Grace is Getting Better!!

I'm so excited to share that Grace is getting better.  She still has the yucky nose and a little cough, but she's on the mend.  The appetite is still here and there but I'm not too worried about that.  We went to a fun fair today!!!  Fat Cats was having a free fair so of course we had to go join in the fun and see what it was about.  A lot of booths to play at, free waters, candy and cotton candy, food vendors and animals!  Here's some pictures of the camels :)

And then here is Miss Grace chasing me around with a spray bottle...

And then here she comes with some exciting news....

Oh my goodness, those are undies!!!  We are going to see how it goes.  Bowels is going to be an issue because it's a constant...void, but we'll see what we can do with the bladder.  So we'll probably have our morning of eating breakfast and then put the undies on.  This will give her the chance to wake up and warm up to us.  As we go on in the weeks (yes, I'm hoping I'll last that long) then we'll start going potty right in the morning.

Every 20 minutes to the potty...boy, what a schedule!  I'm guessing I'll last 2 days, and will be nice and give myself "nah, probably 3 days."  What do you think?

Amanda

Sick

Well, Grace is sick again.  This is a pretty nasty one.  Extremely runny nose, horrible hollow cough (which I'm hoping isn't whooping cough) and horrible phlegm.  She actually choked at dinnertime tonight because she was trying to eat a piece of pork but there was a huge chunk of phlegm in her throat.  I had my finger in her mouth and thankfully, she got it up before I had to dig in.  I just got a good bite but that's ok :)

We went to the splash park yesterday and you know what's weird, it was so crazy to see just how fast this came on.  I mean, Monday she had a very slight runny nose but we were also up in the mountains and so I thought it was allergies.  On Friday, she woke with a horrible red and wet eye.  I was so scared it was pink eye but there's no way it could come on that fast.  So I researched and learned that it was allergy pink eye.  And to be absolutely sure I was right I gave her allergy meds, cleaned her face and then watched her.  I figured if it didn't go away by the typical hour or so for medication to kick in, then we'd head home so we didn't share it.  But it went right away and never came back again.  So poor girly and mommy because my allergies started as well!!  Anyways, Monday...runny nose.  By Tuesday she still had the runny nose by was fine otherwise, so I was so dumb to think she was fine!  Wednesday was the same, and so I took her to the splash park and by Thursday, it was horrible.  I was so blind and should have known to have already been watching for the signs.  Horrible runny nose, the cough...everything I talked about above.  Darnit.  I flubbed on that one.  Sorry girly.  Here's some cute pictures of her!!!

 Can you see the red eyes and nose? She freaked out! She is on the carousel and went absolutely crazy. She was literally shaking...visibly shaking. I teared up because I knew she was scared but I wanted her to see that she could handle it. So we finally got to the point where there was laughing, cheering and smiles...as long as she had her arm wrapped extremely tight around my neck (it was tough to breath!) and I was completely draped over her and the horse. I love this girly

SO FUN!!!!!!

We come to today :)  No therapy since she's sick, so she got to watch a show this morning.  I didn't feel too well so I stayed in bed for a while and Daddy fed girly and turned on a show for her while I rested.  After a while I was better so I was up and we all just hung out together, read, and chatted.  Grace and I went to get her a new bathing suit because the one above is too big.  She always pulls it away from her body and shows her chest, which I'm not going to allow!  Plus, when she gets wet the bathing suit hangs way down at her crotch and it looks silly.  So now she has her own size 5 cute bathing suit.  Then we came home and had some lunch and really quickly it was 2 pm!  Off to bed she went and she was out like a light.  Poor girly.

We got her up about 4:30 pm just because she's been so tired, and usually she gets really grouchy when I get her up this late but she was so wonderful.  I could tell she was so refreshed and happy, and I was so excited she felt so well!  I let her watch another show (I know, we watch a lot of TV when any of us are sick) while I made dinner because she was being a bit clingy.  So after we cuddled and read for a bit, on went the show and I got to dinner.  We had pork ribs, a baked potato, salad with tomatoes and cucumbers, and sliced peaches.  Sadly, the peaches were really dry and they weren't that good.  And Grace didn't eat too much because, silly mommy, I gave her goldfish crackers to eat as a snack AS I was cooking.  What a goofball!

After dinner we played out back for a little bit and then went on a walk around the block.  I try to get at least one walk around the block a day :)  It was so nice to go on a walk and it was so beautiful out.

Next came our home teachers coming, kisses goodnight, prayers and then being tucked in.

Love you Grace!

Amanda

BABY!

Here's baby boy or girl's picture!!

12 weeks, 2 Days :)

Grace is so excited that there is a baby coming, and is so excited to hear that she's going to be a big sister.  I asked her what she wanted and she said "BOY!!!"  We'll see in 4 weeks if she can get what she wants :)

Amanda

Catch up

So, before I shared that I was pregnant, I started documenting about the nausea and other things like that.  And now that I've shared my pregnancy news, I've also opened up all the posts!!  They are published based off the days written so if you want to read them, you'll have to look back through all the posts to see if you missed anything :)

I'm way behind on posting but I'll be waiting until tomorrow to post since Grace has her three hour block of therapy in the morning :)

Amanda

Picture Craze!

Well, you might think this picture craze is of Grace, but actually, there is just one picture of her!  This is showing Sissy's baby shower and couple pictures.  I thought it would be fun to have them in here for her memories.  I won't put all of the ones that were taken up because that would be WAY too many!  But here's enough :)

 We didn't get this for her, but I just loved Kailyn's smile and so I had to share this one!

