Four of a Kind

Such a Delinquent

2011-10-31T11:24:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have become so lame with my blogging. I need to be doing this all the time! Like a couple times a month! If my friend Diana can do it, who has a 3 year old and 1 year old twins, I can do it too. I am over due for a lot, but hopefully I can get a few things in to slowly update. It's like a need a day with no Izzy (she's my trouble maker) to reorganize the house, deep clean it and update the family blog...enter Grandma!!! :)
OK, where to begin...So last update was announcing that Preston had arrived. Well, he will be 7 months on the 6th and is my chucky little gremlin man! He is so Roley poly, loves to growl and make noises with his mouth. He just started to say "Dada" (of course not knowing what he is really saying, but it still counts in our eyes), love to jump in his jumper, rolls all over the place (what else for a Roley poly to do?), loves to eat, and loves his mommy!

Our Izabella turned 2 in September and is our wild, independent little girl. She is talking up a storm, getting into everything, loves to make messes, loves to help clean and do the laundry, and is FINALLY off the bottle! Yes, she was addicted to bottles. Not so much where she had them all day long, but she felt she NEEDED one when it was time to sleep. She eats more now (go figure), loves rides in the stroller and be outside, and loves helping with "broder" (brother).
Some things that she says all the time are:
"huh"?- this is an all the time saying. Anytime you talk to her. No she's not deaf, she just has a weird habit of saying it and we have no idea where she even picked it up, because we don't say "huh".
"Cows eat grass. Cows nigh-night. NIGH-NIGHT COWS!"- She says this every time we go over Kirker Pass
"I poop!"-she says this whether she has or not or if she's talking about someone else.
"POOP"- she says this if we tell her not to touch something cause it's dirty or yucky.
"Pooping"- this is said when someone is in the bathroom or sometimes when she is actually do it.
Are you seeing a favorite word of hers yet? lol
"OHHHHH matter Brodher!?"- translation: Oh, what's the matter brother?!- said with real sympathy and concern when Preston is crying.
"I do it!!!!"- self explanatory, Ms. Independent just like her mommy was at her age...and now. lol
"toda!" -(soda)- thanks Papa.
"tookie"- cookie
"nack"- snack
"All done!"- with added hands up in the air for emphasis!
She knows when to say Please and Thank You. She can count to 10 and say all her ABC's, she's been able to do that since she was like 18 months. And she sings all kinds of songs!
She says a lot more than that and trys her hardest to say long sentences, but sometimes it comes out a little crazy.
She keeps me very busy, but she's a lot of fun!

Papa's glasses

Little miss curious got herself stuck on the sticky mouse trap. Good thing it was a sticky one.

Phone Pictures

2011-08-08T18:04:00.000-07:00

Here are all the pictures that I have taken on my phone that I wasn't ever able to upload. So I figured I would just post them all in one post. They are in no order at all. In fact, somehow, they got all mixed up. So I will just put little captions for each one.

This is Izzy when she was born

Izzy again

Izzy with her kicks on!

Izzy's first ponytail

Me and Bud's engagement picture. (And I thought I was fat THEN!)

Izzy eating baby cereal

Happy Izzy!

Izzy. Sweet cheeks

Izzy

Izzy with a bowl on her head

Bud and I

Son wanting to play in the bath with Izzy

Izzy the Elf

Ms. Diva

She got in there and thought she was stuck

Getting into Papa's DVD's

More DVD's

She just woke up

In the wagon at a toddler class

She still fits!

Little 80's girl for Halloween at her class

Getting ready for class on Halloween

She figured out how to climb onto the arm of the couch

"stuck" in yet, another basket

I'm a big girl now. Eating olives!

Reading books with mommy

Preston's first few pictures!

Hugging her elmo toy in the car. She was like this for the longest time.

making her own beats.

At the doctors office

nothing like playing in the pool with your clothes on

Bath time

She insisted on being pushed around in her doll stroller, all the time!

Loves her bath time

OK, this is where it totally jumps and is all over the timeline.

This picture cracks me up everytime I see it. Trying to take a cute brother and sister picture, might not happen for me for a while. It all happened a lot slower than it looks. But boy is it a priceless picture or what?!

We went to the ER cause Bud's back (kidney area) was hurting really bad. Turned out to just be a really cramped muscle.

Preston- our happy boy (this one is the most recent. Maybe like a week ago)

Izzy blowing kisses

Sibling love!

Brushing her teeth!

These are her new sock shoes! I LOVE THEM! I want a pair for myself!

