Thanks Traves for always being willing to take our pictures!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Sneak Peek
Here is a sneak peek at some of the maternity pictures we had taken this weekend. These are all unedited, I will post more when Traves finishes them. We are doing one more shoot this weekend with Ethan. He was napping when we went and we didn't want to wake him up, so Kace and Ber kept an eye on him while just Mart and I went.
Thanks Traves for always being willing to take our pictures!
Thanks Traves for always being willing to take our pictures!
Friday, September 10, 2010
32 weeks
Today I am 32 weeks along. It finally seems like it's getting closer to the end, but not close enough. :) I'm just impatient. Maybe I'm just really uncomfortable.
Yesterday I had my 32 week appointment. I'm measuring a week big, which isn't too bad but I've measured right on track until now. My doctor mentioned that maybe he is just going to be a big baby. She then asked me how big Ethan was when he was born. He was 7lbs 11oz ... 3 weeks early! He had nothing wrong with him at all though, so I'm convinced he was right on time and we had dates off. Anyway, her eyes widened a little bit and she said "So you wouldn't mind having this baby in October then would you?" I looked at her and smiled and told her not at all. We have like 20 birthday's in November and I'd just prefer not to add one more to that month. The way she was talking after that made it sound like she was more than okay with me having him in October and that she would try and make it possible. I'm TOTALLY okay with that!
Of course, just like 2 weeks ago the day after I go to my appointment my body starts acting up again. 2 weeks ago it was shooting pains and contractions leading to a visit to labor and delivery ... putting picture taking on hold.
Today I've had a massive stomach ache all day long that won't go away. I've tried a hot bath, laying with 9 thousand pillows under me, taking a short nap, drinking water, eating, etc. It's not working. I can't get comfortable no matter how I sit. I've just hit that place at the end of pregnancy that is miserable. This will hopefully not interfere with pictures ... which I am supposed to be doing tomorrow. Lets hope I am good to go tomorrow and don't end up back in labor and delivery again.
Anyway, back to 32 weeks. I only have 56 days to go until due date (hopefully less!). My baby is nearing 3.75lbs (as long as he's not huge) and just about 17 inches long. He's taking up all the space in my belly and I can eat next to nothing anymore. 3 bites into dinner and I'm stuffed. I'm pretty sure between a baby that's nearly 4 pounds and 2 hernias there isn't much room left in there for my stomach. I also am still fitting into my normal pants! Okay, so they were a size too big before I was pregnant ... but they aren't maternity! My belly is another story. With my super large hernia poking out, my shirts are all way too short and my belly hangs out the bottom so I have to wear a belly band or a long tank top underneath all my shirts.
We have a name picked out, but are completely stumped on a middle name. At this point, he has no middle name and we actually don't really debate it much. Neither of us can think of one we like. I guess we'll see what happens there ...
Tomorrow if all goes as planned, I will have maternity pictures taken. Hopefully they turn out well. I will post some as soon as I get them and then again when Traves gets them edited for me.
Yesterday I had my 32 week appointment. I'm measuring a week big, which isn't too bad but I've measured right on track until now. My doctor mentioned that maybe he is just going to be a big baby. She then asked me how big Ethan was when he was born. He was 7lbs 11oz ... 3 weeks early! He had nothing wrong with him at all though, so I'm convinced he was right on time and we had dates off. Anyway, her eyes widened a little bit and she said "So you wouldn't mind having this baby in October then would you?" I looked at her and smiled and told her not at all. We have like 20 birthday's in November and I'd just prefer not to add one more to that month. The way she was talking after that made it sound like she was more than okay with me having him in October and that she would try and make it possible. I'm TOTALLY okay with that!
Of course, just like 2 weeks ago the day after I go to my appointment my body starts acting up again. 2 weeks ago it was shooting pains and contractions leading to a visit to labor and delivery ... putting picture taking on hold.
Today I've had a massive stomach ache all day long that won't go away. I've tried a hot bath, laying with 9 thousand pillows under me, taking a short nap, drinking water, eating, etc. It's not working. I can't get comfortable no matter how I sit. I've just hit that place at the end of pregnancy that is miserable. This will hopefully not interfere with pictures ... which I am supposed to be doing tomorrow. Lets hope I am good to go tomorrow and don't end up back in labor and delivery again.
