Time for an update...

We have been very busy over here with walking, running, writing articles and growing baby sister! Benjamin is walking and running. He took his first steps while at my great-grandparent's house about a month ago. He is still a little unsure, but everyday he seems to gain more confidence and is even discovered running. Which has lead us to our first busted lip; left two tooth marks on the window sill. He can feed himself with a spoon, though very messy he enjoys it! First birthday is also approaching quickly! How can my baby be almost one??

Baby sister, who now has a name: Meredith Grace is busy growing and kicking the heck out of me. I've gained about 14 pounds so far and she is sitting high. Back and hip pain have sent me to the couch with a heating pad half way through the day (so with any luck, I may have time to update the blog more!) for about an hour during Benjamin's nap. Her room is coming along and pretty much complete, still need to take some pictures. So stay tuned for that. And belly pictures, poor lil girl will have no idea what I looked like while pregnant with her. She will have to refer to the weekly belly pictures of her brother. I really wish I had taken some since I am carrying her so differently. Sorry, Meredith!

Working from home is going great, I have been writing about 4 articles a day Monday through Friday. This will allow me to put money towards bills for the current month and save for when Meredith arrives. So far, if all goes well (and looks like its on track) I will have enough money saved up to pay bills for 5 months. I hope that I can get back to writing before five months is up, but I wanted to be able to have enough in case taking care of two little ones will be much more than I can handle with writing.

Well, that is the update for now. We are currently waiting for Alan's parents and brother to get here from FL. to spend Thanksgiving with us. His sister is flying in this week too, it will be good to see everyone and have some fun while they are here. Plus, my dear hubby who has worked his tail off  working 6-7 days a week for the past two, almost three months has the entire week off!!! :) Benjamin and I couldn't be happier!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Benjamin is getting a sister!!!

The lil' lady was all flips and moves and showing off her goods during the ultrasound. Everything looks great and we will be talking due dates in the next month or two; hospitals don't like doctors scheduling c-sections too far in advance. This gives me relief (its still far away) and scares me (we are going to have another baby!). Oh well, Alan is all about getting this lil' lady's room ready in advance (he is painting as we speak) as I crank out the articles. So far I am ahead of schedule with articles and hoping that I can have enough money saved by the end of Nov. to take off for six months with our lil' lady and B. Speaking of the lil' monkey, he is all over the place, trying to crawl or climb up and over everything! And his personality is really starting to show, making us laugh and smile with everything he does. I love him.

You Know What They Say...

“Every pregnancy is different.” No kidding. With Benjamin, I was a little nauseated but ended around nine or ten weeks. This one…ha, I am 21 weeks pregnant and a wave of nausea will still come over me out of the blue. However; I am grateful I am not throwing up anymore. That was the worst. I was sick with this one starting at eight weeks and continued to get worse until 14 weeks (I think). Like, I said I still get a little green now and then, but I haven’t taken a Zofran in weeks! I am carrying different than with Benjamin, but how would you know, I haven’t taken any belly pictures! I can still fit into some of my jeans; shirts are out of the question! This uterus knows exactly what it is supposed to do and expand it has! I have gained three pounds at 17 weeks, with Benjamin I had gained a lot more than that! I did feel this little one earlier, I am almost positive I felt a little flip-flop around 13 weeks, because I know what it feels like. This little one loves spicy, the hotter the better. With Benjamin I had the worst heartburn when I ate spicy foods. So far, not the case. Pickles, how I love pickles with this one. I remember telling Alan one day “I would drink the juice out of the pickle jar if you weren’t home.” He gave me a strange look. I have more energy with this one, thank goodness! Well at least I do know, the first trimester kicked my butt. Between throwing up and taking care of Benjamin I was sleeping. I have my energy back and enjoying working out most days. We go for a walk every evening and now that the weather is a bit cooler, we are out for a run/walk in the morning. Two mornings a week I do the 30 Day Shred workout video. I am only doing level one and not doing the abs. I was doing this before I got pregnant, so I’m alright to continue. So those are the differences between these two so far. We find out Wed. morning if the little one is a boy or girl. I hope he or she is healthy and growing well! I have a lot to write about in regards to working from home, it’s been a challenge, but so rewarding. 

Expecting the Unexpected

So I bought another pregnancy test (didn't I just go through this???) and took it in the store's bathroom. I knew the result before the two lines ever showed up (which took all of 30 seconds). I cried. I looked at my sweet baby boy sitting in his infant carrier staring up at me and I cried. My baby is still a baby and I'm going to have another one? I stuck the pregnancy test in the diaper bag and I wondered aimlessly through the store. I finally came home, laughing and I couldn't stop. Alan was coming home from lunch and I thought I should wait until after dinner to tell him. But I blurted something stupid and he said "are you serious?" I said "yep. positive. (pun intended)." He cried, because he knew I wanted to do some running races next year and get back into triathlons. I reassured him that it would be ok (I guess by this point I was coming to terms with the idea). We laughed and figured that they would be about 13 months apart give or take a few days.

