to normal.. Hopefully things calm down!! I think thats everything.. Tomorrow we have pedi appointment number 3! And Thursday LC appointment number 5!

Need some encouragement...

So I know ive been MIA for awhile, but we have been so busy and had so much to deal with lately. John has continually lost weight since birth..as of today he has dropped from 10lbs to 8lbs 14oz...they are concerned because he has lost ten percent of his birth weight and is now a bit jaundiced..and if thats not enough..I have mastitis in one of my breasts. We are continuing to breastfeed and see the lactation nurse regularly.. And as of right now we are giving him pumped breast milk (or possibly formula if i dont have enough pumped breast milk to cover him over the weekend) in a bottle. It started out with us breastfeeding and then giving him a 1/2 to an 1 of pumped breast milk in a bottle...well he still lost weight. I told the lactation consultant that i feel he isnt latched on as deeply at home as when she helps us out at the clinic. Here is the low down on whats happened.
On day three of us being home..i became horribly engorged..to the point that the baby couldnt latch on..i already have semi flat nipples and large breasts..but when they became larger due to the engorgement it became almost impossible for my nipple to stick far enough out for him to latch. So we saw the lactation consultant and she gave me a nipple shield which has worked wonders..and had us supplement him with the 1/2 ounce to an ounce.. well we came home and did all of that..
Well on thanksgiving i woke up and thouht i was engorged in my right breast again.. fed the baby...then i began to get horrible chills..i got a fever and it just continued to rise..to 100.9 at its highest..called the advice nurse..they sent me in to urgent care...and it was confirmed that i had mastitis. I was put on antibiotics to get rid of the breast infection and told to continue nursing on the affected side. Well as the day went by he would refuse to eat on that side..and it seemed as though he wasnt getting much when he did and that i wasnt pumping much.. So we saw the lactation consultant today to learn he had lost even more weight...reaching the 8 14 that i mentioned prior... Well she discussed the mastitis with me and decided to have me not breastfeed him on that side and continue to feed him on my good side..especially since not much is coming out and its very painful to feed him on that side...she also said he looked jaundiced..more so than his last appointment.. So she called his pedi..had him order us a blood test..and told us to make an appointment on Monday or Tuesday to see the pedi and i have another lactation appointment on Monday.
We did the test, came home and waited for the results. In the meantime i breastfed him on my good breast and it went great..had to strip him down to the diaper to keep him awake (the lactation consultant mentioned that the jaundice most likely made him very sleep and lethargic... i wish she could see him at three in the morning when he is screaming his lungs out..) Then i pumped my infected breast and i got freaking 10ml...i dont know if you know how pitiful that is, but its pitiful. The lactation nurse told me thats normal..that the infection is blocking my ducts and not allowing me to let down my milk as well.. To ice my breast for the next two to three days and continue to pump it..and pump the other breast as well..
Then i got a call telling us that his jaundice levels were in the mild to moderate range and that as long as we stay vigilant on the new plan of supplementing him 2 ounces of either pumped breast milk or formula after every feeding, he should be fine till Monday. We just have to keep an eye on his wet and dirty diapers..and coloring.
Soooo..thats what we have been up to.. Im really hoping this will work out...

A quick update

Well as you know we are busy busy busy. The last few nights have been pretty sleepless, except for last night which went well comapared to the others. Baby John is a crier...something aurora never really was..so he is keeping us awake..the first night he wanted to eat eat eat...breastfeed all the time..the next night he was gassy..and then last night he was upset because i couldnt breastfeed him..I was very engorged..and still am..and he couldnt latch on because it was causing my nipple to be flat. Well we saw the doctor yesterday for his check up..and he had lost another few pounds..was down to 9pounds 4ounces...the weight aurora was at birth..and then we went to see the lactation consultant today and he lost another two ounces! Down to 9pounds 2 ounces...they will only let him get down to 9 pounds (a ten percent body weight loss) before he has to supplement with formula.. So today the lactation consulatant helped me get him latched correctly and being engorged and all...using a nipple shield... came home and succesfully did it again on both breasts..so i think we are heading in the right direction. After im done feeding him, we are to give him 1/2 to 1 ounce of pumped breastmilk..to try and bulk up his weight..however he wouldnt take a 1/2 ounce earlier...but then again he did breastfeed on both breasts for a total of like 37minutes or so...and that was only two hours after his last feeding at the laction consulatant.. So im gonna call and leave em a message asking what to do in case he wont take it.. Right now we are using a medicine cup to give it to him..trying to avoid the bottle as much as possible..though they said if its like 3am and he has been crying and is hungry..then go ahead with a slow flow bottle..which we did last night. The supplementing is only supposed to last a few days... I see them again on Friday...so pray my little guy has gained some weight by then..im pretty sure he will though...my milk just came in the night before last and with the engorgement and improper latch (he tries to take just the nipple and none of the surrounding breast tissue, because i have a flater nipple) he hasnt been getting what he should. Though the lactation appointment confirmed that he is getting milk..So thats good.

Oh and his umbilical cord stump fell off already! We asked the doc about it yesterday cause it was just barely hanging on and we said...um..is that normal..and she said no, but it looks fine and occasionally they fall off early..and then we came home and i was feeding him and john picked him up and he looked at me and said...his cord came off..and it was laying there in front of me...ewww...lol

Aurora continues to be good with him..she can get rough occasionally, but for the most part she is a very loving, concerned big sis... And today I finally got a chance to spend some alone time with her outside..We went for a walk and then played ball while john watched the baby.

He is here!

So here is my labor story...

On 11/19 my midwife stripped my membranes and scheduled an induction for 11/21 at ten pm. That evening I had cramping at irregular intervals and tons of bloody show... Both of which my midwife had warned me i would get from her stripping my membranes. So I went to bed, figuring that if the cramping got worse or came at regular intervals then i would call L&D or go in. The next day i woke up without the cramping..gradually it came back, but it wasnt very painful at all.. ive had menstrual cramps that were worse... I had difficulty trying to time them and they felt nothing like when i was in labor with Aurora.. John was texting me while he was at work and eventually talked me into calling labor and delivery. They said to time them for an hour, see if they got worse and call them. So i went for a walk and tried to time them, but still had issues..though I had some that got more painful and moree contraction like. My friend nikki told me to just call them back and go in...because maybe if i do it that way then i will be in a labor room for more than just the pushing this time...

