Ultrasound for Baby #2

The weather tried really hard to mess with getting the ultrasound done today, but I was pretty determined not to reschedule it. HUGE thanks to my parents who came and got me in the 4WD car and took me down to my appointment. My Mom was already going to go with me, because Joel's work wouldn't let him come in late or anything, and I didn't want to be alone, but it took a good chunk of my Dad's day too, and I'm really grateful! He even scraped off my car after he brought me home so I can run errands later! LOVE Dad!

So, I was supposed to have the ultrasound and then see my doctor, but when I got there, they had just taken someone in to the ultrasound room who's appointment was at 8:15 (mine was at (9:45 and this was just before that), so they were obviously running behind because of opening late due to the weather, and people's travel issues. Luckily, my doctor was able to see me right away, so we just flipped the appointments. My doctor informed me that the bloodwork I did last week (quad screen) was all good, except that I'm anemic. She prescribed a couple of different things for that, and then Mom and I waited for the ultrasound.

It's probably just because I've had so many now, but I could actually kind of see what the tech was talking about this time! Very exciting, because every other time, I've just been like "If you say so...." when they pointed things out to me. I also really like this tech too. I've seen her a couple of times now, and she's great about actually talking to you!

So, bear with me, because these are pictures of the pictures, but you can see pretty well. So, here is what we call the "Oh, my aching neck!" picture. The baby kept reaching back like this, or putting its hands over its face (yep, you totally have to wait til the end of this post to find out what it is, if you don't already know! : P), so cute!

This is just a good pic of the whole baby. It was nice to see these after she was done measuring all the little things she needed to get for the doctor. You can actually recognize a baby!

And last, but not least, here is "The Picture." Nikki (the tech) said "I'm just going to get between the legs and see if you can tell what it is." And just like Christopher, this kid left NO question! Definitely a Boy! That little white thing is actually a hand figure pointing out the "important" stuff.

I admit, I was kind of hoping for a girl, but this baby is such an amazing surprise, we're just so grateful to have another child at all, and we really just want him to be healthy. Christopher, of course, is THRILLED! Although he won't listen to me when I tell him we are not actually naming the baby "Peel." He will probably actually call him that. He has already renamed my cousin Jenny's 2-week-old Bodie "Elephant," and will not refer to him any other way!

K, so now I need help with names! I really only had girl names, and it seems like any boy names I even like are taken by loved ones. Help!!

Another Member of the Family

Meet Bob the Builder Fishy (we also have a Build-a-Bear Koala Bear named Bob the Builder, and before he settled on "peel", C said we should also use this name for the baby. We're not quite sure where this obsession came from.) We got him shortly before C's 3rd birthday. We wanted him to get used to feeding something before we eventually get the dog we would like to have. So, we have now had Fishy (I can't say the whole name all the time!) for about 8 months, longer than any Beta I've owned. Although I have a friend who had one live for 2 years.

This fish has lived through being watched by families in our ward twice. We have no idea how long he'll live, and I worry about what we'll happen when he passes. Joel and I are pretty chicken, so we'll probably go to every Wal-Mart in the area to find a replacement and hope C doesn't realize it's not Bob.

Anyway, this is the only fish I've seen that I really think has personality. I feed him every morning when I make my cereal, mostly because he is there begging as soon as he sees someone in the kitchen. I am not kidding. He will eat the food practically out of my fingers, and he won't eat any food that's not fresh. If it's been in there a while, he doesn't want it. Also, I swear he posed for these pictures. Check it out: This bright one was the first one I took. Obviously, the flash got in the way, but you can see his pretty colors better, and you can also see that he was already posing! Crazy fish.

Moving unexpectedly

Well, apparently we are moving. This was not really in our plans, but I feel strongly that it's what's supposed to happen. We did consider possibly moving to help my parents out a few weeks ago, briefly. It would have been at the end of May, when our lease is up. I felt like we should, but then I felt like I just wanted to help my parents, and that maybe I couldn't trust myself to separate the issue, being pregnant and very emotional and family-oriented even without extra hormones! So, I basically left it up to Joel, who felt we should stay put. It didn't really get to the point where we fasted or prayed about it, we just kind of made the decision it would be too much of a hassle, and we like where we're at. Done. Except that apparently Heavenly Father disagreed.

