And the sex of the baby is....

You guessed it, GIRL! I'm so excited that I'm blessed with one of each. I would have been happy with another boy, but since we're done after this baby, it's great that I get to experience the best of both worlds.

The ultrasound went great, she looks so good, and has grown so much since my 20 week u/s. There was no sign of cleft palate, since her jaw looked really good. Not recessed at all, like Matt's.

I went shopping online at Gymboree and Childrens Place to celebrate a healthy girl baby, and spent way too much money. But I couldn't contain myself, lol.

Finally have an u/s date!

This is what I've been waiting for. Another chance to get a gender shot of the baby! And of course, to make sure that there is no placenta previa, and to check the facial structure of the baby. I have the u/s schedulded for this comming Tuesday at 1 pm MT. I'm so excited! I can't believe that I've waited 2 months to have this u/s scheduled. At least it's less than a week away, right?

I also had my 28 wk appt yestarday. Can you believe that I have to go every 2 weeks now? Time went by so so fast. My BP was up. It was 136/78. Not fantastic at all. Last appt it was 118/38 I think. So it's gone up a bit. I'm worried that I'm going to start having BP issues like I did with Matt. That means I'll have to do bedrest. How in the heck is that going to happen with an active toddler, and a husband who works out of state? Hopefully it won't come down to that. So for now, I have to rest whenever I get a chance. Which means when Matt is sleeping, lol. I park my butt on the couch as often as possible as it is. I don't know how much more resting I can do. I'm starting to get really swollen too. Especially in my legs, feet and fingers. It's almost to the point where I can't wear my wedding rings anymore. *sigh* Oh well, it's all worth it in the end, right?

Time for an update!

It's been a few weeks, hasn't it? So it's time for some updates!

We have moved into a new house! It's actually Leonard's sister's house, but we're trying to buy it, and they had to move across the state. So for now, we're renting with the hopes of buying or even just taking over their payments. It's so much more spacious than our dinky little apartment that we were in. I'm definitely enjoying the room! We were so outgrowing our last house. And now with a baby coming in a few months, we really needed the room! I'm almost totally done unpacking. There are just a few boxes left, and pictures need to go on the walls and what not. I'm slowly but surely getting there. Matt is also loving all the room. He runs from room to room, and his favorite game is chase. I'll chase him, or he'll chase me and I'll hide and jump out at him and yell Boo! He loves it! I have no problems getting him to sleep at night anymore. He's out in less than 5 minutes most of the time. It used to take 1 hr to get him to be asleep. He's a much happier kid now too. He doesn't wine as much, which I of course love.

I'm still doing the married single mom thing. It sucks, but at least I can handle it pretty well. Matt and I have our days here and there, but overall it's not too bad. It helps that I'm not working full time also. Hopefully Leonard will be in the area at the end of March. I just really want him here for when the baby comes, and afterwards. Two under two sounds really intimidating to handle by myself. I'll pull through though I'm sure. I might have some bald patches, but I'll be ok. ;)

24 weeks already! Time really is flying in this pregnancy. I can hardly believe that in just over 3 months, there will be another little person added to our family. I'm sad though that it's going by so fast because this will probably be our last baby. As much as I can't wait to meet my little one, I'm really enjoying the expanding belly, big boobs, and those wonderful baby kicks, pokes and punches. I had my 24 week appointment yesterday, and I'm only up 2 pounds from my starting weight. I lost 4, gained it back, and I was up 2 pounds from my 20 week appt. BP was still a little high, but it hasn't jumped up from it's normal high range. Since Leonard is working out of town, my Dr said that if I don't go into labor by 38 weeks or so, then we'll induce by 39 weeks so Leonard can be there for the birth. I don't want to induce, so I really hope that Leonard will be working locally by then. I wasn't able to schedule my next u/s to check on the placenta position. I'm bummed out about that. My Dr wants to have the tech get a really good look at this baby's facial structure just to make sure that we're not going to be dealing with another cleft palate on top of the other problems that could come along with it. So we'll probably kill two birds with one stone and look at both when my Dr figures out when the best time gestationally it will be to look at the face and jaw on this baby. I didn't get to find out the sex at my last u/s, so I was really hoping that I don't have to wait until the baby is born to find out. I can handle having to wait until 30 weeks, but I don't want to wait any longer than that.

I'll also post a new belly pic!

Big Ultrasound

It was yestarday, and it was great! The little bugger was being stubborn, and wouldn't give a great show of the goods. And the umbilical cord was in the way, so the tech couldn't tell the sex and be 100% sure. I asked her what she thought that the baby was, and she said girl. I knew that I saw girlie parts during the u/s, so that's great! Let's just hope and pray that she keeps being a girl if that is indeed what she is. I'll have to get another u/s at around 32 weeks, as the placenta was pretty low, and they'll want to make sure that it doesn't cover my cervix. So I'll have another shot of being sure of the sex. The baby was so cute, she kept yawning and rubbing her face. Adorable.