So John comes home from work early and I call Labor and Delivery.. They tell me to come in and get checked, see if my cervix has changed. It had been 4-5cm on the prior day. I go in..they get me into a triage room and hook me up to a machine.. I was having minor contractions occasionally that i couldnt even feel...And at that point the cramping i could feel had gone away again. The midwife on call was very busy and they couldnt check me right away. So the nurse went ahead and checked me and said she though i was 4... So i figured..we are gonna go home...So they had me walk around for an hour...and that just caused me to have back pain..lol.. and so we went back to our room after an hour..tired..and waited yet again to be seen by the midwife.. this time eager for them to come in and tell us we could go home. We were tired, we knew i wasnt in active labor, and we missed our daughter...

Well finally at a few minutes before seven the midwife on call came in. She checked me..and said..I was definitely a five..water bag poking out... i wasnt really contracting...but she said that his heart rate made some occasional dips, but he was doing fine..and then she checked my stomach to guesstimate his size..she said the size, coupled with the minor dips in heart rate, and that i was already five cm...was my "ticket in"..that she was off at seven, but the next midwife coming on would decide what we were going to do from there and whether or not she would pass me off to the Ob's due to the babys large size.

So we sat in our triage room, walked a bit..and waited to be moved to a labor and delivery room. The next midwife came in and me us...and told us that she would like to break my water once we got into the labor and delivery room. So we waited and waited and waited..took them forever to get us into a delivery room...and around ten pm I actually started contracting on my own...they werent too bad so i just breathed through them. They finally moved us and we me with our nurse..who was actually one of the people there at my daughters delivery! Sadly though she was off about half an hour later..

The labor room was nice..it was so nice to have a real labor experience...getting into a room when i can still get a chance to look around...last time i got wheeled into the room, pushed, and had a baby..that was it..no real laboring going on in there.. So then we waited about an hour and the midwife came from a delivery, she checked me and amazingly i was already 6-7cm, plus fully effaced, and then broke my water, at eight minutes past midnight. That was an odd sensation...I never got to feel my water break with Aurora... They cleaned me up and then I sat up again and I had another huge gush of warm clear amniotic fluid..so they cleaned me up again. I breathed through the first few contractions, but then just decided to get a shot of neubaine....That worked out well because the contractions immediately came on fast and strong..The neubaine took the edge off and gave me a chance to relax for a few moments in between the peak of each contraction and then i would breathe through the contraction..they were painful, but I knew delivery couldnt be very far off.

John fell asleep, my mom came and sat there..the nurse told me to call her when i felt the urge to push..So I was in between contractions and i felt this sharp pain..literally made me sit up in bed and i started to think..maybe i was ready to push..so on the next contraction i noticed that i was already pushing a little as it was. So my mom called the nurse for me and told her.. She came in with the midwife.. They checked me again..and yep.. head was plus 2 station, i was nine and a half cm dilated...and ready to go. So they got all their stuff ready.. woke john up..lol..who was very confused because he fell asleep right after they broke my water..and here..a little over an hour and a half later I was getting ready to deliver. This time i wanted to know for sure how long i pushed..so i glanced at the clock..it was right around one fifty...

Then we started the pushing.... I think all together i pushed around five times or so...ten seconds each..and OMG did it hurt.. I felt everything..which wasnt a bad thing..but he did hurt a heck of a lot more than aurora! She stopped me for a second to wiggle her fingers around his head..that hurt.. Out came his head..then his shoulders...which they were concerned about because Aurora had gotten caught on my pelvic bone.. Then the rest of him... He was born at 1:53pm..so it took about three to five minutes to push him out...He came straight to my stomach... They sucked his throat, cleaned him off..he was grasping my finger hard! Tried to breastfeed, but he was slippery and so were my hands. So i let them take him for measurements and to clean him off.. His apgars at birth and a few minutes later were nine and nine....He was crying a lot...

Then they weighed him..and to my amazement..he was ten pounds!!!! He didnt look it to me, but the scale doesnt lie... He was 20 1/2 inches long...While they did all the measurements the midwife did the afterbirth and stitches.. i had a minor first degree tear... two stitches..then they brought him in his diaper back over to me..we attempted to breastfeed again, he was having a tad bit of trouble but with the help of the midwife we got him on... He fed for like twenty minutes... Then they wrapped him up and handed him off to john... Then i got all cleaned up and we got ready to be moved to the postpartum floor. Baby John would cry and then be soothed and then cry a bit.. So we got all situated in the wheelchair and I was holding him and i started humming to him and he was just silent as could be, content to listen to me hum to him. The nurse wheeled us out to this picture frame on the wall with a doorbell in it...and then took a picture of me pressing it...and it played a lullaby throughout the entire hospital...we never got to do that with aurora..then she took another two pics of us as by the frame. Then off to the postpartum floor we went!

The postpartum floor was great..they did pretty much all of his testing in the room with us..His blood sugar was doing great...sixty at birth...fifty one a little later on..and then went up to seventy five even later..He has been breastfeeding like a champ..he cluster fed after he was born then went quite awhile without feeding again..and then i got in the shower came out and he was wide awake and ready to feed...he fed and then went awhile without feeding again and fed..The lactation consultant said not to worry about feeding him every three hours until he was at least 24hours old. He pooped and peed in the first day..so he was doing great..The second day he woke up pretty much on his own every three hours to feed. He has done great at latching and feeding... most of the time feeding for twenty minutes or more..Its a little painful at first and then after a few minutes the pain goes away..The only big thing is that the breastfeeding does bring on uterine cramps, as it should, and those are quite painful. They have me taking Motrin for it.

Aurora came by for a few moments on the first day to see him, but she was very out of sorts..She missed us horribly while we were gone and we missed her. John was really a mess without her..and we just couldnt wait to be home. My dad told us she was looking for me in the morning when she woke up, at night she would hold our wedding picture and point to us...and say ma ma ma ma ma ma.. and then i called that night and he let me talk to her..and she actually talked a bit with me on the phone, but once i said bye bye she started crying. :( It was really hard. My mom watched her the second night and kept her entertained for most of the second day... We came home around two pm..and my mom got pics of the happy reunion!