 There's our entertainment!!  She did gymnastics for everyone, sang and danced and it was so much fun!  I could tell she had a great time, and it was absolutely obvious that the party was only for her, for sure.

 The crib that Grandpa Hildreth made for Kailyn.  What a beauty, isn't it?  Handmade and hand carved.

 Yummy food!!  BBQ pulled pork, deviled eggs, cream puffs, strawberries, grapes, pink lemonade juice and cupcakes.

 The super cute diaper cake!

 Me and the mama-to-be!

 Most of the women of the family!

 This is what we got for Kailyn and baby :)  Well, obviously all of them but mama always uses things the most!

 There's the couple!

 Skyler and Mariah!

 And the three of us :)

And there's Aunt Lisa!  Those flowers smelled so good.

All in all, a wonderful trip.  Kailyn was overloaded with gifts and she definitely has a good start on prepping for baby girl.  At this point, her name is Elaine, but we'll see when she comes out.  Grace was always Willow until Daddy saw her and the name no longer fit.  

Today was an ok day.  Only because the weather was just ok.  Grace had gymnastics this morning and oh my gosh!!  She took three steps on the balance beam all by herself!  Her support therapist was about as excited as I was!  After that her home therapist didn't come over...hm...so we had an early lunch and then Grace actually went to bed at noon.  She definitely didn't sleep, though.  She didn't go to sleep until about 1:30 pm...after I went to sleep for my nap!  We got up at 3:15 pm and were going to go on a walk, but we ran errands instead.  We finally picked up some Renew from the Melaleuca store for Miss Grace since her skin is SO horribly itchy.  I'm really hoping it takes care of it.

It was a good day!  Not an ok day.  The weather was wonderful because it was that "not too cold, not too hot" weather without an insanely strong sunshine that makes you squint.  You know?  Grace loved going out on walks today.  She's definitely got a strut, and I love watching her walk from behind.  Adorable.

Amanda

An Empty House

Well, we have an empty house now.  Kailyn and Antonio had to leave this morning because of a work mix-up and there was no one covering work for them tomorrow, which is when they were supposed to leave.  But that's ok.  Sometimes, plans change!  They barely packed the truck up with everything that had gotten (crib, baby supplies from us and baby shower gifts).  It was funny watching them try to piece everything together in the truck!  They left about 7:15, so I got Grace up at about 6:45 am.  I now know that if I continue getting her up at this time, then I can put her down for nap at noon and she'll actually sleep for me, so this might just start happening.  Granted, I had to take 2 naps during the day as well.  I think all my excitement of having family come and the baby shower has caught up with me and I'm much more tired!  But it's been a good day today :)  I can see that Grace has calmed down from all the excitement, and so she's not as wired and crazy.  We didn't do much today other than my studying for an exam and playing outside.  Daddy worked in the garden this morning and so we went out and soaked in some sun while he tilled the dirt.  It's been too wet to plant yet so he's hoping g that the tilling will help soon.  It was nice to have such a beautiful day, and we definitely took advantage of it.  Went on a couple walks, ran some errands and so forth.  And already, we are getting ready to get together with family for Memorial day!  Spring and Summer are both so exciting when school is out of session.

Tomorrow Grace has gymnastics and therapy, and after that...depending on our weather...we might go to the park and play!!

All in all, a great day.

Amanda

So far Behind!

Well, I can't believe it's already Friday and I haven't written since Monday!  Kailyn and Antonio got here on Tuesday, so that day was completely full of gymnastics, therapy and then massive cleaning.  They got here about 9:30 pm and I let Grace stay up to welcome them.  We watched out the window for them but then Daddy went outside to wait, so of course we followed suit!  We then stayed up until midnight visiting...yes, that means Grace as well.  Do you think she slept in?  NO WAY!!  She was up at 7:30 am like clockwork, ready to go to school.  It was her last day of school and so after I dropped her off, I went home and sliced up some strawberries for the pancake breakfast her class was having.  It ended up being all the preschool classes so the strawberries went so fast!!!  Here are the pictures with her teacher and aide!

 Here's Miss Kim!  Grace absolutely loves Miss Kim and I'm so excited that she gets to be with her again next year.  

 And here is miss Kylie!  This is the aide for her class and she is so sweet with Grace.  I hand Grace off to her every school morning while I'm signing Grace in with Miss Kim.  

And here's our Miss Grace eating her pancake!!  She wolfed it down and I was pretty amazed by her :)

 Here we all are at dinner...Gringos.  Mariah isn't there because she had to work :(  This was on Wednesday.  I was going to make chicken and gravy over rice but everyone talked me into going out! It didn't take too much work to get me to go.

Ok, for Thursday Grace had therapy for 3 hours and while she was there, I worked on homework.  Kailyn and Antonio had gone to Yellowstone for the day and didn't get back until 9 pm.  When Grace got home she was supposed to take a nap but we all know how that goes!  I did homework while she was in her room but I finally let her out because she was yelling for me :)  "Mom!!!  I tum out now?  I all done sweeping!"  I felt bad for her so I let her out, but I still worked on more homework.  I have an exam coming and so I spent a few hours (through nap and then for a little while she was up) writing up my notes and taking the pre-exam.  Then came dinner :)  By this time it's 7:50 pm and I'm rushing to get some food in me because I had a meeting online in 10 minutes, so I scarfed some pizza rolls and then worked on my meeting.  Grace was already in bed :)  Daddy was so good and bathed her and got her tucked into bed.  Oh yeah!  We went on a walk to the park near us before we ate.  I was spinning Grace on the...I don't know what it's called.  It goes around like a merry-go-round but there isn't anything to ride on.  Anyways, I was going a bit fast because she kept asking for more, and instead of asking me to stop she just slid right off!!  Poor girly.  She feel on her stomach but thankfully, she didn't cry.  But boy did she get messy!  She fell into dirt and got super dusty :)  My tough girly.

