1st, 2nd, & 3rd Babies

I've posted this before or at least sent it in an email, but i feel like it is definitely worth mentioning now that #3 is on the way!!

Your Clothes: 1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soonas your OB/GYN confirms your pregnancy. 2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible. 3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.

Preparing for the Birth: 1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously. 2nd baby: You don't bother practicing because you remember that last time,breathing didn't do a thing. 3rd baby: You ask for an epidural in your eighth month.

The Layette: 1st baby: You pre-wash newborn's clothes,color-coordinate them, and fold them neatly in the baby's little bureau. 2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean & discard only the ones with the darkest stains. 3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can't they?

Worries: 1st baby: At the first sign of distress--a whimper, a frown--you pick up the baby. 2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to wake your firstborn. 3rd baby: You teach your three-year-old how to rewind the mechanical swing.

Pacifier: 1st baby: If the pacifier falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil it. 2nd baby: When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby's bottle. 3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.

Diapering: 1st baby: You change your baby's diapers every hour,whether they need it or not. 2nd baby: You change their diaper every two to three hours, if needed. 3rd baby: You try to change their diaper before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.

Activities: 1st baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics,Baby Swing, and Baby Story Hour. 2nd baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics. 3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the drycleaner.

Going Out: 1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call home five times. 2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number where you can be reached. 3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.

At Home: 1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby. 2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to besure your older child isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby. 3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children.

Swallowing Coins (a favorite): 1st child: when first child swallows a coin, you rush the child to the hospital and demand x-rays. 2nd child: when second child swallows a coin, you carefully watch for coin to pass. 3rd child: when third child swallows a coin you deduct it from his allowance!!

Christmas Abroad...

Well...Christmas in Dothan anyway! I haven't been "home" for Christmas in 3 years and we probably won't go back until our kids are older. Not because they were bad or that we had a bad time, but because I would have to rent a uhaul to get everything there and trade for a bigger one to get everything home. The kids did great traveling and we saw everyone we wanted to see (except for the Griffies, but that was our fault!!) and Sethy came home in complete Pop withdrawal...and i think Pop is having sethy withdrawal. they were glued at the hip from the moment we got there. it really was cute...except for all the junk that they let them eat plus all the sweet tea pop let seth drink. (i'm not a strict mom and i certainly don't win the nutrition award for our family by any means, but to put it mildly, my kiddos are in chocolate detox and were not happy that their "regular" breakfast fare wasn't in our house this morning.

We got there on Saturday afternoon and Scott, Sherri and their boys came over for supper. Pop (my dad) wanted to take all of us to Wicksburg to see the Christmas lights. and for the first time in 2 years, Luke actually whined and said he didn't want to go! Micah and I were in shock! We knew that after a 6 hour trip they would be tired, but we never imagined Luke would turn down looking at christmas lights. Sunday we went to church with Pop and Mimi and that afternoon after naps we loaded up and went to Hartford to Scott and Sherri's for our christmas dinner with (my mom) Nana and Papa. We all ate plenty and had a great time and it was just the first round of the gift opening extravaganza. Monday morning we had more play time and around lunch Scott and Sherri and the boys came over to do their Christmas time with Pop and Mimi. My boys opened one of their gifts from them also. Luke got a guitar which he is IN LOVE with and Sethy got a huge play doh activity center (which they are playing with now while i take a break from cleaning/putting up to write this). Monday night we went out to my uncle's house to do our Christmas with our extended family (on my dad's side). and Tuesday we had our own family time plus the rest of the time with Pop and Mimi. Tuesday night we went back out to Scott and Sherri's for a little bit to visit with my mom's brother whom i haven't seen in probably 8 years. So needless to say...we were insanely busy. We were glad to be home. We let the kids out of the car to play outside as soon as we got home and i've been in cleaning/sorting, etc. mode ever since.

and did i mention we still have micah's family to do? that is saturday, but hopefully i'll be done with all the unpacking/toy sorting by then. sunday will include taking down all the Christmas decor. The following week i will start caulking around the baseboards from where we have done floor work. next friday i have my 16 week appointment and also start doing some part time friday work at the doctor's office...which my sanity greatly looks forward to!! the first week of february we should find out who little bitty is and i'm just counting the days!!

hope everyone else had a great holiday and got to relax!!

13 weeks & 2 days

so for about a week now i have been feeling our newest little bit moving around in there. it is always amazing to me to have those first little flutters. and as what the magazines/books call a "veteran mom" (yeah, right), it really does get earlier every time. with luke it came about 17 weeks. with sethy it was about 14 weeks. and this one is even earlier. and that is a perfect little christmas present for me. also, i'm just starting to get a little baby bump going. hopefully in another 2 weeks i will have a picture to actually show...even though i am not sure anyone cares! i'm not as interesting as some of my friends have been that have just had babies.

tomorrow i will be in super duper packing mode and all but about 3 gifts that are under our tree will be making the 300 mile trip down to dothan...plus our regular stuff. we will have to take out the back seat this time folks!! anyway, i hope you all have a very happy and blessed holiday. please be safe if you are traveling!!

December happenings

it seems like a lot has been going on. i think partly it is just the day to day chaos that keeps me busy also. i had a doctor's appointment earlier this month, we went to the botanical gardens to the "galaxy of lights", we went to the christmas parade and luke had his holiday program/party at school. plus last week we had a small scare with micah's dad. he had a mild heart attack and had 2 stints placed and will go back in about 6 weeks to have 1 more. but he came home today and everything is fine. just new lifestyle and meds to get used to. i've had a couple of marathon shopping days and only have 3 gifts left to buy. fortunately they can wait until after christmas.

luke knew every word to the songs in his program and in usual luke style, he sat there and just looked at people. at least on the second song he decided to at least do hand motions. and i'd like to take a moment to petition prayers on his part. we are having serious issues with back talk/smart mouth/bossiness these days and i have met my absolute limit. he may have to go live in australia. susan and tony, please enjoy your baby days. don't say "my kid will never..." cause they WILL!! kiss your babies tonight and be glad they can't talk yet haha!!

they both have a little virusy cold/cough right now, so i am hoping that they are better before our trip to dothan this weekend. i am very excited to be getting to go "home" this year since i haven't been in 3 years and it will be a while before we go back.

tomorrow night we are going with our neighbor and her little boy that is seth's age to santa's village. it is the coolest thing. they get to see the reindeer, visit santa, get a cookie to decorate from mrs. claus and it even snows while we are there. hopefully i'll remember to take my camera and my kiddos will be good enough to enjoy it!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas kiddies! I WILL be sending out real cards, but this is my first attempt at a decent picture this year. We are either uncooperative or supercheesy so our eyes are closed!! Please scroll down and look at our completed bathrooms also!!

Luke and Seth 2007

Our house all decorated

11 weeks 1 day

**if you are a boy, you may not want to read this as it may include a few medical terms you don't wanna know!!*

i'm not sure what time i finally got called back. my appt was at 10 this a.m. i first went back to ultrasound and we were able to do it on my tummy instead of "the other way." and that baby has grown so much and was waving his/her hands all around and kicking up a storm! the heartbeat was 150 bpm. when she was done i asked her if we still had to do the nuchal translucency test. well she wasn't sure what i was talking about. so i told her what he said he wanted at the last appointment, so she went and got another lady b/c she had done those. well, then came the "do you have a history? did he see something on the last ultrasound? do you have other kids?" questions. i said "no. no. yes." so they weren't sure why he ordered it since i'm not even 30 and i have no history and everything looked perfect. the second time they did the u/s, it had to be the transvaginal way (i hate those). well, she couldn't get a good view b/c the baby was way up in the fundus, which is great. but she measured from a view from my belly and she said "i don't know why he wants this. everything looks perfect." now mind you...this is about an hour after my appointment now and i still haven't peed in the cup! so we went back out to the waiting room and the most horrible thing happened. this lady who was easily a full 7-8 months pregnant came out of an exam room and started crying and the nurses came out and said "is there anything we can do? is there anyone we can call?" and the lady called her husband from decatur to come (probably 30+ minutes from the office i was at) and said "can you come up here and meet me." and the nurses said "we are gonna take you to ultrasound and we'll see what it says." i just started crying for that lady. i have no idea what happened. that was the worst thing ever b/c she was sitting right next to us. anyway, the nurse from the last appointment failed to give me my goody bag and my lab slip. so i have to get up early in the a.m. and go get my blood work done (which is nothing...checking blood type, blood count, Rh factor, HIV) and i will go back in 4 weeks! so it's been a long morning, but everything looks great, measuring right on schedule (11 weeks 1 day) and even lost 2 lbs!! i'll take it!!

my hard worker

my floors are done! and micah did an excellent job putting them down and getting the trim back up. so i thought i'd show off a little!!

In Progress...

Master Bath Completed

Boys Bath Completed