The blog returns

Ok, I'm going to give this blogging thing another go. I started working on a new template... it's a work in progress. :)

Little cute things

Just a tiny update on the happenings of the past few days. We haven't really done much outside of the norm. Today we went to the park, which was fun albeit HOT. Whoever decided it was a good idea to live in Arizona is an idiot (oh wait... that was me...). Ellie had a fabulous time. She played fabulously with the other children there. My favorite was when she attached herself to a one-year-old boy and spent about 15 minutes following him around and mothering him. She even pushed him in a swing and kept reminding him to "hold on tight". She's such a good little mother. Hopefully that love and compassion will still be there when Alexander is older.

Something cute today that I want to remember... For whatever reason I was inspired to give the kitchen/dining room floor a good cleaning. So I got down on my hands and knees with some rags and was scrubbing all the spits that regular swiffering doesn't seem to get rid of. While I was down there I was also scratching away at the 732 paint drips left by my father-in-law when he painted that room for us. Any time I clean Ellie HAS to help. She's quite the little helper these days. She noticed me scratching the floor and wanted to do the same. She also kept finding her own "itchy spots" to scratch away.

She's also still 100% for using the potty! The only accident happened yesterday when she forgot to pull down her underwear before peeing on the potty. Considering all the other type of accidents that could have happened, I'll take wet undies and pee in the potty over those any day. Yay for Ellie!

And just because she's gorgeous, here's a picture of my sweet little girl taken yesterday with my Dad's new lens. I have to get me one of those.

An Alexander update

I can't believe he's already 2.5 months old. The time has just FLOWN by. Things were a bit rough at first, but we've finally found out groove (just in time for me to go back to work in a week and a half... *sigh).

Lately he's all about making faces. He has a wide variety of expressions down. What a cutie.

Yay for underpants!

I said before that I was going to get back to blogging... well, I really mean it this time. I want to have a record of important days in the kids' lives and such, so here we go.

Today, July 29th, 2008, was Ellie's very first diaper-free, no-accidents day! I'm so proud of my little girl.

The blog comes alive again...

...to post a link to a super cool contest.

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

I really do want to get back into blogging if for nothing else than to use it as sort of a personal journal to look back on what I've done on a particular day.

A month worth of updates

As usual, I've been very, very bad about updating. *sigh* Maybe someday I'll actually get some blogging motivation. Until then, once a month seems to be about all I get to. So, here's a month worth of updates for you.

Chicago trip

Our trip to Chicago in February went well. We had lots of fun visiting friends and family there. Ellie also got to play in the snow for the first time ever. I was going to pick out some of the best pics and post them here, but I think I'll just use this little widget thing instead because I'm lazy today. :) If you'd rather browse through them on Flickr, the set can be found here.




The baby:

Only 8 weeks to go! AAAAAH!

All went well with the glucose test a few weeks ago. Hooray! I had another ultrasound a couple weeks ago, and all is looking good with that as well. They're still a little concerned about his growth, so I have to go back for another ultrasound in 2 weeks. I think it's good that he went up in percentiles from my 20 week ultrasound, but they're still concerned that he seems to be weighing in around the 18th percentile. Then again this is the same doctor that told me Ellie was going to weigh over 10 pounds at birth, and she came out a whopping 7 pounds 6 ounces. I'm half expecting this baby to be over 10 pounds now that they're making a big deal about how small he is. ;)

Here are some pictures from the last ultrasound (also seen here on Flickr). Isn't he cute?



Ellie's birthday:

It's official... I'm now the mother of a two-year-old! Ellie had a big birthday party while we were visiting in Illinois, and a very small get together with grandparents back here in Arizona on her actual birthday. She seemed to have a great time, and is definitely enjoying her new dollhouse, courtesy of me and Kevin. :)

28 weeks already! How did that happen?

Well, clearly I've missed over a month of updates. Yikes! You'd think since I sit in front of a computer for at least 40 hours a week I'd be posting up a little something here or there. I don't know why, but I just can't get blogging motivation. Perhaps if my life was more interesting, I'd be more likely to post about it... perhaps...

Anyway, almost 28 weeks already! WOW! Where did the time go?

I had a checkup this morning, and all is well. I also had the yucky glucose test, which I haven't heard back about, but hopefully that will come back within the normal range. Everything is measuring nicely, and the baby had a heart rate of 140. I think he must have been taking a little snooze after all the grooving he did to the music in the car on the way there.

