And Then There Were Four...

I sure have neglected this blog over the past few years. I really have no excuse--I have the time. Motivation is really my biggest obstacle. Hopefully this will be the start of something new around here, I miss my little corner of the Internet where I can ramble uninterrupted and where many of you actually stick around to read it.

It seems fitting that the last time I wrote here was after Audrey was born, and I shared her birth story. It seems like it was just yesterday she made me a momma, and yet she has just turned two. Yes, I said TWO! And now here we are about to delve into Lauren's birth story. Life is funny like that. It changes so swiftly and time is not your friend. Sometimes I feel like all of the moments are passing me by so quickly that I simply cannot grasp them. But that is a topic for another day. For now you get to sit back and enjoy hearing about how little Miss Lauren joined our family just about five months ago. 

We always knew we wanted kids and certainly more than one kid. Like many others these days we didn't start our family till we were well into our 30s. Closer to 40 than 30. I was 35 when I got pregnant with Audrey and was 36 when she was born. We knew if she were going to ever have a brother or sister that we would want them close together because--let's be honest--I am not getting any younger. The timing just so happened to work out perfectly for us. While we didn't have confirmation till the week following Audrey's first birthday, I had that feeling I was pregnant. The timing was just what we wanted and so started the journey of my pregnancy with Lauren.

I was fortunate to have a fairly routine pregnancy with Audrey aside from a little blood pressure issues. I think because things went so well with that and her birth and my recovery that I expected the opposite this time around. Once again I was very fortunate and had another routine pregnancy that seemed much smoother than the first time around. Perhaps I was distracted with a 1 year old to run after but I really didn't have very many complaints, until the end of course when Miss Lauren had no interest in joining us.

At my 38 week appointment, I was 2 cm dilated and my Dr told me I had a "favorable cervix", thanks I guess. Ha ha! She told me that when I did go in to labor that things would go fairly fast. So I went home and spent the next week wondering if my water would break, or if every little ache and pain was contractions. I am sure I drove my friend Aimee absolutely batty with my non stop texts asking her if she thought I was having contractions, ha ha! My 39 week appointment came and once again Dr told me she liked my progress and things looked great and she suspected we could see baby any day. She was certain I wouldn't make it to my due date which was April 28th. It was April 21st, and the 28th seemed like a lifetime away. That following week I thought on more than one occasion that it was time, but sure enough every time contractions stopped and once again I was back to waiting. Before we knew it it was April 28th--my due date--and there was no sign of baby. I had my 40 week checkup that day and my doctor couldn't believe I was there. But there I was. Once again, things still looked great, I was doing good, health wise that is, physically I was MISERABLE! Baby had a strong heartbeat. That day our conversation was a little different than weeks past. That day we discussed how long I was going to be allowed to be pregnant. She advised that we induce on May 5th which was exactly one week passed my due date. 41 weeks. Of course we all said there was no way I would make it that far. But she scheduled me on the morning of the 5th. We left that day confident we would see her in just a few days. Lauren sure pulled one over on us because before we knew it, it was May 5th!

My pregnancy flew by. But that last week felt like it would never end. I think at one point I surrendered myself to the notion that I would in fact be this way forever. But the end was indeed upon us. We went to bed the night of the 4th knowing we would meet Lauren the next day. Putting Audrey to bed that night was a little emotional for me. Yes...I cried as I sang to her and prayed with her. She made me a mom, she changed everything for the better and has brought us more joy than I ever thought possible. That was the last night it would be just the 3 of us and it was a little bittersweet. I held her a little longer that night before I put her in her crib knowing her world as she knew it would never be the same. There was so many unknowns about how she would adjust to this new little baby living in her space. Would she be jealous? Would she feel less loved? Would she act out? Would she even like Lauren?

We arrived at the hospital shortly before 7 am. We were sent to room 316. Hey, wait a minute--that seemed familiar! Indeed it was, 316 was the exact same room Audrey was born in. What are the chances? It's a fairly big labor and delivery unit, we couldn't believe it. My check in process with Audrey was so different. My water broke at home, when I arrived at the hospital I was put in triage. Baby was monitored while I had to give a urine sample to confirm that my water had indeed broke. Then I was assigned to a room and all set up. With Lauren it was just showing up and letting them know I was there for a scheduled induction and sent right along to my room. By the time we were settled in, gone through all the paperwork and I was hooked up to an IV etc it became a waiting game. Because I was Group B Strep positive (Google it) I would need antibiotics all through labor and delivery to help protect me and baby from infection. They wanted me to be on my second dose of antibiotics before I delivered. Given how dilated I was etc the decision was made they wouldn't induce till around 11 am. My nurse Gayle (who was so awesome, by the way) allowed me to get dressed in my clothes and unhooked my IV and allowed Chris and I to take a walk and head down to the cafeteria for breakfast. We were instructed to be back up in my room no later than 10:30. It was 9:30 or so and I was starving so the idea of breakfast was very exciting.

