Today in Luke's pregnancy.....

....I was admitted to the hospital. It was New Year's Day, 2005. I was exactly 31 weeks pregnant and feeling very ill. We had gotten up that morning and my body had morphed into the Michelin Man's! I was HUGE with edema, in quite a lot of stomach discomfort and bearing the weight that something must be terribly wrong. We drove up to my parents house for the day to visit with my aunt and uncle who were in town for the holiday. I remember walking in the door and heading straight for the couch. Then the floor. Then the back bedroom where I remained for over an hour....repositioning myself every 10 seconds or so, trying to find a position that was somewhat comfortable. I called the 24 hour nurse advice line after a bought of sudden nausea washed over me and my belly began hurting more and more. After a LONG 45 minute wait on the phone to talk to a nurse, she assessed my 'symptoms'. She had asked if I had any visual disturbances. Nope. Any vomiting? Yes. Any migraine? Nope...only a slight headache. Any epi-gastric pain? Absolutely. Swelling? You bet! She suggested I head to Urgent Care for further evaluation. We got ready to leave and the migraine (complete with visual 'flutteries' as I call them) started before I even hit the kitchen. Was it the power of suggestion or the real thing? Either way, we were on our way to the clinic. Once there, they took NO time to see me, measure my blood pressure (which was something like 150/98) and check my urine for protein. Both came back high and I was calmly told by the Urgent Care doc. that he had spoken with my OB and I was to head over to Redlands Community for 'further testing'. Little did I know at that point that Luke would be born just 3 short days later!

Fast forward two and a half years. Today, I woke up (after not sleeping very well) feeling pretty good. A little groggy from the night of coughing and tossing & turning on the couch, but nothing out of the ordinary. I sucked down my one cup of creamer-diluted coffee while Luke watched Zaboomafoo on TV, checked my email and made us some breakfast. A pretty normal morning for us. After I showered and got us both dressed, we headed out for some errand running. First to the rental car agency to retrieve the garage door opener Ty had accidentally left in the rental car when he returned it, then to Meemaw's house to visit and have some lunch. Then a quick stop at My Gym to meet Krystal and Will, (who were there for the twin's class) and pick up some things they had for us. After that, it was a quick, but quiet stroll through JC Penny, where we scored on an almost identical curtain rod we had registered for at Pottery Barn Kids for just under HALF the price! Whoohoo! It was 1:00pm by the time we paid for our purchase, so we headed home after stopping to chat with an old neighbor who was outside the store. I got Luke in bed for a nice nap by 1:45 and here I am typing away. No tummy pain.....no swelling.....no nausea....no fear of impending doom!!!!! It's been a completely normal first day of my 31st week of pregnancy! Hallelujah and Praise God!!!!!!!!!!!! What a wonderful feeling!

In celebrating the momentous occasion of making it THIS far without any foreseeable complications, I decided to do a belly-comparison collage. Here are the Belly O' Babies, both taken at 31 weeks, in as similar and untouched form as I could make them.


Notice how Lukey's belly is much lower than his sister's? If you could see me in person, you would say I was much more of a pear shape with Luke, carrying him low & lopsided, while I am more of a basketball shape with Lil' Girl McLaughlin. As everyone is telling me, I am "all baby" in there. I can assure you that I am certainly NOT "all baby". I am plenty of extra weight too, but I'll take the compliment nonetheless! I'm glad that people aren't brazen enough to say something like "Wow! You're sure getting big......EVERYWHERE!" Or "Even your face is filling out." or "HOW many more weeks do you have????" No.....my friends and family are much, much kinder and gentler than that! :) (Even though my cheeks are pudgy and my legs look like tree trunks!) So it goes, I guess. I'll gladly take tree-trunk legs and rounded cheeks (on both ends!) if it means I can spend more time at home with my family and LESS time in the NICU! Whatever it takes.......whatever it takes.

So....today I celebrate......as I will on Monday when day 206 of pregnancy rolls around and Luke's 'gestational birthday' passes uneventfully! :) Ironically, I have an OB appointment on Monday too, so I will post an update as usual. But until then, we will enjoy a pre-holiday weekend with my nieces here on Saturday night and a bbq with friends on Sunday. Nice and
n-o-r-m-a-l!!!!! :)

Am I a bad blogger, or what????

So much for sticking to my idea of blogging more often! It's already been quite a few days! Oops! Sorry, ya'll! So much to do..........

By the way, just in case you're counting along with me.......FIFTY ONE days left!!

Okay....now let's get down to business! :) The weekend turned out to be simply wonderful! The shower was phenomenal...there were about 15 friends there...just the perfect amount to make it intimate but also not too small. We ate yummy, yummy food (brunch stuff! Mmmmmm...my favorite!) and had a wonderful time chatting and sharing. And then of-course, there were the gifts! Oh how I loved opening all those PINK gifts! :) We were really, really blessed to have received so many wonderful things and are now pretty much set in terms of being prepared for her arrival. Thank you, my friends (and family!)! :) Her closet and dresser are now stocked full of a plethora of pink and white clothes (all washed, I might add!) , her bed is nearly completely assembled and diapers are set for the ready. We picked up a few final things at Target on Sunday and all there is left to do is hang things on the walls and pick up a couple things at Pottery Barn. Whooooohooo! I cannot begin to tell you how comforting it is to me to know that if she arrived tomorrow (which she won't, of-course!) that we would be more than prepared for her. I didn't have that with Luke. We were scrambling even as he came home 35 days AFTER his birth. But not this time. I set out from the very beginning to be 'ready' and now we are. Phew! As soon as I get just the last few things hung on her walls, I will reveal her precious little nursery via some photos. I just want to have it ***perfect*** first! :) You know me! :)

The shower lasted until about 3pm on Saturday, and afterwards my mom and friend Kelli came over for a bit to help me unload the goodies. :) Ty was away overnight at a concert, so once Kelli and my mom left, I was flying solo with Luke for the evening. Luke and I were both a little wiped out (me more than him, I think!) and we nibbled on leftovers from the shower for dinner, watched a video and hit the hay pretty early. I spent a little time in the nursery sorting through her gifts, but exhaustion soon overcame me and I headed to bed.

