This bambino is a movin and a groovin

Well on Friday I am 30 weeks preggers! Wow 10 weeks and counting. Maybe 7 if my body decides it wants to end being pregnant sooner. Ah yi yi. Bets have been placed on whether its a girl or a boy. My mom and bestie both swear its a girl. My mom says it was be awesome if we had another boy because we have everything and they can share a room and also because boys are easier for her lol. But if its a girl we still have everything but clothes but I am not worried about that. This baby has been moving so much lately. I am in awe and just loving it. This baby is moving around the same time Michael really started moving to. I feel the baby so much during the day. My belly jumps A LOT. Its so neat to not feel anything and then all of the sudden BAM! I have also had a few small contractions and they come and go and are very random. I am hoping this isn't the start to pre term labor because I am not ready to be done yet! At first I thought it was just that baby rolling around in my lower tummy but it was uncomfortable. When it happened again I felt my tummy and it was a little hard. I put the two together and remembered oh yea these are contractions. I don't remember the light ones at all. I just remember the extremely painful ones I had for 24 hours straight with very little to no relief. I am looking forward to seeing my belly really move. I used to lay in bed and just watch my belly for hours at night. Michael looked like a little alien rolling around. Coolest feeling ever. I have also been on an emotional roller coaster lately. I plan on talking to my OB about this on the 19 but would like advice from other mommies who have had other children. My heart strings are being pulled major lately and I feel awful. I have finally accepted this baby, am in total love with this baby, & can't wait to meet this baby. However I look at Michael and how much I cherish all of our time together and all I can think about is how much that will change. I broke down in tears the other day because of how I was feeling. Its Michael and I first thing in the morning until we go to bed at night. Just us when we go shopping or just having a lazy day at home. We have plenty of cuddle time together. I have just been feeling like this baby is going to change that. I also feel like I won't be as close to this baby because I won't have that one on one bonding time like I had with Michael. I have talked to other mommies and I guess this is somewhat normal but I have been feeling really down. I just need to hear some encouraging words, maybe things others did to help them get through these feelings. 

Mothers Day Weekend

My oh my what an exciting weekend. I had so much fun with my family. Saturday we got up early and drove roughly 3 1/2 hours to Winston, OR to the Wildlife Safari. When we got there I wasn't sure to expect but no more than 5 minutes into the 1 1/2 park tour I was IMPRESSED. The animals were everywhere and had so much room to roam and be free. Yes its not their natural habitat but hey, they had LOTS of space to roam. We had an emu come walk up to the car and very quickly we had to roll up the windows because of how curious the bird was. It tried eating our antenna which I hadn't even thought I would need to put away. We drove around and saw lions and they were caged but had a huge area and they laid right next to the fence. I had never seen any of the animals so active at the zoo but at the safari these animals were ALIVE and moved, haha. The giraffes roamed free along with a rhino. We saw grizzlies playing with logs in water. Heard lots of different birds(one always sounded like it was laughing). We came across 2 large double humped camels that were standing in the road and people were to nervous to drive because they were so big, we didn't want to scare them. They had cheetahs and tigers that were also caged but they were active. They even have a dog that lives in a pen in the cheetah area and throughout the day the dog and cheetahs play together. There were so many animals and we took a ton of pictures (will be posting soon). One of my favorite parts was that you are only allowed to drive 10 mph or less through the park. Seat belts are not required and kids can be out of their car seats. That meant Michael was up front with us. He sat in my lap and helped drive which he loved and we switched him from side to side so he could see everything and all we kept hearing was "what's that?!" we would explain to him what animal it was and what sound it made and he was look at us, tilt his head back, and "Hahahaha". Once we were done with the park they have a small ZOO like area to see smaller animals. They had a small petting zoo. One cheetah was there that painted. They had camel rides. A large pond with goose, ducks, and geese, and two monkeys swinging in the center to top it off. They had pink flamingos. It was just really neat! We left the zoo and decided to go on another drive through the park and I am so glad we did because the experience was different and things we didn't see the first time we saw the 2nd. It was so much fun. Since we are Oregon Zoo members our admission to the safari was 50% off which was a very nice bonus and with each paid admission you get two entries into the park(which is why we went through a 2nd time). They have lots of activities there including a car wash by and elephant. It costs 20 bucks and is guaranteed not to get your car clean but hey, its worth it if you can say Ur car was washed by an elephant. We didn't do that this time but I think sometime in the future we will definitely have to try that out! I enjoy going to the zoo but the animals are never active, ever, and well they don't have a lot of breathing room. At the safari there was 900 acres to roam free and like I said the animals were ALIVE :) I enjoyed it so much and totally recommend going there, especially with toddlers!