This is what happens when you take her hair out of a pony. Crazy hair

2-3 minutes before taking this picture, his head was laying on the monkey head. Such a wiggle worm

Friends

His cool shades

This is the name of our new church. We got a little creative for the first sunday. He's the drummer

Happy boy

Daddy time

bath time

little boy in a pink bumbo

I straightend Izzy's hair. It was crazy weird.

Somebody got into my makeup! Now whenever she sees my makeup she says, "eyes, eyes"

Playing the drums with daddy at church during practice

tiniest little doctors gown I have ever seen!

He would not stop starring at the wall.

Happy boy!

Didn't know what to do with the phone in his face

Sister doesn't know what to do with a crying baby

rapid arm movements!

Preston's first day in the world. Sucking his thumb

Sucking his thumb again

Sweet boy

Sucking his thumb again

He still loves being held

so tiny in the Boppy

chubby cheeks

I hated that hospital bed!

His face is super chubby here. He doesn't even look like my baby here.

So precious

Meeting her brother for the first time. Her look was mostly because she was so tired. It took her just a few minutes and then she was saying, "baby! baby!"

Trying to drink out of a breadstick. lol

Waiting for popcorn to pop is like torture!

Just another day

My pregnancy footrub!

3 weeks till delivery

Finally got her to sit still for 5 minutes so I could wash the dishes

Where's waldo?

playing with lunch is so much more fun then eating it!

Son always had to be on or close to my belly at all times.

Eating with a fork. And so classy with the raised pinky!

yummy tortalini

trying to be romantic

finally found little brother/big sister shirts. Took forever!

Got her hair did!

Son likes to play in the car

she loves her music

Her first mini ice cream cone!

And this is such a great picture to end on. I don't think any caption is needed. lol

oh, by the way, Preston has arrived

2011-06-24T11:06:00.001-07:00

Yeah, I know, WAYYYYYY LATE! But, it needs to be documented.
Preston was born on April 6, 2011 at 9:23am on a Wednesday. I had a repeat C-section and all went well.
Something new that I was able to do this time, that wasn't even an option with Izzy, was skin-to-skin in the OR! I was so excited to hear about this (that morning). So after he came out, they cleaned him up and laid him right on my chest for the rest of the time I was in there. That was AWESOME! He was so much lighter and smaller than Izzy was when she was born. However, we will never know how much he really weighed at birth because they for sure got it wrong. Here's why:

-Izzy weighed 9.12 when she was born and was clearly a big baby.
-They weighed Preston at 9.3 and he was very clearly SO much smaller and lighter that Izzy was. There was a HUGE difference.
-There were students at the hospital doing their inter and Bud even said the lady doing the scale didn't real seem like she knew what she was dong.
-Everyone (friends and family) was so shocked at how "tiny" he was. He was just very dainty.
-It also took his 6 weeks to get back to his "birth weight".

Therefore, we came to the conclusion that they just didn't get it right from the beginning. Even my home nurse thought they got it wrong. So, we will never know. But he is sure cute!

He is now almost 3 months and still a tiny little guy. He's growing long though.
It's been a few weeks since he was weighed, but I believe he was a little over 10 lbs last time we checked. I just recently put his newborn clothes away. He is now in 0-3 months, but some are still a little baggy.
Preston's smiles are so big and his eyes just beam with happiness! He looks JUST like my oldest brother did when he was this age. I found some pictures that are just alike. Warms my heart to have him look like Matthew. Matthew was also very tall, and with Bud's side of the family also having lots of height, I think he'll be very tall.

Izzy loves her "bAAAAbyyy", and loves giving him kisses. Took her a little bit to learn to be gentle and now her new thing is to grab his binky (whether it's in his mouth, laying next to him, or on the floor) and run to the nearest sink saying, "wash, wash, wash", with a very distinct "sh" sound at the end. At least she doesn't say "warsh" like her Papa.

He is your typical baby. Cries when he is hungry, tired or wet. I'm still trying to get use to the crying when wet thing, because Izzy never did that. So there have been times, when he is crying, then screaming and here I am, trying to feed him, burp him, and pat him to sleep, and NOTHING is working! I get all frustrated and don't know what to do for him, and then I remember, oh yeah, he doesn't like being wet. So I change him and then he just stops crying, and most of the time gives me a happy grin.
Here are some pictures from birth till now, but I need to transfer a lot from my phone to here, because it is a lot easier to capture some moments on my phone vs. running to get the camera. I have been a bad mom at remembering to take pictures lately. I working on it!
Oh and keep in mind, he still looks like a big baby in the hospital pictures. A lot of people though the same and then came and saw him in the hospital and was so shocked at how tiny he actually was. And again, I have a lot of the hospital snapshots on my phone, but here are some from my camera.

