First family nights out!

What a fabulous weekend I had! It occurred to me at some point that I've been [somewhat subconsciously] stressed out recently because of what all was on the horizon, with the up and coming birth of our little Josiah, etc. but I realized that we have absolutely nothing major coming up... our son is here, we're all moved in to our new apartment, we both have a couple months off from church commitments, and now we can just enjoy each other as a family and adjust to the addition of our newest member! What a refreshing feeling. I am really excited about this new phase in our life... there are times where I'm scared about handling two children at once, but the fear is subsiding and I know that everything will be okay (even if not everything is always clean and done!) and not only will we survive, but we will thrive!

So Friday night was our first time out as a family of four. We went to Riley's sister's house for a swim party and dinner. It was so much fun! I just relaxed by the pool with Josiah in my lap while Riley played with Julia in their new and improved pool! There were a zillion (okay, like 10) toddlers there and it was crazy fun! I got to take a bunch of pictures while sitting by the pool with Josiah (a nice break from handling a fearless, waterloving Julia) AND it was the first time all 6 cousins were together.


Then Saturday I managed to make it to my friend Caelene's baby shower, with Josiah in tow. He was very well behaved, i.e. slept and nursed the whole time, and it was good to get out and see friends! I'm amazed at how quickly I've recovered from delivery! More about that later, when I actually sit down and blog the whole birth story. That afternoon Libby came over and took some really great pictures of Josiah (she did Julia's newborn pictures at one month)... maybe I can get some of those uploaded soon too. Then we decided we (er, I) needed to get out of the house again! So...

We packed up again (it takes a lot longer now, but we'll get the hang of it soon) and went to Carabba's in Grapevine. Yummy! They had this ball of dough for Julia to play with which was great because it kept her entertained until the food came. Then we went to Baskin Robbins for dessert with my BOGOF coupon, yay! so yummy! Julia fell asleep on the way home, which was great because she didn't take a nap earlier in the day but it was late enough (8pm) that I was pretty confident she would stay asleep all night. Which she did. So we decided with the kids (the kids! I can say that now!) in bed early we'd rent a movie. Even if we fell asleep in the middle of it. After all, since Julia didn't nap, guess who else didn't?! The only decent thing redbox had was 007 Quantum of Solace. Pretty good, especially since we just got to sit and snuggle and relax. Josiah was still a littly fussy after nursing so he snuggled with us for the first part of the movie too!

So I still have a pretty length to-do list but I have to keep reminding myself that I need to sleep whenever I get the chance. Like now, instead of blogging. Will do as soon as I'm done. I promise I might. If I'm not rested, I won't have the energy to get stuff done anyway. It's hard though, because before Josiah was born, Julia's naptime was my get-stuff-done time. Well maybe I can slowly ease back into that once I get a full night's sleep. Whenever that will be!

Ok I better stop. Oh one more thing! Riley had the coolest idea before Josiah was born. Get me new glasses! I get my eyes checked every year to renew my contacts prescription but since I only wear my glasses at home, I haven't bought new ones in like 6 or 7 years. So I can't see a lot through them. Well since having a baby means taking longer in the morning to do anything with myself, he thought it was time to just get some new ones. Well he found this website where they are $8. $8 for glasses! That's just unheard of. My last pair were like 100-200 I think. Anyway, so you just type in your prescription and pick the frames you like. Well, I was a little iffy on it since I'm really picky and couldn't try them on. So Riley had a brilliant idea. Go to a eyeglass store, try a bunch on and when I find a pair I like, write the measurements down and pick a pair online that comes close to the same numbers and looks good in the picture. Risky, but hey, if I don't like them, at least they're the right prescription, were really cheap and I only have to wear them around the house. So, I found some I liked at jc penney, wrote the numbers down, picked some out online, paid $13 with shipping and got me some new glasses in the mail yesterday! Buying glasses on the internet is such a foreign concept to me, but hey, we should be willing to try new thing right?! Well they look pretty good for not having had the opportunity to try on a million pairs, and I can see better through them. Yay! I'll have to get a pic of those too.

Ok, that's really all for now. Until I write my labor and delivery blog. Have a great week everybody! =)

Pink eye and Potty training

so julia has had this yellow gunk and crustiness in her eyes for a few days, but it came and went so i didn't take her to the doctor until this morning. even though it looked a lot better, i wanted to make sure she got it looked at before the weekend. plus with her being around other kids, i didn't want to spread whatever it is around.

well, the doc says it's pink eye (even though they're not really pink) and i have to put drops in her eyes for a week. but she won't be contagious after 24 hours so that's good news! i hope she gets better soon! she keeps slapping her eye saying, "No, booger!" which is kind of funny but sad. poor kid! last night was the worst. but i know she'll get better soon! i just hope riley and i don't get it. so far so good!

