Update

So much for that post I intended to do several days ago! Things have been busy, but really I've just been neglecting it. Baby girl is still hanging in there. We've got less than 8 hours to get her here for that 2007 tax credit..not holding my breath for that. I did have several contractions last night, but they stopped after a few hours. We went to the park and walked today, so maybe that will help move things along. Who knows, I guess she'll come in her own sweet time. My doctor actually offered to induce this week and I declined. I go back on Weds., so we'll see what she says this time.

As I mentioned in the previous post, we have had a wonderful week or so with Christmas and everything else. We took Grant to Chuck E. Cheese's to celebrate his potty success and he really enjoyed it. The potty thing is going wonderfully! He is actually even sleeping in his underwear. That wasn't a transition I had planned to make yet, but he did not want to wear the "baby diapers" at night so we tried it out, and he's made it several nights in a row. Anyway, he loved all the games and the pizza. He was not so sure about ole Chuckster himself, but he's ready to go back so I'm guessing it didn't scare him too badly. Here's a pic of the only Chuck E. he would get near. There was one riding in a car (a plastic one) and he was terrified of it.
We spend Christmas Eve with Pook's family and do all of our presents, etc. then. This is a pic of our family in front of their tree, although you can barely see the tree 'cause we're blocking it out,

Christmas morning was so much fun this year! Grant actually slept until 9 am, which he never does, so that was a nice bonus too. He was sooo excited about all of his toys that Santa brought to him. He still doesn't want to put anything away, and everyday he asks if he can play with all of his toys that Santa "bring to him." I can't believe that on Christmas morning next year, we'll have another one that will be almost a year old. That's just crazy to think about right now! Here's Grant checking out some of his loot.

I just think this is the cutest pic. Grant is looking out the window because slowly both of our families were starting to arrive at our house for breakfast and to see what all Santa had left at our house.


We're headed out to have dinner at a friend's house before going over to Mammy's to spend time with some family from KY. Daddy is going to dinner with us, but then going to Uncle Kevin's house to hang out. I just don't think I can make it to midnight, so Grant and I aren't going. He's on standby in case I call and tell him to come get me...here's to hoping! Happy New Year!

Checking In

no, not to the hospital... just checking in to say we had a great Christmas and I am still pregnant. I have lots of pics and details of everything that we've done the last week, but honestly, right now I'm just too tired to think about typing it all up. Grant is over is illness except for his cough and runny nose, we made it to Chuck E. Cheese finally, Grant is wearing big boy underwear all day long now, I packed my bag yesterday, Christmas was a blast, and my house is having a hard time absorbing everything that Santa brought. I predict a move within the next 12 to 18 months. Anyway, I will try to update again tomorrow when, hopefully, my eyes will stay open without quite so much effort!

Frustrated!

Grant is sick again! I feel like we cannot get him well for more than a week at a time. This time it is not a stomach bug, but a horrible cough and very high fever. He is just pitiful. He has been sleeping since I picked him up yesterday, but not peacefully. He makes noises and shakes and keeps grabbing for my hair. He slept with us and was like sleeping next to a little oven. Needless to say, Andy and I got very very little sleep. I have to assume that he's getting all of these viruses from MDO. I wish people would keep their sick kids at home! We were supposed to go to Chuck E. Cheese's tonight to reward him for using the potty several days in a row, but I guess we'll have to put that off too. He's really looking forward to going (he's never been) so we won't be able to wait too long.

In other news, I went to the Dr. yesterday, but it seems things are still very secure in "hotel me." Baby girl seems content to stay put for at least a little while longer. My dr. did say that she is not the doc on call over the Christmas holiday so if I go into labor, the baby would be delivered by someone else. I guess I always knew that was a possibility, but hope it doesn't happen. I had also lost weight since last week which is always nice, even though I know it's just because I was still swollen when I went last week and it's all gone now.

Off to take care of my sick little one..

Finally...