Aurora came running out of the hall baby gate and straight into my arms..huge smile.. She met baby john, took his little bulb and tried to suck his nose..lol..and then sucked her babys nose..she was being a good little mommy..Then she patted him and gave him a kiss..she seems to be quite taken with her baby brother! Mom watched baby john for a few minutes so we could take aurora outside and play and have a very minor walk in her push car.. Came back..Mom left..Got things in order...John and Aurora left to go grocery shopping. When they were leaving Aurora wanted me to come and said I had to stay with her brother..and she walked over to her baby dolls stroller and smiled and pointed in it..lol..she wanted me to put her baby brother in it and he could come with.

They left and I fed baby john and got comfortable in the house.. Aurora and John came back..and things have been pretty easy going...the house was a mess, but we have been slowly picking it up..Aurora likes try and pat her baby brother..and if you ask her where her baby brother is she will gladly show him off to you. I hope that she continues to be as happy with him. Although she does become quite upset when he cries..she does not like him crying... and we kinda knew this was going to happen. She has a baby doll that makes sounds and if it crys she will cry...So we are just trying to explain to her that he doesnt like nap time either or diaper changing time either..

But anyways..we are home..yay! And i hear a little someone waking up right now..getting close to time for him to feed again. Hopefully breastfeeding continues to work out. He did lose a few ounces in his first day at the hospital..went from ten pounds to nine pounds ten ounces..but they said that was normal..they checked his bilirubin before we left and that was fine. He has a check up on Monday, but it isnt with his normal pedi who will be out that day..which im kinda sad about, but oh well..

Ill post tons of pics later!

quick little update

So Im sick. I caught Auroras cold.. and now i know what my poor little girl really felt like....and still does feel like..its no fun. My father has also started catching the cold..the last person to get it is John..hopefully he doesnt. Im worried that with me delivering the new baby hopefully today or tomorrow that we can keep him from getting it in some way... but what are the odds if we are all sick!

Well i know this may be tmi, but ive been spotting a lot since yesterday. My midwife warned me I would..I wont go into the gross details, but lets just say its pretty gross..lol.. I was having some minor contractions last night, but they were irregular..every few minutes or so and they didnt hurt that much. And since it was late at night, i chose to try to get some sleep instead..and did get some sleep..slept okay all night..woke up to pee and such...had contractions a few times. I havent had too many contractions this morning though..So i think im gonna try and get some walking done..I just need to get off my butt and get dressed!

Any day now!

So this morning i had to go to a midwife appointment. I was sad that john couldnt go, but its a work day for him and he had special training to do this morning. They called last night and moved my appointment from the offices i normally go to, to the offices next to the hospital i will deliver at. They did this because of the fire.. we drove past the office this morning and the whole hillside right across the street was burned..so needless to say the fire came really close to their office building.

So my dad drops me off and takes Aurora with him. I was pretty certain she would be stripping my membranes and my daughter does not need to be there for that. So i do all the pee in the cup and all that.. which came out fine. Did my bp..which was fine.. all that. I think i gained like five pounds...

Midwife comes in and we discuss the "plan". She asks how big aurora was. I said she was nine pounds four ounces the day before my due date. She was like Ohh...and mentioned that my due date is tomorrow.. She knew my daughter was big but i guess she didnt know that my daughter had been that big.. So she talked about induction..and would i be willing to go through one..etc.. and said she worked again on Friday. I said i was willing to do an induction, but i was hoping she could strip my membranes and then if i dont go into labor on my own by Friday then we will induce. She agreed that was a good plan.

So she went to strip my membranes, when she checked she said "oh yeah your gonna go into labor" and then she proceeded with the stripping of the membranes..OMG.. it was MORE painful than last time.. i mean seriously painful..and tmi, but when she pulled her hand out it was slightly bloody!!!!! I mean i was grabbing the pillow in pain...ouch..

Afterward she helped me up and told me that i am 4-5 cm dilated.. still a little "long" (dont know what that means" and about 40-50% (which means hubby heard wrong last time when he said she had said 80%...cause i didnt hear that...but he swore he had...anyways..) And the head is right there...still.. And she said that my bag of water is literally "pouching" out of my cervix...

So we will see what happens.. Im set to be induced Friday at 10pm if i dont go into labor before that. Though i do need to call ahead at 9pm and make sure they have a bed for me.. and i can get bumped...

Miserable night...

Well here is one of the maternity pics for you guys to look at. : )

Soooo last night Aurora woke up...and it was either because john was watching tv too loud or she just couldnt sleep..so maybe i was a bit harsh... I went and got her..brought her to bed and after awhile i could tell she was very stuffed up..all this ashy air is getting to her, even though we have tried to keep her indoors as much as possible.. well i tried to use her nasal bulb on her and some drops for her nose..got the drops done, but the bulb part didnt go to well... And i would rather not do it than have to have my husband hold her down...because that would seem like torture to her.. So then she went back to bed with us..but she was having such a hard time sleeping..fall asleep and then five minutes later wake up and cry a second... roll here..roll there.. after a while she got into a good sleep..but by 1:40am..i couldnt take it anymore..i couldnt get any sleep..she was all over the place still...so john finally put her in her bed..which i think was better for her since she isnt used to sleeping with us.. She fell asleep and i could hear her wake up every few hours and cry for a few minutes then go right back to sleep. My poor thing doesnt feel too great. : (

Busy but good end of day

So after Aurora woke up we headed right back out : ) We headed more into the area where they had the recent fires, but really had no choice because it was the closest place that has a babies r us. My friend nikki lent dad her truck so we could get the crib mattress... dad has a truck but he already has crap sitting in the back of it. So we go..and yeah long story short they say they have never carried the mattress we registered for on our registry..we were like okay..we will just go somewhere else for that then, the only reason we were buying it there was because we got that ten percent off coupon for what was remaining on our registry. So we picked up the other items we wanted to get.. a new bouncy/vibrating seat for the baby. We already have one, but it was a hand-me down so it was older..and i recently pulled it out to use with aurora who loved it when she was a baby..and yeah she is still in love with it.. so we just went ahead and bought a new one for the new baby. We bought another glass borne free bottle so we have some on hand for later on when we introduce the bottle. We also bought some diaper genie II refills, a "I love nana" bib, a surfer tummy time mat, another Christmas dress for aurora, some toddler spoons and forks for aurora, a nursing wrap, and a baby book..i think thats it..lol...Then we went and got a mattress at walmart...and then home. We went back out to get a bite to eat and on the way Sears called to say my maternity pics there were ready for pick up..so we went and picked them up.