Not quite a couple of weeks ago, our landlord called us unexpectedly. I thought it might be about the water bill, which was a little late. Nope, she said they have an offer on their other property (where they are living now, up near Boulder), and needed us out by April 10th, or we could try to buy the condo. The original plan was to buy the place, but that was a couple of years ago, and it ended up that they couldn't sell it to us at that point for various reasons. Now it doesn't make sense, with the housing market and how much longer we would be there. I'm not really sure what would have happened if we had pushed the point of our lease not being up yet, but I figured we may as well just get it over with. The Rockies home games start April 10th and I would rather just be done moving by then and not anymore pregnant than I already am! But, it is less than a month to move; and being that we're going to move back in with my parents, we have to get rid of some stuff, decide what will go into storage, and what we will actually be able to take with us. Not to mention this is all complicated by all the boxes of baby boy clothes we have! Hopefully Friday we'll find out what we're having and know whether we should keep it or if we need some pink stuff!

So, the pros are: We'll help my parents out a lot with their finances, we'll save a lot of money, I won't have to travel so far to drop C off with his baby-sitters : ), and C gets to play with the neighbors' dogs and boys which he loves. The not-so-great things: leaving our ward (no offense to anyone in the Highlands Ward. I love everyone, it's just hard to be in the ward you grew up in- with your parents- when you're in my situation), leaving the area we're in, and losing access to the lightrail for Joel. The night we found out, C got very upset. He and I had a good cry together, but we're both getting a lot better. Everyone keeps telling me he'll be very resilient, and I hope that's true, because it was really hard for me to see him like that!

Like I said, I'm sure this is happening for a reason, and that it's a blessing in the long run. But it is very unexpected, and a lot to deal with while we already have so much going on. Everyone keeps offering to help, but I haven't even really wrapped my head around everything yet! The weekend after they told us, we went to Arizona for my cousin's wedding and other cousin's farewell (more about those in another post); and I've been working at the school full-time ever since as well, not to mention working at the salon on weekends. So, we've just been trying to do what we can in the evenings. Tomorrow I finish up at the school, and I'll be able to concentrate a lot more on the move. Wish me luck!

Another Doctor Appointment....

On Feb 23rd I had another appointment. The baby's heartbeat was a bit slower this time, 148. That's about what Christopher's was all the time. The only other interesting thing about the appointment was that I haven't gained much weight at all. My doctor is not thrilled about this, but I'm not very worried. The thing is, I went into this pregnancy weighing the most I have ever weighed (besides pregnancy, of course) at about 153, give or take. Now I'm hovering around 157 at over 4 months in. But my peak weight with C was 165, so I'm not too far away and I have no doubt that I'll get there soon! And I'm only 5'2", so it looks like plenty to me! I explained to the doctor that I'm not necessarily eating a ton, and I choose soup and salad a LOT right now, because I hate feeling really full. She just cautioned me that soup has a lot of sodium, and I may not be getting enough protein. So, I'm trying to make sure it's balanced, but everything will be fine.

Next appointment is March 27th and includes the ultrasound. I'm trying not to be too excited, because I don't want to jinx finding out what we're having, but..... I really hope we can find out what we're having!!

Bowling

So, this past Friday night (a week ago now), we went to my cousin Carol's son Kyrelle's Birthday Party at a bowling alley in Lakewood. Christopher LOVES bowling. I'm not really sure why. He's had a little at-home bowling game for a while, and I thought if he ever did the real thing, he wouldn't be nearly as excited as he thought. But, he's been twice now, and he still loves it. At both parties, he was the only kid who we didn't have to hunt down for a turn at least once in a while. He was always standing by the balls, saying "Is it my turn yet?". The first time, I was actually really worried, because he insisted on holding a ball the whole time. That couldn't have been good for his little back! This time he was a little calmer (there were also a lot more kids this time, so I think he realized it would be a little longer in between turns). Anyway, here are some pics:
All the kids hamming it up for the camera. From left to right: Zander (my cousin Dan's son), Abby (also Dan's), Christopher, Jason (also Dan's), and Eilio and Kyrelle (both my cousin Carol's).