On Sunday, Luke and I hung out on the couch much of the day. He began coming down with a cold on Friday...sniffles and a cough....and when I awoke on Sunday, I had been hit with it full force! I felt pretty terrible! So we lounged around, nursing our aching and sick bodies until Ty came home after lunch. We dragged ourselves to Target late in the afternoon (we all must've looked like the walking dead!) and were home quickly thereafter for another impromptu dinner of PB & J sandwiches, scrambled eggs and my random craving of corn on the cob. Wierd, I know. But it tasted sooooo good! :)

After dinner, Luke was an eager beaver to get outside and try out 'his new' bike. Our neighbors across the street (who have two boys of their own) were kind enough to bring over a small training bike for Luke that one of their boys had outgrown. Of-course, we LOVE hand-me-downs and this bike is in great shape! How lucky are we! :) A cute little story....the neighbor brought the bike over in the afternoon, as Luke and I were outside for just a minute to get the mail. It was too dang hot to be out much longer than that! When Luke first laid eyes on it, he was immediately taken with it! Being the tired, not-feeling-well, overheated mommy that I was, I quickly put the bike next to the wall in the garage, thanked our kind neighbor and hurriedly encouraged Luke to walk with me (quickly!) to the mailbox. I headed down the driveway, but when I turned to make sure Luke was with me, I found him standing next to his new bike, hands positioned on the handlebars, looking at me with longing eyes. "Ride da bike, mommy!" "Peese???!!" Oh, if you could have only heard the desire in his little squeaky voice! It was to die for! But I was hot and tired, and in NO mood to stand, hunched over my two year old, sniffling and coughing, to try to teach him how to maneuver it. Mean, mean mommy that I am! (And selfish at the moment too!) I softly told him that we could try it out when daddy got home. "Nooooooo, Mommy!!!!! Ride it NOW." "Oh baby, not right now. Soon." He started to cry. Yes, I felt horrible, but I was still not budging on the riding thing. "Do you want to just stand there next to it while Mommy goes to get the mail?" "Uh-huh" he said, shaking his precious little head up and down. Okay...fine....whatever works. So I hurried to the mailbox to retrieve the mail and when I returned a couple of minutes later, he hadn't moved a muscle!!!! He was STILL standing there, hands glued to the handlebars! He was just SOOOO excited to ride that bike! It was the cutest thing I've seen! A little boy's desire to ride a new, shiny bike!

Cute, that is, until I had to PRY his hands off the bike to go inside and he began wailing. Yeah. Mean, mean Mommy! I know. You don't have to say it. But I really didn't feel well. And I knew Ty would be home in an hour or so. And he was. When we arrived home from Target and the weather had cooled , Ty lowered the seat, put on the training wheels and Luke was off down the street with Daddy before you could say helmet! I was shocked to see how well Luke could ride that bike! The first time I saw it, I thought it would be quite some time before he would be big enough to ride it for sure. I was wrong. Here are come cute pictures. We call Luke the Mushroom Man when he has his helmet on. You can see why! :) To us, he kinda looks like those Mushroom Men thingys from Super Mario World! :)



"Bad boy, bad boy...whatcha gonna do...." Doesn't he look like a he's a tough guy in this shot?!

Look Ma! No Hands! He looks like he was trying to be 'cool' here


Cute kid, huh! :) Love him!

Anyway, that was our Sunday! :) Monday was much of the same as far as nursing our sick bodies goes. We didn't leave the four walls of our house that day. Just stayed home, did massive amounts of laundry, cleaned just a little, and napped for much of the afternoon! Luke actually took a world-record FOUR hour nap yesterday! Guess his little body needed the rest! Mine did too!

Last night, my sister Jenn came to stay the night before we took her to the airport this morning for her trip to Hawaii! After we dropped her at the airport, we stopped by Babies R Us to buy our diaper pail and Luke picked out a cute stuffed caterpillar to give his baby sister when she arrives.

We headed home after that for both of us to nap (and hopefully get rid of this nasty, hacking cough/cold thing!) and then it was lunch and playtime. Here is Luke's new toy that Aunt Jenn brought from her house for us. It's an old rocking horse that I believe my grandfather made for us girls when we were little (he made each one of us something.....Jennifer got the horse, I got a toy chest and I think my sister Kim got doll beds. I probably have them out of order, but you get the picture. The horse is OLD!) hehe :) Luke loves, loves, loves it! He hasn't gotten off of it for nearly an hour now! He's still on it as I type!


The fireman's hat was his idea, by the way! :)

Well....I think you're all caught up for the last few days! Time to go get some things done around the house while my medicine is working well and I feel pretty good! :) Pray for a quick recovery! Colds are the pits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Especially when it's already tough to breathe from baby-pressure! Blegh!

Welcome to the first day of summer!

June 21st! Whoa! How time is flying by! Summer is upon us! We will be cradling our little munchin in our arms in just eight short weeks from today! Wowzers!