Poop in the tub

2011-03-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to post pictures. I didn't even take any. I just wanted to take a moment and share that seconds after I finished the last post (read the bottom of the last post to fully understand)I heard grunting and knew that wasn't a good thing. I got up and went in to see and of course found marble size poop floating in the tub. LOVELY! That what I get I guess. Oh well. The joys of motherhood!

Our little helper

2011-03-22T19:03:00.001-07:00

It doesn't matter the weather. If there is water around, this girl is playin in it.
When we got home from our camping trip, but got the quad out of the truck and began to wash it. Mind you, it was overcast out and sprinkling every once in a while. Not really that cold out, but rainy weather non the less.
Izzy saw this and thought of the fun she could partake in. She then took it upon herself to start washing my car. And herself. This lasted a few minutes and then we wrapped things up and took her in for a nice warm bath.

She was not very happy when I took the bucket away. However, once she knew we were headed for the bath, she was ok with it.

She is currently enjoying a nice warm bath right now as I finish updating my blog.
(No worries folks. I can see her from where I sit!)

Our quick campin trip

2011-03-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

After not having much of a Thanksgiving camping trip, we wanted to take a trip of our own and get out of town for a few days before the baby comes. So the other weekend we took off to Frank Reigns.

Here is our new truck. We traded in the big ol' gas hog that was slowing coming up with a problem here and a problem there, for this newer, more gas efficient, and more reliable Toyota Tundra. We love it. For around the same price we were paying for the other one (monthly and on insurance), and it's way cheaper on gas, it was a good choice for us.

Aw! And here we have our little trailer. Have no fear people. It's not a scary as it may look. Bud and his dad have been completely remodeling the inside. It's not all done yet, but it's lookin pretty hot on the inside! Once the inside in completed, we will repaint the outside and make it look super awesome!

And here she is, going on a ride with daddy. She was loving it! She wanted to go on it all the time. However, she did not want to put her helmet on first. You had to start moving first and then stop and put her helmet on. We didn't understand it, but whatever. She even fell asleep at one point. I will have to get that picture from my mother in law.

She was ready to go!

"bi, bi, bi" she would say. (bike)

We're still alive!

2011-03-21T10:46:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it has been as long as it has and I haven't even touch my blog. We have been busy and tired around here. I know lots of people say, "you think you're tired now, wait till that second one comes". Well, actually, no. I'm sure I will have my moments where I'd love to catch up on some sleep, however, I know how my body works and what I am capable of and let me tell you, it will be SO much easier to get things done when I don't have a big ol' belly crampin my style and slowing me down.
I am 37 weeks now and counting the days! We will be having a scheduled C-Section on April 6th. Only 2 weeks to go! We are all ready and just waiting at this point. The kids room has been repainted, crib set up, toys and books re-organized, clothes washed and folded in drawers, carseat and baby hospital bag ready to go.

My plan of attack with my blog was to get all caught up from Thanksgiving and Christmas and work my way till now. However, the more I think about updating it, the more daunting it looks to me, therefore I put it off. And I'm not going to lie, I have been totally neglecting taking pictures lately too! What has happened to me??!! This little boy in me has brought out the lazy in me for sure! Can't wait to get him OUT!
SO, I have come to the decision that I will just do one semi-big post with just a few photos from each post I was going to make. Keep it short and sweet and to the point, so I can finally feel caught up and ready to go for when little boy blue comes.
So here we go!...

Thanksgiving-
2010 Thanksgiving was different, but relaxing. It was with some of the same crowd and then lots that we didn't know and weren't really the same with (ya know what I mean). On top of that, no one got to ride because the closed the trails because of snow (and the tree huggers). So for the time we were there, we just hung out in camp, spent time with each other and eat. However, Izzy got to go on her first ride! She enjoyed it until each time they'd circle around and she would see me and act all helpless and sad. It was funny, but she had fun. Oh and this was also right before Bud got pulled over for "riding with a passenger". Too bad she hardly counts as a passenger and they were only going like 10mph! And the "officer" thought he'd just ignore all the other 20 people riding on their bikes in an area that said "no riding", but whatever! He let us off the hook cause we said we had never been there and this was the last time we followed anybody to a new campsite (which was true). We can't go anywhere without Bud getting in some kind of trouble without even trying to cause trouble. People think cause he's this big guy he must mean trouble.
Anyway, here is a few pictures of Izzy's first ride.