AND...

today's the first day i've taken her out without a diaper. she has been getting better at telling me when she needs to go potty, like when we're in the grocery store, and we might as well get potty training under way before josiah comes! it'll be much easier if she's completely trained before then. i've kind of been hesitant to take the next step, which is taking her out with just panties (and clothes of course) but she won't learn if i don't. so i just decided this morning to take the plunge. diapers in the bag, check. extra outfit just in case, check. potty before leaving, check. juice in the bag but NOT given to her to drink on the way, definite check!

she made it all the way to einstein bros. bagels (for free bagel friday!), and all the way to the doc's office in arlington without peeing, YAY! not that she's never gone that long before, i was just concerned about having an accident outside of home where it'd be more of a hassle to clean up. she peed in the potty at the doc's office, and made it all the way home without peeing again! yay! we're making progress. i'm trying to be brave, and remind myself that this is totally necessary and i'll be glad i started before josiah comes!

then she pooped like A LOT after we got home. like, it covered the whole bottom of her little potty bowl. you probably don't want to know that (so i'll spare you a picture that i did NOT take), but i'm very pleased that that poop went in the potty and not one of many other places. so, i'm just going to keep taking her to the potty while we're at home, right before we leave, right when we get somewhere, and do my best to stop what i'm doing and find a potty if she needs to go out in public. that's been my only annoyance. we're shopping and she's like, "julia peepee potty!" "mommy find it!" and i'm like, ugh. who knows where it is and i really don't feel like walking across the store, taking you out, taking the diaper off, waiting for you to pee, yadayada, putting you back in, and continuing my shop. but then i realize how selfish that is. if I needed to go pee that bad, i'd stop and go pee! she deserves the same. i just need to bite the bullet and take her instead of leaving her in diapers forever. we'll save money that way too! i would LOVE to only have one child in diapers.

so yay julia! i'm so proud of my big little girl!

Burn baby burn!...and if i never see another ant,

it will be TOO SOON!

so, we love our new apartment. i mean, we really like it. location, size, layout, pretty much everything. but we had a huge ant problem.

we moved in about 3 weeks ago and about a week into it, we noticed multitudes of ants. big ones, small ones, you name it.

so of course i reported it to the leasing office and they said they'd send someone out the following tuesday. i think that was on a thursday. geez! julia already had several bites and i was anxious to get rid of the little critters.

so they came and went, and the following night, we came home late from shopping one night and they were all over julia's bed. like, ALL OVER. along the wall, on the sheets, everywhere. so we decided to let her sleep with us that night.

well that was the worst night we've had in a loooong time. she wouldn't go to sleep. it's been hard enough getting her used to being in a new bed, a new apartment, etc. but you'd think she'd eventually crash. riley finally got her to sleep around 5-6am.

needless to say, the office got a talking to from riley. they ended up putting us up in a hotel for 4 nights because the soonest they could get someone out was after 4th of july weekend. so yay, for us, mini-vacation!

well the first night we were in a hotel i'd never heard of, but a nice one. they even had these huge stone tablets out front with the ten commandments. how cool is that?!

julia went to sleep fine (huh?!) but the following morning at breakfast, as i was aiming for the pancakes on my plate, HOT syrup slid down onto my arm. AYCHIHUAHA! i yelled for riley to get it off, and by the time he was able to find a napkin, the skin had already peeled off. ugh.


2 days after


it hurt really bad! i didn't realize how bad it was, riley was asking the manager to call an ambulance and everything. well while we were waiting it started to hurt worse and worse. some waitress came out and put cold mustard on my arm. i don't know, maybe some mexican home remedy. anyway, that really pissed riley off and he took me to the bathroom to rinse it off, then the paramedics came.

they said it was like a sunburn, (hello! i don't think so!) and all they could really do was clean it up and bandage it. and that it would be an expensive trip to the er for the same treatment, but they'd take me if i wanted. well the whole time i'm thinking, who knows if the hotel is gonna pay for all this, so no, i think i can handle it.

well, the manager said he was going to comp our room (which was already being paid for by the apartments) and that he'd pay for whatever we needed to buy to take care of my arm, doctor visits, and give us a free night in a suite. sweet! i'm pretty content with that, although riley is convinced we need to get more money for pain and suffering. so we'll see.