And speaking of this precious babe......thank you for playing along in my little voting game! It was fun for me to see the comments come in and read through your thought processes! I deliberately didn't post all week, so as to give you all a chance to cast your opinion. And you did.....thanks! The vote, as most of you saw, was highly skewed toward Ellie, which is what it has been all along, with just one (Diana) voting for Lainey and 2 (my mom and Jenny) voting for Paige as the first name. 70% Ellie, 10% Lainey and 20% for "Other". The final call is still up for debate here in the the McLaughlin house. Funny thing is that we have hardly discussed it since the voting started. We haven't had much 'together time' though in recent days, so maybe sometime soon? Don't be surprised though, if her name isn't decided upon until we see her sweet face in person. It may just take that long! :)

Wow.....a week since I posted last?! We've been busy this week! Lots to recap!

Father's Day turned out great! Luke and I woke early (as always!) and let Ty sleep in for quite awhile before we began cooking his yummy breakfast. Luke was really into helping me prepare the veggies for our herb and veggie scramble, so we pulled a chair up to the counter (a typical place to find him these days when I am cooking) and I gave him a 'safe' butter knife to help me dice up some tomatoes and bell peppers. He did great (and it kept him away from the stove and me for a good, long while! hehe!)


Once breakfast was complete, we arranged Ty's tray with all the goodies and snuck quietly upstairs to wake him.

He was already awake though...having smelled the aroma of breakfast cooking downstairs. We shared our meal in bed anyway, and Luke was SOOOO excited to tell Daddy how much he helped cook his meal! We played awhile afterwards, and I caught a bunch of cute pictures of my boys, but this one was among my favorite.....just snuggling.

The rest of the day was quite mellow. We ran out to Home Depot for a bit to pick up some items Ty needed to begin work on his new work bench in the garage and then we spent the majority of our afternoon working (and playing) out front, while Ty sawed and hammered away on his bench. A prickly little creature ventured into our garage at one point, and Luke investigated him for a long, long time.


It was a furry, little caterpillar (Luke had never seen one up close before) and he enjoyed watching him scurry around the garage floor, and even picked some leaves to give him as he took the little creature for a ride in the back of his tricycle! :) Cute boy! After awhile, we decided the little guy (the caterpillar, I mean) was probably homesick and needed some rest, so Ty helped Luke take him to the planters in the front of the house to 'release' him. We met some of our new neighbors after that, and Luke quickly forgot about his little friend.

Monday brought another OB appointment for me. I am extremely happy to report that all is well! My blood pressure was nice and low (116/58!) and there are ***still*** no symptoms of the dreaded pre-eclampsia!! Hooray! There were a couple of small concerns I brought up to Dr. Hage though. One being that I do seem to be putting on weight a little faster than I think I should be for what I am eating. It's not drastic at all, but just something I have noticed. I don't have swelling though, so were are both pretty sure it's nothing to worry about, but Dr. Hage will run a blood test just to be sure there isn't something more brewing under the surface. The other concern I had was the amount of Braxton-Hicks contractions I've been having lately. Some afternoons they are pretty intense and go away if I lay down, but soon return once I'm on my feet again. Yet other days, they are mild or non-existent. There is no pattern to them though, and I have read enough to know what to look for in terms of pre-term labor, so he recommended for me to rest more and take it easy (is that possible with a toddler and a house to run???) and then to keep a close eye on them from here on out. Despite those two things, I left his office with another renewed sense of optimism about the pregnancy going to term! It seems that the closer I get to the end, the less worried I become and the more confident I feel. It's a nice change from the looming worry I had in the beginning.

On Tuesday, we had Gym in the morning, and then took a trip over to the hospital for Luke to see where we will go 'when its time for the baby to come out of Mommy's belly." We toured a post-partum room, where we talked about Mommy and Daddy staying 'night-nights' in the hospital with his little sister, and we even got to visit the cafeteria! Whoohoo! (Just kidding!) Luke loved the elevator and the trays in the caf. the best, I think! We also visited our old NICU buddies, had our picture take for their Wall of Fame, and I got to show Luke where he spent so many nights when he was first born. I took along his NICU photo album and showed him pictures of him in the isolette, and then pointed out one in the NICU. We talked about the nurses who took care of him and then talked with the ones who were working that day. We looked at pictures on the wall of our buddies Brayden, Jamie and Shawn and talked more about the whole experience. Then we handed over a bag full of Luke's old preemie clothes and preemie book we wanted to donate to them. The nurses were grateful for the clothes and I was happy to be able to share them (and get rid of them!!) since we will ****ahem**** no longer be needing them. :) Before we left home with the bag-o-clothes though, I had to snap a picture of Luke with one of the little outfits...just for comparisons sake.

It is crazy to remember that that little outfit (given to us by my friend Roni) was actually BIG on him! All of his preemie clothes were in the beginning. But look at him now! You would never know! :) Thank God for miracles! :)

Yesterday (Wednesday) we invited Sarah, her boys and Krystal and the twins over for a morning at the pool. We had a fun time splashing and playing! The weather was perfect for swimming....warm and dry, but not too warm. Just right. They all joined us back at home for PB&J sandwiches, Mac-N-Cheese and lemonade for lunch before we were all zonked and in desperate need for a nap! What a fun morning!

Its now Thursday morning, and Luke and I will either head to Circle Time at the 'brary or do our massive Costco shopping excursion this morning. Haven't decided which. The library is certain to be more fun, but we pretty much have NO food in our house, so maybe Costco is more of a necessity?

I'm looking forward to the weekend and my shower....errr Sprinkle....that my girlfriends are giving us. Sprinkle.....isn't that cute?! That's what Sarah called it, I think. Just a little sprinkle of gifts, since there isn't much we need for her arrival.....just girlie stuff and bedding. A celebration of this little life brewing in my belly! Ohhhhh! It should be so much fun! I'm excited! I'm so relieved and THRILLED to actually be pregnant for this one! A rite of passage that all pregnant mommies look forward to! I'm glad I get to experience it the 'normal' way this time! Not that my shower for Luke wasn't awesome....it was! And I was (and still am) incredibly grateful to have been given one, but in my heart, it just wasn't the same, since he had already arrived. Both a blessing (I got lots of boy stuff!!) and a little bit of a sad thing too. But....not this time around....this time around it will be normal, normal, normal! Yay! I got a super cute new dress to wear too! Fun!