I'm already at the point where instead of monthly appointments I get to go every two weeks now. FUN! Luckily I get to have another peek at the baby via ultrasound at the next appointment. I'm excited to see if he's still growing well (certainly feels like he is!), if he's still looking like a boy, etc... :)

In other fun news, we're leaving for Chicago in the morning. Yippie! Wish me luck on the 3.5ish hour flight with an almost 2 year old. That's always an adventure. Hopefully when we return a week later I'll have lots of exciting stories and pictures to post. :)

22 weeks

As usual, I've been slacking off with the update posts. This time I blame the holidays.

I can't believe I'm more than halfway there already. Where does the time go?

I went in as planned on Dec. 26th for the level II ultrasound. After waiting over an hour past my appointment time (GRRR!), I was finally taken back. Luckily both the ultrasound technician (not sure of what her exact title would be) and the perinatologist both agreed that everything looks fine and dandy on all accounts. Woo hoo! Both also agreed that he still looks like a boy.

Luckily all traces of morning sickness seem to have gone now. I've been feeling pretty good (minus a nasty cold) for a couple weeks now. Hooray!

Things are getting even busier on the movement front these past few weeks. I'm convinced he's throwing little dance parties in there in the middle of the night. Also, today he's been using my bladder as a trampoline. That's nice and comfy. If he's this active now, I can't even imagine what things will be like in another 15 weeks or so. Yikes!

And now for the obligatory ultrasound pictures from the level II scan.

He's still a boy	These are the legs that are constantly kicking me in uncomfortable places
He looks a little like Ellie here... sort of. :)	Isn't he cute?

20 weeks

So, the verdict is in.

It's a BOY!

We went in for the 20 week ultrasound a couple of days ago. All major organs and such are all looking great, or so I'm told. There is one small issue of his abdominal circumference measuring a little on the low side. I have to go back in on the 26th for a level II scan. *Fingers crossed* that it turns out to be nothing.

Also this week I randomly threw up again on Thursday morning for the first time in weeks. I think the ultrasound reminded my body that it's pregnant and I'm supposed to be sick. Even so, that only makes about 5 times total throwing up this time around. That is infinitely better than what I had with Ellie, so I'll gladly take it.

There's a lot going on in the fetal movement front lately. I can feel him wiggling around quite a bit throughout the day these days. Apparently his favorite time to be active seems to be somewhere between 2am and 4am, unfortunately. Here's hoping that changes before he's born.

And now for the obligatory ultrasound pictures.

Cute nose and lips	Little boy parts
Alien face. Ellie thinks this looks like our greyhound Freya or a dinosaur.	His profile. Ellie thinks this looks like a hat.
Two little baby feet

17 weeks 4 days

Oops! It appears that I've missed a couple weeks here. I blame missing 16 weeks on the holiday. I really have no excuse for missing the 17 week post, so I'm going to blame it on pregnancy brain.

Anywho, I had a doctor's appointment back at 15wd5. Everything looked great! I've only gained a pound so far (well, as of then), but no one mentioned anything about it so I'm not going to worry. I'm certainly eating enough, so I guess my body just doesn't need that extra weight just yet.

The heartbeat measured 150 bpm, a little bit slower than the previous readings of 158 bpm.

The next appointment is scheduled for December 19th. Part of that appointment will be the "Big" Ultrasound. We should find out if we're going to be recycling all the pink in our house or heading out to buy some blue.

Speaking of pink vs. blue, I had my first real pregnancy dream the other night. It was such a bizarre dream, so I'm not sure if I want to count it as intuitive or not. I was for whatever reason at an internet acquaintance's house with my two-day-old baby BOY. Oddly enough, my two-day-old infant seemed to have already grasped limited speech. He was already asking for milk, hugs, etc... The "best" part was when I accidentally flashed said internet acquaintance's husband while trying to discreetly nurse in the wrap I'm planning to get before the new baby arrives. Oops!

Little Sprout seems to have grown enough by this point where I can feel daily wiggles, kicks, rolls, etc... I love it. :)

There's one more monumental announcement to make since my last post. We've finally told the family about the baby. It's about time,right?

15 weeks

Time for another update!

15 weeks already. Wow! I have my 16 week Dr. appointment next Wednesday. I can't wait to hear the heartbeat again. The longer it's been since the last confirmation that everything is going well, the more those little doubts creep into my mind. Sometimes I actually begin to doubt that I'm really pregnant at all. Then I'll feel insanely sick or feel something like a little wriggle or punch and convince myself that all is well once more. Even so, it'll be nice to get that solid confirmation of a strong heartbeat just the same.

This week has been fairly uneventful. I added another round of vomiting to my short list this time around. That makes 4 times total so far. Not too bad. On Tuesday while driving to work I was trying my very best to keep it together, but ended up having to throw up while stopped at a stop light (thank goodness). The unfortunate thing is that the only available places to safely spew were out the car window (no thanks) or into my newly-opened bag of chips. Poor potato chips. They didn't know what hit them. I've since started keeping a few baggies in my car, just in case.