we stayed in a different hotel the 3 nights after that, just because the ants were originally supposed to be taken care of the next day, but weren't. it was so awesome! i mean, not the ant problem, or the burn, but the room we got! it was a poolside cabana for a super good deal. well, super mainly because we're getting reimbursed for it!

so we spent a lot of time in the pool and not-so-hot tub, and julia slept pretty well. we enjoyed our time there but were ready to get back to our hopefully ant-free apartment and finish settling in. mind you, we HAD almost everything unpacked and then they had to move everything around to replace our carpet (actually a good thing, since our feet were turning black every day). so we've been working our butts off trying to get everything in place, and we're almost there, just a few loose ends here and there that need to get tied up. i have a little list, and if we do one or two things a day, we should have it all done in the next couple weeks.

speaking of which, i will probably have josiah early! as in, if he were to come as early as julia did, that's friday of next week! agh!!!!! when that realization hit me, i kind of freaked out. my dr says i'm not dilated yet, but my cervix is getting soft and i will probably follow the same trend i did with julia. so we'll see! now i REALLY need to get everything ready, like pronto!

we have almost everything we need for josiah (you know, minus a 2 year supply of diapers!) but his crib is still full of stuff and we need to get everything in place.

ok, i totally didn't mean for this to be a long blog, i was gonna separate it into more than one entry, (and may still add more updates) but oh well. it seems like everything has kind of been running together lately. cest la vie.

to wrap up... the ants are (mostly) gone, except if you leave a crumb on the floor they all come out in like 5 seconds! but julia still has bites that she won't quit scratching, so the scabs keep bleeding and not healing (some of which are actually mosquitos from july 4th).

my arm is getting much better. the first few days it got worse, but then my dermatologist gave (sold) me some creams that seem to really be helping it heal fast. plus i'm taking zinc which helps.

my belly is getting huge (why does everyone refer to it as a basketball? it feels more like a bowling ball!) and i cry over the littlest things. especially yesterday morning. it was one thing after another. i wasn't sure i'd be able to make it through the day. but of course, my amazing husband encouraged me and gave me great big warm hugs and just showed me the love i needed. you're the best, babe!


35.5 weeks!

julia has been REALLY challenging lately. mostly just not listening to very much of what i say. i know she can hear, she just ignores me. maybe it's because of all the additional hormones running through my veins, or all the changes going on around her, but my patience is worn severely thin. and please don't call it the terrible-twos. i really hate that term. every age has its pros and cons, and i refuse to believe that 2 year olds are just plain worse than other kids. i digress.

ok i better stop now. of course i'll write another blog, just to break it up. =)

Not Me! Monday

So what if it's Tuesday?!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday . . . a time where we confess our faults by denying them outright. If you have no idea what I am talking about visit MckMama’s blog for a laugh!

I did NOT eat three popsicles, three chewy bars and a bowl of ice cream while surfing facebook yesterday during julia's nap. Nope! Not me!

I did NOT give in to julia's refusal to take a nap by going to the store and secretly hoping she would fall asleep on the way.

I did NOT drive around an extra 5 minutes after getting back home to make sure she was sound asleep.

I am NOT worried that the house will be an even crazier mess when I have this baby.

I am NOT lazy enough to pick things up off the floor only to put them somewhere else they do not belong.

I do NOT wish that my husband would give up his Camaro and motorcycle already, even though they're 20 years old.

I do NOT wish that Mary Poppins would come and perfectly pack everything up for us in a jiffy right before we move.

I have NEVER felt tired of being at home all day with my sweet daughter.

I have NEVER turned on another channel when Julia asks for Elmo, pretending that it's a cartoon, just so I can hear some adult voices.

I will NOT miss my dear sahm friend that lives down the street when we both move away!

I did NOT let my husband buy a brand new TV when we have one that works perfectly fine and are trying to save money, just because it was on sale and will go so very nicely above the fireplace in our new apartment.

I am NOT eagerly awaiting the moving of my father's old furniture into our new apartment!

I am NOT overly excited about our baby shower at the end of this month, to which we invited practically everyone we know.

I do NOT wish my mom lived closer than 3 hours away!

I did NOT buy 7 boxes of Rice Krispies, 3 boxes of Cheerios and 2 boxes of Raisin Bran, 2 weeks before moving, just because it was a crazy good deal.

I am NOT excited about Josiah having a boy cousin born the same week as him!

I did NOT lay in bed last night while my husband put our daughter to bed and washed the dishes I left in the sink all day.

I did NOT let Julia stay in our bed last night until she fell back asleep, after coming out of her room at 2:30 am.