So.....I think you're all caught up now. Sorry to cram so much into one post! Its kinda overwhelming I bet......a lot to read. I'll try to update a bit more often now, so as to keep it short and lessen the amount of 'skimming' you need to do! :) Until next time....enjoy the start of summer! :)

Solo Saturday night

I'm flying solo tonight. Part of Ty's Father's Day-of-choice was to spend a little pre-festivities time with his brother tonight. They are hunting tonight. Yes...you read that right.....hunting. Remember how I told you awhile back that Ty is now into bow hunting? Well, there are really big, scary looking wild boars that live in the canyons near our house (Ty and Rod have several pictures of them to prove it! I'll have to post one or two sometime!) and they have spent quite a few evenings camped out in their special little blind (a tent-like camouflage used for hunting) in their little secret spot, as they wait for a little (er....big) piggie to mosie their way. So far, of the 5 or so times they've been out, they have been within shooting distance of a piggie two or three times, but have had no luck in killing one. And I'm not complaining about that AT ALL! I'm happy to have them bond over the 'thrill of the hunt' since it is one of the few things that they do together that reminds them of precious time spent with their dad while he was alive, but I am not so thrilled about the prospect of wild boar meat in my freezer! Ty tells me its the best pork I'd ever come across, as it is much healthier than their grain-fed counterparts from the farm, but I just don't think that I will be able to overcome my mental block about it. Eeewww!!!! So while I eagerly listen to him talk about the adventures of the night, I am also secretly thankful that they did not make a kill. Yuck...yuck...yuck! I can still be a supportive wife and still not be over the moon about the prospect of a stuck pig, right?

Anyway.....'nough about that. My point in saying all that is that Ty is gone for the evening and I am here, typing away in silence. Luke is in bed, getting a MUCH needed and hopefully LONG night of sleep, the house is picked up and the dog is fed. Phew! We had a good day today, but towards the end, Luke was a tired boy, vacillating between giggles and tantrums like a sleep-deprived schizophrenic! Ugh! He was driving me crazy!!!! But I sent him to bed peacefully, and hopefully he will awaken in the morning a new boy!

So what did we do today??? Well....this morning we headed over to Sarah's house to have my 'belly' pictures taken. :) Luke and Ty were there too, and we got some great family shots as well as some really fun ones of just me. I had a blast! And am so thankful to have such a talented friend! (Thanks, Sarah!) When I was pregnant with Luke, I had always dreamed of having maternity portraits done, but both money and his premature birth stole that opportunity from me. I was very sad about that! So, to have them done today was extremely precious and meaningful to me.....even healing in a way! It really meant the world to me! It's a little awkward to have the camera turned on me for a change, but I had a blast nonetheless! Ty took Luke home around lunchtime, while I hung around Sarah's awhile longer to take some more shots, review the pics and chat a bit over lunch. Such a fun morning for me!

Once I made it home, it wasn't long before Ty headed over to his brother's house to 'prepare' for their little adventure, and Luke and I headed back out to prepare for Father's Day! At Ty's request, we will stay home tomorrow (its been an awfully long week for him with having to work Monday through Saturday due to a training/presentation he had to give today) so he is very much looking forward to some R&R with us at home tomorrow. He requested fillet mignon, broccoli (a random choice in my book, but whatever), garlic bread and Newcastle beer for dinner, so we had some grocery shopping to do today. I'm planning on breakfast in bed for him too, so we scooped up a few extra items for omlettes in the morning. In trying to add a little special twist for dessert, Luke and I drove up to Oak Glen to pick up a very yummy, homemade dutch apple pie. They sell the best apple pies up there! MMMMM!! I ended up picking one of for my own dad too....thought he might like that! We stopped at a little country candy store on the way out and Luke picked out a chocolate covered marshmallow on a stick for his special treat, while I opted for the old Oak Glen standby....a carmel apple. Yum! We sat outside in the sunshine and tried to enjoy a little mother-son time, but that schizophrenia I spoke of earlier decided to rear its ugly little head just then, and Luke threw a fun little tantrum 'round the picnic table. Nice. That kinda ruined 'the moment', but oh well. We dropped by my parent's house after that to deliver the pie and wish Grandpa a Happy Early Father's Day, and then it was to the grocery store and home. A busy day. And I'm feeling it now as I sit here. Phew! I think it will be an early night for me.

But before I go........
I'd like to propose a little vote. Wanna play along? Many of you have asked whether or not we have officially decided on a name for the baby yet, and the truth is, we haven't. We have narrowed it down to two, with the middle name being the same for both, but we are both so completely undecided about which one we like best that we cannot seem to make a decision! We really like both names and vacillate almost daily as to which one we like best. Some days I'm sure its one, then the next its absolutely the other. Ty's been the same way. Back & forth and back & forth we go! We've tried asking Luke which one he would prefer, and he always just chooses the last one we say. No luck there, I guess. We've polled just about everyone we know and there seems to be a consensus among you, but I thought it would be fun to have you all vote formally online, just for giggles.

Now....let me just say, that we are in no way choosing the most heavily voted for name simply because it is the favorite.....it can still go either way, but I'm curious to know what you all like. And since I like them equally, well.....I'm just interested in your answers. So here is the deal......if you are a willing participant, you need to click the 'comments' button at the bottom of this posting, choose between the two names I provide, AND tell me WHY you are choosing that name. The 'why' part of it is just as important to me as the choice itself! Also....are there any weird rhyming 'issues' or reasons why we may not want to choose the other name? Simply telling me in person (if I see you or talk to you regularly on the phone) will not suffice this time. I want your answer on the blog for me to keep track of! (Aren't I being a little demanding?! hehe!) And......if you don't like either one, its not nice to tell me so or offer other suggestions! ;) It will be one of these. So.......with all that said, here are your two choices:


Lainey Paige McLaughlin
or
Ellie Paige McLaughlin


Let the voting begin!