Aurora had a tough time falling asleep tonight..which is not normal for her..so i dunno whats up..then john was watching tv so loud that it woke her up, poor thing.. so now she is crying..a few more minutes of this and ill have to go in there..we do the cry it out method and it has always worked great, but something is not right with my daughter tonight...and i refuse to let her suffer because her daddy couldnt turn the tv down on the commercials.

Counting down the days...

So i am 39weeks 4days pregnant! 3days till my due date! Crazy thought it seems, i truly believe i will be going over my due date.. The entire pregnancy i thought i would go into labor sometime around Nov.23rd..we will see if that happens.. And my reasoning behind this is and was.. because on the first few ultrasounds i had i was measuring three days behind consistently.. though they never changed my due date, another reason is because my due date is based off of my LMP..and they calculate by a regular ovulation of cd14..and i always ovulated late..around cd16-18...

And now i think i will be going over my due date, because i wont see my midwife again until Wednesday...which honestly seems like forever away when its only two days..lol..and thats the day before my due date..im sure she will strip my membranes then. She stripped them when i was pregnant with Aurora at 39weeks3days or so.. and three days labor i went into labor and had Aurora...

Though i would honestly like to go into labor any day now..im ready to meet this baby, im ready to start the next chapter of our lives..im ready!


Anyways.. Today is Johns day off..So this morning we got up as a family...I cooked breakfast, we ate...hung around the living room for a bit..then all got dressed and all that jazz..then we went by the post office and the bank, then to buy john some new pants for work..since he has to dress in office attire and i really hated one of the pairs he was wearing all the time...

What we will be doing the rest of the day..i dont know.. We got lunch, came home and ate..aurora is napping..Im thinking of going to the mall.. I feel like a cow today..lol...just cause im too lazy to get all nicely dressed up. I do need to go to the dr.s office and pick up my prescription..but im unsure as to whether or not they are open since they were in one of the evacuated areas of the fires..i need to call ahead.

Eerie...

Ash on the tarp of one of the cars in the back

Ash on my fathers mustang

I think the fires continue to burn.. im not watching the news anymore... Its disgusting outside..all smoggy... the air is horrible..smells horrible..ash is everywhere...falling from the sky...all over the roofs, the cars, the plants..everything....

When john left for work this morning he told me to try and stay inside and gave me a kiss.. Aurora and I have been inside playing all day long. Her grandpa took her over to play at his house for about twenty minutes... just so she could get out of the house. I went and put some laundry in the wash..which is when i took some pics of the ash..

Goodness, Gracious...

Great BALLS OF FIRE!

So i dont know if you have heard but SoCal is battling fires..yet again..and this one is getting close to home. The city next to ours has an area affected by the fire and that is being temporarily evacuated... GREAT.... Oh and yeah my hospital is in one of the areas that is on fire..so lets just hope i dont go into labor tonight..cause who knows if they are still open, likely they are..and yet they say the roads getting there are horrible and some completely blocked off...

Oh yeah and there are huge chunks of ash falling all around us. I went to get my hair cut today..which took forever cause i have so much hair..ill show pics of it later... And when we got home the area wall all smoggy and ashy... ash falling everywhere..the sun was red.. it was crazy...I stood outside for maybe ten minutes to talk to my friend about the fires and my hair..etc... and by the time i got inside i needed to use my asthma inhaler! Its bad out there..

Oh and to top this wonderful event off..last night was miserable.. here is why:

Now last night... Hubby and I had sex..which was painful..but we were working on trying to start labor... So i fell asleep afterward for about two hours..woke up...and dont remember anything out of the norm. Then he comes to bed, turns the lights off..etc and i start to fall back asleep..And feel something crawling on my face (just so you know we have had a spider problem in the past..and they seem to all be gone, but when i feel something "crawling" on me..i freak) and so i freaked..and swiped it away..Then something was on my stomach and i literally grabbed it and threw it away and freaked out.. Hubby turned the lights back on and it turned out to just be a moth..but at this point..i was terrified.. i know..im silly...
So im laying in bed all tensed up ready to swat the thing if it comes near me. Wide awake..couldnt even go back to sleep if i wanted to.. So eventually hubby kills it and he goes back to bed..and i just cant sleep..so i watch tv..i give up and try to go back to sleep and have a real hard time..wake up every thirty minutes..which starts to get longer..every few hours and i start to realize that im in a lot of pain.. and i mean a LOT of pain.. my pelvis is killing me.. if i try to roll over its excruciatingly painful...Like at one point i thought, maybe because im doing it slower its making things worse, so i try to roll faster...BAD BAD IDEA... and i get this shooting pain that literally makes me yelp out loud.. So i try to not roll over, but its killing me to lay on one side for so long..i normally roll all around in bed. So eventually i wake up to pee.. at like five am..and i make an attempt to get out of bed that almost lands me on the floor on top of my cedar chest and i think ill take a warm shower to help my pelvic pain..maybe that will help.. Because at this point, walking hurts, sitting down hurts, turning left or right hurts..standing up hurts..it all hurts...
So i shower and i go on cafemom and I think about posting about it, but figure no one is really up at that hour and maybe it will go away with some rest. So i go back to bed..after a few attempts at getting back into bed which was interesting... And I tell hubby i may have to go to the hospital if this continues..but what am i supposed to say to them? Arnt they just going to tell me this is normal? And somebody tell me how im supposed to push a baby out of that area when i am in this much pain just moving! Like what did i do to my pelvis! Hubby urges me to take some Tylenol..gets it for me and i take it..
So I finally fall asleep yet again..at a little after six am.. and wake up around six forty..think about rolling..make it maybe two inches in the direction i want to roll and i get a huge shooting pain and i make a small scream..and fall back the direction i was laying..and at this point i feel like crying..im just done..soooo done... And then i start to think..how am i supposed to take care of my daughter when hubby leaves for work? I can barely move without being in pain.