I did NOT let Julia eat the leftover cupcake she grabbed out of the fridge the morning after her birthday party, without eating breakfast first.

I did NOT forget to put sunscreen on my 2 year old before taking her to the park under the blazing Texas sun.

I did NOT register for enough diapers to last Josiah till Julia's 3.

I did NOT eat practically the whole box of chocolate chip cookies at my sister's house last week, in one sitting.

I did NOT write out our last rent check the day it was due and then forget to take it to the office until the next night.

I am NOT hiding the tricycle Julia got for her birthday, in the box unassembled, until we move.

I did NOT take the serving tray that Julia peed on, wash it and put fruit on it for her birthday party.

I do NOT let my 2 year old eat whole hot dogs and cherries.

I do NOT let my 2 year old climb up the bar stools blocking the cabinets below the TV, to watch it from 9 inches away.

I do NOT still have the breast pump that my sister-in-law loaned me a year ago, that I only used that week.

I do NOT still have year-old emails in my inbox that I still haven't responded to.

I do NOT justify it by keeping my inbox down to one full page.

I do NOT wish I was still swing dancing on a regular basis.

I am NOT excited about going tonight, because my husband is so lovingly making me go.

I am NOT worried that, because of my huge belly, no one will ask me to dance, and if they do, I'm NOT afraid I'll be out of breath after 30 seconds.

I do NOT sing cartoon theme songs when they're not even on.

I am NEVER jealous of newlywed couples who don't have children yet.

I am NOT sitting here at the computer when I have a hundred other things I should be doing!

Nope! Not me!


love,
joanna

we finally picked a name!

drumroll please...

Josiah Riley Moore!

i love it.

it means, "the Lord saves."

as you can read from the bible, josiah became king of judah at the age of 8. his father was evil, but he was very godly. to make a long story short, the chapters that talk about him (2 kings 22-23, 2 chronicles 34-35) mention that he got rid of idols and reestablished the passover, all at a very young age. he died in battle, and his son succeeded him as king.

i've liked the name since high school, although the way i liked it at the time was "tyler josiah" along with "joshua samuel" "julia miriam" and "kayli hannah". those were my imaginary kids' names. of course we named our daughter julia brynne and i still like the name hannah. anywho...

so it took 2 months after finding out it was a boy to decide for sure what we were gonna call this little guy! i'm so excited. i've really been wanting us to give him his name for a while now.

when we were in the final stage of making it official, we read the bible passages about josiah, then riley hugged my tummy, spoke a blessing over our little boy and gave him his name! it was so precious.

when we were thinking of names we liked, i kind of put his name on the backburner because i felt bad that riley would be the only one of us without a J name. but, he's okay with that, and besides, as he put it, we can be his "3 J's". plus, Josiah will have Riley for his middle name.

well, that's the story! we love you Josiah! only 12 more weeks till we meet face to face!

$$$ want to save money on groceries??? $$$

I DO!!!

so, a friend of mine (thanks isleen!) told me about this thing i just HAD to try out to save money on groceries. i finally looked into it and thought i'd give it a try.

boy am i GLAD!!!

just over the last 3 weeks that i've been doing it, i've averaged about 55-60% savings on groceries. that includes food, toiletries, and other household items.

before i get into it, lemme tell you what i was doing before:

first: shopping at walmart. ugh.

then: circling items in competitor's ads (kroger, albertson's, tom thumb) that might be cheaper than walmart, then having the cashier match the price. which helped but was frustrating at checkout.

NOW: the website i go to gives me lists of grocery stores with which items are on sale, not just cheaper than regular price, but ROCK BOTTOM sales, and which coupon to put with it. it really is insane to see how much can be saved by doing this. for example, today i paid $8.75 for $25 worth of groceries, and i've done even better than that on other trips (i just don't remember the exact figure).

so, whether you're a stay at home mom or work outside the home, this will really cut down on your food spending! i don't want to make this sound like a sales pitch, but if i didn't think it was awesome, i wouldn't be blogging about it! i only wish i had been doing this a long time ago.

basically the idea is to stock up on stuff that 1. is on sale, and 2. has a coupon to make the price even cheaper. it will take you a couple months to build up a stockpile and in the meantime the only other shopping you will do is for stuff that you need right now. pretty soon you won't even have to do that, everything you buy will be cheap and you'll always have what you need.

ok, so what's the website? www.thegrocerygame.com. they offer a $1 trial for 4 weeks, and after that it's $10 every 8 weeks. i figured hey, it's only a buck to see if this will work, if it doesn't, i only lost a buck. and i already know i'm gonna stick with it!