29 weeks today!

Today marks my 29th week of pregnancy! Whoa! 29 weeks! It is going by so fast! (I know, I know! I keep saying that, but its so true!) It's a little surreal for me to think that in 13 short days with Luke's pregnancy, he was here! THIRTEEN days from now?! Crazy! I, in no way, feel that this baby will be here in 13 days! HORRAY! Physically, I feel pretty good..keeping in mind that most women at this stage are all experiencing some level of discomfort. I am no different. I am sleeping very poorly at night due to my alternating crushing rib pain or insomnia. They seem to like to take turns. For the last week or so, I think I've probably only netted about 4 nonconsecutive hours of sleep each night. :( Blegh. But last night, I went to bed a little early (I was actually asleep by 10:10) and when I woke for my nightly pitstop around 1:30am and the rib pain was intensifying, I opted to arrange my pillows for a night of sleeping sitting up. That probably doesn't sound like much fun to you, and if I had the choice, I wouldn't prefer it either, but I was SOOOOO thankful that it took away my pain!! I actually slept on through until Luke came in at 5:45! YIPPEEE! SLEEP! :) Oh! The mental difference between sleep and no sleep! I feel like I can conquer the world this morning! Praise God! Along with my sleeping woes, this little girl has brought me the dreaded pregnancy heartburn (which I never experienced with Luke....not even once!) and lots of other small ales. Varicose veins, lots and lots of Braxton-Hicks, and a few unmentionables. :P BUT.......in the scheme of things, I care not one bit about those things if it means I can get closer to term with her! In fact, when I was talking to Ty about them the other day I even said, "I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining too much. Yes, I am uncomfortable at times, but at-least I'm getting the opportunity to experience the things I didn't with Luke." That is truly how I feel. Hopefully, I don't sound like TOO much of a whiner!

Okay......enough about pregnancy.....almost. Before I end that topic for the day, here is a picture of my Luke-belly at 29 weeks.....just for comparison sake. Do you think I look the same, smaller or bigger????


Speaking of Luke....the cold that threatened him earlier in the week turned out to be not-so-bad! He still has a little bit of a runny nose, but it never really progressed past that! Yay! And so far, I've managed to avoid it. Yay again!!!

He did the sweetest, most compassionate little gesture last night that I have to share with you because it just melted my heart. We work a lot on compassion, kindness and concern for others around here, since most toddlers are naturally very self-oriented at this age. We want to teach him, (over time of-course) that he is not the center of the universe....that other people and their feelings are just as, if not sometimes more, important than himself. And we're working on the whole 'sharing' thing too. But anyway......back to last night. Ty was at bible study late, so Luke and I were flying solo for dinner, bath and bedtime. After our dinner of yogurt, salad (for me) and fruit (that's what he wanted, so I obliged!) we headed out front to ride his bike to the mailbox and to play for awhile. We've been taking short walks as a family after dinner lately, or just spending time outside once the weather has cooled off, and we typically include Tess too. Well....last night, I didn't feel like bringing Tess along, but she got super excited as we headed outside...thinking that she was going to go too! Well....apparently she got TOO excited and when we climbed the stairs to head for the bathtub after our little play time, I discovered that she had piddled on the carpet at the top of the stairs. A VERY BIG NO-NO and something that sparks instant anger in me! She knows better, but when she gets excited like that and hasn't gone outside for awhile, she has been known to piddle. Grrrrr!!!!!

So, as rage against her engulfed my heart, I tried really hard to not loose my cool in front of Luke. Instead, I sternly scolded Tess, placed her in her crate and gathered the rags and cleaners for the cleanup. As I'm sitting at the top of the stair, grunting as I scrubbed the carpet (the belly is definitely in the way now!) Luke says: "Bad dirl, Tessy. Pee'd on the tarpet. Bad dirl!" "Yes," I said. "Tess was naughty and pottied on the carpet instead of outside. That made mommy feel very angry at Tess. Mommy doesn't like it when Tess does that!" And that's when Luke, who was sitting to my left at the top of the stairs, wrapped his little arm over me, rubbed my back in a circular motion and said "Mommy feels angry....its otay, Mommy." And then he leaned over and kissed my side. Awwwwww! My sweet, sweet child. I felt such a mix of pride at his behavior and guilt for the level of anger and frustration I was feeling inside. I rally had wanted to throw a tantrum! I was so mad! But his little reaction was so humbling and comforting. I stopped what I was doing and gathered him into my arms for a hug....thanking him for being so kind and telling him how much better he had made me feel. I don't think I'll forget that moment for a long time. It was just one of those that sticks with you....a teaching, humbling moment from such a tiny child. He had a heart of gold just then! Well...he has a heart of gold always......it just shows through sometimes more than others.

I think I will end my post with that today. Its breakfast time and the natives are restless. :) As I look forward to the weekend ahead, I hope that yours is wonderful!

Weekend Review

6/12/07 Ammendment.....
Had to add this little ammendment into my blog from yesterday for Laura's sake.....just to set the record straight. Poor Laura...I sounded like a very ungrateful friend in my blog....from the way I typed it, it seemed that my visit with her was blase and boring. That is SO not what I meant! My visit with her was actually the highlight of my day, to be honest! How I relish the ability to sit and shoot the breeze with my girlfriends!! I'm such a dork! The REST of the day was rather boring, but to have her come to visit, bring me a yummy lunch and a present.....that was very fun! Sorry, Laura for my lack of clarity! :) Can I blame it on pregnancy brain???? :) LOL!



Why is it that the weekends always fly by and the weekdays seem to drag on a bit longer???? Hate that. Friday is always the true start to our weekends, since Ty is off of work and home around 2pm. LOVE that! As I sit here and type, I can't even recall what we did. Must've been pretty interesting! LOL! Oh wait....yeah.....no...it was pretty boring. Ty and Luke napped together in the afternoon, while I visited with Laura for awhile. She came up to deliver my birthday present (a nice little gift card to Motherhood! Yay! Shopping!) and to bring me a sandwich from my favorite little deli! A belated birthday celebration! After she left and the boys awoke, we all worked on the baby's room for a spell. Ty began putting up the chair rail and I attempted to switch a piece on the crib because it looked like they were backwards. I soon came to realize (after I had already taken half the crib apart!) that I had been wrong in the first place and it was right from the very beginning. I'm a big doofus! I was just a teeny bit frustrated and actually wanted to throw the whole crib out the window, but I soon got it all put back together the right (read: original) way and took a snack break with Luke. Then we headed out to the garage and did this to the back of Baby's dresser:


Fun, huh?! It was Ty's idea, and a good one at that! Speaking of Ty, he had a boy's night out planned, so I took Luke to the park and then to Grandma's and Grandpa's for a surprise visit. We stayed for dinner and were home in time for bath and bed.

Saturday was a busy day for me. Sarah, Hudson, Luke and I decided to hit up a HUGE community garage sale in the Ranch where we used to live in the morning. There must've been upwards of 100 different garage sales going on throughout all the different neighborhoods! I went with the intention of finding Luke some dump trucks and garage-type toys that he can destroy in the backyard (who wants to spend top dollar for toys that are going to be destroyed in the dirt of our backyard?!) and some play clothes for him to wear while he uses those toys! I spent a whopping $10 and came home with 4 cool books, 3 really nice, like-new hand puppets, a grocery sack full of very gently used play clothes and some dump trucks for Luke. Whoohoo! I'd never been garage-sale'ing before, but it was pretty fun! We grabbed Starbucks on the way and got to pal'd around for a few hours. Fun!

I was home in time for lunch, and was happy to find that Ty had nearly completed the chair rail project. We just need to touch up the paint, and then I will post some pictures! Luke and I were both zonked from the early morning and napped together for a few hours in mommy's big bed. He was so sweet when we laid down! He said to me "Cuddle close to you...." and scooted his little body as close as he could get it to mine, nuzzled into my neck and gave me a tiny kiss on my lips before saying "G'night, Mom." Sweet child! After naps, we had plans to drop Luke at my mom's for the night while Ty and I went to a charity fundraiser for Krystal, who is walking in the 3-day breast cancer walk in November. It was a Bunco night and we had a blast!

Sunday was a work day for me. The NICU this week, so I headed to work around 9am and the boys hung out together for the day. Luke is starting to come down with another cold, I think. My Gym must be the culprit this time around. There were a couple snot-nosed kiddos there on Thursday. I'm making sure to keep as far away from his germs as possible this time though! I'm not about to get sick again! After I got home from work, we made a yummy dinner together when I got home, took Luke and Tess for a nice walk and then once Luke was in bed, Ty and I lounged (and fell asleep!) on the couch watching a movie. And that was the end of our weekend.

Today entailed a quick trip to Dr. Hage's office for my second Rogam shot and grocery shopping. Luke was adorable as always at the doctor's office. As we waited in the waiting room, he kept saying "Our turn now?" and I kept having to remind him that we needed to wait. Then he saw Dr. Hage through the receptionist window, cocked his head to one side, pointed at him and said, "Dr. Haaaage! See him, Mommy!" Of-course, when Dr. Hage did infact peek through the window to say hello, Luke clammed up and wouldn't speak. Silly boy! The same thing happened when we went back to our room for my shot and Dr. Hage was in the hallway. Luke was very supportive during my poke, and offered his hand for me to hold for comfort! Sweet child! And finally, as we got ready to leave, I naturally needed to make a pit stop at the restroom before we headed out (for the umteenth time that day, I might add!) and Luke, being so familiar with our 'doctor's office routine', grabbed the sharpie pen, a specimin cup and said "Here ya doe, Mommy." once we were in the bathroom! When I told me him that I didn't have to go potty in the cup today...that I would be doing that next week, he looked so confused and tried harder to shove the little plastic cup my way! LOL! He cracked me up. Once I had done my thing, he even moved toward to toilet and held the cup right over the opening to the bowl as one would when you give a specimin. Does anything get past this kiddo??!

I also took a some time to snap my 28 week preggo pictures. Here's the next installment for all you who just couldn't wait to see. I know you all must've been early awaiting the new one, huh?! :) I had to re-do the format, since the original one was getting a bit too long to post.





So....that's my day. And my weekend. More to come soon, I'm sure, but the little munchin just peeked around the corner....guess nap time is over! Adios!

Little Earthquakes....

So............
Those of you who know me really well know that I'm a little bit of an earthquake phobic. Living where we do and having gone through several large quakes (one where I was completley alone), I'm a freak about being prepared and I have this immediate instinct to jump up from where ever I am and RUN to the nearest doorway at the slightest threat of one. I can usually hear them coming before they really begin, or I feel that teeny-tiny sense of shaking, and I'm off to the doorway before even I know what's happening. It's kinda funny. It just happens. So....why am I telling you all of this? Well....three times now in the last week, I have felt that 'earthquake instinct' to run to the door, however only once (a few nights ago while laying in bed just before sleep) have I actually RUN for the door. And do you know why? Baby kicks. Tiny, but body bolting baby kicks. Ha! Isn't that hilarious!?! (And kinda embarrassing!) :) Her movements have changed now that she is bigger and she doesn't just kick and nudge in one spot so much anymore. Nope. Now her movements are whole body movements and come from multiple directions at once; jolting out in different directions at the same time and rumbling my innards. In my own defense, the night that I actually jumped out of bed, it really wasn't because of the baby. It was actually the dog's fault. She was laying on Ty's side of the bed where I could not see her and did not know she was there. She did something that rattled our bed and caused that low, deep, quiet rumbling sound for the briefest of instants and sure enough, my flight or flight instinct had me up and halfway to the door before I could say "Boo!". I scared Tess too with my bolting, and she made the dash with me! Ha! I'm laughing at myself as I'm sitting here typing....its pretty funny to think about! But the other two 'episodes' have been when I am sitting really still on the floor, propped against a big pillow for support while I put on my makeup in the morning. I must just be so still in those moments and her little jumps and jiggles feel like an impending quake. I haven't actually gotten UP for those, but I do admit to feeling that very familiar, brief moment of panic until I realize it was just my teeny-tiny babe in my belly. Silly me!

Aside from belly quakes, this week hasn't been quite as humorous! I was car-less for all of Monday and Tuesday, since Ty's car was in the shop AGAIN...costing us WAY too much money to repair. We hadn't really planned on another repair (who does, I guess!) and especially so soon, but so it goes. During the last poop-out on his car, we had talked about how, if the car had more problems, we would re-evaluate as to whether or not to repair or search for a new car. That was our intention this time around, and we told the car repair place to phone us with their repair estimate BEFORE they made the repairs, so that we could decide. But, having the bad luck we do, they just went ahead and made the repairs and then called us. Hmmph! I was miffed, but what are ya gonna do at that point? So, we dumped more money into a car that is worth hardly nothing and now we pray, pray, pray for a good, long while until something else goes wrong with it. We really can't afford a car payment right now.

And how long did our good, long while last before something else happened to it? FOUR HOURS. Yes.....you read that right. Four hours. I picked up his car on Tuesday afternoon at 4pm and Ty had a bow-hunting club meeting at 7pm that night. While he was parked at the meeting, someone backed into the driver-side front wheel well and completely dented/trashed it. So much so, that Ty had to get help from the fellow members to pull the metal out enough so that he could open his door. There was no note....and Ty had no idea who might have been the culprit. Talk about bad luck, eh? Ty went back into the meeting (that was now over) and talked to the president (it was held at his house) and they determined who had been parked next to/kinda in front of him. Ty was quite upset, as you might expect, and the president of the club was very adamant that we would all get to the bottom of it. In his words "If there is some who is a member of this club who behaves in such a way, there will be some serious discussions at the next meeting. I will not tolerate this kind of thing." Most of the members are upstanding, honorable, christian men, so our chances of having a positive outcome were pretty good. Ty got the email of the guy they thought was parked near him....an older gentleman, with a large truck. Ty emailed him last night and sure enough, he emailed back saying that he had in fact felt 'something' when he was leaving, but when he got out to investigate, he didn't see anything and left. He admitted to be in a hurry to leave and anxious to get home, as his wife had just had a biopsy that day. :( Guess that bad luck wasn't just ours. He gave Ty his insurance information and we'll get to figuring out the details today. Thank goodness he was honest! But it still means another trip to a repair shop. Maybe since it was a 'collision' the rental reimbursement from our insurance will actually take effect this time. I won't hold my breath!

Okay...enough gloom. In our time at home the last few days, Luke and I have actually been pretty productive. The baby's dresser is now completely painted and the inside of the drawers sealed, and the chair rail is now ready to be installed (FINALLY!) The paint color came out just fine the second time around and hopefully her room will be ready to 'move into' this weekend.

Since we had to miss Gym on Tuesday due to the lack of car, I took Luke down to the free play session yesterday afternoon and he had a BLAST! I guess he's getting used to the routine because as soon as we walked in the door, he made a b-line for the carpet circle and sat down, just as we do during class time when we begin. Except, during free play, there is no circle time. Kids of all ages just come to play, with no structure. Once I explained this to Luke, he didn't hesitate one moment longer, and he was off running for the remainder of the hour. Literally. He ran from activity to activity; giggling and smiling the entire time at the prospect of doing whatever his little heart desired! He buried himself in the ball pit several times, ran up and down and up and down the carpeted slide/ramp, attempted to climb the rock wall, jumped on the trampoline ump-teen times and even played a cooperative game with an older girl using a gigantic rolling circle. Good times! He was happily exhausted when we left!

I've also been quite the cook the last few days. I've been on a banana bread baking kick this last month, and have actually made at-least one recipe a week of the stuff. I'm been searching for a super-moist, awesome recipe and had to try 4 until I hit the jackpot yesterday with one I picked up on the net and varied a little. Mmmmmm....it was perfectly banana-y and moist! yum! I made a double recipe (I had WAY too many bananas that were ripe) and tucked one away in the freezer to eat when Baby comes home. I made homemade enchiladas on Monday....a tedious process but oh so good, and tucked a tray of those away in the freezer too, for later. And last night, I made our favorite oven-baked fried chicken tenders for dinner. I'm actually pretty proud of myself...in the last week, I've made 5 of the 7 dinners we've eaten from 'scratch' rather than frozen from a bag (read: Trader Joe's gnocci or Orange Chicken with rice). A pretty good track record for me! I am fairly consistent in cooking a sit-down meal for my boys....that is, when Ty is home for dinner, but to make it all from scratch is less of a consistency for me. Yay for me! I guess when you're home ALL day, with no option to leave, you have more time to be Suzie Homemaker! :)

Well....this morning will be our make-up My Gym class for Luke at 10:30 and then a errand to JC Penny to pick up a drapery rod for our curtains in the kitchen, and then home, I guess. Not too much planned. It's just nice to be out and about! :) I'm going to run for now to 'shake a tower' and get ready for my day! Happy Thursday, peeps! :)

10 weeks and 2 days left....

There is only 10 weeks and 2 days left until this baby is scheduled to arrive!! It is coming so quickly now! Ty and I set up the crib last week, and as we were sitting there on her bedroom floor assembling crib parts, I realized just how quickly she will be here! Yikes! I distinctly recall the day that I sat at our computer when I was pregnant with Luke and wrote out my monthly email update for friends and family (no blogger or babies online at that point!) and I was talking about how we only had 9 short weeks left until his due date! I remembering feeling just a little overwhelmed that it was so soon! And I also remember Ty's reaction at the time....which happened to be the opposite of mine. "Oh.....what are you worried about, hun? We still have NINE WEEKS left!" It was four days later that Luke was born. :( Little did we know!

Not that I'm thinking this little one will arrive in the next week or anything. No. I actually feel a LOT more confident these days that I just might make it to my scheduled c-section date, but I have to giggle inside at the reactions that Ty and I are both having at this same point. All I have to say is that at-least we are consistent....we are both feeling the same things we felt with Luke around this time. I'm in a bit of a panic that we won't be ready and am anxious to get every little thing possibly done NOW, and he is a little more on the "What are you worried about" side of the coin. "We'll get everything done....don't worry." he tells me. I sure hope he's right! :)

As far as the room goes, we are making good progress. The crib is assembled, the walls are painted and as of last night there is just one final coat of paint that needs to be put on both the chair rail and the her new dresser, and the big parts of her room will be complete. We brought the dresser home on Friday (thanks to my dad's help!) and Ty worked on painting everything while I worked on Sunday. Too bad that our luck with paint colors is so terrible, because we would have been done yesterday if it wasn't! I had taken a piece of the crib down to the paint store to have them match the white for the dresser and the chair rail, and they did what I asked of them. However, once the paint was actually ON the pieces, it was much more GREY in color than white. Grrrr! The crib apparently is not bright white, it's a little on the grey side of white. And grey is NOT what I had in mind for her room. So.....once Ty arrived home yesterday, I zipped on down to Redlands for a new color and we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the garage painting. I'll be glad when it's done!!!

I guess I haven't blogged since my birthday, eh? Well....the day turned out to be WONDERFUL!!! Very relaxing and rejuvenating! My massage and facial were fabulous! The lady who did my massage was an older, grandmother type, (which I was a little surprised about at first) but who was so grandma-like and nurturing that I wouldn't have wanted anyone else! She was the kind of woman who uses endearing terms when she talks to you like "dear" and "honey" and I felt as though I were one of her grand kids as we talked about the baby coming and she shared in my excitement. So cool. She offered a great prenatal massage, and I found out later that she does in fact have 4 kids of her own and 8 grand kids.....and she still wants MORE! She was definitely a sweet woman!

Anyway..........after my massage, my mom willingly kept Luke and Tess at her house for an extra hour while I went home to a very empty and VERY QUIET house to get ready for our dinner out. I put on some relaxing 'spa' music and took my time readying myself for evening. I was like mush when I picked Luke up for dinner.....all relaxed and happy!

The rest of the weekend was nice too! We didn't do much on Friday except pick up Baby's crib, get Luke a much needed haircut, and hang out at home, but Saturday was a bit busier. I had a photo shoot in the morning, so Ty tagged along and kept Luke entertained at the park while I did my thing. Luke was happy to spend some time swinging and playing with Daddy, even if the morning resulted in a skinned knee! :( He's a trooper though, and it hardly fazed him. Saturday night was our special dinner with my friends, and that was a lot of fun too! Probably the last fancy dinner we'll be sharing for quite some time! The food was delish and the company good...what more could I ask for???? :)

I worked in the ED on Sunday, so most of my day was shot. But we indulged my craving that morning for coffee and doughnuts, which was fun! We NEVER eat doughnuts, but I was craving them intensely Sunday morning, so we all threw on our slippers and a sweatshirt and piled into the car to get some! Luke was impatient in the backseat on the way home as the sweet smell of all that sugar wafted his way and kept asking "Dough-no, peeeeeese!" The inside of my car had just been vacuumed, so there was not a chance he was getting his chocolate sprinkle-covered doughnut in the car! Instead, we snuggled on the couch when we got home and ate them, as Ty and I giggled at how cute Luke was in his attempts to pick off just the right sprinkle! Good times!

I was without a car yesterday since Ty's car is in the shop AGAIN (grrrrrrr!) so Luke and I were home bound yesterday until Ty got home. It was actually kind of nice to have an excuse to NOT go anywhere. We lingered long in our pj's and played silly games in the morning until I decided that I should probably get some laundry and chores done. So Luke helped me dust the house, strip the sheets off his toddler bed for washing, and followed me around while I did my chores. He's actually a pretty good helper 'round the house! Then, like I said, we headed outside in the afternoon to paint and Luke stayed cool playing with the squirt bottle, mister and water cans on the driveway. The afternoon ended at the dinner table with homemade enchiladas (my favorite recipe from my dad) and a little more rough-housing for Ty and Luke before his bedtime. Luke found a deflated Trader Joes balloon in his playroom and we snapped these silly pictures of us.....his impersonation of me! :) He ran around the house giggling with that balloon tucked up under his shirt....he thought he was hilarious!




Well.....I think that's 'bout it for me today. Kinda a boring re-cap post, but oh well! Luke just got up for the day, so I should be going. Look for the next installment of belly pics in the next few days...... :)