I've felt what I think is more movement over the past week, but it's not really a constant thing. Last night when Ellie was up at 2am (yuck) and laying on me to nurse, I swear I felt a little kick where she was "squishing" little Sprout. My mind immediately thought something to the effect of "Look at that, HE's is already starting fights with HIS sister." I wonder if that means anything... I suppose I'll find out soon enough. ;)

I guess my Dad wants his camera back

I've been holding my Dad's Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi hostage pretty much since the week after he got it. In my defense, he said I could borrow it and hasn't asked for it back yet even though I've tried to give it back multiple times.

Well, I guess he does want it back... because he decided to get me my own as an early Christmas present. YAYAYAYAY! I tried to explain that what with Kevin's recent raises (they nearly doubled his salary back in July, and as of last week he got another promotion and a $5k/year raise) we could afford to get one ourselves with a little saving, but my Dad insisted. My parents rock (and not just because they buy me awesome stuff).

So, instead of saving up for a camera, now I have to find something else to save for using my small monthly budget of fun money. I think I might want a nifty cool double stroller. We never really used a stroller when Ellie was little... but since she's gotten so heavy and I've been so tired/lazy lately to wear her much, we've been relying on it more than usual. Plus, it's really a lovely thing to have for theme parks, airports, etc... Hopefully we'll be doing a lot more vacationing next year now that we'll be able to swing it financially.

I think I want this one, the Phil and Ted Sport with the doubles kit:



I know a few people that have it, and they all seem to love it. I love the fact that you can fit two, but it's not big and bulky like some of the other double strollers out there. Also, you can configure it so many different ways. Too bad it's just a little bit pricey (that's the understatement of the century)... although less than the camera I was saving for. I'm a little wary of spending that much on a stroller since it wasn't really something we used much until very recently.

I suppose for now I'll just save my money and continue to mull it over.

Halloween!

Two posts in one day! Amazing!

Obviously this is a little late... but I have some Halloween pics to share. Ellie was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz this year. She was perhaps the cutest Dorothy there ever was, complete with her own Toto (part played by Dudley).

And now, the pics:

Dorothy	I'm not sure what she's trying to keep her feet away from... perhaps a bug?
She finally has enough hair for "real" pigtails. YAY!	Always a lady, climbing in her dress.
And just because... Dudley in his Toto costume. ;)

Just in case that's not enough for you, more Halloween pictures can be seen on my Flickr page.

14 weeks

I decided that it might be a good idea to start doing a weekly pregnancy journal sort of thing. My memories of pregnancy with Ellie are so vague... I'd like to have more to look back on this time about how I was feeling at any given time and what not.

So yeah, I'm officially 14 weeks today! Look at that gorgeous baby-looking thing in my little sidebar widget. It's so cool that everything is actually baby shaped at this point. :)

The morning sickness seems to be getting a little better, but it's definitely still there. Food aversions are still alive and strong, as are cravings for any and all junk food. I've still only thrown up 3 times so far (with an additional bought of dry heaving that wasn't much fun either). This past Monday Ellie got to witness my sickiness for the first time. She looked absolutely horrified while it was happening, but seemed to forget about it almost instantly afterwards.

FYI, waffles and OJ don't taste nearly as good coming back up as they do going down. Also, waffle chunks clog sinks (Ellie was blocking the toilet, I had no choice).

Moving on.

I'm at that yucky, just look fat(ter) stage right now. Certainly not showing with cute little roundness... just chubbier. Maybe once the babyness is distinguishable from stomach flab I'll start taking pictures. I didn't take any pictures with Ellie, and I really regret it.

I swear I've been feeling tiny little movements for the past couple weeks or so. It's not really like soft butterfly movements... more like tiny little jabs, no stronger than a light finger flick, but on the inside. I really don't think it's gas, although it is still very early for feeling actual movement. I hadn't felt anything for a day or two, until I started typing this... so who knows, it may all be in my head after all.

I can't wait until I'm feeling for real, no doubt about it, kicks, punches, rolls, and more. That's definitely my favorite part of pregnancy (and all this time you probably thought it was the vomiting). That constant movement is such a nice reminder that the little bean is there and doing well.

More excellent news

I had my aforementioned OB appointment this morning. I was a little worried going in that they wouldn't be able to find the heartbeat with the doppler, even though I'm almost 12 weeks.

Lucky for me, they found it right away. Little Sprout's heart was beating away at a nice and healthy 158 beats per minute.

I've decided to call this one Sprout (only until birth, that is) because Ellie simply has the cutest way of pronouncing it. It sounds a little like "pout", but way cuter.