I am done with my Christmas Shopping...still waiting on a couple of things to arrive, but everything (except batteries) has been purchased! I guess batteries are pretty major, and I probably should get that done too, huh! Andy and I finished it on Friday night and Grant spent the evening with his "mammy." They made a paper chain so he could count down the days until Christmas. This is something we used to do as kids, but I'd totally forgotten about it until she brought it up. I guess it's been a long time since I didn't comprehend how long 8 days is. It's really helped him understand when exactly this day we keep talking about is. They also made Christmas cookies without cookie cutters and did a pretty good job considering. Apparently, she thought the cutters were in with the dough but found out otherwise when they opened it. I love sugar cookies with icing so it's been all I can do not to eat all of their creations!

I have wrapped everyone's presents but Grant's. This didn't take too long considering how much we cut back on Christmas this year, but still...wrapping with a 2 year old's help can be challenging. Now, the chore will be keeping everything wrapped.

The swelling is gone! Not sure what that was all about.. I had a little all the way through last Thursday, but none since. I am sooo thankful that it is gone, and hope that it doesn't rear it's ugly head (or foot in my case) again!

Baby Girl's going home outfit has been washed, not ironed, but couldn't someone else handle that if it came right down to it?! That bag I was meaning to get to this weekend did make it out of the closet. Unfortunately, nothing made it into it. I can't remember when I did all this stuff with Grant, but I had alot more time back then so I'm pretty sure it was done by now. Even though I am not anticipating an early delivery, I'd hate to have one and take nothing with me for the joyous event. I don't even think the batteries to the Handycam are charged! Maybe next weekend!

Pictures of Grant's room.. I have mentioned his big boy room several times, and that I intended to post pictures of it. I've been putting it off because I think I still may add a few things, but I haven't seen anything that I like in forever so I finally took some pictures. His bed is part of a collection that can be bunk beds (his bed being the bottom bunk) so it has little holes in the headboard and footboard that these pegs go in when you're not using it as bunk beds. They call them finials, but I've always thought of finials as something that actually sticks up. Anyway, they come out very easily and my precious son has already lost one of them. I had a bad mommy breakdown when it happened, and honestly, I still feel horrible about the way I (over)reacted to the situation. He remembers it too...which I hate, but maybe he won't do it again. I've literally taken everything out of his room trying to find this stupid peg to no avail. I finally broke down and we've asked the furniture store to see if they can get us another one (or two or three). In the meantime, the remaining "finials" have been glued into their holes since we have no intention of ever having bunk beds. You can't see it in the missing piece in the pictures; it just bugs me!

The letters that we waited on forever... they were worth it. I love them! the "G, A, and T" match his sheets and the "R and N" are the same pattern as his quilt. You can't tell how much detail they have on them from these pics, but they really are cute. The lady had them tied with bows when she sent them, but daddy was not a fan so we just tied knots. They were easier to hang like that anyway!

I'm thinking we need something over the headboard, but I haven't seen anything, so it's just blank for now. Love this bed... it has 4 big drawers underneath and 2 shelves for storing all sorts of toys. You would not be able to see his floor for all the toys without this.

The pic on the right is something Grant made for me at Mother's Day Out last year for Mother's Day with his hand print. I just love it. It has a really sweet poem on it. Disregard the "pile o toys" at the bottom of the bed. It really is somewhat organized.

Grant's chest of drawers and more toys! Can't wait to get rid of that diaper thing on top or at least put it somewhere else.