My brothers visit-
My brother came up from San Diego for Thanksgiving, so we made sure to make it back home from camping so we could visit with him. We ended up leaving camp early cause there was no riding and things were just different. So it was nice to spend the weekend with my brother. Izzy had so much fun with him. It took her a few minutes to warm up to him because she hasn't seem him to often, but it wasn't long and she was having fun. And by the time he needed to go, she wanted to be held by him and give kisses. He'll be up here this weekend too and I'm so excited to have him see how much she has changed!

Christmas-
Christmas was a little more fun this year. Izzy kind of got the idea, but not completely. She had fun opening gifts and then playing with the bags, wrapping and then her new toys. This next year our family and extending family will be enjoying Christmas down in Disneyland. That way we are all together all at the same time and I get to experience a Disney Christmas!

NICE, crib makers

2010-12-24T12:01:00.000-08:00

So, one afternoon I put Izzy down for her nap as usual. And like MOST times, she sits and plays in her crib for a little while, then cries until she gives up all hope of anyone coming and rescuing her, then she crashes. So, being use to the crying part, which at times and get pretty dramatic, I sat and just waited for her to get over it and go to sleep (stubborn little child we have. Although, with both her mommy and daddy being very stubborn as well, she had no hope). After an unusual amount of crying time and the fact that it continued to be "dramatized", I got up to go see what the problem was. It was dark when I went in there, so I couldn't see anything wrong at first, other than she was just upset and wanted to be held. I held her for a minute as she lay her head on my shoulder.
After I laid her back down in ehr crib, she finally went to sleep. When I walked out of her room, however, I soon noticed blood all over my shoulder. Not a crazy amount, but enough to realize that that was the reason she was crying so much. I wasn't about to go back in there after she finally went to sleep, I just figured, she had bumped her mouth and it bleed a little bit. All you moms know that even a small mouth injury always bleeds a lot and heals really fast as well.
Once she woke up from her nap, I decided to scope things out and see what I could find. I noticed the blood on her blanket first and realized, "wow, what the heck did you do", I kept looking and soon spotted a bunch of blood on the siderail. Well, the GENIOUS crib manufactures but a plastic cover on the tops of the side rails. This is good thinking for babies who teethe on the sides of their crib, therefore avoiding them chipping off and eating the paint and/or wood of the crib. HOWEVER, what they failed to think of was the proper design of this contraption. Izzy was capable of bitting the bottom part of this piece in an attept to pop it off. This backfired on her when it snapped back into place enclosing her bottom lip with it. OUCH!!
This now explained all the blood. Poor baby! Needless to say, I removed these stupid covers.

A New Game

2010-12-24T11:47:00.000-08:00

When Izzy first learned how to climb up on this chest, this is what she did every time. Crawl on top, stand up, turn around and start to fake cry. However, if you did not come get her during that fake cry, she would then start to seriously cry. Tears and all. Then I would go get her down and as soon as I would set her feet on the floor, she was right back on top of it doing the same thing! Needless to say, this game didn't last too long and we just started to ignore her and told her how to get down herself. Now, of course, she hasn't been playing this game for a while. She still enjoys climbing up on it though and looking out the window, or sitting next to the cat when he is up there. She gets down all by herself now with no problems!

And we are having.....

2010-11-16T13:24:00.000-08:00

A BOY!

Sorry, I have been totally slacking lately and have been averaging about 1 post per month. This was not intended, but it's just what has happened. And sorry to say, but I don't even have pictures to post on this post. I mean I have pictures, but I only have so much time right now and it's easier just to write a quick something. We have been busy, and when we aren't busy, I'm exhausted. So I nap when Izzy naps. Sometimes, not a whole lot gets done, but I'd rather be rested than very tired and grouchy. I'm sure my husband would rather have that as well.
Bud has also been very busy as well. Not working at his job, which is a bummer (stupid economy) but he has been working day and night basically rebuilding our trailer before we leave camping for thanksgiving. So we don't get to see a lot of each other lately. Maybe once we get him back I will have some more time to sit and blog properly and post lots of pictures.