We made it down to the cafeteria, ordered food. We sat down to eat--and not 5 minutes into it and suddenly I was overcome with a significant pain. When another hit me fairly quickly after that I looked at Chris and told him I was fairly certain I was having contractions and we had better head back upstairs. All the way back to the elevators I had to keep stopping every time another contraction hit because they were so strong. So funny, A week overdue, at the hospital for induction and prior to those contractions there had been zero sign of labor and there I basically went into labor on my own in the cafeteria. Go figure! We arrived back in my room and I was hooked back up to the monitors to check on baby and to monitor my contractions, and sure enough they were strong and fairly close together. I had planned all along to have an epidural and Gayle my nurse advised me if I wanted one to get it ASAP. So we called for anesthesiology to come up and get me set up with the good stuff. The anesthesiologist was the greatest guy and made me feel super at ease by chatting and making me laugh. Before I knew it I was all set. Once I started feeling the effects of the epidural I thought to myself wow this is really working because all of a sudden I could no longer feel those contractions. I was impressed. Turns out I couldn't feel them because they were basically gone. Ha ha! Somewhere in between my epidural and being given the Pitocin they broke my water. Which let me tell you was the worst. If I could choose I would choose having it break like it did with Audrey in one massive gush all on its own. Having it broke for me while I laid there and it slowly trickle out over time was the worst feeling. I would almost say it was the worst part of the entire labor and delivery with Lauren. Just EW! I ended up having a little more medicine being put in my back and before long the decision was made to go ahead with starting the IV with a small amount of Pitocin to get things moving. The midwife came to check on me and said, "you're almost there, one contraction and we will be ready to go." So in went the medication and sure enough within minutes my contractions had returned and just like she said we were ready to roll. It was 2:34 PM and Gayle said to me, "you're going to have this baby before 3!" I thought she was messing with me and I told her she had better not be lying. LOL! A handful of pushes and 14 minutes later Lauren was born at 2:48 PM. I couldn't believe it, compared to 7 hours of labor and an hour and a half of pushing with Audrey here was Lauren just like that! If Chris had blinked he would have missed it.

In fact, things went so quickly Gayle decided to check me and when she did she was like "Uh Chris, I need you to hit the call button and tell them we need Jabke (midwife) in here RIGHT NOW" in the calmest, sternest nurse voice you've ever heard. Lauren was coming. NOW. She then assured me if she needed to she would catch Lauren! Jabke arrived and was taking her time getting prepared not realizing the fast pace at which things were progressing and Gayle was like "we need you over here NOW," Gayle told us after that normally she would have gone out to get Jabke herself but she could see Lauren's head an knew that she was going to be born NOW!

41 weeks we waited for her and there she was. All 9 pounds 3 ounces of her. She was perfect. We were in love all over again. This perfect little human that we created, There aren't enough words to describe how thankful I am for her and her sister.

 Audrey has loved Lauren since the minute she set eyes on her. She helps me with diapers and so on. Now that Lauren is getting older she loves to watch Audrey play and she is always smiling and laughing at her. Audrey asks to hold her on a regular basis but she is usually done after about 1 minute. LOL! She will just throw her hands up and say all done. We were afraid of jealousy but it really hasn't been an issue. We have made efforts to keep Audrey's world as normal as possible and her routines just as they always were, I really think this helped her. But honestly from day one it was like she was thinking "oh okay, you're here now. cool, now where's my snack!"

They both bring us such joy and my cup overflows every time I see them smile. We are truly blessed!

Oh Baby, Baby!

Ummm, guys? Am I doing it right?

It's weird, I had a pretty uneventful pregnancy. Other than a few blips on the radar screen--a preeclampsia scare, a failed glucose test (I passed the second one) and a little bit of gestational hypertension--things went about as well as I could have hoped. Baby was healthy, I was healthy. I gained only 14 pounds(!) All of these things are awesome, but it somehow had me convinced I would have a hard labor and overall terrible experience. I will be honest...I was worried. 