if you're wondering why you can't just do all of this by yourself, basically here's the answer (to quote the grocery game):


"It saves you all that time standing in the aisles sifting through coupons, figuring out which items match up with which coupons, calculating whether the store brand is cheaper than a name brand with a coupon, etc. Even coupon pros find they save hours and money with the list. That’s because the grocery game creators have extensive databases and spend 16 to 22 hours a week researching advertised and unadvertised sales. They also track sales cycles to determine the best time to redeem coupons for maximum savings! The list tells you about UN-advertised sales as well as advertised sales. So all the standing in the aisles, after you have done your time consuming job at home with the ads, is eliminated. PLUS, they also track categorical sales trends, which are cycling through and affecting the sales cycles. They also track which sales are the "best" sales, telling you when to use your coupon for the most savings. There are many more sales in your store than they could possibly list in the sales ad, so if you rely only on the sales ads to help you make your shopping decisions, you will waste a LOT of money. The grocery game databases indicate whether we should wait, and whether the coupon will still be good once the "Rock Bottom Sale" cycles back through."


furthermore, i never used to clip coupons because i could never find enough coupons to save as much as i would have to pay for the paper, but now apparently more of the items i use have started making coupons because just this past week i clipped about $50 of coupons for stuff i know i would be buying anyway! not bad for a $2 sunday paper!

ok, so enough about that. i'm now obsessed with coupons and i'm okay with it. ask riley, it's all i've been talking about lately and he's so proud of me for saving us all this money! this is especially helpful since we're about to have another mouth to feed! and for all you stay at home moms who feel bad for not making an income, this is like a part time job! you spend a couple hours a week clipping coupons, making your list(s) and going to the store(s), and you've saved your family beaucoup bucks!

ooh, one more thing. when you sign up (just try it and see!) please put my email address as a reference (it gives me free weeks!)

again, www.thegrocerygame.com. go check it out now!!!

Weaned!

Well, it's been a week now since Julia nursed. And even the last several times that she did, it was only for a few seconds.

Yay! My boobs get a 4.5 month break before this little boy takes over!

It's a BOY!!!

we are so excited!

and BOY, our little man is VERY well endowed. riley is so proud!

it didn't take long at all to tell. of course we were pretty sure it was gonna be a boy anyway. but it was cool to actually see some real proof!



he didn't want to roll over though so we get another sonogram next month to look at his spine and stuff. that'll continue my sono-every-visit trend. i really thought that i wouldn't have that many this time around because i no longer work with a tech who does them all the time for me free. but for one reason or another, i always end up getting one. no complaints though! i love seeing my little baby BOY!!!

so last visit she did a sono and thought it was a boy but said "don't paint the room blue yet, we'll see for sure next month when you get your full sonogram". what's funny is, the room that would be the baby's in the house we've made an offer on, is ALREADY painted blue! hilarious. is that a sign? or perhaps the SEVEN cents i found while looking through the house.

we're really eager to hear back from the bank to see if they accepted our offer. if they do, we'll be closing in about a month. w00t!

it's in ftw off of cooks and john t white in a fairly new addition, about 5 years old. it's 1430 sq ft, which is kinda small, but laid out well so we think everything will fit and less square footage means a lower electric bill. yay! it's got a really big a/c and water heater so that will help too. there's TONS of kitchen counter/cabinet space so that makes me super happy.

the back yard isn't huge, but wide enough for the kids/future dog to run back and forth in. plus it won't be a burden to mow/water.

it's got 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and the closets are really big! another plus in my book. the garage has plenty of room for both our cars and probably riley's motorcycle.

another great thing about it is that it's a foreclosure so the list price is almost 30k below appraised value! we're offering a little less than their asking price, so we'll see what they say. AHHHH i can't wait to find out! we REALLY like this house. we looked at so many on saturday, this was the last one we looked at, and almost didn't even get to. the selling agent was on vacation so it took a while to get a hold of her to get the combination. maybe other buyers will have as much trouble and not even look. we prayed that God would keep it hidden from others if it was to be ours, and to set our pace. then we remembered that "hidden" is part of the street name. isn't that funny?

ok well i better get dressed to go run errands, usually i do that BEFORE lunch!

shmorgazbord

i know, i know, joanna the orthography gestapo completely butchered that title, and didn't bother to look up how it's spelled.

so sue me.

anyway, here's the latest... (has it been a month since i last blogged? ugh.)