So yes, we found out we are having a boy! I'm not going to lie, at first I wasn't too excited. After having a girl, and an awesome one at that, the though of having a boy, just was not exciting at all. I knew the whole time that this baby could really go either way (a boy or another girl) but a part of me was hoping it was another girl for these reasons: one, because we have EVERYTHING and I wouldn't need to change anything, and two because I never had a sister and the thought of Izzy having a sister so close in age sounded so cute and fun!!
So, for the first day I was a little disappointed, but the next day I was over it and after talking with a few friends who had experienced the same thing, I felt better.
So now all we really need is boy clothes. Which I have been lucky to have some friends say they will give me what they have. So that is a blessing.
I also feel, so far, like this little guy is going to be smaller than what izzy was. My belly in general is bigger this time around, but it's mostly NOT baby bump belly. Which is weird because I have yet to gain an ounce in this pregnancy and I'm already half way through! But anyway, my actual baby bump is quite small compared to what it was at this point with Izzy. But we will see how it progresses in the next 20 weeks. Maybe I will get a smaller baby this time. (Don't worry people, remember Izzy was almost 10 lbs, so when I say smaller, I just mean a normal sized baby!)
So far, again, my pregnancy is the same as with Izzy. However I am more tired, but hey, I am chasing a toddler around all the time!!!
ok, I guess Izzy isn't going to nap, so now is my cue to get off the computer. Picture posts coming soon! (hopefully)

Posts, posts, posts!

2010-10-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

OK, I just posted 3 new posts with lots of pictures! Make sure to scroll down to see all of them!

Day in the City

2010-10-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

Every now and again, I love to go into the city and do the tourist thing. On this day, we meet up with Bud's sister and her husband for Fleet Week. We had planned to watch the Blue Angels and then go on an Alcatraz tour since Bud has never been on one! I know, weird huh? Well, we got there and they were all sold out, so we are planning on doing a big family trip to tour Alcatraz with his parents and my mom.
So, instead of Alcatraz, we just went into the Aquarium so Izzy can see all the fun things under water.
We started out at Pier 39 to look at the sea lions and wait to watch the Blue Angels

We put Izzy's leash on for the first time and she enjoyed it. But she quickly learned that she can lean far forward and she wouldn't fall down. So there was a lot of "limp baby".

The air show

Blue Angels

Izzy liked the Aquarium and hanging on the ropes

Just some fun pictures I captured

Petting the sting rays

She really wasn't sure what to do here

This one kept coming out to say Hello!

Izzy thought it was great!

Her leash is still a little big for her

After a long day with basically no nap, this little one is out! This was after eating a Joe's Crab Shack and stopping to get some homemade ice cream that was absolutely delicious!

At the end of our day eating ice cream! I love my family!

Izzy's PRE-preschool class

2010-10-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

Izzy is in a PRE-preschool class one day a week for 2 hours. It is for 12-18 months toddlers and Izzy is the second to youngest one there. AND she is probably the most advanced one. I don't say that to brag, I'm just being very honest. I go with her and stay and we play, learn, have snacks and play some more. The moms/parents learn a thing or two as well. We have only been to one so far, but we love it! Izzy enjoys "running the place" and being VERY verbal throughout class. Here are some pictures of our time there.

"Seriously mom"?

Seriously Izzy?

"Seriously Lady?" (One of the other moms was trying to get her to come to her and this is what Izzy did. haha, she's funny)

Snack time

Pumpkins for Puntin

2010-10-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

We ventured to the Clayton Pumpkin Patch the other day just for the fun of taking the pictures and letting Izzy rome around. We didn't stay too long, because it became SO hot that day. We couldn't stand it very long.

Here She is with daddy taking a moment to watch all the "big" kids walk by on their field trip.

So many to choose from. Which one do I pick up??

One day...

Our cute little scarecrow

Here kitty kitty kitty!

She found the worted pumpkins very interesting!

And here is the one we left with! Perfect size! Plus, they were ridiculously expensive, so we just choose the $1.50 one.

Baby #2

2010-10-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

So I am now 13 weeks and feeling great! We went to have an ultrasound done yesterday to test for Down Syndrome and something else (can't remember). Here are some photos we were able to get.
Here "it" is stretching out. It's a bad picture, but we thought it was funny how "it" was totally stretching

Here "it" is facing downward

Stretching "it's" leg and bringing hand towards mouth

And, "it's" profile

So far, everyone is saying it will be a boy, but this is mostly because everyone either WANTS it to be a boy or thinks because we already have a girl, it has to be a boy this time. Here's what I think:
Mother knows best! It is still VERY much up in the air what it will be. It can honestly be either! And here's my thoughts on why:

*From the beginning, this pregnancy has been exactly the same so far. This could mean one of two things: A: it's another girl; B: I'm just really lucky!

*Sometimes I think I'm not lucky enough to have another girl, but then, just by thinking that makes me think I could be. I know, sounds like an oxymoron, but it makes sense to me.