Sending the ball down. They got bumpers on the lane AND this nifty little ramp to help aim the ball (and give it enough power to get all the way down the lane!).

The (almost) final scores. My camera was dying, so I had to take it a little early. Christopher didn't even care that he won. He was busy crying because he didn't want to stop bowling!

Selecting his ball.

We broke for the kids to wat right in the middle of the game. Christopher looks happy in the pic, but he did NOT want to stop bowling, and we had to deal with a minor meltdown before we got to this point.

A new picture

And since it's been a while since I posted any pics at all, and I have this one handy, here's a pic for all you C fans.

He's sitting at a Spiderman table that Jo-Jo just gave him (along with the bed and bedding behind him), ready to play a game of Candy Land with Grammy. My mom sent this to me this morning. She's watching him for me today.

So, now he has a whole room set-up at Grammy and Papa's. Thanks again, Lorae! I was joking with Shauna earlier today (we're working together at the high school) that Christopher has taken over her old room (it's the toy room for all the kids) and now Jaime's old room (the one pictured here), pretty soon he'll have the whole house!

Things and people I'm grateful for

I've been horrible about posting this month. I haven't felt so hot, and honestly, it's been a rough start to 2009 for us. I won't bore you with the incredibly long story, a lot of you know it anyway. I think eventually I'll want to write about it for the sake of journaling, but I am going to need some distance from the situation first. However, due to our struggles, a lot of people have really helped us out, and I wanted to remember that. I don't know if it's pride or what, but I have a really hard time accepting help, and I don't know if I ever say thank you enough. So, here are some people and things I am grateful for during this time:

1. Joel. He works really hard and also is the equivelent of a full-time student. School just keeps getting more and more demanding and time-consuming, and I know it's not easy, but he's doing a great job. He ALWAYS does the dishes, because I can not stand the smell (this is not only when I'm pregnant, either!). For these and a million other things, I'm really grateful he's my partner!

2. My in-laws. They've helped us a lot financially, and I'm grateful for their willingness and love for us. I wish we got to see them more often.

3. My parents. My Dad has always been extremely intuitive when it comes to me. He can always tell when something is wrong before anyone else. And both of my parents help us in millions of ways that aren't always so obvious. I don't know what we would do without them.

4. My siblings. Whether they're just listening or paying my cell phone bill temporarily (thanks Shauna!), it's nice to have them. Each one of us is so different, and as we're all becoming adults and our own people, I really appreciate the different strengths each of them offer.

5. Lorae, who is practically a sibling, but different. If any of you have heard me refer to my "big sister," and been confused knowing I'm the oldest of 6, she's the one I was talking about. We adopted her and her 2 children into the family years ago, and now she's married, so we have Lester too. Anyway, she knows what she did, but it was huge and I can never say thanks enough!

6. Kelly. Kelly is my Visiting Teacher, but she has also become a great friend and advisor. She's been a great help to me through everything we went through last year. She probably understood our situation with child-bearing better than anyone else I know, so it was a great comfort to have her to talk to. And now she just keeps listening to me whine and helping out in various ways. I'll really miss her when she goes back to Australia!

7. My calling. I love working with the Young Women. I learn so much from them and enjoy all of their different personalities. We have a great group of Beehives right now who are really excited to be in Young Womens. It's also a great distraction to throw myself into at times like this! I hope they're learning from me half as much.

8. The Gospel. The past year has tried my faith in some ways, but if I didn't believe in anything, I know it would be a lot worse. I'm grateful for everything I know about the atonement and life after this one.

9. Christopher. This paragraph would be ridiculously long, so I won't elaborate. He amazes me every day.