On the evening of Monday, August 11th, I was on the phone with my dad and he had asked me how I was feeling. My answer was that I was, "over being pregnant, the heat was unbearable! Thanks Oregon for your 100 degree summer!" I was ready for her to come anytime. I told him since I was just over 2 weeks from my due date she was good to go and really just gaining extra weight at that point. The same night as I was confirming dinner plans with our friends Amy and Tyson via text message for Wednesday night, I made the joke I would try not to have her beforehand. The joke was clearly on me! Well played Audrey, well played. We went to bed that night having no idea that the next morning we would find ourselves officially awaiting the arrival of our little girl.

I woke up around 8:30 am the morning of the 12th. Nothing out of the ordinary. My routine was the same as every other day. I laid there checking Twitter and Facebook on my phone, delaying getting out of bed. Finally after about 45 minutes, I decided to get the day started. First stop the bathroom, then it was downstairs to let Belle out, make coffee and Chris's lunch. The only thing on that list that happened was using the bathroom. I made it almost all the way down the stairs, three steps from the bottom (there are 16) when all of a sudden I was stopped dead in my tracks with the initial thought my bladder no longer worked. Of course, that thought passed quickly and I realized what had happened.

My water broke! Crap/Yay!

They say it doesn't usually happen like in the movies or TV when all of a sudden you have a huge gush of water. Well it did happen that way, and thank God I was at home and Chris hadn't left for work yet! It was 9:20 AM on Tuesday, August 12th. This was it. This was really going to happen. This was going to be the day we would meet our daughter. Since December 17th we had been anticipating her arrival, and now it was right in front of us.

The next hour was a much calmer experience than I had ever thought it would have or could have been. You see...I'm a little insane. It's true. Just ask Chris. I don't do well with unknown situations, especially medical ones.

But in those first moments, I was cool as a cucumber.
Joe Cool.
Coolio.
Too cool for school.

I walked back upstairs and said to Chris, "uh honey, I don't think you're going to work today." He responded with "why?" I informed him that unless I no longer had bladder control my water had just broken. He got on the phone with his boss and me with my doctors office. Given my water had broken in the manner of a massive gush, we knew that was what it was and as expected they told me to head to the hospital and they would let them know I was on my way. Due to the fact I was not in labor, I knew we had time to get ready. So we both showered, took the dog out, left our key for our neighbors (they took care of Belle) and yes--even stopped at Starbucks on the way so Chris could get himself a quad shot caramel macchiato! However--I am very thankful we had packed our hospital bags on Sunday night. It really would have sucked to not have that stuff together.

Remember how I said I was expecting a horrible experience because my pregnancy was so easy?

Well, we arrived at the hospital in about 15 minutes, and Chris dropped me off at the front entrance so he could go park. I waited inside the doors for him. Remember--I wasn't in labor so it isn't like he just dropped off a screaming woman in pain and left me standing there! It was really stormy that morning, and the sky looked just awful. As I was standing there waiting for him, I heard this loud "BANG!" and everything went dark. All of the lights, everything was out.

I felt a slight sense of panic begin to set in.

This was it, the start of the horrible day I had been expecting.

Of course a few seconds later I heard the generators kick in and all the lights came back on. Talk about killing the dramatic effect of the panic that was starting to enter my mind! Chris--of course--thought this was funny when I told him what had happened. We proceeded to the elevators--except...they weren't working. When the elevator door finally opened, a guy stepped out informing us NOT to get in because he had just been stuck in there for 5 minutes! I was like, "HELL NO I am not getting in there!" Luckily, they stopped working again, so I didn't have to even think about it. To the stairs we went with a large group of other people. Once again--thank goodness--I wasn't in labor otherwise I am certain those 3 flights of stairs would have felt like 300. Once we were upstairs we learned that a lightening bolt had hit the hospital. Lovely. Only me!

It had been an hour since my water broke, and finally we were in triage. First was a urine test to confirm my water had indeed broke. Yep! (In fact, the triage nurse took us in to the lab so we could see the amniotic fluid under the microscope! It looked like a fern!) Next up was hooking me up to a monitor to check baby's heart rate. Once urine test confirmed what we already knew, one of the midwifes from my doctors office came to talk with us. Because I was group B strep positive, and because my water had broke she explained that they don't like to wait longer than 6-8 hours to get labor started if it hasn't already done so on its own. Clearly we wanted to avoid the risk of infection as much as possible for baby and for me, so we decided to wait till 3:30 pm and check where I was at.