*The heart rate is the same as Izzy's was in the womb.

*According to the Chinese calender predictor, it's a boy or a girl depending on the exact conception date. I'm not going to lie, I have no idea the exact date when I ovulate, so I had to do it with two different dates and because of that, I got two different answers. With Izzy, it was right saying it was a girl. So this time around, it's not helpful.

*I had 3 dreams when pregnant with Izzy and all three were about a girl. I never had any about a boy. My mother also had dreams when she was pregnant, but most significantly was when she was pregnant with her first. In her dream she saw and older girl and two younger boys. She then thought she would have a girl first and then two boys. It was actually the other way around and her dream was this: I was the girl, but because I was coming last, I was up in heaven handing down two boys first. SO, with that said, my dreams with Izzy could have meant one of two things: A: It was indicating 3 times that I was going to be having a girl; or B: It was like my moms and it was indicating that I will have 3 girls! Because only one dream I had with Izzy I can for certain verify that it was Izzy in my dream. The other two I have no idea.

*So far with this pregnancy I have only had one dream. It was a baby shower decorated in Pink and Purple.

With all that, I have no idea what we are having and to be honest, I don't care what anyone else dreams, thinks, invisions or has a feeling for what it is. Cause like I said, mom knows best and it can really go either way.
So, one more month till we know what we are having! We go in November 10Th. Which kinda sucks because it's on a Wednesday and we want to reveal what it is to everyone the same way we did with Izzy. The fancy cake way! However, we have church that night and would have to wait till Thursday night, but I don't know if we could hold it in that long! I guess we will have to. Or we'll have to have the technician right it down on a piece of paper and stick it in an envelope and Bud and I will open it before I make the cake. We will see.

At the beach

2010-09-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

We spent the day at Pacifica on Saturday because some good friends of ours were renewing their vows. This was also Izzy first trip to the beach! We had a blast and I enjoyed watching Izzy run all over the beach and play in the water with Daddy.

This is an attempt at a family photo, but obviously it's not the best. Oh well.

Bud and I are SO over due on some pictures together. I need to work on that a little more.

She enjoyed playing in the sand...and eating it.

She's so cute. Come on, just admit it. She's the cutest.

So cliche, right? Gotta do it!

fun with daddy

overlooking the beautiful view!

Beautiful sunset

It's blurry, but I think it looks kinda cool. This was on a patio of a haunted resturant we ate at. We watched the sun go down and then sat around the bon fire and enjoyed our evening!

Apparently Izzy's diaper shifted somehow and she peed on daddy. HAHA! It was great!

I love him!

Izzy's 1 year stats

2010-09-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

Our big girl had her 1 year appointment today and the Dr. says she is perfect.

24 lbs (90%)
31" tall (90%)

Izzy:
*is running everywhere
*loves being outside
*still loves dogs
*loves giving kisses to the animals
*doesn't care to eat very much right now
*has developed a wonderful little temper on occasion
*knows how to get on the couch
*has 8 teeth
*still LOVES her bottles (it's a work in progress, it's going to be rough)
*gives "loves" to her baby dolls and then drops them (also a work in progress)
*pushes her lips out all the time to talk and she looks like Howard the Duck
*LOVES pressing buttons
*is a little jabber jaws when she wants to be
*can say: dog, go, Dada, Mama, stop, don't and many other words that we cannot understand yet
*destroys the house daily
*knows where her nose, toes, and belly are
*gives high-fives
*is not into TV
and
*Is still my sweet little girl (when she wants to be. More often then not)

Izabella Grace turns 1!

2010-09-10T13:07:00.001-07:00

Here are some of the pictures from her party. I've had most of them uploaded for a while now and I have just been totally lacking the energy to blog lately. But I had to finish this before the whole month of September goes by me and I didn't even post one post! So here it is!
Here is the princess herself!

This one is just awesome! The afro, the half opened eyes and of course the gapped teeth! This one we will be for sure keeping around when she's older! I'm thinking to bring out on her 18th birthday!

She loves her new princess camping chair!

She wants to be a big kid so bad!

Black and whites are the best!

Random pictures!

2010-08-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

Our little family went on a bike ride and stopped at the pond to feed the ducks and the geese. Izzy loved it!

Every time we go out into the garage and Izzy comes with us, she B-lines it straight to the drums. She loves the fact that it's OK to beat the heck out of these things and she won't get in trouble for it!

Daddy could NOT wait any longer to put on her ridin' jersey. Size 3T.