20 Week Appointment

I love my Dr, she's so awesome. She's this neat little lady that, oh, is probably mid 50's or so. She has a son my age I guess, and is divorced. We obviously have come to know each other pretty well as far as Dr/patient relationships go. She was my Dr when I was pregnant with Matt, and she's also Matt's pediatrician. She's even given me her home phone number when Matt was sick, just so I could call her at home if I needed anything, or if I ended up having to take him to the hospital and she could just explain to whoever about Matt's situation at the time.

She wasn't able to be at my 16 week appointment since she was delivering a baby. So it was nice to have her at this appointment! Everything was good. I've only gained a pound in a month. I have no idea how I accomplished that one. My BP was a little high. But I guess it started out on the high side, and just hasn't gone down like most BP's do in the 2nd tri. So we'll be keeping an eye on my BP, since I did have high blood pressure with Matt at about 30 weeks. I'm measuring nice, I think a little ahead. Maybe it's normal for 2nd pregnancies to measure a little larger? I don't know. The babied heartbeat was fantastic. In about the mid 140's range. I remember Matt's being in the 150's, so hopefully that means it's a girl! (fingers crossed!) I have my ultrasound on Monday, so I'm super excited for that. I just have to remember to ask the tech to do a really good job measuring the babies jaw, just so we know if we're going to be dealing with another cleft palate. Matt's small jaw is what actually caused his cleft palate. It's called Pierre Robin Sequence, and we don't know if it's genetic in mine and Leonard's case. I'm praying that this baby will have a totally normal jaw. I also complained about these crappy headaches that I've been getting. Nothing will take care of them. Tylenol doesn't help, neither does eating or resting. They last all day too. So, she told me to try a cold or warm compress on my neck and head to see if that helps. If not, she'd prescribe me something for them. But I guess it's a class C drug, since they don't want me taking it in the 3rd tri. They've been finding that when the baby is born, that they baby has a hard time stabilizing it's blood sugar. We don't want that!

Poor Matt baby. He has another ear infection. He seems to get one every other month or so. He has a low grade fever Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday, it spiked up. I had it being 102 one time when I took his temp. He's barley eating anything since Saturday or Sunday. I should have recognized it, but he doesn't really tug or pull on his ears, so it's hard for me to tell when it's coming on. I thought that the fever and not eating were from getting his vaccines a few days before that. Anyways, I finally figured out yesterday that it was indeed an ear infection. His little ear has started to goop and puss has been coming out, thanks to his ear tubes. Hopefully it passes soon, and he gets back to his normal little happy self.

I'm -so- boring.

Nothing new going on here! Just trying to make it through every day until the weekend rolls around and Leonard is home for a couple of days. Life can be rough as a single parent, so hats off to those of you that do it all of the time! I love my kiddo, but sometimes I could really use a break, and I can't have one, because there is no one to take over for a bit. At least those times are pretty few and far between since Matt is a pretty easy going kid.

Last Tuesday, I took a nice fall down some stairs with Matt. So not fun. I don't recommend it, FYI. I was going down to my parents basement, which is unfinished, as are the stairs. I had Matt on my left hip. I don't know what happened, but I lost my footing, and my legs went right out from under me. I thankfully instinctively moved Matt onto my front, and I kind of leaned to my right so if I didn't move him quite all the way the opposite side that he was on wouldn't get the brunt of the fall. We slid down a few steps too. Maybe 3 or 4. It freaking hurt! I scraped up my elbow really bad, and my back and my neck killed me for a few days. And poor Matt. I didn't quite get him moved all the way onto my front, so when we stopped sliding, I noticed that his right leg was kind of under me. Thank the Lord that I leaned to my right (since he was on my left). He cried, and gimped around on his poor little hurt leg for a couple of days. But there was no swelling, and he let me put pressure on his leg and move it in all directions, so I didn't worry too much. He's a champ, and was perfect in just a couple days time. Mommy was not ok in just a few days though. I was sore sore sore. Thank goodness that both Matt and the baby were ok. I didn't land anywhere on my stomach, and the baby kicked right away after the fall, so I knew that things were all good. And no cramping or bleeding or anything. That's about the only exciting thing that has happened to me lately. Other than that, I work one day a week, and I visit my parents a few days a week so I don't get too lonely.

I also can't believe that I'm almost 1/2 way done with this pregnancy! It feels like time is flying, and I'm missing out on it. With Matt, the pregnancy took forever it felt like. Not this time around. I have my Level 2 u/s on the 26th, and I'll be 21 weeks. I'll be finding out the sex, but since Leonard won't be with me, I'm going to ask the tech to write the sex down on a piece of paper and put the pic of the sex in an envelope. We'll open it together when he gets home for the weekend. But, don't tell my husband, but I'll probably cheat and peek and not tell him. ;) How could I not when I'll have the info right at my fingertips for a whole week and I'll be by myself, so no one to tell on me. I'll try to hold out, but we'll see.

A belly pic!

Since I couldn't figure out how to post a pic in the sidebar, I figured that this will do for now. It was taken when I was 16 weeks on Christmas Eve. It's already almost time for my 18 week pic!

I am now also totally alone without my husband. He left early this morning on a 12 hour drive to southern Washington to work. He will be able to come home on the weekends, but it's not much. I miss him so much already.

Why can't I post a pic in the sidebar?