Of course when 3:30 pm rolled around...nothing was happening. The doctor gave the okay to wait a while longer and we would make a decision at 6 pm. So we continued to walk laps around the labor and delivery ward to see if we could get it started naturally. Nada. The only thing I was feeling was how anxious I was to meet our little one. Oh, and of course the never ending pressure on my bladder forcing me to pee every five seconds.

So 6 pm came and went. Nothing. No sign this little one was about to get a move on. So we made the decision it was time to induce and hopefully get this party started sooner rather than later. In went the IV for my Penicillin (I was group B strep positive) and Pitocin. The drip was started very low...and so the wait began. I realize it had already been 9 hours since my water broke, but it felt like the real wait was just beginning...because I knew the Pitocin would--or at least should--send things in the right direction to put me into labor. The clock kept ticking and I kept feeling nothing. We watched the Mariners game, Chris was on his phone a lot, I was on my phone a lot. We were trying to keep people in the loop, but there weren't any updates! I was having very minor contractions (they were being picked up on the monitor) but I wasn't feeling any of them. Every once in a while my nurse reappeared to turn up the drip and every time I cursed her because I knew it meant things were eventually going to hurt. Audrey's heartbeat was steady and strong and she was clearly happy and cozy where she was.

Finally the clock hit midnight and suddenly there was what I had been waiting for since 9:30 that morning. OUCH!

Once I started to feel contractions--which were unfortunately mostly in my back--my nurse told me to let her know when I wanted my epidural. I told my nurse I wanted to wait as long as possible, because this brings me back to the fact I am insane. I do not like medical procedures, and the unknown has a knack of scaring me much more that it should. I spend all my time thinking of all the worst case scenarios instead of realizing how common most of these things are. I wasn't so much scared of the needle as I was the possibility of my legs being overly numb. If this were to happen I would most certainly panic.

For example, the first time I had an MRI these were actual questions I asked Chris on the way to the hospital: "What if the power goes out and I get stuck? What if there's an earthquake in the middle of my MRI?" Obviously the chances of these things happening at the exact time I am inside the machine are slim to none. Who has two thumbs and is an insane crazy person?? THIS GAL.

So we waited. The contractions weren't that strong for the first hour or so. The bigger issue at that point was every time I moved, the monitor that was tracking Audrey's heartbeat kept moving and my nurse had to keep coming in to readjust it. Audrey was being a little stinker and was in some weird position, so it took forever to find it. I was told if it kept happening I would need to have an internal monitor put in. Umm, NO thanks. Eventually I started to get pretty uncomfortable but I was still avoiding the epidural. So my nurse gave me some Fentanyl in my IV to try and tide me over for a little while longer. It was GREAT for about 20 minutes. Not because I think it was actually taking away any pain, but because it hit me so fast and hard I was high as a kite. Chris found this pretty amusing. Once that 20 minutes was up--regardless of how scared I was--I was ready for that epidural. I was over it and ready for the good stuff.

When the anesthesiologist walked in I could have kissed her. I was so very happy to see her, although I did briefly wonder if she was old enough to be doing that job. I swear, she looked like she was barely out of med school! The procedure itself was nothing like I expected. I most definitely expected it to hurt. It really just felt weird more than anything else. She had to do it twice, because the first one wasn't quite in the right spot. Finally, things were in place and she put the medicine into the catheter and gave me a little pump. If I needed more, all I had to do was hit the little button and more drugs for me! At this point it was 2 am, and Chris and I were both able to finally get some sleep...for about 2 1/2 hours that is. Around 4:30 am my nurse had anesthesiology come back up because I was starting to feel things again and that magic little button was NOT doing its job. I was given more stuff straight into the catheter in my back. It was a little better, but not as much as I wanted. They came back one more time and once again the same. The left side felt great, the right side had not taken all the way.

Frustration set in a little.

Where was my magical drug-induced labor where I felt nothing?

In all honesty, it really wasn't that bad. I was more uncomfortable than anything else, and I couldn't find a good position to lay in for longer than a couple minutes. Which was made worse when my nurse kept coming in and turning that pesky drip of Pitocin up. In her defense, they were just trying to get me to the finish line. They checked me around 6 am and I was only 4 cm dilated and still had a ways to go. A little while later they checked again and I was 6. I was frustrated at this point. Once more the drip was turned up and I got to the point where the only thing that relieved any of the pressure I was feeling was TO PUSH.