Now it's Friday and the boys went to the cabin.  Kailyn, Grace and I have been running errands.  We went to Walmart, Family Dollar and Broulims and finally, we have everything we need for the baby shower.  Ah.  Feels so good.  We got home at 10:30 am and were surprised at just how early it was, and how tired we already were!  We left at 8:30 am...which is normally when I drop her off at school. So we finished decorating ladybugs for the diaper cake and hung up some decorations in the kitchen and dining room, and now the eggs are boiling so that we can shell them.  We are going to make them into deviled eggs tomorrow morning, and also making the cupcakes tomorrow morning as well.  Actually, we have a lot of food to do in the morning!!  Now Kailyn has a friend and the friends mom over...ug...but they are leaving soon.  And then I'll put Grace to bed and either shell eggs or take a nap!  I'd love to take a nap but I know the eggs are more important at this point.

Amanda

Baby Shower Coming up!!

So excited!!  Sissy (Kailyn) is going to be here tomorrow night...so is Antonio of course!  I'm so excited, and so is Grace :)  I keep telling her over and over that sissy is coming, and we've been practicing his name.  It's pretty cute to hear her say his name!  I've been super busy finishing up getting things ready for the baby shower and Grace has been back to school today so it seems like we're back to our normal schedule, but we'll see.  There are always curve balls thrown into our story.  It's 10:30 pm and I'm pooped.  It's time to head to bed for sure :)

Amanda

The New Mama

It's so weird to see how many things have changed with me during this pregnancy.  Oh, first I'll share that the baby had a heart rate of 173 beats per minute and I'm 9.5 weeks along.  So far, so good!  Anyways, here are my new dislikes...

Ice cream (I know, right?!  Me NOT liking ice cream?!  It's not that I won't eat it, just rarely sounds good)

Cake

Cupcakes

Cookies

String Cheese

Popcorn

So far, this is what I've found.  It's weird to see that all the sugary things are out.  

I've had some bad nausea, but never the vomiting from it, so that's wonderful.  I got some new medication to help with the nausea and it worked great today.  I've also had some extreme exhaustion, but surprisingly, today went well and I got quite a bit of work done.  I've got all the burp clothes cut out and ready to be sewn, I got a hoppy pillow cover sewn, and got the rest of the fabric necessary washed and dried.  Oh, and another hoppy cover ready to be sewn together.

All in all, I'm feeling well.  We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Amanda

Being Lazy

Well, I wouldn't say that necessarily.  With Miss Grace so sick and then me getting sick, I've been so tired all throughout the days that I haven't had the desire to stay up and write about anything!  Plus, if all we do all day is sit around, then there really isn't much to write about, right? :)  But she's getting better, and I'm feeling up to catching up.  There isn't much that has happened, but I'm excited to say that Grace finally gets to go back to school!  They are having a field trip on Friday and will be going to Bear World, and so I'm super excited :)  I'm going to see if I can tag along as well.  I would have signed up but obviously, we weren't at the school to be able to.  And then next Wednesday is the last day for school for her, so I'm so excited that she can finally go back to school!

She's still got spots but they are all scabbed over, and so her teacher said these are ok.  Poor girly...but I'm glad she's getting over it and she's been so strong.  We've been watching a lot of Care Bears lately.  She just absolutely loves this show...and I guess mommy does as well!  And while I was at a doctor's appointment, Grace and Daddy watched her first ever Disney movie!!  They watched Ice Age, and she absolutely loved the squirrel in the movie :)  It was cute to come home and see her so excited over the squirrel.  Don't worry, all is well with me!

I'm so excited she gets to go to school!!

Amanda

Nausea Oh my...

Oh my gosh, this is horrible.  I've never had nausea this bad in a pregnancy and I'm so sad about it.  Today is the closest I've ever gotten to throwing up.  I got my bathroom ready.  Cleaned the toilet, disinfected everything, mopped the floor, fluffed the carpet around the toilet, put a candle in there, a towel, and my toothbrush and toothpaste.  Oh, and a pack of gum.  Throwing up is pretty high on my fear list...so I called the doctor in hopes of getting a different medication that will stop the nausea but keep me awake.  The one I have knocks me out.  I've been napping at least once a day, if not more.  I can't really give Grace the attention she needs if I'm sleeping or trying to not throw up!  I'm really hoping this goes away after the first trimester.  I'm 10 weeks along tomorrow...13 weeks is the average time that this stops.  Please please please stop!!!  I can't imagine being like this through the summer and then into classes starting September.  I have two on campus classes and two online classes and can't afford to miss them because of this.  Ug...