Well luckily my dad came over to help watch aurora and the pain eventually went back to the normal pelvic pain...but man did it hurt!

Still no baby : (

I really think i wont be going into labor on my own..well at least not till my midwife strips my membranes..which wont happen till my next appointment, which is the day before my due date.. but we will see.

I went for a walk with hubby and baby last night.. didnt even bring on a single contraction! Which i thought was crazy, cause i get contractions from picking up auroras toys..maybe its the bending that does it..hmm.. Im going to try and get hubby to go for yet another walk tonight.

No baby yet

Well this morning i went to my MOMS club membership meeting.. Gave dad the option of watching aurora or i could put her in the daycare at the meeting..he opted for watching her (which is what i preferred..) Meeting went well, smaller group today because a lot of people couldnt make it.. had a cool presentation from the stroller strides people, but they are soo expensive! I think most of us moms were figuring on doing it all on our own..it wouldnt be hard to do.. so yay.. i will have exercise buddies after this baby is born.

Then got home..Dad left..Aurora and i played..ate..etc.. Picked up the nursery a bit. Started packing the new diaper bag for both aurora and the new baby. My dad came back over to eat.. He ate in the kitchen, aurora played, and i sterilized the baby bottles..we wont need them for at least three weeks.. im hoping to hold off till six weeks.. but i figured might as well get them done when i get a chance.. burned my hand a little..oh well.. Then i put aurora down for a nap..dad left.. put in a load of laundry..

And here i am. I also found two of my tea bags left..red raspberry leaf tea.. ive decided im ready for this baby to come.. no more putting it off.. So now i will be drinking the tea... asking john to go for a walk with me tonight..and even attempt sex..which honestly doesnt interest me right now.. Maybe i can get these contractions to take on a consistent pattern.. I will be 39weeks tomorrow.. cant believe it.. and my next appointment isnt until next Wednesday! Seems like forever..ill be 39weeks6days! Which furthers my belief that i wont have this baby till November 23rd.. but im hoping to go into labor beforehand..im ready to have him here.. im ready to do all this over again! Im ready. Bring it on!

Bored and Lazy

Thats how i feel today.. We stuck around the house.. Aurora is napping, even though it is rather late, but its her first nap of the day..she didnt get tired until wayy late in the afternoon.

Today i didnt do much...other than completely move my living room furniture..after that i was pretty much done.. ive picked things up here and there, but nothing major...

Its been a lazy day..Oh and this morning Aurora and I made a tent in the living room. It was quite fun : )

Prenatal

Had my weekly prenatal today. : ) Last week she said she was gonna strip my membranes this week and that didnt happen..and she had me freaked i was having a huge baby...

Well today my bp was higher than norm for me but not bad. 131/78

I also lost 2 pounds..

Baby's heart rate was about 157

She checked my cervix.. and i am 3cm dilated
80%effaced (this part i didnt hear, but john says he did)
and -2 station...which i heard for sure and watched her chart in the computer.

She said she wasnt going to strip my membranes because my body is doing it all on its own..so whooo hoo...the membrane stripping hurts! I dont want to go through that again unless i have to. Plus my body really is doing this all by itself.. I said i was going to use red raspberry tea, EPO, and sex, but i ran out of the tea and was too lazy to buy more last week... I also have been too lazy to do the EPO and i really really dont feel like having sex right now...

I also asked about the Ultrasound i had last week when i was 37weeks4days.. She said baby looked good and he was weighing 7pounds 11 ounces at the time, which i guess is in the 87th percentile or so for a baby at 37 weeks... Im gonna go back and see if i had an ultrasound of aurora around that time and if i put down how much they said she was gonna weigh.. but i have no doubt that i can push a baby out her size..which was 9pounds 4 ounces.. So i think we are good there.. sure my baby prolly weighs more now than some womens full term newborns do...but i guess i just make big kids : )

Oh and she mentioned that my weight gain was good.. ive gained 25pounds so far...

Oh and i just checked my to do list and im 99% done with it.. ive got two things left to do and ive already started them...

UGH....

People seriously need to learn how to respect our decisions...

John and I have decided to keep a close watch on what our daughter eats..we both come from overweight households... we both know how easy it is to gain the weight and how hard it is to lose it. We both struggle with our weight and we both know that a child has better chances of beating obesity when they learn the right way to eat as a child...

With that in mind..we keep aurora away from a lot of sugar... she doesnt have cookies, she doesnt have ice cream, no soda (which i think is horrible when someone gives that to a toddler...), little to no juice (maybe and i mean MAYBE once a month will she get watered down juice), no french fries, no fast food, no pizza...etc.. These rules can be bent for special occasions..like some cake for her first bday party, but even then the effects of the sugar...she was off the freaking wall for awhile...

Well today I took our daughter over to my cousins sons 2nd bday party..They were having pizza..i had given aurora a snack of raisins beforehand..so for a long while she played and was completely distracted..Then she noticed my aunt was eating pizza..and she went over to her...and I was like two feet behind her telling her NO PIZZA... Well my aunt said mommy says no, my other aunt said whats wrong...and Aunt number 1 said that I had said no pizza and i was watching like a hawk.

Well somehow a piece of the bread (thats what they say..i thought it was sausage...either way i was upset) gets broken off and my daughter begins to eat it.. yeah i know how it got broken off... my aunt broke it off for her.. and i grabbed my child..took the bread out of her mouth and whisked her away... She is 1..she doesnt need pizza...no part of the pizza at all... So she is crying and crying..her little heart is broken.. So i took her outside..because im not going to let her continue to scream during the party..We play around in the front yard.. i chase her, she chases me, i tickle her..etc..she was having a good time.. So i bring her back inside and give her some snacks and a sippy of water.. She sits and eats happily in her grandpas lap..

Then its getting time for her to eat her lunch.. i have my dad microwave it.. (After the entire party was over he said that he didnt want to tell me then, but the microwave was disgusting...wonderful...) And I fed her.. Then she played a bit..and then they did cake.. we stayed for the singing and then left when they began to eat it..