Chris was like, "I don't think you're supposed to be doing that!" Ha!

Well maybe not, but it was at the point I literally had no control over it. He went and told my nurse and she was like, "Nooooo don't do that!"

She came in and checked me again and still I was not ready yet. Aaargh!

But then--just a few minutes later--the doctor came in to check me, and I was fully dilated! She announces, "You're 100%!!" Everyone in the room was like, "YAAAY!"

It was 6:45 AM.

The next few minutes were a little bit of a blur to me. My nurse was getting the table of all the different tools for the doctor ready, and before I knew it the doctor who would deliver Audrey was in the room getting ready to go. She assured me the table of odd and perhaps scary looking items were only there in case she needed them. Of course, it wasn't my doctor who delivered Audrey, but it was one of her colleagues.

It was go time, no turning back and hopefully sooner rather than later we would be holding our baby girl.

Now, I hadn't taken any childbirth classes. The truth is, they seemed awfully pricey and nowadays you can learn everything and anything online. Which is what I did, I watched a class online for free. There was not ONE thing I was taught from watching that video that I didn't get walked through by my nurses and doctor. One of my nurses even said to me, "that's what we are here for." Looking back I am glad we didn't waste the money. So that was that, ready or not it was time to have a baby. I've never been a planner and have always sort of flown by the seat of my pants, so why should this have been any different?

My night nurse was off at 7 am but stuck around till 7:45. Every few minutes she would come check to see how things were going. I felt bad, because she worked her butt off all night taking amazing care of me and Audrey and she did all the heavy lifting, listened to my whining, and calmed me during the epidural. I could go on. She was awesome! I think we both wanted her to be there for the end result. Little Miss Audrey had different plans. The nurse that took over at 7 was equally as awesome. She was actually the mom and mother in law of friends of ours. How funny is that? I did know about her prior and had actually requested her (and my night nurse, for that matter) at the suggestion of our friends. She coached me through all my contractions, counted when I was pushing, kept me calm and so on. On the other side, Chris was the Ice Chip Champion, sometimes even over feeding me. He was right there the entire time and I could not have asked for a better coach to get me to the end result.

EVERY time I would say I was ready to push, the nurse and Chris (and later, the doctor) would get in position, and I would start pushing for like 2 seconds and be like, "Oh nevermind!" All three of them laughed at me when they figured out the first push was always going to be a fake! Only to actually need to push about ten seconds later, FOR REALS! Eventually they ignored me on that first one. Ha!

It was the weirdest experience in between contractions and pushing. I was laying there waiting for the next wave and hoping I had the energy to keep going. Then there was Chris, my nurse and the doctor just chatting up a storm having a great time. At first I was thinking, "HELLO! Remember me?!?!" But then I was thankful for their chatter and laughter. It kept me calm. I never had a chance to freak out about anything. After about an hour of pushing, Audrey was finally crowning. That was nowhere near as bad as I had expected especially given my epidural had not taken 100%. Don't get me wrong, it didn't feel great.

During this time my doctor exclaimed, "look at all her hair!" At which point she proceeded to play with Audrey's hair and exclaim she wanted to braid it. So funny! They asked if I wanted to feel her head or if I wanted a mirror. I was like, "HELL NO!" I know what was going on down there, and I didn't need the visual. That would have for sure made me panic. It had only been a half hour since her head started crowning but at times it felt like hours. I kept asking how much longer, the doctor kept saying "you're almost there," I kept asking "are you sure?" Ha! But she was right, with a couple of last big pushes she was out and on my chest. It was the most surreal moment of my life. There on my chest was MY baby. A tiny human that Chris and I created.

At 8:17 AM on August 13th, our lives changed forever.

She was breastfeeding almost right away, and during the 40 minutes or so the doctor was stitching me up, Audrey and I got to lay together. Chris and I both just stared at her a LOT. She was perfect. Finally they took her, cleaned her off all the way, weighed her and it was daddy's turn to hold his little girl. It was the coolest moment to see him hold her for the first time. She's had him wrapped around her tiny fingers from that moment!

There wasn't much that happened that took me by surprise. I felt that anything I was unsure of was explained to me really well. The only three things I would say really surprised me was the uncontrollable shaking before and right after she was born. Especially in my legs. The other thing was how HOT I was during labor. To the point I literally felt like I was going to start on fire. I don't usually sweat a lot, but...