We had a great weekend and now the countdown is on.. to Christmas AND the baby. I told Andy over the weekend that I think I'm in denial about this baby. In some ways, I'm ready not to be pregnant (mainly just because I'm sooo sick of my maternity clothes and the way they fit), but I'm not sure that I'm ready to take care of another baby. I have been sleeping really well the past several nights, so I'm trying to enjoy it while I can. I just can't believe the time is already upon us. People keep reminding me that it could be any day now since 37 weeks is considered full term, but I don't feel any closer to delivery than I did a month ago so hopefully we've got at least another two weeks to enjoy Grant, Christmas, each other, AND sleep!! I guess she'll make her entry when she's ready though and there's nothing any of us can do to change that. I have a really hard time realizing that I seriously cannot control this. My doctor starting asking about induction last time about 2 weeks before my due date, but we really didn't consider it. I doubt she'll be offering that this time since it would be in the middle of her holidays too. I'm ok with that.. I think. I'd rather go into labor on my own. Although, I have no desire to feel any of the pain that I felt last time prior to my epidural. More power to anyone who wants to have a drug free birth, but that is not something I ever want to feel again! I didn't intend to feel so much last time.. it just kind of happened that way. I will get the epidural ASAP this time and try to enjoy the whole process a bit more without stadol which made me a loopy mess! I'm just rambling, so more later!

Happenings

I have started to swell! I did not do this with Grant and have had zero swelling throughout this entire pregnancy. I wore my cute shoes all the way to the end with him and I am not a chunky mule kind of gal! Last night, when we got home from my mom's and I was getting ready for bed I looked down at my feet and my left one especially was HUGE! It totally freaked me out! It went down alot overnight, and has not returned to that ginormous state, but it is still larger than normal and I'm pretty sure none of my black shoes are going to fit at its current size. So what am I supposed to wear with all of my black pants... since those are the ones that still fit?! I think I was up half of the night because this swelling was bothering me soooo bad. I'm one of those that just goes over and over things in her head. I even dream about the stuff so I get no break from the worry. It's stupid, but I really like my semi-thin feet. Even when I gain weight other places, they usually stay pretty thin. I do not like their appearance right now, and I plan to take full advantage of the doctor's advice to keep my feet up!

Thankfully, the swelling is no indication of pre-eclampsia. My blood pressure was actually much lower today than it has been the past several weeks, so that's good. I had this horrible fear that it was going to be through the roof and they weren't going to let me leave the hospital. I still have so much to do before I will feel ready for this baby. I haven't packed my bag yet, but maybe I'll do that soon and I haven't washed her "coming home" outfit yet either.. ya know major stuff in the whole scheme of things! Today was the first of my weekly visits... fun stuff. These were the dr's words, "We'll call you a 1." Ok, that's it for the details. I wasn't even a 1 after my water had broken with Grant, so that's monumental for me. I kind of freaked Pookie out. He said so that means it's going to be soon. I told him that really it didn't mean much of anything, and that regardless of whether it's tomorrow or a month from now, it's all pretty soon! I guess we'll just wait and see what happens, and in the mean time maybe I'll do some of those "little" things I've been putting off until closer to time!

Misc.

I am officially tired. It seems that no matter how much sleep I get, I am still tired. I guess it's a feeling I might as well get used to again. I've really enjoyed the last few months of sleep that I've enjoyed since Grant finally started sleeping in his own bed, but I think it's over now. I am not as uncomfortable as I remember being when I was pregnant with him, but I cannot sleep. If I'm not getting up to go to the bathroom, Andy's coughing or snoring. If I roll over on my right side, the baby kicks the bed. If none of the above are happening, I'm having some crazy, crazy dream that keeps me up for 30 minutes thinking about it when it's over. Anyway!

After several days of very little food, I am feeling much more like myself and have some new pics from the last few days. Since I was pretty much totally down for two days, we had a busy next few days trying to catch back up. It's a hard time of year to be sick! I took Grant to paint a Christmas ornament and he did an amazingly good job. I haven't picked up the finished product yet, but I think he may be much more artistic than either his daddy or I. Don't get me wrong, this is not masterpiece, but he's 2 and the paint stayed mostly on the ornament. I think I had more on me than he did! I think we'll try to do this every year.