Originally i had planned on letting her eat a little, but at this point i was just over the whole party thing and i knew my husband wouldnt like her having the cake anyways.. and it was nap time and it would only make her hyper.. So we left and as we were leaving what does my aunt give my daughter..an animal cookie and hands two more to my dad.. I let her have the cookie, but the other two got tossed....

Gee i wish my husband wasnt working today..he does much better at making people understand that this is our child and we decide what she eats..

And not only that, but this isnt the first time they have fed her crap.. they do it all the time when im not around... I hear about it later...

I dont care if they think im the sugar nazi... She is my child!

So

We ran a ton of errands this morning..then this afternoon my best friend nikki and I went to sears to check out my maternity shots there...and honestly there were some good/okay stuff..some really cute ones of aurora.. so i ordered about six of them..or seven, i think it was seven, but id have to double check. Those arnt supposed to come in until my due date..so its gonna be awhile before i can share them. However tonight i got a call saying the ones we got done at photo perfections were in! YAY... so we went down there and i love love love the one of john and I.. The one of us as a family is good except for my back fat..lol (which is the first thing i notice..ha) and then i like the color one of the sheet and there is one more that i just dont feel quite comfortable sharing.. bit too much of my belly if you ask me..lol..its just for personal looking..ha...

Oh and I went to wal mart at one point today and got some stuff...then came home and cleaned both bathrooms... i still have to mop though and i also finished organizing the closet in the bathroom..So pretty much all the closets in the house are organized.. Now i just need to dust everything and finish cleaning off our desk.. But pretty much everything is in order...just some small things left to do.. i want to be ready...

Crazy busy

So tonight i figured out my water heater (that is only a year old) is leaking into my hallway..just freaking wonderful..ugh.. Ive noticed the damp spot for a few days now and i kept thinking aurora must have spilt something until i realized i was thinking that every single day.. So tonight I had my dad check the water heater and yeah..its slowly leaking water...just great..ugh

And i had to go order new carpet for the back apartment, since she is moving out..still have a ton of paperwork to do with the new renters..etc...

And a walk through with the old tenant.. coming up in a week or so..

Then when she moves out we have to quickly paint and carpet...

Aparently they are giving john a new position at work and he started his "training" for that today..

Oh yeah and did i mention im having a baby this month...

Maternity Pic Fiasco....

So Yesterday i had an appointment scheduled to get maternity pics done at sears. I chose sears for two reasons: 1) because the photographer there is someone I personally know and thought i would feel more comfortable exposing my plus size pregnant body to and 2) because the place i really love is really expensive and well i would have to shoot the pics with a stranger....

Well Yesterday I got ready, Got aurora ready, dad was ready to go...even though his back was killing him..poor guy. And we went to the polls first.. just so we could get that done..well yeah..line was out the door, so we left without voting. Went to get my Make Up done at MAC.. which i loved and i will share a pic of.. And then off to sears..we didnt have time in between to hit the polling place.. So went to sears..showed her all my pic ideas..since they really dont do that kinda stuff..and she made some great attempts..and at the end she showed me a quick view of the pics..and yeah..i was worried i wasnt going to like them very much... They werent really what i was looking for. Well she put them on file and then we would see all the finished photos friday night when John comes back to take pics with me, with a stranger, because my friend doesnt work any hours where john can come in..

So then we went and voted. And after that went home. I started getting upset, all crazy preggo lady..that i just didnt go to the original place i wanted.. Soooo I got johns okay to go down there after work and get pics done there.. Instead of going back to sears on Friday..which i saw as waste of time and money because they werent going to do what we wanted anyways and I would have to get my make up done again to match the first set of pics..and that would cost extra money (and time...) Plus i would have to take pics with a stranger anyways.. And on top of all that. We have tentative plans to go out to dinner with family, one of whom just got back from a long deployment!

So we went down there.. Took pics and man do they know what they are doing down there! Im still kinda iffy about the end result..not because of them.. i know they take great shots and they did, but i dont know if I will be comfortable sharing pics of my plus size belly with everyone online.. we will see.. There is at least one pic that i am going to share. We pick those pics up on Sat. Not only that, but the photographer was a plus sized female too.. which i was very happy about because honestly i felt more comfortable around her... We didnt get home until late and they were on the kinda expensive side.. But worth it in every way! From them we are getting a bare belly shot with the whole family, one of john hugging my belly, one of me in a sheet-dont know how to explain it but its my fave, and one more in a sheet.... Im excited to see the end result...nervous but excited..

I also need to call sears and set up a time to come look at the pics i already took there.. I might still buy some there..she did take a few of just aurora and I and I might want those..

So anyways.. my day was fairly hectic... I sorta feel guilty for spending that much money on myself or on something i wanted.. but i guess once in awhile doesnt hurt...

Though John and I decided we arnt buying each other much for Christmas.. he got his super spiffy phone and i got my maternity pics, both were very expensive and we dont need anything else.... Christmas is about the kids and i think thats a tradition id like to start.

Prenatal

Had my appointment today

Bp was 119/70

Babys heartrate was in the 140's

Gained more weight.. Im at 27pounds total.

She checked my cervix
Im 2cm dilated..which she said was good
She said im still about 60%, so im assuming that means im 40% effaced
And she said the head was right there..so i dont know what that means other than he is engaged in my head..maybe zero station.. ill have to look that one up

She said next appointment she will be stripping my membranes.. My next appointment is next week. Ill be like 38weeks4days or so...

And i have and ultrasound this afternoon at three..if they give us any good pics, which they dont ever seem to..ill upload them into the computer.

Been busy

So ive been busy lately..as usual... lol.. Sat john had off so we spend the whole day together as a family.. We went to the mall, bought a christmas outfit for the new baby, christmas dress for aurora (which might get returned if i find something i like better..im really picky), and babys first christmas ornament..which still needs to be engraved, but they said we could bring it back later and it wouldnt cost us anymore than it would origonally.



Yesterday I got thirty days notice from the back tenant...So that FREAKED me out.. I was worried about people not wanting to move into the apartment during christmas!! I was worried Dad wouldnt be able to cover the mortgage and i doubt we could fully either...Well yeah... no reason to Freak out..we called people..got the message out about the apartment...havent even put a sign out..and three people are interested..dad accepted one.. and its rented..thats it... done..