Anyway, back to 32 weeks. I only have 56 days to go until due date (hopefully less!). My baby is nearing 3.75lbs (as long as he's not huge) and just about 17 inches long. He's taking up all the space in my belly and I can eat next to nothing anymore. 3 bites into dinner and I'm stuffed. I'm pretty sure between a baby that's nearly 4 pounds and 2 hernias there isn't much room left in there for my stomach. I also am still fitting into my normal pants! Okay, so they were a size too big before I was pregnant ... but they aren't maternity! My belly is another story. With my super large hernia poking out, my shirts are all way too short and my belly hangs out the bottom so I have to wear a belly band or a long tank top underneath all my shirts.
We have a name picked out, but are completely stumped on a middle name. At this point, he has no middle name and we actually don't really debate it much. Neither of us can think of one we like. I guess we'll see what happens there ...
Tomorrow if all goes as planned, I will have maternity pictures taken. Hopefully they turn out well. I will post some as soon as I get them and then again when Traves gets them edited for me.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Clingy
My animals have always demanded my attention and been clingy, especially my little Stella (the white dog). Since I found out I was pregnant, I've noticed that all 4 of my animals rarely leave my side. After reading about animals and new babies on the internet I found out that when a woman becomes pregnant all the extra hormones running through her body change her scent. That's how animals know that you are pregnant and as a result some of them tend to be more clingy. There are all sorts of theories/old wives tales about which gender becoming clingy = what gender your baby will be. I don't know if that's true in my case as all 3 of my dogs are girls and won't leave me alone and my cat is a male and also won't leave me alone.
Anyway, now that I'm pregnant Stella will NOT leave my side. She has become my protector. If I sit down, she's always within arms length of me. When I sit outside with Ethan she sits either next to me, on my lap or under my legs. Sophie has also always been clingy but has gotten bad too. If I lay on the couch to take a nap, Sophie will either lay behind my back or next to my legs. Stella will lay on the top of the couch above my head or on my legs/hips. Kya will lay next to the couch sprawled right next to me and Ashes (the cat) lays on my hip. It's not always very restful being constantly surrounded by animals, but I sure love my animal children.
As a result of them always being next to me, I tend to pick on them a little more often than I normally would. They are good sports and put up with it.
Stella:
Kya:
Anyway, I just wanted to post about my animal babies and how much I love them and I am glad they are in my life. Ethan sure adores them and I love having them around (even when they never leave me alone).
Kya (4 years old):
Stella (2 1/2 years old):
Sophie (2 1/2 years old):
and Ashes (5 1/2 years old):
They are sure good to Ethan and I couldn't ask for better family animals. Ethan LOVES them and plays with them/picks on them every day.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Weekend .... fun
Friday was my 30 week mark! It's all downhill from here, hopefully. :) I went to the doctor on Thursday and she said everything was looking great. My belly (with the exception of my hernias of course) measured right on track, my blood pressure was low (for me), no protein showing up in my urine sample so the swelling was just annoying swelling...nothing to worry about. She also looked at my chart and told me I was doing great and hadn't gained any weight in weeks ...(then she paused while she read my chart and then added) well months really. Nice. I can handle that. I'm now going to the doctor every 2 weeks instead of monthly so it really is getting closer.
The rest of the weekend sadly did not go quite as expected. We had planned to get up Saturday and take Ethan to Lowes to build a project (normal Saturday activity). We were going to meet Ty and DeAnn and the kids there and then DeAnn wanted to go to the farmers market after because she'd never been before. Then later that day Traves was going to take some maternity pictures for me.
In the middle of the night I had woken up with shooting pains from my pelvis up both sides of my abdomen up into my ribs and chest. I was nearly in tears but managed to go back to sleep. I had no idea what caused it, but pains come and go while your pregnant so I thought nothing of it.
I woke up in the morning and was scared to get out of bed because I could still tell my sides were hurting so I just laid there until Mart came and helped me get up using as few stomach muscles as possible. I went into the living room and sat on the couch for a few minutes when the pains started up again. It would cause my uterus to get rock hard at the same time. I still didn't think very much of it because I am only 30 weeks and haven't had problems like this so far. Also, when I have braxton hicks I can only feel them on my sides because my hernias take up the entire front of my belly so I can't feel anything through them. Anyway, they would come and go every few minutes until I got them so bad that I had tears coming out of my eyes. I couldn't find anywhere to sit that was comfortable so I was just miserable. In the middle of this ordeal my moms friend Debi texts me and tells me that they are outside dropping off my bountiful basket they had picked up that morning. I walked outside and while I was outside it hit again and I started to cry a little again and came back inside. My mom and Debi just hung out for a few minutes and Debi just watched me. After a few more lovely pains came and went Debi decided that she thought I was in labor and needed to get to the hospital as soon as I could so they could stop it before it got worse.