Sunday, we had a Christmas gathering with Andy's dad's side of the family and some of their extended family from Chattanooga. There are a ton of kids and there weren't even close to all of them being there. It's a little crazy, but I think they all have a blast. The only unfortunate thing for us is that right now, it's mostly all little girls. There are some boys, but there either quite a bit older than Grant, still babies, or they weren't there. He loves the girls right now, so it didn't matter this year, but pretty soon, he's going to need some boys to play ball with! The kids had sooo much fun riding in the trailer behind the 4 wheeler. I think they made Uncle JE take them for the better part of an hour. They got ride through the field where the llamas, donkey, and horse are, which they loved. I didn't get a great picture of them all, but here's one most of them in the trailer.

Here's a few more of my little guy. He's such a sneaky little thing. I found him hiding back in this shed.. I think contemplating what to drag out next.

Riding the tire horsey..

I Spoke Too Soon!

Well, I posted a little prematurely on Thursday it seems. Shortly after getting home Thurs. night, the bug hit me! I spent all night Thursday night throwing up and all day Friday in the bed. It was no fun at all. I'm feeling better today, although food and I still are not friends. Grant's still not eating normally either, so I'm thinking it may take a few days to get my tummy back to normal. Now, we're just hoping that daddy doesn't come down with it too. We all know what babies men are when they're just a little sick, and this was way worse than being just a little sick!

Little Boy Talk

Monday night our house was invaded by yet another stomach bug. It only affected Grant, but it was the sickest I think he's ever been, and I am soooo glad that it's gone! I had to sleep sitting up Monday night so that I could get to him before he got sick in my bed since I'm not too fast anymore from a laying down position. Anyway, he ran a fever all day Tuesday and we just vegged all day on the couch. Anyone who knows Grant knows that he is totally obsessed with my hair.. to the point that I think it's almost weird. I try to keep him out of it for the most part, but since he was sick I gave in. By Tuesday night, I felt like I had animals living in my hair and combing it was nearly impossible. I really hope he outgrows this obsession soon or we'll have to keep his sister's hair really short! It's nice that he doesn't have and never has had to have any "thing" or "lovie" to tote around with him, but what's awful is that his comfort thing is sooo my hair.

This morning, Grant is pretty much back to his old self. His appetite is still not what it normally is and he's got a bad cough, but as any good mom would, I sent him to school anyway:-) All joking aside, I don't think he's contagious or I wouldn't have sent him. Anyway, as I was getting him dressed this morning, he was talking about arms going in his shirt and legs going in his pants, etc. Then, he patted the chest part of his shirt and asked what went in there. I just said his body. He then said, "I got a little body, and Daddy got a big body." I kind of laughed, and just said, "yep." Then, he proceeded to say, "you got a big body too." I said, "yep, and a big belly." This is the best part... after that, he said, "you got a big one of these too." As he was doing this, he pointed to his bottom! Thanks, son.. just what the pregnant woman needed first thing in the morning! Not that I've ever been in denial about this fact, it's just funny that my 2 year old is already pointing it out to me. Usually, he just comments on the belly since it pretty much overshadows everything else right now. Sunday morning, he actually said, "Mom, you're belly is huge!" I'd never even heard him use the word huge. Ahhhhhh.. the expanding vocabulary is a blessing and a curse.

Favority Holiday Treat

These are my favorite holiday treat. I saw them in the store several weeks before Thanksgiving this year, and have found them on my grocery list several times since then.... yes, I actually write down Christmas Tree Cakes on my list! Today, when I went to Kroger, there were none over where the normal Little Debbies are. So, I thought maybe they were in the Christmas aisle, but no luck there either. I was getting a little upset since this was the 2nd time I'd been to the store without finding them. It seems I'm not the only one who loves those little sugar sprinkles! Then, after succumbing to the fact that I'd be going home without them, there they were...over by all of the soft drinks!? I don't know why they feel like an endcap over by the cokes is a good place for those, but I sure was happy to find them. I bought two boxes so I should be good for a few weeks. I took one back into work with me this afternoon and enjoyed my dessert, which I eat very oddly (kind of in layers). I'm not sure when or why I started eating these cakes like this, but I eat all around the edges, then the top, then the top layer of cake, then the frosting, and finally the bottom layer. Peculiar, but I love 'em!