On the drive home we stopped in Eugene to visit our friends and were invited to stay the night and have mothers day brunch the next day. So we did. Michael got to play with the kids and we had a great visit with our friends and our brunch was delicious :) We drove home around 2 and when we got home I made dinner and then my mom came over to watch Michael so we could go see Fast Five. I love those car movies and have really wanted to see that so we went and I was not disappointed. It was awesome.

On another side note we now officially have a Girls Name)which we have had, and now we have our boys name! What a relief. It just clicked out of no where and it's done. I am so happy to have that off my plate now. My mom and friend are convinced its a girl and I don't need to bother with the boys name but I keep saying we don't know, so we need to be prepared!

What a wonderful weekend, and a great mothers day!



18 Months

Michael @ 18 months:

 He is saying a few words like

Hot

Butt

Don't

Dog

Whee

He loves being swung into the air by Sean and I and we always count 1,2,3....wheee!

(sometimes we don't say a number and it always sounds like Michael is counting out loud with us)

He waves bye bye, and waves Hello

He likes to shake hands

He gives High Fives and Double High Fives

(this is his favorite thing to do)

He loves giving kisses and when especially cuddly he repeats his kisses multiple time

(this I love)

His love for the outdoors is Amazing. He loves standing at the window and looking outside and if its nice he tends to run back and forth from the window to me until we go outside.

Once outside he explores to no end.

My neighbors let him use a basket and he collects things in this basket. Mainly rocks and sticks but he finds little odds and ends to stick in there.

He likes to push our buttons and test his limits. Sometimes this can get tiresome but he is learning.

Lately I have been letting him in the kitchen with me while I cook or clean. He keeps himself busy by "shopping" in the cabinets. He pulls cans out and babbles and acts like he is reading the label and he will either put the can back or take it and put it on his "Shelf"

He loves throwing things.

We are working on "being nice" to the animals. When they are near one of us he is very gentle but if he goes up to one of them on his own, he is too excited tends to slap.

I don't have him on a sced. and I don't think I ever will. I do envy those mommy's who are able to have their little ones on one but I haven't mastered that. Michael wakes up when I do and tends to go to bed when I do. That works for me but sometimes it does make his daddy a little cranky. Nap time during the day is getting harder and harder. Michael fights it to the core and will sleep 1 to 2 hours when he finally zonks out.

He gets scared when the dog barks and looks at me like is everything ok. I have to tell him its ok just to go see who's there and Michael will run to the window and stand next to the dog and look to see who is outside.

Michael is an eater and loves trying everything

He opens the gate when we are leaving to go somewhere and will help close it

He climbs into the car, and out of his Car seat all on his own.

We had to put child proof handle on our front door due to Mr. Michael every growing curiosity and figuring out how to do things.

Oh and Michael LOVES to dance. I am not kidding. If there is music on he is dancing. He wiggles around in the car to and moves his legs to the music.

He also sings. I sing to him everynight our goodnight lullybye and at random times throughout the day.
He doesn't sing all the time but if a tune catches him just right he tries to sing along and it's soooooo adorable :)

I am enjoying this stage in his life so much. He is still wanting and needed us but yet he is so in dependant.

It's hard to believe he is already 1 1/2!



26 weeks and Name Game!

So my due date was adjusted by one day, wow, I know right. So instead of July 21, I am now due July 22 :) I had an ultrasound two Wednesdays ago and here's the update. The measured the amount of Amniotic fluid and my levels were normal, NORMAL. I was sooo happy to hear that. Baby has got plenty of room to move and breath and GROW. The also looked at my placenta and before I had placenta previa. My placenta was touching my cervix at and angle but wasn't covering it which would have been a complete placenta previa. My placenta is no longer touching my cervix and is slowly moving up and away. Whoo Hoo. This greatly reduces the need for a c-section which I am so relieved about. I am so scared at the thought of having to have one but I know if it is necessary then it is going to have to be done. I think I am just so scared at the thought because you can't see whats going on. My whole life, every time I went to the docs, I had to see what they were doing. I was so intrigued. Going to the dentist always freaked me out cause you can't see anything. So same with the c-section they put that awful curtain up and you have NO IDEA whats going on til they announce the baby's arrival. Well enough with that dreaded talk. Good news is that my two major problems have corrected themselves.

Name Game

Boy oh Boy. This is soo tuff. I don't know why its so hard either. I never thought I would be one of those people that had to see the baby before it was named but its looking to go that way. I am not saying that it is a bad thing, I am just saying I thought I would have found the one name I liked and that would be that. I had girls names picked out for a long time and my husband and I agreed with one when we found out we were pregnant with Michael. When we found out he was a boy I was a total mess when it came to names. I was getting so frustrated that my husband said, how about we just name him after your dad. I liked my dads name, so I said yes. so that was that. No major story behind it. This time around I don't want to take the easy way out. I was a different name. A unique name. A name that you don't hear hardly at all, if ever. Michael is such a common name and is still used so much now a days. I can't picture my Michael with a different name. The boy name we had originally agreed upon we shared with our family and close friends and the response we got, pure laughter. Not just giggles, but MASS HYSTERIA. The only people who don't laugh but aren't quite sure of the name are people our age. My close friend loves the name and said it's a VERY strong name, and I keep trying to hold that in my thoughts. I told my friend that I have been judged and laughed at my entire life. That I don't need one more thing for people to poke fun at me. She agreed. My husband and I can't agree on any other names though. He likes his certain names but I don't like the way they sound and the names I like my husband does like but only as middle names. So it's been ruff. I am sure we will come across a few names we can agree on. So for now I will continue this name game.

NOT.MOVING

Sooo for a quite some time we have been looking forward to our BIG move. Our big move was going to be to go to Ohio. Those plans seemed to be put aside when surprise number 2 came along. So then we were talking about moving to Longview, into a house our landlord has been working on. Really the only benefit was a huge yard and really that's about all. Today we were getting all our ducks in a row for the move tomorrow and I think it hit both Sean and I like a brick wall. We really shouldn't be doing this. Our landlord came over with the new contract for the house and we expressed our concerns and our landlord was more than understanding. Such a relief. So for now we are going to stay put in our little shack and make due with what our blessings are. My stress has been takin back to none which I love. I know this has to be the right choice. Ohio may still be in our near future but until number 2 arrives in 4 months. We shall stay right we are and I am OK with that :)

19 weeks update

I had a follow up appointment today with a maternal medicine doc and they did a more intensive ultrasound to check out my issues. Turns out the placenta previa issue I have is only minor. It's partly on my cervix but not all the way. She said there is an 80% chance that by 32 weeks the placenta can move up and away from my cervix. Woo Hoo :) Second the low level of amniotic fluid is low but not dangerously low. Which means in order to fight this I need to drinks TONS of water. More than 1 1/2 gal. a day. I am going to feel like a fish in the sea from here on out but whatever I can do to make this pregnancy work I am going to do it. Another bitter sweet thing is that I am no longer working. I had to quit my job because of these complications. It will be wonderful having my weekends back and being able to have quality time with my hubby again but this also means I have no responsibilities outside the home. I enjoyed getting away 2 days a week to put my focus on something else. I am not going to fret though. I am doing this for this baby and that's what is the most important. I am on light bed rest which means I can only do minor things around the house, like only one thing at a time and very briefly. Its going to be hard but I have to do it. I will be sure to keep updating the further I get along and with each appointment. Not a sigh of relief today but a glimpse of hope.

Looking at my older posts

So I was scanning through some of my older posts and I came across my blog about http://seanndamygandy.blogspot.com/2010/10/burnt-popcorn.html (burnt popcorn) I noticed the date I had blogged & it was roughly one week after I had gotten preggo's. Looks like burnt popcorn is going to be my tell tell sign of when I am pregnant. Haha. I thought it was funny and wanted to share.