I.
Was.
Sweating.
I did not enjoy this.

Lastly, I could not believe the relief of pressure the second she was out. All of that pressure on my bladder and so on that had been almost unbearable the last few weeks was just gone. So awesome and weird.

Maybe I just had a good experience, but there was not one thing that happened that day that would discourage me from doing it again. It was surreal, painful, amazing, exhausting, joyful, emotional...pretty much the greatest experience of my life.

It was the day we met out beautiful baby girl. The day our lives changed in the best possible way they ever could have. We are thankful and blessed, and we are more in love with her everyday!

So You're Having a Baby

So...the cat has been out of the bag for a while. We are having a baby, it is true. We are pretty sure it's human even, and we are very excited about her impending arrival around the 27th of August. We managed to keep our secret (except for some immediate family and close friends) until I was 20 weeks so we could announce both the pregnancy and the sex. Two birds with one stone so to speak.

Recently I have been asked questions such as  - "why did you wait so long to announce?" "where are your belly shots?" "where are your updates about your doctor's appointments?"

First and foremost, I think it is important for people who don't know me--as well as some that do--that I am a fairly private person. I have always been that way, and the truth is I'm okay with it. As for not announcing until 20 weeks, (we didn't even tell our families till 12 weeks had passed) it was not because we weren't excited because believe me, we were and are. We always knew we would never announce a pregnancy in the first trimester, and once that period had passed we liked that it was still mostly just our secret and ours to be happy about. When we were ready we would share the news. Chris decided he wanted to make something to announce both the pregnancy and the sex at the same time, so we decided to wait until then. Below is the video of the announcement we posted on Facebook.

Belly shots. This again comes down mostly to privacy. I am not one to have any desire to take a picture of my belly, pregnant or not and share it with the world. This is not likely to change, and I apologize if this inconveniences anyone. :) I am sure at some point later on in this pregnancy a photo or two will make its way on to the world wide web. Until then, patience my friends. I should also add that even though I will be 27 weeks on Wednesday, I am not really showing anything yet. Baby is growing on track and all is going well, but the obvious baby bump has not really arrived yet. I'm thicker for sure (HA) but for now that's it. My maternity pants seem to nicely round out what was already there before I was pregnant and make me look like I have a big ol' baby bump when I really don't. ;)

Don't get me wrong, if you ask me stuff directly I will share--well--except belly photos. LOL. I am just unlikely to put every little update and piece of info on Facebook etc.

Those things aside all has been going well. We had a little bit of a scare at 7 weeks which resulted in an early ultrasound. Everything was fine, babies heart was beating and we got to see the first glimpse of our little McNugget. Of course then she was nothing but a little wee blob, but what a relief to see that blob and see the heart beating. This was our girls first photo. 

We decided to do genetic testing which happens around 12 weeks. This of course allowed us to see our little one again. My appointment was early on a Tuesday morning. The testing is a combination of blood work and ultrasound. Baby was happy as can be in there--TOO HAPPY. She was jumping and rolling and waving and doing what appeared to be headstands. Which was all great, EXCEPT for the fact she had to be in a certain position for the photos they needed. She had NO desire to cooperate. After a half hour of more of trying to get what they needed, we decided we would come back in two days and try again. So Thursday morning came, and back we went. Yet again she was busy performing her acrobatics and would not cooperate. The decision was made after the doctor was happy with what he saw and compared with the blood work, which would be good enough. We agreed and were on our way. Sure we didn't get what we needed, but we got two bonus looks at our happy little one. This was her at 12 weeks. 

The next view of our little one came at 20 weeks for the anatomy scan. This was my longest ultrasound as they take time to look over every single organ of the baby to make sure everything is the right size, in the right place and nothing out of the ordinary. It was also the day we found out we were having a girl. As usual she seems to be as stubborn as her mother and she did not fully cooperate during that ultrasound. She was not in a great position and they were not able to get very good pictures of her heart. So they did another scan a few weeks later at my next appointment. Luckily, she decided she would be cooperative that day and they got what they needed. Everything from that and the full anatomy scan looked good. Here is her photo from 20 weeks. 

I can honestly say that being our first child, I really didn't have a preference one way or another on the sex. I just wanted a healthy baby. I think Chris would be lying if he said there wasn't a split second in that moment when the technician said "it's a girl" that he felt a little bit of disappointment. But that split second passed very quickly and he seems to melt at the sight of all the cute little baby girl clothes we see and have been buying. Something tells me this little one already has her daddy wrapped around her finger. I haven't decided if this is bad for me yet or not. Ha! 