julia still wants to take off her clothes and diaper and sit on the potty, but always ends up peeing on the floor. for example, this is what happened today, and it needs no explanation:




i'm getting a lot bigger, especially before bed. last night i got a little worried because i still have 5 months to go and just thought oh lordy i'm going to be HUGE by the time this kid finishes cookin'. i came into the living room, lifted up my shirt and asked riley, are you sure i'm not having twins? of course the picture below is more like what i look like most of the time.



ok i don't know what the heck is up with the image uploader today but it keeps putting my pix at the top of the blog even when i have the cursor where i want it to go. grrr.

moving on...

so, next tuesday (st patty's day!) i'm getting my full sonogram where they look at the measurements, amniotic fluid, heart and brain, and, dum-da-da-DUM.... we get to find out for sure what we're having! some of you already know what the dr thought it was from the last unplanned sono. anyway, i'm so excited! i gotta finish up the white section on the blanket i'm crocheting so i can move on to pink or blue!

well, we're still house hunting. technically we have plenty of time since most of the ones that fit our criteria are foreclosures, which tend to close fast and we still have to pay rent at our apartment through june. BUT, we don't want to dilly dally too much since we have a baby on the way! we're going to look at a bunch tomorrow morning with our agent so we'll see how that goes. we're looking mostly in the nrh area, watauga, hurst, bedford, select parts of ftw. it'll be so nice to be closer to family, church, and riley's work. not to mention having more room! (too bad you have to pay extra to heat and cool all that extra space!) maybe the gas savings will cover the higher electric bill. but enough about that.

if you happen to be selling a house or know of one, pass it on to us if it meets the following criteria:

3/2/2
areas i mentioned
1 story
no inground pool
1500+ sq ft
under 90k
preferably a 2nd living area or 4th bedroom to use as an ofc

they say the average home buyer looks at 15 homes before closing on one. well, we've looked at close to 20 already and haven't found the right one. but we're not giving up!

ooh, ooh! great news: one of my goals has been for julia to get good at taking naps (without having to fall asleep in the car) and i think she's done that like 3 times this week so yay! this is especially important to me before the baby comes. even more than potty training! although that would be nice too...

testimony: a couple weeks ago, riley was supposed to find out whether or not they'd be getting bonuses at work. we were expecting around 5% of his annual salary as a bonus to go towards getting a house. well, that morning, the unofficial word got out that they didn't make the numbers last year so no bonus. we were disappointed but trusted that God would provide some other way. it was especially helpful in encouraging us that we received a prophetic word the previous sunday that the Lord was going to increase us, especially in finances.

so then that afternoon, riley got a call from a woman i used to go to church with that has her own business. her computer had crashed and needed his help. well wouldn't you know, the second part of the prophetic word was that riley was going to have his own computer business! so we thought that was really cool and were so grateful that God was providing some extra money that night. he ended up working till 4 am that night to get her up and running so while he lost a lot of sleep, it paid off.

ok, best part of the story: before riley left work that day, his boss called him into his office and gave him his bonus statement! they got bonuses after all and it was more than twice what we were expecting!!! YAY GOD!!!

we are still waiting on the settlement payment from metlife for riley's accident last april. so that will be even more money to beef up our down payment/closing costs. not sure yet how much it's gonna be though. we'll see. but God is our provider and it's so exciting to watch him take care of his children!

my big brother is coming into town this weekend for a few weeks and i'm so excited! we haven't seen him in over a year so it'll be really great. i hope he moves down here for good!

my sister, whose due date is the same as mine (crazy!) found out she's having a BOY! how exciting. she has three kids, boy 12, girl 10, girl 6, so it's perfect! my sister in-law's sister-in-law (i know...) is due 4 days after us and is supposed to find out today what she's having. yay! it seems like every week i find out about another friend or relative that's pregnant. seriously, i think i've lost count. i need to start writing down all the due dates so i can keep up!

for those of you that watch tv, know that i share your love for the following shows:
24 (what more can i say?)
american idol (go danny and megan!)
america's next top model (can't decide yet who's my fave) -- i'm so bummed that my tummy will be too huge to try out for the next season, since they're making it for people 5'7" and under. ;)
the office (come back holly!)
privileged (whatever happened on the season finale? apparently my tivo didn't have room to record it)
ellen (even if i don't watch the whole show, her opening monologues are always hilarious!)

tonight we're going to mimi and pap's for dinner and scrabble! i'm so excited. maybe if we all team up against pap we can outsmart him. yeah right. then tomorrow morning i think we'll head to waffle house and get our 2 free waffles we got coupons for at the brahma's game. w00t!

alright well the last oreo's gone so i better chop chop and get to my daily ironing. i didn't do it for a couple months so i'm having to do a couple of riley's shirts every day just to get caught up!

Second trimester!

Yay! The worst is over. That is, until labor hits.

The nausea has subsided quite nicely... I still get a little nauseated from time to time, but a little snack usually fixes that pretty quick. I have more energy, although I'm still having to rest during Julia's naps.

It feels so good to hit the 14 week mark! My weekly prego update email says the baby is now 3.5 inches long, crown to rump. Can you believe that? Wow. 6 months till my due date, craaazyyy!!!

The latest funnies in Julia-ville: A few nights ago, after reading Julia a book, we started to sing her bedtime song and not 2 seconds into it, she jumps off the couch and makes a beeline for her bedroom. It was hilarious. We were like, YES!

Then today, I was changing putting the mattress pad back on Julia's crib after washing it, only to turn around and see her naked, holding her onesie in front of her with the diaper inside. She's outsmarted the snap-crotch! I've seen her get her arms out of the sleeves before, but getting it completely down and off her body was definitely a new thing. To top it off, the diaper was full of poop! So I had to very carefully disassemble the onesie and diaper without getting poop everywhere, and then get Julia wiped up before she got it everywhere! It was an interesting few minutes, to say the least!

Alrighty well the crock pot just beeped (yummy tortilla soup, here I come!) so I better get the bowls and everything out so we can dig in when Riley gets here!

a burst of energy

so i've been pretty bummed lately. what with growing important body parts in my tummy and all, i haven't had much energy left for anything else. so if you looked around my apartment, you'd see toys, shoes, papers, food, etc. all over the living room floor; pans, food, toys, etc. all over the kitchen floor; clothes all over the bedroom floor, bed unmade; 3 hampers full of clothes; both sinks, dishwasher, stove and drying rack full of dishes; the carpet barely visible in julia's room; the bathrooms filthy; bottomless stacks of paper everywhere; trashcans overflowing; less than half of the dining table available for use... you get the picture.

all this has been making me feel really terrible. i mean, i already felt terrible enough, but it became this vicious cycle of feeling like crap --> not getting anything clean --> feeling like crap. i've just been waiting and hoping for it to end, to get the 2nd trimester feeling of well-being. i was actually starting to wonder if i would ever realize it had hit, or if i would be so stuck in my routine, or lack thereof, that i would never get my head above water again.

but alas, yesterday at 3:40 i got a burst of energy! i felt like not only could i get the dishes done, but the whole kitchen cleaned, laundry folded, declutter the whole house and oodles more. well i know myself well enough to know that when that happens i better get to it because the feeling is so often a fleeting one!

i worked for almost 3 hours straight, and then realized i needed to make some dinner for julia and myself. riley went to band practice after work so we had the whole evening to ourselves. anyway, dinner was a nice break. i was starting to feel tired and sick but i didn't want to stop because once i get going i can get a lot done!

so after julia went to bed (before 8, yay! she's been staying up way too late recently) i watched the rest of ellen (my fave talk show btw) and then got started on paperwork. there was a huge stack on the table and desk and filing box. so i worked on that an hour or so and by that time i was ready for bed!

i went to bed with a really bad headache but i'm better now and i can't tell you how good it feels to have my home back! it's not perfect by any means but i'm so much happier when everything isn't a mess. maybe now i can at least maintain some order and cleanliness from here on out. assuming my energy level stays up of course.

riley totally noticed what a big difference had been made so that made me feel even better. thanks for being patient sweetie! i hope you didn't think we'd be living like pigs forever! ;)

the funny part is, i called riley and told him i was gonna go to bed unless he was already on his way home. he asked if the dishes and floor were clean (which was weird) so i said yes. he told me if they weren't he was gonna tell me to go ahead and go to bed and he'd do them when he got here because he was feeling generous! isn't that sweet? of course it was already done, so i asked for a raincheck. he said no, but i'm sure he'll get that generous feeling again when i really need it!

more good news today:

i went to walmart and saved $9 by using competitors ads (tom thumb, albertsons... you can also use kroger and a few others). i tried to do this a long time ago but walmart's prices were still lower than the others' ads, except for produce, but at the time, julia was ready to be done by the time i got to the produce section at the end of the trip, so i didn't bother.

anyway, so i started doing it again because walmart's prices started going up a couple months ago. and this way, i can get everybody's best price on the stuff we need. yay! we always tend to overspend on food (albeit mostly from eating out) so i'm pretty excited about saving money this way. keep those ads comin'!

BRONCHIOLITIS!

My poor baby girl has been coughing since last Thursday. I was just giving her some leftover medicine that her Dr. prescribed for another cold a while back, but it didn't really help and then Sunday night it got so bad that Julia threw up! She also has had a fever off and on.

So we decided to take her in. Her Dr. wasn't available so we saw another guy, who said that she was in fact wheezing (When I told the nurse that over the phone she thought that was a medical emergency and convinced me that Julia was not wheezing because that would include not being able to breathe, holding her stomach and pulling at her shirt). Anyway, so then he said she would need to do breathing treatments with a nebulizer. They showed us how to do it and then gave us a machine to take home. The prescriptions for it were pretty expensive (but thankfully much less with insurance!) but really I just want my little sweetie to feel better! She's still coughing and threw up again yesterday, but no fever and has stayed in a pretty good mood all this time.

A friend of mine's baby had this same thing last year and it was horrible! So at least I know someone who's been through it (not that I'm glad anybody else had to suffer through this). I don't know a whole lot about it but basically she needs to get out of her lungs/stomach all the mucus (hence the throwing up since she doesn't know how to hock a loogie yet!) and she has to be on antibiotics, mucinex and 2 prescriptions mixed into the thingy that turns them into mist for her to breathe, twice a day for 15 minutes. All that for 10-14 days.

Yuck. On top of that, I've been feeling not so great too (but at least I was spared until my nausea faded) but I'm getting better and only one week left in the first trimester WOOHOO! I'm so looking forward to having energy again. And so is Riley! ;)

Alright I better stop now and get Julia down from the stack of boxes she's climbed up. ;)

Because it's been a while

It's not really a lack of happenings that has kept me from blogging for so long, it's the past two months of nausea and fatigue from developing a tiny new person inside me. But the worst is almost over.

So, without trying to catch up on the last several months, here's what's going on NOW:

Julia has turned into quite the chatterbox. The last two months have really brought a big jump in her vocabulary. Which means we really need to start watching what we say!

I'm getting thicker. No, you can't really tell I'm pregnant, but I should be sporting a little bump in a few short weeks.

Riley's ENT Dr. gave him a clean bill of health on his nose, which he had surgery for a month ago.

My older sister is due the SAME EXACT DAY as we are! I can't tell you how exciting this is for me. I've always wanted us to be pregnant together but I never imagined it would be this close. I wonder who'll deliver first... 8/10 is supposed to be the big day.

I think it's a boy. At first I was just hoping, but now I really think it is. Yes, I've already picked out the nursery theme, and yes I've already made a baby registry. With lots of boy things. Call me crazy.

Riley has been very helpful and extremely patient with me as far as housework goes. Being tired all the time means it's been more than enough just to try and keep up with the dishes and laundry, let alone the floors, bathrooms, etc... I should have a lot more energy in a couple weeks. Maybe then we can actually have people over again without apologizing for the mess!

I got to see my baby brother John (ok, he's 20) twice in the last week. What fun! We took him to Guitar Center because he'd never been there (even though he's been playing for like 11 years!) and of course he played some guitars and fell in love with one. Hence the second trip out here to buy it! Hopefully the rest of the fam can come out again soon.

I forgot how crazy your dreams get when you're pregnant. I can't always remember what they were about, but I swear I dream like 50 different things every night, all night. It's insane! Riley keeps telling me to write them down and I keep forgetting.

The baby blanket is coming along, although I haven't been crocheting a row every night like I need to if I'm gonna finish it before he's born. So, I need to crank that up a notch. I love the colors I picked out for it and can't wait till we find out it's a boy so I can add the blue! Of course I haven't finished the green or even started on the cream.

Ok, I promised Riley I would clean while he was gone, so I better hop to it before I come up with an excuse not to.

Later!

There's a first time for everything

...such as, my 13 month old daughter who has recently discovered the fun of a pacifier. It's not even one of several that I tried to give her when she was younger, completely uninterested and unable to keep in her mouth, no just some random nuk that somehow made it into our home. She crawls/cruises around with it in her mouth like she's been doing it forever. It's such a weird sight because she's never been a pacifier-sucking baby.

So, I'm thinking "ohhhhhh NO! we are not going backwards!" Because of course, this is the age that most parents are trying to get their child to give it up.

Alas, I've been letting her suck on it since she seems to like it, but I'm not going to be carrying it around everywhere and giving it to her when she's fussy. After all, that's [one of the things] my boobs are for.