The following days we didn't really say much about it, per my request. I wanted to be in denial for as long as possible. Well that didn't last too long as morning sickness came upon me. I tried ginger ale, saltine crackers, ginger (which by the way is disgusting. I could only suck on it and it worked until I had to spit it out which then made me gag). I tried sea bands and they worked for about a week, that and ice cold water with lemon. Then one morning, Alan was getting ready to go to work and I asked for a piece of toast with butter. He brought it to me and it tasted so good, I ate it all and asked for another. Like a wonderful husband, he fixed me another and brought it to me and my stomach started turning. I said "maybe not." He took it away and got ready to leave. He said to call if I needed anything. He left and I got up, sipped on some ginger ale on the couch and then ran to the trash can. I finally was able to call Alan and he came home. I broke down and called the Dr. I knew if I couldn't keep fluids down I would be in trouble. Thankfully I have an amazing Dr. who called me in Zofran without even seeing me!

Alan went to go pick it up and I felt immediate relief within ten minutes. I had a horrible headache which is part of the side effects, but I could deal with a headache. I was happy that I could function! I went to the Dr. the next week (I was 9 weeks at that appointment) and my Dr. said that I have nothing to worry about and all will be fine. The due date looks to be Jan. 16, 2011 one day before my mom's birthday! However, with repeat c-sections, they will probably take me earlier. They drew blood and scheduled me for the NT scan at 12 weeks. Can't wait to see the lil' person!

We told out families for Father's Day, it was a hit. We put a sign that said "Expecting the Unexpected first arriving Jan. 2011" in their shirts. Everyone was shocked and happy for us! Alan is so relieved that we told the families! He is so excited about this one, talking about cribs, rooms, strollers makes me a little more at ease with the whole thing!

I know it will be hard and crazy, but I am looking forward to it. I loved being pregnant the last time and I know I will enjoy it once this morning sickness subsides!

6 months

Dear Benjamin,

You are 6 months old (and a few days) and its amazing, seems like you just got here yesterday and in other ways it seems like you have been here forever. Daddy and I cannot imagine our lives without you! You are currently up and jumping in your jumper because you decided that sleeping from 8:30pm-9:30pm was good enough and its now time to play. So we are waiting for you to get sleepy.

You have a wonderful laid back personality and love talking to people you know. You laugh all the time and are interested in so many things. You love watching the cars go by and finger painting (yes daddy thinks mommy is crazy for a 6 month old to be finger painting, but you love it!) You still slam your legs down on your mattress at night and you have learned to put your paci in all by yourself. You can hold a bottle and easily turn onto your side, sometimes your belly in the middle of the night. You LOVE your jumper and have figured out how to swing in it. You love anything that makes noise and thinks peek-a-boo with the shower curtain and daddy after a bath is the funniest thing ever! You are in love with the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, you laugh every time I read it to you or sing a verse when you are crying.

Baby, there are going to be so many changes and so many wonderful things happening, just sit back and hold on; mama and daddy will be with you all the way!

Love you to the moon and back,
Mama and Daddy

It's been awhile...

So the day after Mother's Day is my hubs birthday! We had celebrated it when his mom and dad were in town a few weeks ago and surprised him with an awesome Nikon D70s camera. I am not sure who loves it more; him or me, anyway we are getting some great pictures of Benjamin! So on his actual birthday I cooked him dinner an amazing dinner, not the everyday dinner. So he had a great 31st birthday!

Fast forward from then to now and life is changing at warp speed. Where is the time going? My baby is going to be 6 months in a few days and its crazy how big he is gotten! We weighed him on a scale and he is 16.6 pounds which puts him in the 10% for weight. My lil' peanut, however he looks like a chunky monkey ;)

Anyway, here are pictures from our first swim in the pool:

Happy Momma's Day!

Sorry to have neglected the blog; after I recovered from my cold that lasted two weeks, the brother-in-law came to town and stayed for a week. Then the mother and father-in-law came to town and stayed for 4 and a half days. I pulled off a 40th wedding anniversary dinner for the inlaws and a surprise birthday party for the husband! He loved the Nikon D70s camera that we all got him!

Today is Mother's Day and I woke up to a laughing son in the next room, something (probably his feet he has been chewing on) was cracking him up! I laid there listening to that wonderful sound and then realized that I got an entire nights sleep! The little man let me sleep through the night! yay!

The husband did great, two dozen roses, one form him and one from the bebe, plus cards! We then went to McAlisters (yum, potato soup!) for lunch and then went shopping for a Magnolia tree (no such luck, put trying again tomorrow). We then headed over to Macy's to see about getting a new set of sheets and a mixer (we had gift cards still from out wedding!) Scored sheets on clearance and a Sun Beam mixer on sale! Came home played with little man and fed him. He then pooped a very smelly horrible diaper that the husband changed without hesitation! Next up on the list is the husband cooking me dinner, pork on the grill sweet potato and a salad! Yum Yum!

I leave you with what popped up in our garden:

we had to get the tomato plants planted somehow!