Mart and I ran around trying to pack a few things for me and for Ethan. About a half hour later we were driving to drop off Ethan with Aunt Kace and heading to labor and delivery. I got all checked in and in my room around 10:30 and then it seemed like a lot of waiting. They hooked me up to monitors to watch my baby's movement and to monitor contractions. His movement looked really good and my contractions seemed to have stopped once I was laying in the bed and relaxing. I didn't get any more intense shooting pains while I was there, which was good but annoying at the same time.
Over the next 4 1/2 hours they monitored me and my baby, gave me a shot of Brethine (Terbutaline) to relax my uterus so I wouldn't contract at home when I was released, gave me a Fetal Fibronectin test which came up negative (thank goodness) which means it's highly unlikely that I will go into labor in the next 14 days and then they checked to see if I was dialating which I was not. Everything looked good and so at 3pm they released me from the hospital.
We picked up Ethan who was having a blast playing with Kace, Ryan and Ryan's family and was so worn out he fell asleep within about 5 minutes of getting in the car. We came home and I just took it easy the rest of the day. We watched movies and I read my book.
Everything seems okay so far, I don't feel fantastic but I'm not hurting like I was. I don't think my stomach has gotten rock hard since I left the hospital and if it has, it doesn't last long or hurt enough for me to really pay much attention to it.
Sunday we went to church for nursery and Ethan was such a big boy! He opened the doors, ran down the hall, rounded the corner and got halfway down the hall until he decided to wait and make sure we were coming. We rounded the corner and watched him run all the way to his nursery classroom, open the door and go to class all by himself! What a huge change from when we used to drop him off screaming his lungs out and he would barely stop about a half hour before it was over. He's getting so big and so grown up I can't believe it.
After church we attempted to take an updated family picture. Attempted is the key word here. Nothing turned out great but they'll work for now I suppose. We set the timer and managed to cut off the top of Mart's head nearly every time. Also, ignore how swollen and puffy my pregnancy face is. Sadly, I'm one of those women who swell like crazy while they are pregnant so I've just had to attempt to get used to it.
August 29, 2010
The plan is to try and take maternity pictures this coming weekend instead. Hopefully all will go as planned and we can do that instead of hanging out in the hospital again.
The rest of the weekend sadly did not go quite as expected. We had planned to get up Saturday and take Ethan to Lowes to build a project (normal Saturday activity). We were going to meet Ty and DeAnn and the kids there and then DeAnn wanted to go to the farmers market after because she'd never been before. Then later that day Traves was going to take some maternity pictures for me.
In the middle of the night I had woken up with shooting pains from my pelvis up both sides of my abdomen up into my ribs and chest. I was nearly in tears but managed to go back to sleep. I had no idea what caused it, but pains come and go while your pregnant so I thought nothing of it.
I woke up in the morning and was scared to get out of bed because I could still tell my sides were hurting so I just laid there until Mart came and helped me get up using as few stomach muscles as possible. I went into the living room and sat on the couch for a few minutes when the pains started up again. It would cause my uterus to get rock hard at the same time. I still didn't think very much of it because I am only 30 weeks and haven't had problems like this so far. Also, when I have braxton hicks I can only feel them on my sides because my hernias take up the entire front of my belly so I can't feel anything through them. Anyway, they would come and go every few minutes until I got them so bad that I had tears coming out of my eyes. I couldn't find anywhere to sit that was comfortable so I was just miserable. In the middle of this ordeal my moms friend Debi texts me and tells me that they are outside dropping off my bountiful basket they had picked up that morning. I walked outside and while I was outside it hit again and I started to cry a little again and came back inside. My mom and Debi just hung out for a few minutes and Debi just watched me. After a few more lovely pains came and went Debi decided that she thought I was in labor and needed to get to the hospital as soon as I could so they could stop it before it got worse.
Mart and I ran around trying to pack a few things for me and for Ethan. About a half hour later we were driving to drop off Ethan with Aunt Kace and heading to labor and delivery. I got all checked in and in my room around 10:30 and then it seemed like a lot of waiting. They hooked me up to monitors to watch my baby's movement and to monitor contractions. His movement looked really good and my contractions seemed to have stopped once I was laying in the bed and relaxing. I didn't get any more intense shooting pains while I was there, which was good but annoying at the same time.