It won't let me do it. I wanted to just do a link from Photobucket, but whenever I put the URL in, it says that the image has been removed from Photobucket in the preview. What am I doing wrong?

Whatnots and such

It's snowing snowing and snowing some more right now. So far, I bet we have about 3-4 ft of snow, and we're getting more! We usually get this much snow, but not all of it within a week. Usually by then end of February, we have this much. So it'll be interesting to see how much more we get. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here looking out the window and enjoying the beautiful snowflakes plummeting to the earth. Nope, it's not a gentle snow, it's coming down pretty good.

We all had a great Christmas. Spent time with family, ate a ton of good food and enjoyed ourselves. My aunt was down from Alaska, and it was wonderful getting to spend time with her before I don't see her again for who knows how many years. Hopefully only one or two because Leonard and I want to make it up there after the baby is born to visit and to hunt. We didn't go to overboard with Matt this year, since he's still little and has no idea that it's Christmas and all that. So he only got a few things. Some books and a few movies from us (Finding Nemo, Open Season, and A Chipmunk Adventure). He received clothes and toys from the rest of our families. My sister did get him this great Mickey Mouse bean bag chair. He loves it! He'll sit on it and read a book or bang on his new toy drum that he got. He'll even recline back into it to drink his milk. He's such a doll.

I also had my 16 week Dr. appt last Wednesday. My Dr was delivering a baby (how great to have a Christmas Eve baby!) So I got to see a man Dr who was very nice and also very young! He graduated high school a mere 9 yrs before I did. I've only put on 3 pounds of the 4 that I've lost since the beginning, so I'm still at -1 for weight gain. I measured at 17 weeks, so a week ahead, and we finally got to hear the heartbeat. Having a tilted uterus, I don't get to hear the heartbeat until a bit further on. I couldn't find my little hand held voice recorder thing, so I didn't get a recording of it. I'll have to look for it before my next appointment. I also got my big u/s scheduled. It's not until Jan 26th. It's seems so far away! I'm a bit bummed, since I'll be 21 weeks when I get it done. A full two weeks later than when I got my u/s with Matt. Darn! Maybe I'll call the u/s clinic and reschedule for sooner? I wonder if they do that? Maybe I'll just buck up and wait it out until the end of the month. I'm sad because Leonard won't be able to go this time. He's bummed too. Starting Jan 5th, he'll be working in Vancouver, Washington, and will only be home on the weekends. This will go on for a few months. I'm bummed for Matt, since he loves his daddy, and follows him around everywhere at home, and I'm bummed that he'll miss out on a good chunk of this pregnancy. Not that he'll mind. He's not a fan of pregnant women and their beautiful bellies. Speaking of bellies, I have a belly pic! I'll get it posted up after I'm done with this post.

A trainer here at the gym I work at just had a baby in the second week of December, and I haven't gotten to see her or her new baby yet. Well, she came in and I got to see him! He's so adorable, and makes me so excited to be able to meet my new baby and have a tiny newborn to care for and carry around.

Well, I'm going to go and post a belly pic up, and fold towels while I enjoy watching the snow.

MIA a bit.

I've been MIA because, well, there just isn't anything to really say. I lead a pretty boring life. I don't do anything exciting except for take care of a crazy kid and work once a week. And since this is pregnancy #2, it's exciting, it's just not something I want to talk about all the time. I just want to keep it all to myself for some reason and try and enjoy it as much as I can in private. I do need to get a belly pic up though, since I'm showing quite a bit already. I look like what I did at about 20-22 weeks pregnant, and I'm only 14 weeks. I have also been feeling the babe kick and move around in there. It's great! I was definitely not expecting to feel him/her so much so early. But, I'm not complaining.

I'll also be a single parent for awhile. Leonard works for the railroad, and while he won't lose his job, he could be laid off over the winter, or he could choose to work and work out of state. He chose to work out of state. If we could have lived off of his unemployment, he would have stayed home. But, since we're on one income, he had to leave. He left on Sunday to Kenniwick, WA for a week, and then who knows where he'll end up. We're hoping he'll be able to bid a job in a town that's only like 1 1/2 hrs away from home, or somewhere in the state. We'll see. I'm just worried about him traveling home on the weekends through the mountain passes on the crappy roads late at night. I'm praying that he'll be ok and that God will take care of him. I'm not ready to lose my husband yet.

My aunt is in town from Alaska. She's my moms older sister, and is totally awesome. It's funny how much she and my mom are alike. She's got a great sense of humor, and is so easy and fun to be around. It's great! We don't get to see her very much, because well, if you live in Alaska, you're either poor, or you're pretty well off. There's not really any in betweens. Her and my uncle fall into the poor category. They only just recently got running water in their house, and I think they still use their outhouse quite a bit. It doesn't really help either that they live in a pretty remote area. But who doesn't in Alaksa? Unless you live in Fairbanks or Anchorage. Anyways, she's here because my cousin, her daugter was taking classes at our college and living with our grandma. I guess she wants to go home, so my aunt came down, and they are going to drive my cousins car to Seattle and put it on a ferry and fly back to AK from there. I'll miss them!

Ok, I'll try and find more to post more often. But, probably not.