Amanda

So Tired

I can't believe how tired I've been with this pregnancy.  It is absolutely insane how tired I've been.  I took three cat naps today and poor miss Grace is probably so tired of TV.  The nausea wasn't too bad this morning.  It's been pretty bad some mornings, but thankfully, I haven't thrown up or anything like that.  This morning I had some saltine crackers while still in bed, and then I had a drink of water pretty quick after that.  I went and got Grace up and was feeling a bit gross, and so I quickly shared a bagel with Grace and felt better.  I have definitely noticed that as long as I'm full, I don't feel nauseous.  It's been tough keeping up with the hunger because there are times that I just do not want to eat!!  But I do my best.  But this darn sleep issue...sheesh.  I can't believe there are women out there that can handle the situation I'm in...have a child, working on schoolwork, and then having a second like this.  Ug.  I'm hoping it doesn't continue for much longer!!

Amanda

Sick Day for Sure

Oh poor Miss Grace.  She's gotten even more spotted today.  Darnit.  This poor little girl has just hated these spots, and I feel the same way.  

See all the spots?  This photo definitely does not do justice.  We've been using Melaluca oil and A/D ointment and we've been really hoping that this is helping her feel better, but I don't really know.  She's been picking her bumps so much that I'm really hoping she's not going to scar.  She's specifically been picking at the corners of her mouth because she's got enormous bumps there.  Daddy was so fun with her today because he took her on a walk, and she had a fabulous time.  I caught up with them after a while and it was so fun to see them together :)  After that he gave a her a wonderful bath and then I lubed her up and tucked her into bed.  The day has been pretty much sleeping and watching a show.  She has been so miserable that this is pretty much all I can do to keep her happy.  

I'm really going this gets better soon.  I'm ok with the extra cuddles, which is what I got at 11 pm last night for about an hour, and I'm in love with the times when she is cuddling with me, watching Care Bears, and she looks up at me and says, "I love you, Mom."  How beautiful!  I didn't say anything to her to spur this or anything.  It was absolutely random, and this is what I love the most.  My favorite part of the day, that was for sure.  I love you, too, sweet girl.

Amanda/Mommy

Sick Girly

Darnit...poor Grace has Hand Foot Mouth.  And a cold.  When this girly gets sick, she really gets sick!  She's trying her best to be strong through this.  It's been so hard for her to not itch, but she's doing the best she can.  Our friends came over and brought Melaluca oil to us, and that's definitely helped her itching.  We lube her up the rest of the way with Vaseline and it seems to make it easier to deal with the itching.  

 Poor girly, but Daddy is helping so much!!  He's lubing her up :)

Poor girly.  This picture is from the morning...she looks nothing like this now!  It's so much worse than this now.  Daddy was so good to girly and gave her a long bath this evening with a soap I got from a friend.  It's got no chemicals whatsoever and is Ph balanced so it does absolutely no irritation to the skin.  I'm so glad I still had it!  Her bath was about 30 minutes long!  What a wonderful daddy. After that is when I lubed her up, and then after some Tylenol and Benadryl, off to bed she went.  Poor girly. :(

A wonderful friend brought over soup for us!!  She had made so much for her families dinner that she had too much, so she brought it to us.  It was so wonderful.  She had forgotten to put spices in and so I spiced it up and added a can of corn and mmm, mmm, mmm!  I've had three bowls already.  It had potatoes, meat, black eyed peas, celery, onions and then the spices and corn.  Grace was given some but by dinner time, she had lost all her appetite.  Thankfully I had given her two cups of Jamba Juice, so she's gotten some nutrients in.

What a day.  Hopefully she has a calm sleep tonight.

And here are some random pictures of our sweet girl, just because I've got them but never posted them :)

WONDERFUL GIRLY!!!

Amanda

Therapy Day!

Well, Grace had a great day at therapy.  I got there about 15 minutes early to pick her up and got to watch her working on the treadmill with her physical therapist.  He had her hooked up to the emergency stop, and then every so often he would but a plastic step stone in front of her every so often and she would have to take a big step over it as it came down the treadmill.  She was working as hard as she could getting over those plastic stones, but the TV playing in front of her was so distracting :)  

She is such a hard worker, and enjoys it so much.  I love hearing that she's working hard on using the steps one foot at a time, and I'm loving that she can walk up the steps, one foot on each step, with help.  She does so great!!!  She still does two feet going down the stairs, but that's ok :)  She's working hard, so I'm just so darn proud of her.  

She is finally asleep, now.  It's 2:50 pm and I had put her down at 1:30 and she JUST went to sleep.  That little stinker!!  She always has to fight it so much.  I would take a nap every day if I had the time and chance like she does.  

Now I'm off to go work on some homework, in hopes that I can keep my eyes open.  I might have to take a nap as well!

Amanda

Days are Flying...and Mama is Tired

I can't believe how unbelievably tired I have been!  It's like...since I'm out of school (kind of...I'm only taking one class instead of 4) my brain must have shut off, and so I get more tired faster!  Or Miss Grace has been having so much fun and excitement with me that she's just pooped me out every day.  Whatever it is, it's been fun.  Today was especially fun because we got to have her little friend over!  This friend, Samantha, has two new twin brothers that are almost 3 months old and she was so excited to share them.  But what she was more excited about was that she got to play with Grace!  They were absolutely and positively smitten to see one another, and it was as if they'd seen one another every day for this past month.  Seriously...they hadn't seen each other for almost 2 months and they just stuck to one another like glue.  I loved watching Grace have so much fun!!  And I got to cuddle with two twin little boys, so that's always nice :)  Oh, and my friend showed me how to cut up a watermelon the right way so that it was less work.  Pretty neat if I do say so myself :)

Oh, and today was gymnastics day, and Grace did great!  I absolutely adore watching her in the gym, and she's doing so well.  After gym we were supposed to have home therapy but the therapist had to go to a meeting.  So we just played and had fun :)  Obviously nap was coming at some point, but instead, she choose to play, jump on her bed, bang the doors, etc etc.  So I watched through the camera while she played and had fun, and I pecked away at the keyboard finishing up homework.  Then at 3 pm I let her get up and play, and then at 4 is when our friends came.  Dinner was spaghetti with beef sauce and watermelon, and then Grace desperately needed a shower!  You know how little ones get when they've been playing hard, and you go to give them a kiss and it's just...not their smell?  Well, that was my girly!  So off to the shower we went, and I'm so proud of her because she washed all by herself!  I did her hair, of course, and then pointed everywhere for her to wash.  What a great job she did, and she was so excited to help that it wasn't a bother for her.  After the shower came bedtime, and boy was she tired.  Within minutes of being tucked in, she was asleep.  Poor girly!  Tomorrow is school, and it's her fun day because it's...LIBRARY DAY!!!  

Shew, it's 9:45 pm and I'm ready for bed.  I do believe I see a very early bedtime for me.

Amanda

Good Church Day

Grace did so great in sacrament today...actually, in all her church hours!!  But especially in Sacrament it was great.  She only got up a couple times, and that was ok with me.  There was the one time she growled like a lion as loud as she could!!!  But I just don't let myself get upset about this anymore.  I laughed it off, calmed her down and we moved on :)  She didn't even need to come out for a diaper change for the second or third hour, so that's great.  

After church Daddy left to go to the cabin.  There is a new oven to put in and some other things to do, so Brad headed up to help on all that.  Grace went down for a nap and was up playing for a while, but I was so absolutely tired that I took a nap.  We went visiting teaching at 5:30 and Grace tried her best to be a good girl!  She did well and during our last appointment, a neighbor friend snagged her from me and took her in their house to play, so I got to visit without worrying about her being too loud.  Granted, the third visit did have 3 kids she could have played with!!  Oh well :)

Very quickly it was dinner time because we got home about 7:15 pm, and then bedtime.  Grace was in bed by 8 pm but she played for a little while, and so she wasn't asleep until 9 or so.  And now it's 12:21 am, so technically I have written this on Monday, but I'm changing the time on it so it will count for my Sunday post.  Ha ha ha!

A great day...a quick day!!

Amanda

Totally Different Pregnancy

I can't believe how different this pregnancy is from my first one.  I haven't thrown up at all, but boy is the nausea horrible.  I've had to take a nausea medication but this makes me sleepy, so I either stagger around in a fog, or I'm making sure I have clear access to a bathroom just in case.  I stay in bed in the morning and eat saltines, carrots and ginger ale, and Grace usually watches a show on TV.  She's gotten a ton more TV time since I've been feeling so gross.  And even though I try this out, I'm still feeling the nausea throughout the day.  I can't wait for this first trimester to be over, that's for sure.  It's actually getting worse over time so I'm really hoping I won't end up throwing up at all.  I'm also thinking about talking to the doctor about a chewable prenatal pill.  These huge swallow pills make me gag so much, and this doesn't help the nausea.  

I'm still insanely hungry as well.  Yesterday I had my typical breakfast, and then I ate snap peas throughout the late morning, some of a chocolate bar, crackers, leftovers...for lunch we had roast, carrots and snap peas...and then I snacked all throughout until dinner time, which included a peanut butter sandwich caked with peanut butter!  For dinner we went to a buffet in Idaho Falls and it was so yummy!!!  And actually filling, which was nice.  Granted, by 10 pm I was hungry again and had some chips and ice cream.  I know, unhealthy.  But I eat healthy all throughout the day really well so I really have to splurge sometime, right?!

Shew...I'm nervous to see how much weight I've gained by my next appointment.  I go in May 14th and I was 144.5 lbs, so we'll see how much more I've gained.  Uh oh!

Otherwise, I'm good!!  I've been told to be thankful for nausea, which I am, don't get me wrong!  That means the little one is growing stung  But whew...come on body!  Remember this from last time and deal with it like the first pregnancy...no nausea at all!!

Amanda

The Days are Flying By!!

Holy smokes I can't believe that I've missed writing for so many days.  It seems to be that we are flying through these days.  Today has definitely been an interesting day.  Brad and I have pretty much slept through the whole day...dangit.  He didn't sleep very well last night and I have been feeling sick lately and so I'm on a medication, but this mediation makes me SO tired.  Insanely groggy.  So poor Grace watched TV most of the day.  I highly doubt she cares but I feel so bad!  She's down for a nap right now and I'm really hoping I'll be able to get through the rest of the day.  That's pretty much been our Saturday.  

On Friday Grace got to go to school today and she was so excited because Daddy took her and picked her up from school!!  It's always a special treat for her to be taken by daddy because she gets to show him off to her classmates.  After school we played and had lunch, and then we headed to Idaho Falls. We met with a lawyer because we are having my will written up, and Brad's rewritten.  I am so excited that it's almost finished because I will feel that Grace is safe in case of anything happening to us.  We also talked to her about some issues we are having with our Polaris Razor, and the company trying to swindle us, and she's going to help us out with that situation as well.  I'm really hoping we get what we have been fighting for.

School is almost out...can you believe it?!  Grace gets out about the middle of May and I really can't believe that the school session is coming to an end.  Grace will remain in preschool again another year while most of her classmates will move to Kindergarten, but that's ok.  One thing about Grace is that she is very easy going, and she's not going to mind one bit that some of her classmates are gone.  It's so cute to hear her talk about them.  "I saw Weston...Kai was there."  I love it!!!

Amanda

Eating so Much

I am always eating so so so much.  I can't believe how much I've been eating.  I feel like I should be a blimp by now!  A bagel and banana for breakfast (of course shared with Grace), already hungry by 10 am so I had some more food, lunch was half a sandwich shared with Grace and then a cucumber with seasoned rice vinegar (yes, the whole cucumber), waffles for dinner, and then I made deviled eggs and had 4 eggs worth I think...oh and then there was a bunch of tomatoes.  Shew...I now feel so full!  It's 11:05 pm and I'm definitely ready for bed.  I'm hoping this baby will let me sleep without being woken up by my stomach grumbling!

Oh, and yes, there is still nausea.  Bleh.  As long as I eat in the morning and then chew mint gum constantly, I have been able to push it away.  I haven't used any of the nausea medications from the doctor because I really don't want to be taking anything that's not really necessary.  I'm really hoping it doesn't get any worse than it is right now!

All in all, I'm doing well.  I'm about 6 weeks along, so I'm hoping it continues on well.

Amanda

Random Photos of Grace

I just had to share these super cute pictures of Grace :)

 Today girly was supposed to be sleeping...but this is what I saw in the camera screen instead!

 Miss Grace laying on her hoppy pillow.  That dress is a hand me down from a friend, and it's a size 7.  WOW.

 At gymnastics (Tuesday!).  She is such a cutie.

And smiling :)  My girly that I love so much is super duper cute.

Amanda

School and Friend

Today was library day at school and, as usual, Grace got some great books!!  It was fun to walk into the library and have her spot me.  "MOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!  I dot books!"  She ran to me from the other side of the library and it was super cute!  We checked out her books for a while before heading home because she was so excited to share the books with me.  We did our normal things for Monday/Wednesday and Friday...playtime and then some lunch.  We had the other half of my Subway sandwich...oh, I didn't add it here!!!

Last night I was craving Subway, so Brad went to get some for me.  All the other things were so exciting!!!  There was also a watermelon and six 1.5 quarts of ice cream!!  Mmm...so this is what Grace and I ate for lunch :)  Then came nap time...with no nap.  Silly girl.  Robert and Jordan came over to play for a while and then the rest of the evening seemed to fly by!!  At about 6:30 (after dinner...waffles with chocolate chips) Grace was so so tired, so I sat with her by her bed and read her a bunch of books.  She was tucked into bed by 7 pm and by 7:05 pm she was OUT.  What a tired girly.  

The rest of the evening went by fast and it's now 11 pm.  Shew.  I've been chowing down on all my yummy veggies (a cucumber and tomatoes have already been devoured!) and watching a movie while Brad is out at the movies with Ryan and Breck.  It's definitely almost time for bed.

Amanda

Falling Behind

I have noticed that I was doing so well with posting, and then all of a sudden I got lazy!! 

On Saturday we had an Easter Egg Hunt!!!!  Here are a boatload of pictures :)

 The Easter Bunny came!!!  It was so fun to watch him hop around here and there :)  

He was so close to up but when we knelt down to pet him, he hopped off.  Grace said, "Doodbye Easter Bunny!"

 Going to get some Easter Eggs!  Grace had a special section just for children like her!  There was a section for 2 years and under AND/OR Special needs.  I was so happy because last year there wasn't a special needs section, and Grace only got three Easter Eggs because all the other kids understood what to do, but she didn't.  So it was such a treat to be able to be in this section.

 Look at her working so hard to pick up the eggs!  Thank you to Daddy for taking pictures of us finding the eggs!  Grace got so many eggs, and she got a lot of special treats and goodies.  She even got free Pizza Pie Cafe coupons for herself!

"HI DADDY!"

On Sunday Grace did GREAT during sacrament.  She rarely even got up and was really good about sitting and reading her books.  There were a couple times that she struggled against me, but once she realized that she would have all the freedom she wanted as long as she stayed on the pew.  It was a relief to me.  She ate her goldfish crackers, followed along in the hymn book with me during the songs, did great with picking up one piece of bread and her little cup of water, and even folded her arms sometimes!  After church it was nap time and she did great with her nap time!

And here we are on Easter Day hanging out together.  We had barbecue baked chicken, mashed potatoes with barbecue gravy, mixed vegetables, orange slices and water.  It was SO YUMMY!!!

It was a nice Easter and Grace had a great time seeing the family come over.  She really thought they came just for her, so she was extremely happy, giggly and talkative.  Fun Easter!

On Monday Grace got to go to school and she was so excited for it!  I just can't get over how happy she is about going to school.  I love love love that she enjoys school.  Then we got to have her friend come over at 2:30 pm from down the street, and she was so excited to play with her little friend Sabrina, and then our other family friends came over for dinner, and so she got to play with Robert and Jordan!  We had roast, mixed vegetables, orange slices and water for dinner, and then Julie had brought a jello salad.  It was a fun day and Grace had a great time with all her friends.


Amanda

NAUSEA!!

I am having so much more nausea with this little one in me than I did with Grace.  So much, in fact, that it's really nerve wracking.  A lot of people are scared of the dark, or are scared of blood or whatever.  I am scared of throwing up!  The feeling of not being able to control my body and it's functions, not being able to breath during the process, and then the horrible taste afterwards just really plays with my mind.  And I was having that nausea pretty bad today.  I was also lightheaded and having stomach pains...so I gave in and picked up the anti-nausea medication the doctor had prescribed for me.  I'm not one to take pills very often.  I don't take them for headaches or menstrual cycles...I just don't feel like they are always necessary.  But after talking with two pharmacists to be sure that this compound mixture is safe for the baby, I'm going to give in.  I can't give Grace the time she needs if I'm completely focused on NOT throwing up.  She is going to need attention a lot, especially once she starts seeing changes in my body and understanding that I can't do as much as I did with her (jumping on the trampoline, rolling around on the floor, letting her jump on my stomach, etc).  So we talk about baby a lot, she now has one in her tummy too (so cute!), and at this point, it's going ok.  But she has already started lashing out so she can get negative behavior, and this is worrisome because I'm only about 6 weeks into the pregnancy.  I'm extremely tired recently, and she has seen this with my lack of desire to do much more than sit.  And so she's acted out by tearing a page in a book she received from her aunt and uncle, by grabbing things off the kitchen counters that she shouldn't have (knives--and to think they were far enough away...once she can reach the center of the island, I've lost! , candy, or anything else), throwing things at us (specifically Daddy today), pushing keys on my computer when I was trying to print something, screaming while sitting next to me after asking her "Mommy is on the phone, can you please keep a quiet voice for a minute?", and playing in her...pants.  But because I can see that she's seeing a difference, and that she's uncomfortable and confused, we are working on positive redirection and constructive feedback.  It's amazing how calm we've been because so many of these things used to peeve us to no end.  And we can absolutely see the difference when we are positively constructive versus the harsh and negative tones that sometimes slip out when something has been extremely frustrating.  This is pretty much going to turn her world upside down, so we are starting early on getting her accustomed to different schedules (though more reinforced), different actions from us (I'm trying to not pick her up as much, but when I can really tell she needs cuddles, we'll sit on the couch), and differences in our time span we allow her to misbehave.

Naps...This has been the third day that she hasn't napped, and I'm extremely saddened by it because these naps are when I would usually do homework.  And school is starting this weekend.  So I'm really trying to hold on to the idea that this is just a phase, and that she's going to start napping again, but I think I have to come to the realization that it's probably over with the napping.  So I'm having to come up with a way to deal with this because we all know how excessively clingy she is, and how I have to be with her and entertaining her every moment.  I don't know what I'm going to do during the three hours that she normally slept in terms of having her work independently so I can still get things done I need to.  I've thought about giving her things in her room and allowing her to get up and have the freedom, but still have the door closed so it's her own personal time, but this is when pages are torn and cupboards are dug through, so I'm not really knowing what to do.  Once the baby comes, this would have been my time to also sleep while baby and Grace slept, so I don't know what we'll do when we get to that point of exhaustion with two children that need me, as well as school, home work, and everything else.  But there are so many other people out there that have done this, and I'm thinking WAY TOO FAR in advance, so I'll go back to the here and now.  Here is the hear and now...it's 12:09 am.  And I'm still up.  And miss Grace is going to be up at 7-8 pm.  So I better get my tushy to bed so I can be ready to wake up and have fun with her.  Tomorrow...well, today...there is an easter egg hunt for children with special needs, so we are going to go to that at 10 am and see what it's all about :)

Amanda

It's Friday!!

Another day of school, and another fun time!  Grace got to dye an egg in school today!  She was so excited to tell me about the eggs, and the Easter bunny, and all the activities that they got to do today :)  It's so exciting to always have her running into my arms and telling me the fun things they did in school today.  She's my sweet girly.

After school we had yummy lunch, played for a while, and then nap time...do you think it happened? Nope, it didn't.  I was out running quite a few errands while she played in her room!  That little stinker.  So when I got home at 4 pm I got my girly out and we had to have some cuddle time because she was a bit sad about something (which I never got out of her).  Then we were on a hunt for Daddy because we could NOT find him anywhere!!  He ended up being on Grace's trampoline...gr...daddy is too heavy!!  But anyways :)  Then the time just seemed to speed by!  Very quickly it was dinnertime and so we had leftover Subway and then Grace and I gorged on ice cream while we watched a movie together.  It's so fun watching a movie and eating ice cream with Grace.  Sometime I'm going to have to take a picture of Grace after she's fed herself ice cream...SO CUTE!  It looks like she's got a goatee that has dripped onto the table and her lap!  It's so hard to not laugh!  I don't want her to think it's ok, but I know she's trying her hardest, so I'm not going to get all upset over it.  It's so not a big deal!  After our movie (it was a short one...30 minutes) we cleaned up the ice cream and then played for a while.  It got to be 6:40 pm and she was SO needing to go to bed but it was just way too early, and so I grabbed about 7 books out of her library and we cuddled for 45 minutes on the recliner reading books together.  I absolutely love cuddling with my girly and reading to her.  It was so cute before we even started reading, too, because she had grabbed a book and was going to go sit on the recliner by herself and look at it, and then I paused for a minute and just watched her as she grabbed the book, climbed up in the recliner and settled in, and then looked up at me like, "What's up, mom?"  And when I said, "Do you want me to read to you?" her face LIT UP!!!  She said...

"Yeah!  Sure Mom!!  You to read to me and we sit in da chair and tuddle."

"Yep, I'll go get us some books and then we'll read, ok?"

"Ok!!!  (In her super excited shriek of ok)"  Then I hear her plop down onto the floor and then the pounding of her feet as she's running across the living room and down the hall.  I was in the preschool room finding some books and she came in behind me...

"Are you detting a-yot of books?"

"Yes.  Is that ok?"

"YEAH!  You get yots of books and read to me."

"Yep, I'll get a bunch and then we can read together."  Then we headed to the living room.

"We donna sit in the couch oh da chair?"

"Let's sit in the chair so it is comfier, ok?" (The recliner has SO MUCH MORE fluff!)

"O-tay."

"But let me sit down first so then I can have you sit on my lap, ok?"

"Oh, o-tay mommy.  Das a dood idea."  (I sat down, and then she climbed up)

"Are you ready for me to read, Grace?"

"Yes, yets do it!"

Isn't that just so stinking adorable?!!  I LOVE THIS GIRL.

So a good day.  After we read it was 7:30 pm and so we did teeth brushing, diaper and pajamas, best friends sleeping with her (Panda bear and Pout Pout fish), kisses and more kisses, turned on her Turtle moon and star light show, turned on her Cinderella light show, and then out I went.  Within 5 minutes of me watching the monitor, she was out!  Good grief, girly :)  You were tired!!

Good day, good day.

Amanda

Another Quick Day

I can't believe how fast time goes by!  Grace had therapy today so I dropped her off and then went shopping for 3 hours for Kailyn's baby shower!!  The time flew by.  Most of the time I was just scanning shelves to see what there was before making final decisions.

After Grace had therapy we headed home and had leftover dinner from last night for lunch today, but Grace was NOT into it.  She was SO tired!  But do you think she would fall asleep?  Nope!  She was up for the entire time until 3:45 pm.  I had put her down about 2 pm.  Silly kid.  So of course the rest of the day was pretty tough because she was so tired and cranky as well as clingy.  But we were fine together :)  She just needed a bit more attention and I was happy to give her that!  Dinner was sloppy joes with orange slices and spinach salad (Grace had peas).  It was really good, but she was so tired that she had trouble really focusing.  I pretty much spoon fed her because she just couldn't focus.  Poor girly.  It got to be 6:30 pm and I could really see that she was struggling with controlling her emotions and behavior, so she and I played with her kitchen set for about 15 minutes.  She was so cute :)  She just sucked on her juice bottle that her Aunt Lisa got her while I served her meals.  I'm so excited that she's getting better at not biting the plastic pieces.  That probably sounds silly, but I'm not kidding!  I had to take out all the cardboard items, such as the little cereal boxes or milk cartons because she'd chew on them, and I've had to really watch her when playing with the food because she has gnawed the plastic hot dogs flat.  I was so proud of her for pretend biting!!

So, 6:45 pm finally came and I could tell she was SO ready for bed.  So diaper change, teeth brushed, one piece pajama on, Pout pout fish and Panda Bear in bed, and off she went!  I tucked her into bed with her little friends and she was down!  It's now 7:26 pm and she's already asleep, and I so could be as well, no joke.  

Friday is preschool :)  She was pretty happy about hearing this since she likes school so much.

All in all, a wonderful day.  Interacting with Grace every day and every moment is so special to me, and I can't believe who she is becoming.  Sometimes I look at her and really can't even recognize her!  She's growing up, she's gaining knowledge, experience and strength, and having such a great time doing that!!  And what's great is that she still wants me to cuddle with her...ALOT.  And I absolutely love this because she's my little girl and always will be :)  She and I will sit together for almost an hour each time reading with each other, and she just loves pasting herself onto me and listening to me read!  I LOVE YOU GRACE!!

Amanda/Mommy

Doctor Appointment for Baby

I had a doctor appointment today to check on baby because I've been having cramping periodically this past month.  I especially had it really early this morning, but it doesn't seem to be a problem.  The baby, obviously, isn't going to look like anything because I'm only at 5.5 weeks, but I have a picture anyways!

The ultrasound tech said "think of it like a diamond ring, and your baby is the diamond in the ring!"  CUTE!

I got to see the heartbeat, and it was at 98 beats per minute.  That is not high enough but the tech said it's probably because the heart had just started beating in the past day or two, and so at my next appointment (4 weeks), it will be stronger.  I am considered high risk because of everything we had to go through with Grace, and so I'm glad that we will be watching out for this baby.  There will be numerous tests done that aren't invasive (like the amniocentesis is) but will tell us if there are genetic disorders or other developmental disorders.  And if I'm in need of a more professional birth than the hospital here can give me, then they will have me prepped and ready to go to University of Utah to give birth so baby can go right to Primary Children's Hospital.  We have a 25% chance of another disorder with this child, so while that is less than half, the doctor is still worried.  I'm glad we know what to look for early and I'm sure that we will have a safe pregnancy and birth, regardless of the genetic or developmental outcome.  What we are hoping and praying for at this point?  A strong pregnancy so that when the 3 month mark comes on, or even more than that, I can share with people!!  Hurray!  I don't want to share too much and then have something go different than what we would expect.

All in all, a successful appointment.  Only one baby in there so my appetite is just for that one!  It's obviously wanting a lot of food!  I had her double check just to be sure since I've just been so darn hungry.  It's insane!!  But I'm still at 144.5 pounds even with how much I've been eating (when hungry, not just all the time) and so I'm doing well with eating correctly.

Good night!

Amanda