Still need to get an appointment for a carpet guy to install new carpet in there..Dad and his buddies will have to paint once the current tenant is out, then the carpet...

Halloween

Yesterday i dressed her up in a special halloween outfit during the day.. it was black and orange and said "My magical power is being cute" : ) Then My father and I took her to the Irvine railroad where they had a pumpkin patch. We went on a hayride, trainride, and through a maze..and looked at the pumpkins and all that. Afterwards we took her to the Oc zoo. Then we met john at his work so that i could go with him to a doc appointment.

Then we came home, fed aurora, got her dressed in her halloween outfit.. took her to my grandmas to trick or treat, said hi, they gave her a few animal crakers which kinda pissed john off...he is a sugar nazi, but i agree with him on it most of the time..then left for La Miradas halloween festival...she had a blast on the swings in the park, though there wasnt much age appropriate for her to do. She pushed her own stroller across the park, with johns assistance of course..lol..i have pics and a video..lol.. and then we went to my moms house and she trick or treated there..where she got a little tiny piece of candy..which i was amazed john let her have..he doesnt like her eating sugar and after the cookies im amazed he let her have it..he doesnt want her becoming overweight.. Then we went to my best friend nikkis house and trick or treated..said hi.. and then we came home. She fell asleep on the way home.. so we gave her a sippy cup when she got home, changed her into jammis, gave her some baby tylenol and numbed her gums (she is teething, like three teeth coming in.. another molar and a few other teeth) and then put her down to bed. All in all it was a great day : )

My eyes burn

So for the last two days..my eyes burn by the afternoon and im sooo tired.. I get enough sleep at night.. and i try to take it easy..as much as possible. Oh well..

Anyways. Today I made some progress with my to do list, which is almost finished. A few days ago i finished the baby boy bedding set..well its pretty much complete..I do have to iron one part..but thats it..its all sewn. I bought storage stuff for the nursery(i also couldnt resist buying a Santa hat for the new baby, new socks for aurora, and a cute purple switch plate for the nursery)...and more hangers for the baby's side of the closet. I reorganized the linen closets in the hall... which i started a few days back and finished today. I also organized the top of our bedroom closet..which is hassle since there was a ton of crap up there from when we got the apartment re-carpeted..and its a huge wall of closet... Though i did find some missing and useful things up there..lol.. Im working on getting the "nursing station", as i like to call it, in our bedroom ready to go. I took the slip cover off our wing back chair in the master bedroom and washed it.. I have my boppy pillow sitting right there..a little table next to it so i have a place to set things.. I am also organizing the bassinet area.. ive got diapers, wipes, paci's, blankets, all ready to go.... I was even thinking about making a little changing station on our dresser...but i think we would still end up changing him on our bed at night and the changing table in the nursery during the day.. we will see. I also washed all of auroras dirty laundry... will most likely do ours tomorrow..

My labor bag has been packed for quite awhile now...and the john put the car seat and base in the car on monday night... I still need him to put the double stroller in the trunk.. not sure if i want him to do that now or after the baby is born..though we should clean the car out..lots of junk in there...I was also thinking of packing the diaper bag for the two kiddo's... getting it ready for when we get back with the baby and go places.. I might still keep auroras old one packed for days when she is with grandpa..but eventually I will be using the new one for both.. i think it would be a pain and kinda silly to carry around two diaper bags.. Oh and john finally put the toilet lid lock on our master bath toilet..we hated the old ones we had..so we bought new ones..we switched auroras toilet lock right away, but did without one on ours for awhile..She doesnt get into the toilet anyways..but it makes me feel good to know that she cant get into them. The nursery is completely baby proofed now.. all i need is a gate for the door way and then they can both play in there.

Oh and i need to write thank yous to those people who got us gifts at the last baby shower and a few people have sent us gifts..

Anyways. Hope everyone is doing well. : )

MOMS club rocks

I love the gals in the moms club! They threw me a great shower today. I got a ton of cute stuff, diapers, and such. The conversation was great! The food was awesome. They had it decorated soo cute! I had a blast!

It could be soon....

So i had my doc appointment today..

Bp was 119/78

Weight was a lot..lol.. gained like four more pounds.. i lost two at the last appointment.. so i think im at 22 pounds weight gain.. At this point ive lost track! LOL

They did the heartbeat, 150's

Then she did the group culture thing..

And then we discussed the size of the baby and the ultrasound they want me to go for.. well she said that she wants me to have an ultrasound by the end of the week so they can estimate the size of the baby.. So i called and made that appointment. Earliest they had was next monday. I also have a prenatal next monday, john has a dentist appointment, and I think i have maternity shots scheduled for that day! Oy... so im gonna have to reschedule something...

Well she also said she will be stripping my membranes again this time..made it sound like she would be doing it around 37 or 38weeks.. She also said she ideally wants me to have this baby by 38weeks.. Yeah..dunno if thats gonna happen.. i know they wont induce because of the size of the baby till at least 40weeks.. So she said to have sex and do all that good stuff to go into labor.. So im gonna work up a routine now.. get my evening primrose oil down.. red raspberry leaf tea..etc

Im 36weeks and like 4days now.. so if i were to give birth by 38weeks.. its not even two weeks away! I dont know if it will happen..we will see

Oh and at the end john and I got our flu shots.. Aurora and dad still need to get theirs. I think im getting a headache and john is sleeping..lol

Christmas is COMING!

LOL.. Okay so yeah i tend to go overboard at Christmas and i am sooo going to go low key this year.. I dont want to go in debt buying millions of presents my kids arnt going to use.. Normally I would have done a ton of Christmas present shopping by now, but being as ive been pregnant.. my mind has been in other places (most of the time) and ive been doing other things.. However ive still taken the time to store up a few very very small things for my kids along the way.. Im sure baby John will be getting mostly clothes..since he will be only a month or so old.. my father however has already bought him his Christmas gift and its sooo awesome.. but im keeping it a secret..lol

I also bought something for hubby..again a secret..in case he invades the computer and reads this..lol.. It isnt anything big.. because he got his gift early.. a tmobile G1...expensive super awesome phone. I may buy him a few more things between now and then, but nothing big..and im pretty sure i will wrap the phones box and put it under the tree... just to remind him thats what he got it for...

Yesterday i also picked up the baby John letters from babies r us.. so maybe when i get a chance.. i can put them up on the wall. I also almost completed his crib skirt last night.. just one last thing to do to it and it will be done.. I also finished the mattress sheet...or so i thought..when i went to try it out on auroras crib mattress (since we havent bought one for his crib yet)... i found that it doesnt fit.. which upset me.. so then i was like, crap..im gonna have to buy more fabric! Then i looked through my bag and yeah..turns out i sewed the remnants together and not the piece i had cut out for the crib.. no wonder it didnt fit! So i got the new piece sewed together all except for the elastic..which i had to seam rip off of the old piece..ugh..that was a hassle... But i got it off.. ill sew it all together later on tonight.. Then ive got to sew the bumper and ill be done! I cant wait to be done cause honestly i love sewing, but i need a freaking sewing room.. I was using my dining room, but it was driving me nutts how bad it looked in there.. and how uncomfy it was becoming for me..so i moved it all into the living room.. I just want my house back!!! Soon soon....

Oh and we got a package from my grandpa and his wife who couldnt make it to the shower. Sadly he is pretty sick..they dont know what.. nothing life threatening i hope.. Well they sent their gift and they got us a baby Bjorn carrier..which i tested out on john and i cause hello we are big people..and luckily it fits! And another borne free glass bottle.. so I think we have enough bottles now.. im still hoping to breastfeed, so if that works out as planned i wont need too many bottles. A friend from the MOMS club offered to give me her old boppy pillow and i said sure! So i might buy it a new slipcover..though she says its blue..so i might not have to.. So actually all that we really need is the mattress... which isnt something we need until after he is born..and even awhile after that since he will be sleeping in our room in his bassinet. Though i would like to have it either before or shortly after..because i do want to get him used to napping in his crib and getting aurora used to seeing him in there...

Organizing the house is going alright.. little buy little the junk shifts from one room to another..lol.. Ive gone through and weeded out a lot of stuff we didnt need... and donated some of it today.. still need to get my old microwave down there to donate... Im working on getting my hall closets organized. After that i think im going to do my bathroom closet.. It prolly wont happen today though. We are supposed to be attending the MOMS club family Halloween party today after John gets off work.. so im looking forward to that.

Ahh well..Ill write a ton more later! : )

Feeling sick

Im nearing the end.. in the final stretch! LOL. im 36weeks today... Its almost time.. I need to get my bootey in gear and finish up those little things that need to be done.

Last night i sewed the nursery curtains and then after Aurora went to bed i was able to finish the valence..and i have to say I quite like them. I still need a slipcover for my beautiful wingback chair.. i looked into getting it recovered awhile back and they wanted like 800 bucks for ONE chair..and i have two.. lets just say there is NOOO way im willing to pay that.. So yeah..slipcover it is.. I just need to order the one i want online. And i think the last thing i have to do is put up Baby Johns name on the wall. I just need to take a trip down to babies r us to buy the letters.

I washed all the basinette bedding and such awhile back, but hadnt put the sheet back on yet.. just did that.. brought the newborn diapers in here.. im getting all the stuff organized next to the bed so that i can be ready for the little one.

I also want to try to organize my shelves.. balthroom shelves..etc.. i just need to get to it!

Well anyways.. today i went to a MOPS meeting and i really liked it. So i joined.. So now im in two different moms clubs..lol..but its great. And i put aurora in the nursery for the first time ever she did great. Ill post more about it later.. she is waking up from her nap right now.

Been busy

Well we have been so busy lately..it seems like forever since ive been online..even though its only been since Sunday...

Yesterday I put up "Dream" letters above the bedroom window..and also repainted my reading nook drapery thing..lol.. and put that back up..did some touch ups.. My mom and neighbor moved all the furniture back in place for me.. I also put up new baby safety covers for the electrical outlets..we had those little plastic things you plug in, but at the infant safety and CPR class we attended they suggested something else.. so i got those for the nursery and they are installed.

And then today i organized the room, hung up a ton of baby boy clothes..and omg..we have a ton of clothes and i still have one more baby shower! Hung up the "Aurora" letters ive had Forever... they arnt exactly centered over her crib, which sorta bugs me..but my back was killing me..so i just got it done..and i still think its cute! The room is almost done. Oh and i went through tons of stuffed animals that she has and divided them into piles of what is going to grandmas, whats going to grandpa's, and what is staying at home.

Things left to do before baby arrives:

Sew curtains and valance

Sew baby bedding

Buy some more plastic storage bins to fit all the toys we have! (and clothes!)

Thats pretty much it..

Oh and Sunday john and i went down to babies r us to return the diaper bag i had bought.. it had a stain on the side that i never noticed.. luckily i still had the receipt..and it didnt have the plastic lining on the inside like the one we have right now for aurora does.. and that comes in handy when things get spilled. Plus i saw one that my Internet buddy Bonnie bought and let me tell you..i fell madly in love..it had polka dots on the inside..and its got the plastic lining i love.. they didnt have it at the store when i had bought the previous one.. So we went and returned the one we had bought and bought the new one..and I LOVE IT.. lol... so happy with it.

Yesterday we went to target and bought some bottles for the new baby..borne free..we are trying to get a collection of them started, but they are expensive bottles. Right now we have one glass, two plastic..and they are all the larger size ones since thats all i really need. I have a ton of the smaller medela bottles that i have for my breast pump. We also bought a shirt for aurora and a new onsie for our baby boy. We still have a few things left to get...

Things left to buy before baby number two gets here:

Crib mattress

Boppy pillow (though one of the moms from the club im in plans on giving me hers..so i prolly wont have to buy this)

The letters J-O-H-N for above his crib

and thats pretty much it...

Im so excited...its getting closer..

I also might want to buy one more baby gate.. to gate off the nursery..because then i can have them play in there sometimes...rather than just the living room, since i have her toys split between the living room and the bedroom.

I also have a huge list of things i want to get done to the rest of the apartment before the baby gets here, just so its in order..but thats not a biggie if it doesnt get done.

Oh and john is sooo excited he got his brand new G1 phone today..ugh.. men..lol