As for me things have been going well. I had my glucose screening 2 weeks ago and failed the 1 hour test and had to go back to do the 3 hour test which I passed with flying colors. Yay! My weight gain has been very minimal, woohoo. I will be 27 weeks on Wednesday. Insane how quickly time is flying. Ready or not she will be here before we know it and we couldn't be more excited. 

So there you have it. A blog post about baby. Hopefully this will tide some of you over until the next update! :)

Oh Christmas Tree (yes I realize this is a few months late)

March 3rd and I cannot even believe I haven't blogged about our Christmas tree. My Christmas tree adventures are a big deal around here. Growing up we never had a real tree, which was fine. But now that I have been exposed to the world of real trees since being with Chris it is one of my favorite Christmas activities. The last few years we have actually gone out and cut down our own tree. So fun. I love walking through the rows upon rows of hundreds of trees looking for the perfect tree.

 The day we went to get our tree was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Blue skies and sunny. A little chilly, but perfect. We headed through the rows of trees of all sizes and shapes. Chris had saw in hand ready to cut down the perfect tree. It didn't take us too long to find one we both loved.

 

After getting it home and letting it stand in the garage for a few hours it was time to bring it in and decorate it. Belle was ready to help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No tree of ours would be complete without Seahawks and hockey ornaments. We had a fun night decorating it. Wine of course was consumed and we watched Elf while we decorated. Another thing that has become sort of a tradition for us. So fun. 

So there you have it. A little delayed in sharing this post with you guys. But better late than never right?

Thanksgiving, Blogging and Christmas

It has been a week since I finished up blogging for 30 straight days in the month of November for National Blog Posting Month. The last two days I realize were cheap versions of the awesomeness you are you used to around here. BUT--in my defense--I was out of town on the Oregon Coast and where I was staying didn't have wifi and had very spotty cell service. I did what I could with what I had. (Chris is skeptical.) So while you may forgive me for that, you are probably seething with anger and wondering why I would leave this space empty 6 whole days. Today is day 7, but I am not including it because I am currently blogging. I would love to give you some extravagant reason but there really isn't one. Just be happy I am back :)

Our little weekend trip to the Oregon Coast was to celebrate Thanksgiving with Chris's moms side of the family. They had rented a house where they all stayed, and we stayed at a friends little beach house. Aunts, uncles and cousins galore. A fun time was had by all. (Chris agrees!) The weather wasn't exactly nice but that didn't stop Chris and I from enjoying it and spending a little time down at the beach with the dog.

 

 

 

I figured with Thanksgiving done and over with, we would be well into Christmas mode by now. Truth is, we really haven't had any time this week to even get our Christmas tree. (Chris has been too busy.) The only Christmas decoration I have in my house at the moment is a little mini tree that we bought two years ago as a table centerpiece. I never put it away after last Christmas. Ha! Today I am off to a Christmas cookie exchange which should be fun. I made Peppermint Chocolate Chip Pretzel cookies and they taste pretty darn good. (Chris wholeheartedly agrees!) I think tomorrow morning we will head out to the tree farm to find and cut our tree. YAY! I love getting our Christmas tree and it is always an adventure, which will officially kick off Christmas season for us. We always put it up while drinking wine and watching Elf. Hopefully Chris will be able to get the Christmas lights up tomorrow as well.

Being that today is already the 7th, I am wondering if we will even get Christmas cards out this year. Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed even tighter we will get our Christmas shopping done in time and shipped where it needs to go. It's crunch time, and I sense a busy week ahead. If I can get the tree bought, up and decorated, the lights up, shopping started and a photo taken for our Christmas card done by next Sunday I will be a happy camper. Then I can just relax for a week or so before Christmas and do fun things like make Chris take me to see the Zoo lights. (Chris maybe agrees.)

Endings

Today is the last day of National Blog Posting Month and sadly I'm out of town with barely any internet service. So my apologies. All you get is some pictures. Tomorrow when I am back in internet land I will be sure to entertain you all with something much more deep and entertaining.

Dinner Time

Top sirloin with dungeness crab and Hollandaise sauce with garlic cream cheese mashed potatoes. Yum. At Pirates Cove with Chris and his mom.  One of our favorites. Washing it down with 14 Hands Cab Sav.