Over the next 4 1/2 hours they monitored me and my baby, gave me a shot of Brethine (Terbutaline) to relax my uterus so I wouldn't contract at home when I was released, gave me a Fetal Fibronectin test which came up negative (thank goodness) which means it's highly unlikely that I will go into labor in the next 14 days and then they checked to see if I was dialating which I was not. Everything looked good and so at 3pm they released me from the hospital.
We picked up Ethan who was having a blast playing with Kace, Ryan and Ryan's family and was so worn out he fell asleep within about 5 minutes of getting in the car. We came home and I just took it easy the rest of the day. We watched movies and I read my book.
Everything seems okay so far, I don't feel fantastic but I'm not hurting like I was. I don't think my stomach has gotten rock hard since I left the hospital and if it has, it doesn't last long or hurt enough for me to really pay much attention to it.
Sunday we went to church for nursery and Ethan was such a big boy! He opened the doors, ran down the hall, rounded the corner and got halfway down the hall until he decided to wait and make sure we were coming. We rounded the corner and watched him run all the way to his nursery classroom, open the door and go to class all by himself! What a huge change from when we used to drop him off screaming his lungs out and he would barely stop about a half hour before it was over. He's getting so big and so grown up I can't believe it.
After church we attempted to take an updated family picture. Attempted is the key word here. Nothing turned out great but they'll work for now I suppose. We set the timer and managed to cut off the top of Mart's head nearly every time. Also, ignore how swollen and puffy my pregnancy face is. Sadly, I'm one of those women who swell like crazy while they are pregnant so I've just had to attempt to get used to it.
August 29, 2010
The plan is to try and take maternity pictures this coming weekend instead. Hopefully all will go as planned and we can do that instead of hanging out in the hospital again.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Soux Chef
While Kace and Ryan were visiting a couple weekends ago she decided to make Mart some blondies. Of course, her little soux chef was glued to her side and more than willing to help.
She's so good to him and loves hanging out with him probably as much as he loves hanging out with her.
She's so good to him and loves hanging out with him probably as much as he loves hanging out with her.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Microbursts
I don't have a clue what's going on here, but this is the second microburst we've had hit our house in the last month and a half! After talking to my neighbors about the damage in our yard and around Richmond, I found out that both microbursts hit the exact same spots both times and nowhere else. Weird. It only hits from main street up 2 blocks and then stops. Last time it hit, we only had some branches break off our tree and stuff fly around the yard. This time, it did a lot more damage.
Mart had taken Ethan outside to play for a few minutes and was considering mowing the backyard. About 5 minutes later I walked outside and it started to get windy and sprinkle rain. Within about a minute, I could tell we needed to get in the house. The tree was shaking like crazy. About 10 seconds after shutting the laundry room door behind us, we heard it. Our shed took out our fence and flipped into the canal. Another couple of seconds later, our tree started to shred and about 1-2 minutes later it was completely over.
I'm glad nobody was hurt and nothing major was damaged. It could have been a lot worse. Here are some pictures from my backyard right after it happened.
My tree branch, patio furniture, grill pile:
Where my shed used to be. All the stuff was still pretty much in the same spot:
Where the shed took out the fence and the fence disconnected:
This is the fence post in that corner. It completely bent the pole!
Here is my shed in the canal. The good thing is there is no water in the canal at the moment so it's not blocking anything. We are still trying to figure out how to get it out.
Here is a tree branch that completely snapped but is still stuck in our tree. It's hard to see in the picture so I tried to illustrate it to help. The branch used to be connected at the circle on the left. It snapped and moved and is now the circle on the right.
Our neighbors just over the canal had their huge pine tree snap completely in half and land on some water pipes
This is just another view of my neighbors tree.
It was totally crazy! Mart was able to prop the fence back up and chain it enough that I can let the dogs out to use the bathroom without escaping too easily until we can get it fixed all the way.
Mart had taken Ethan outside to play for a few minutes and was considering mowing the backyard. About 5 minutes later I walked outside and it started to get windy and sprinkle rain. Within about a minute, I could tell we needed to get in the house. The tree was shaking like crazy. About 10 seconds after shutting the laundry room door behind us, we heard it. Our shed took out our fence and flipped into the canal. Another couple of seconds later, our tree started to shred and about 1-2 minutes later it was completely over.
I'm glad nobody was hurt and nothing major was damaged. It could have been a lot worse. Here are some pictures from my backyard right after it happened.
My tree branch, patio furniture, grill pile:
Where my shed used to be. All the stuff was still pretty much in the same spot:
Where the shed took out the fence and the fence disconnected:
This is the fence post in that corner. It completely bent the pole!
Here is my shed in the canal. The good thing is there is no water in the canal at the moment so it's not blocking anything. We are still trying to figure out how to get it out.
Here is a tree branch that completely snapped but is still stuck in our tree. It's hard to see in the picture so I tried to illustrate it to help. The branch used to be connected at the circle on the left. It snapped and moved and is now the circle on the right.
Our neighbors just over the canal had their huge pine tree snap completely in half and land on some water pipes
This is just another view of my neighbors tree.
It was totally crazy! Mart was able to prop the fence back up and chain it enough that I can let the dogs out to use the bathroom without escaping too easily until we can get it fixed all the way.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
She got married!
July 16th, Kacean and Ryan got married! It was beautiful, hot, nice and green, Hot, stressful and did I mention a HOT day?? The day they got married, I guess it ended up being 104 degrees. That's high for Utah! It feels like 120 degrees when you are out in the sun, 6 months pregnant for 5 hours straight!
It was worth it. Kace was so beautiful. It all went down relatively smooth and we now officially have a new family member.
Here are a few pictures from her wedding:
Waiting to get this show on the road. This was before I started overheating.
This is Kace, irritated that it's 10 minutes past 12 and we hadn't started yet. :)
My handsome Mart walking Kace down the isle.
Kace and Mart again
Kace and her bridesmaids. I was sweating buckets at this point, but luckily, you can't really tell.
The updated Neel family, minus Ethan. He was too busy playing in the water fountain and going down the slide. In 4ish months there will be two additional family members!
Kace and Ryan. He's a good guy. I like him. I'm glad he's part of Kacean's life and now officially part of ours too.
Beautiful Kacean. I think she was more than relieved when this day was over and she had one less event to worry about.
Congratulations Kace and Ryan!! We love you!
It was worth it. Kace was so beautiful. It all went down relatively smooth and we now officially have a new family member.
Here are a few pictures from her wedding:
Waiting to get this show on the road. This was before I started overheating.
This is Kace, irritated that it's 10 minutes past 12 and we hadn't started yet. :)
My handsome Mart walking Kace down the isle.
Kace and Mart again
Kace and her bridesmaids. I was sweating buckets at this point, but luckily, you can't really tell.
The updated Neel family, minus Ethan. He was too busy playing in the water fountain and going down the slide. In 4ish months there will be two additional family members!
Kace and Ryan. He's a good guy. I like him. I'm glad he's part of Kacean's life and now officially part of ours too.
Beautiful Kacean. I think she was more than relieved when this day was over and she had one less event to worry about.
Congratulations Kace and Ryan!! We love you!
Holster
When your favorite toys in the entire house happen to be guns, and you don't have a holster to carry them around in ... and sadly your mom is slacking and hasn't put on your pants for the day so belt loops and pockets aren't an option. What is the next best thing??
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Yep. My thoughts exactly.
My little man
Ethan decides some days to have funny eating habits. Take this night a few weeks ago for instance. He was hungry. He took a bath and when he got out I made him some soup. He LOVES soup. It's a food I can always get him to eat. I hand him his spoon and he starts going bananas. We can't figure out why. Turns out he wanted the spoon I used to ladle up his noodles with, not just a regular boring spoon. So I gave it to him.
Just like his Aunt Kace, he tried to cram the entire spoon in his mouth. Unlike his Aunt Kace, his mouth isn't quite big enough. :)
One thing Ethan inherited from my mom was the love of popcorn! If you pop a regular sized bag of popcorn and put it in a bowl, Ethan is perfectly content and quiet until the entire bowl is gone. Yes, he can eat the entire bag of popcorn!
His favorite way to watch a movie. His blanket, a cold juice and an entire bowl of popcorn all to himself.
Silly boy. I can't believe he's already 2 1/2. Where has the time gone?? Soon he'll have a little brother running around with him and my life with get twice as hectic.
Just like his Aunt Kace, he tried to cram the entire spoon in his mouth. Unlike his Aunt Kace, his mouth isn't quite big enough. :)
One thing Ethan inherited from my mom was the love of popcorn! If you pop a regular sized bag of popcorn and put it in a bowl, Ethan is perfectly content and quiet until the entire bowl is gone. Yes, he can eat the entire bag of popcorn!
His favorite way to watch a movie. His blanket, a cold juice and an entire bowl of popcorn all to himself.
Silly boy. I can't believe he's already 2 1/2. Where has the time gone?? Soon he'll have a little brother running around with him and my life with get twice as hectic.
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