In more good news, I've only gained half a pound! I was full expecting to have gained at least 10 pounds based on all the ginger ale, caffeine free Coke, potato chips, and other random junk I've been consuming lately while in the throws of morning sickness.

Oh yeah, and I finally put up a ticker in my sidebar. :)

Excellent news!

Remember that Nikon camera I mentioned previously that decided all of a sudden not to work anymore? I googled the issue a while back and found out that Nikon was supposedly fixing cameras for free because the issue is caused by some sort of defect. Today I finally got around to searching their site for more info, half expecting to find that I had to send it in a year ago or something to get it fixed.

I found this, dated 2/16/2007, with no "expiration date" listed.

"It has come to our attention that in a limited number of COOLPIX 3100, 3500, 4500, 5000, 5400, 5700 and SQ digital cameras, an electronic component may, in some instances, fail affecting your camera's performance and/or operability.

While only a limited number of COOLPIX 3100, 3500, 4500, 5000, 5400, 5700 and SQ digital cameras are affected by this advisory, if your camera presents symptoms that can include (1) images with a strong color tint, (2) images that are totally black and/or (3) images with visible defects, Nikon will, upon confirmation that the problem is associated to this Service Advisory, service your camera free of charge.

To obtain complimentary service for cameras affected by this advisory, please click the link below to download and print the Service Return Form. The Service Return Form provides detailed return instructions.

The Frequently Asked Questions button at the bottom of this page offers more information about this advisory and, should you have more questions, also provides information about how to contact Nikon.

We apologize for any inconvenience you may experience."

My camera is one of those listed and has the "images that are totally black" issue. So, It seems like if I fill out that form and send it in, they'll fix it for free! Whooooooot!

Now I just need to keep my fingers crossed that my good luck lasts until tomorrow's OB appointment. I'm very much hoping I'll be able to hear the heartbeat with the doppler. *fingers crossed*

What a difference a new camera makes

Ok, so it's not my new camera. My Dad got the camera I've been wanting for oh so long (Canon Digital Rebel XTi).... but at least now I can borrow his until I save up enough to get my own. :)

I really don't know how to use it yet, but even with my lack of knowledge and extremely novice (umm... non-existent is probably more like it) photography skills, I can absolutely notice a difference in the quality of pictures taken with his camera vs. my 5ish year old point and shoot crappy camera (Fujifilm FinePix 2650) that I've been stuck using lately since my Nikon E5700 bit the dust.

To illustrate my point, here are a couple of pictures taken yesterday, outside on a very sunny day with my yucko Fujifilm.



Compare those with the pictures taken today, inside, with the pop-up flash using my Dad's sweet new camera.



The images can be clicked on to pull up a larger version. The pictures taken with the Canon are so much more vibrant, show so much more detail, etc... I can't wait to see what kind of pictures I can get once I learn all the features and get a chance to try it out in natural light.

Maybe this is safe to put up now?

I've been avoiding putting any sort of ticker up here what with my history and what not... but I really like this little widget and like to see how it changes week to week. Perhaps once I reach the second trimester I'll feel confident enough to move it to the sidebar.

Am I really that weird?

At work, I generally work in the Small Commons, an area filled with circular tables conducive for group meetings and such. It's a common area of the school, so a lot of students and other staff/faculty often sit here to work as well.

Lately one of the school's English teachers has been sitting here lately to meet with her students. It seems like she's meeting with students on are strugging and thus far receiving poor grades. I can't help but overhear some of her conversations with these students, and it seems like so many are just SO unmotivated. I really can't understand that. They're missing assignment on top of assignment. It doesn't even seem like they're making much of an effort or even showing up for class. What gives?

Granted, I was a bit of a class cutter myself in college if I felt it wasn't something I really needed to be there for. But still, I don't think I EVER purposely didn't turn in an assignment. It's baffling to me that they can pay so much for school (it's a private university, so it's about $25K per year for tuition alone) and not even give it your best effort. Do people really not realize the value of that much money by college age?

It confuses me.

Maybe I'm just weird.

Bad habits

Per usual I've slacked off when it comes to updating this thing. In my defense, we have been gone much of the past month. We spent the first couple weeks of September in Illinois. We visited family, friends, and familiar places. Even though our house is in Arizona, home will always be in Illinois. Hopefully we'll be able to move back there sometime within the next couple of years. Enjoy some pictures from our trip.




After our Chicago trip we stuck around in Arizona for about four days, then headed off for a long weekend in Disneyland. It was Ellie's first experience with a major theme park, and she did great! I'm happy she's not one of those kids that screams bloody murder at the sight of a life-size Mickey Mouse. To the contrary, she thought he was the coolest thing ever. Some pics for you to enjoy of our Disneyrrific fun: