31 weeks

I'm not sure why I stay on the same "schedule" I've had since the beginning of this pregnancy. Technically, I am 31 weeks pregnant with 9 weeks left, but Dandelion will be here before 40 weeks- 39 weeks and 4 days to be exact... unless she decides to show her pretty face even before that. Scary thought.

I have nothing new to say this week, medically/physically. I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I have heartburn. And I'm officially an emotional wreck. And by "wreck" I mean total and complete wreck. lol

Oh yea, and the contractions have come on full force. Like I have them all the time. (No they don't hurt like "real" contractions, yes it is normal)

My "cravings" come and go so quickly that I'll send Tory to the store for something and by the time he's home the thought of it makes me sick. {Sorry Tor! :)}

In other news... We had a name picked out. Almost 100%. And we had a "back-up" that we both love too. And then last night my dumb husband had to come up with yet a third (new, previously un-discussed) name! And we are both leaning toward this new name now! This is exactly why I/we decided not to disclose her name til she's born- because we really have no clue ourselves! lol

So a note to the very few people who know the two names we'd narrowed it down to: Don't be surprised if she's born and her name is totally new to you. :)

Just a picture, because I have nothing interesting to say.

It needs no words anyway. ♥

3/4 of the way!

I am 3/4 of the way to holding my baby girl! That's 75% down, 25% to go! That's 30 weeks in, just 10 more left! 

Dandelion is still the size of a squash. And the "unofficial" medical update from last week still holds true this week. Nothing new to report there.

I'm feeling pretty good, all things considered. The same as the last few weeks. I am able to sleep in 2 different positions, and I end up alternating between the two about every 45 minutes all night long. lol Fortunately I am still able to sleep pretty well, considering the size of my uterus! ;)

I had an ultrasound this morning, but unfortunately I didn't get any new pictures. It was just to measure things and check the placenta again. The good news is that there is no bad news. :)  The placenta is out of the way enough that I should be able to have a natural delivery (yikes!) and Dandelion is growing perfectly- she weighs 3lbs 6oz!!

Cravings this week:  Still ribs and still apples. :)

Teeny Baby Update (kinda)

I got a letter in the mail today... it says:

Launi Hermens has been scheduled for an induction at 7am on July 22nd, 2010. Please arrive one hour before your scheduled time.

AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! I'm officially being induced one week before Dandelion is due!! 

(That's if all goes well at the ultrasound on Monday. I'll update again then)

On another pregnancy note- Dandelion is killing my insides today. There's so much movement (and discomfort) that I am convinced there are two kids in there. ;)

{I can give that update after the u/s too. lol}

Swings and slides and more!

It's been a while since we did the playground... a few days at least. :)  I figured it would be ok to post a few playground pictures now. ;)

I still LOVE that hair!

Just chillin

Kels taught Tyler how to "boogie". He sticks his index fingers straight up and waves his arms around. 

Like so:

SO freaking hysterical!!

We saw a raccoon who ran under the fence into the woods. (The kiddo was convinced it was a cat...)

Tyler and Dada were looking for it.

He goes into these things and growls at the people on the ground. :)

Trying to avoid the leaves.

Dada was being a poop and said he's too big for the slides. Mama (who, by the way, is freaking huge from pregnancy and weighs as much as Dada {not really, but I feel like it}) was nicer and went down the slide with Tyler a few times.

I may have had a hard time getting up. But Tyler appreciated it. :)

Just peeking out of a tunnel. I think he was hiding because we said it was time to go...

Week 29!

I am one more week closer to holding my baby girl!! 

The baby girl who is currently known as "Dandelion", thanks to her aunt Kels. I cannot explain exactly how that name came along, because that would give away her real name. Let's just say my sisters were guessing names, I said something that was kind of a clue, and Kelsey shouted out "Dandelion!!"... she was serious. It was pretty hilarious. (And no, it's not "close" to the real name. haha)

Now she is the size of a squash. All five of her senses are functioning (or will be in the next 3-4 weeks), - I do not want to know what she smells or tastes in there... lol- and she is settling into sleep and waking cycles... yea right! This kid is always awake and always kicking! haha

So that's the update for the next four weeks or so. :)   

I had my glucose test today, along with a regular OB appointment. Here's that update:

 Dandelion is measuring big- she should be about 2.5lbs, but is actually almost 3lbs.

My uterus is measuring at 31 weeks rather than 29 weeks.

She has a very healthy heartbeat.

No news from the glucose test yet.

My old induction date of August 3rd is no more. Dr. A. says she doesn't want me going past my due date at all, so they're going to set up a new induction date before that. She's hoping for July 22nd! I should get a letter in the next week or so with the new official date. Dr. A. says that she thinks I'll go into labor naturally 7-10 days before Dandelion is due!

 I have an ultrasound scheduled for May 17 which will show the exact location of the placenta. At this point the doctor says she will not schedule a C-section unless the placenta is literally covering my whole cervix, which is unlikely. She said there is a chance I'll go into labor and end up having a C-section, but she doesn't plan on scheduling one. I can honestly say I am not stressing about it at all. I know I have a baby in there, and I know they can get her out in 4 minutes if necessary. That's good enough for me. :)

This week I'm feeling pretty much the same as the last few weeks. It seems like the heartburn is getting worse, and if I recall correctly from last time, it only continues to get worse until literally the minute Baby is born. Lovely. ;)

Also, I'm constantly sore in the exact same spot on my right side as I was with Tyler. There is nothing that eases the discomfort there, same with him. I was hoping I'd skip that this time around!

Cravings:  Still BBQ ribs, french fries and ranch dressing, and apples. Could be worse.  

"Hi-Key!" (Lion King)

I've been wanting to take Tyler to the zoo lately, so when I happened to get today off work, we decided that's what we'd do! Tory, Tyler, Dandelion, and I picked up Kels and Abs this morning and headed to D.C.

The drive there was... weird. I heard strange things coming from the backseat. Things like "Tyler, say 'purple nurple'", and "Tyler, where's your boobie?" But that's my sisters for ya!

(Kels is the one who guessed "Dandelion" to be her new niece's name. Not the correct name, but it's stuck for now! lol)

Enough about that. Between myself and Abs, there are almost 200 photos on my memory card, so I'll jump right in...

Me and my sisters:
{I should know better than to look at the camera and smile normally. I end up looking like the weird one.}

Plus Tyler

Tory and his sisters-in-law... they're like real siblings. It's pretty cool. 

Tyler and Kels. They were looking for Dex in the Cheetah exhibit. Tyler was calling for him and everything. lol

Apparently he eventually started calling the Cheetah Dex.

Aaaaand here's Tyler and Kels some more. He looks confused.

I just realized that there are no pictures of just Abs and Tyler. That's what happens when 148 of the photos were taken by Abs. She's not in any of them! :/

Tyler wanted to ride the turtles. I did too actually.

He also liked this guy:

Here we are watching Tyler's favorite zoo animal...

...this big guy!

When Tyler first spotted the lion, he got super excited and said over and over "LION KING!!" lol
He makes me laugh. :)

 I like this one. ♥

And this one. My little guy is not so little anymore. In fact, today he is 23 months old!! In just one month I will be Mama to a 2 year old!! It's bittersweet...

We had tons of fun today! Thanks Kels and Abs for coming along with us... and for making the day more interesting! :)

A Better Day

Today was a good day. Just ask this guy:

We went to visit Dada at work. Truthfully, I did not go to see my husband. I went because my daughter was insisting I eat Barbecue Ribs again. Who am I to say no?? ;)

Tyler got himself a balloon... and refused to let go of it throughout the whole meal and in the car. Then bad Mama accidentally let it out of the car when we stopped at A.C. Moore. Oops.

Good thing I'd gotten him a hat in the store! lol

{He was growling the whole time he wore it! Too freaking cute!!!}

And he still had his Sprite from lunch, so he wasn't too terribly upset about the balloon.

My little boy slept from 9:15pm-9:15am... without waking up. (This is a record since we moved in December. He always wakes up at least once in the night, usually 3-5 times.)

The $200 that was taken out of my account yesterday is now back in. (PHEW!)

I finally figured out a good mother's day gift- which I like so much I may just give myself one too! 

Tyler went down for his nap with no fuss. 

I painted my nails Electric Pink while listening to Collective Soul.

I bought myself a giant Hershey bar just because I wanted to. (And a brand new bottle of Tums, which I have to say, I'm probably happier about than the chocolate... LOL)

Yep, today is a much better day than yesterday. Now if only my sewing machine worked so I could crank out another quilt...

One of those days...

You know the ones...

They start around 3:30am when your toddler decides sleep is overrated. 

Said toddler then decides that nothing will do for breakfast except Goldfish crackers.

You go to balance the checkbook using your online bank statement, which shows a $200 unauthorized debit transaction. 

You go to work on a quilt that needs to be finished by then end of the week and are totally in the zone and on a roll, when your sewing machine stops suddenly and refuses to be fixed.

Then you go to work a half day (on your day off. thanks for getting sick regular nanny! {my sister. ;)}) with a toddler who is cranky from getting up at 3:30am. (And you're not feeling so happy yourself at this point!)

Then you deal with a whole bunch of scraped knees and bonked heads at work, because you're a part-time nanny for a 5 yr old and a 3 yr old, plus your own almost-2 yr old.

You get into your car, where every single car window refuses to go up. You fiddle with it for a stressful 15 minutes while driving and feeding a hot dog to your starving kid, when finally you realize the "lock windows" button is pushed. 

At this point you're ready to cry. 

You then arrive home, walk to the house, and realize you left the keys in your car. You go and search the car, and determine they aren't there. As you start searching the grass, you find the keys in your pocket. 

Yea. I had one of those days.

But on a much better note, my son is freaking adorable!

Here's to a better tomorrow! :)

28 weeks!!

I won't say how crazy it is that another week has gone by, because I say it every week. But it is. Crazy, I mean.

Week 28 is considered the third trimester on every website I checked and in every book I've seen, so I'm gonna go ahead and "officially" welcome myself to it. 

I really can't describe how thrilled I am to have made it this far. There was a time (very recently, actually. considering my son is not even two yet!) that I thought I'd never carry another baby to term. Now here I am 28 weeks pregnant with all signs pointing to a healthy baby! There are no words. 

Anyway, this week Baby Girl is still an eggplant. But I checked another website and it said "Baby is about the length of an amusement park cinnamon-sugar-coated churro." I like that a lot! lol  She weighs about 3lbs now, and she can officially blink her eyes. 

Nothing new in how I'm feeling this week. Just heartburn-y + exhausted + big. lol

Cravings this week: BBQ ribs (I may have had them 4 times in the last week. I love that Tory works at Fridays and we get them 50% off! lol)  Mountain Dew Slurpees, and chocolate cake. Well, I haven't actually had any chocolate cake, but I really really want some. I can't find a good one to satisfy the craving. :(

I have an OB appointment in a week- the wonderful glucose test! So hopefully there will be more to update then. :)