And finally, Izzy knows where the snack cabinet is as well as the sandwich baggie cabinet. She opens both many times a day and gets into everything. If I don't catch her fast enough, we end up with sandwich baggies EVERYWHERE and a lot of the time all the snack boxes are out. This, however was the first time she got into one of the snack boxes. Apparently she was hungry. I think more made it onto the floor then in her mouth, but, whatever, they're just Cheerios and she was having a good time!
Oh and excuse the kitchen mess, we're getting ready for a brand new kitchen!!! She'll be all confused when her cabinets are gone!

And it's NOT April fools

2010-08-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

I am for real pregnant again! Number 2 is on it's way. I'm Due April 12, but will probably have a c-section a week early! We are so excited and ca't wait. Although, this pregnancy is going to go by even fast then the last because we have a toddler to chase after now!

memory crash

2010-08-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

So, once again, it's been a while. I should be on top of things now that I have my computer working right again and my camera functional with it, but life happens and I have a child to run after now. So I guess the blog just gets put on hold for a little bit.
I believe I have some pictures to update with too, but I will have to do that tomorrow because the batteries died in my camera and I need to go buy new ones. I am also very tired from a late night and early morning, plus a long day. I am currently waiting for Miss Busy Izzy to get tired so we can both take naps. Daddy is in enjoying his nap now, but hey, that just means he has to get up, when Izzy gets up so I can sleep longer!
Izzy's 1st birthday is coming up in one month! Can you believe it??? She is almost a year and it seems so crazy to me. She has grown so much and is learning so fast! Her birthday party is going to be awesome by the way. We can't wait to have a fun filled day/BBQ in the park with family and friends. It's going to be great!
OK, I think it's nap time now!!! Gotta go! I'll try and remember to post some pictures tomorrow!

Time at the Park

2010-07-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

It was such a beautiful day out and I wanted to try and get some pictures of Izzy for her 1 year party invitation. Here are just a few fun shots.

A little busy

2010-07-21T15:00:00.001-07:00

I've been a little busy watching a lot of this lately. And the blurriness proves the hightened activity around here!

No more 80/20

2010-07-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah, So I thought Izzy would transition into walking full time over maybe a course of a week or so, but no! She decided to take yesterday as her practice day and now she gets up and walks everywhere! All over the house with a big smile on her face! She rarely crawls now. In fact, I think I've seen her crawl twice in the past 2 days.
She's getting so big!

Izzy's walking!

2010-07-07T12:41:00.001-07:00

Yup, Izzy is walking! She has been taking a couple steps here and there since about 9 months, but she took off walking on the 4th of July at the water park! She gets up now and walks a lot, but still chooses to crawl 80% of the time because it's quicker. But it won't be too long before she is walking all the time.
These were taken at church Monday night.

The 4th of July

2010-07-07T12:16:00.001-07:00

After church on Sunday, we went to a church family BBQ at a nearby park/water park. It was hot, but we had a good time! Izzy enjoyed playing under the spicket and she also took off walking for the first time there! Yes, our 10 month old is walking now! She get's so excited! I'll post the pictures I have so far of her walking after this post. Enojoy the pictures!

Love letters

2010-06-28T20:23:00.000-07:00

So I write this because I help a friend out with their marriage today with an idea that I didn't even think could help other people. So because this friend of mine was so excited and found that this totally help, I thought, I would share it for others to try in case it might be something fun and helpful for someone else.

OK, so when Bud and I started dating, we started writing letters to each other. Just for fun, about whatever, love letters. I ended up buying a notebook so that we could keep track of all our letters and they would be in one place. It kinda almost made us feel like kids in high school again passing notes!

You see, one of us would take the notebook home, write in it and then when we would see each other the next day, we would swap. It sounds so cheesy, but it was actually really exciting. We would talk about everything in person, but writing to each other was just another way of communicating and it made us even closer.
We obviously don't do it everyday anymore, but we do still do it from time to time. But now, they are kinda a little more then love letters.

You see, Bud and I are both stubborn people and at the beginning of our marraige, our arguements seemed to not really get very far (as far as resolving goes). There were times that either of us (mostly me) didn't feel heard. So, I would walk away and grab the notebook. This was not only a stress release for me (because I love to write), but it also gave me a chance to really think of the right words to say and get my point across without being interupted. This was very healthy for us because I won't ever write anything I would regret or not mean (unlike sometimes when you are so angry and sometimes speak things you don't mean).

These letters weren't just filled with my point of view on how I felt, but was also very positive reinforcement on how much I love him and all the things I love about him. I made sure to make him feel so loved and wanted. Because that is the truth.
This really helped us with a lot of things. It helped us to move apart when arguing and take a breather, then reconnect and resolve things in a mature manner.

At this current time, we haven't written letters in a while. Mostly because it has taugh us to talk and act differently with each other. That also comes with being married for a while and learning when to pick your battles, and also with making Christ number one. We are not at all perfect, but we have found a lot fun and surprising help with writting to each other.

Not only is it helpful, but we've found it to be really fun and exciting. Writing love letters is a totally different way to talk with one another. It gives us a chance to tell each other things that might sound really cheesy to say out loud. Or to say things that you haven't in a while. Plus it's so private and intamate.

I had a chance to help a friend out today with this idea. He didn't know what to do because he and his wife had just stopped talking. They just never talked about anything anymore. So I told him to try that because it's a way to open new gates. He sat down right then and wrote 5 pages to his wife. He sent me a message later thanking me for such a brilliant idea. He said "IT WORKED" "She LOVED it"!

I was so happy to be able to help out a marriage, that I thought I'd post it one here. A fun way to reconnect or start a new spark. So if you and your special someone need something new to do, or want to surprise them with something or need help with fixing the arguing problem, cause let's all face it, it happens. I don't care how perfect you think you are! Try it out! Might be more fun then you think!

The dog bone

2010-06-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

Izzy has started to do this really funny thing. We are not encouraging it, but we are laughing inside every time she does it.
Our dog, Princess (some of you may remember my cute little doggie from high school), has 4 of these Nyla bones that are made our of hard nylon so that dogs don't eat them since chewable bones are empty calories for them. And in the long haul aren't good for them.
So of course Izzy has gotten a hold of these in the last month or two and have found them to be so interesting. She started by picking them up and inspecting them, and then started to watch Princess chew on them. So then when she would pick them up, they of course would go toward the mouth (since EVERYTHING goes in her mouth). We would tell her no and have been telling her no over and over again. This past week or two, I have noticed that when she grabs one, she holds it up to me as if to say, "can I Mom?". We tell her no, that it's the dogs and to give it back to the doggie. She holds it in her hand and starts to wave it around in the air. Then when she thinks you're not looking, she puts her head down just a little and slyly glances back at you while slowly drawing the bone toward her mouth. As if she's thinking, "if I do this slow enough, she won't notice". Of course we notice and yell NO! She jumps and throws the bone.
She totally knows she's not suppose to eat it and that it is the dogs, but is also aware that she is allowed to hold it. She's testing the waters to see what all she can get away with.
Can we agree the we're going to have our hands full with this one come the terrible 2's? Oh boy! It's all funny to us though. We just never show her that!

On and even cuter note, She has also started giving Princess kisses and loves. She leans in as close as she can (usually Princess is on the couch and Izzy is standing on the floor) and with an open mouth gives her a kiss whether she can reach her or not. Then she turns her head to the side and lays it down next to her (or Son, the cat) as if she's giving them a hug. AW! She's so cute! Such a love bug.

Updates

2010-06-21T10:10:00.001-07:00

OK, I just posted 3 new posts, so make sure to scroll down to see them all!

Mommy daughter time!

2010-06-21T09:56:00.001-07:00

Here's just a few pictures of us since we never take pictures together and some friends have been asking for some. So we had fun with the camera. I'm trying to make more of an effort to take more of us together.

The hose

2010-06-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

The other night, it was so nice out and we were just hanging out enjoying it. Bud was working on the yard and my mom realized the plants hadn't been watered in a few days. She got the hose out and Izzy became so drawn to what she was doing. I picked her up and let her touch the flowing water. She looked at me like, "wow Mom! This feels great!" Then she leaned in on her own and began the drink from it. It was so cute!
We stripped her down and let her play in the water. She had a blast!

First lake trip

2010-06-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

Izzy went on her first lake trip out of the womb a couple weekends ago. She had so much fun playing in the water. Daddy even took her on the waverunner and she totally enjoyed it. She almost fell asleep.

She loved the boat rides as well

Bud got some wakeboarding in

and we had fun on the new 4 seater tube

Izzy took her naps on the tube

mommy and Izzy

Izzy in her life jacket

Private blog

2010-06-16T14:21:00.001-07:00

OK, so I have sent out invites for our new private blog. Hope I did it right. I'll have to log out and check it. But for those of you who wanted to know how to make your blog private, here it is. If I did it right, you just go to "settings" then on the tabs for "settings" click the every last one that says "permissions". From there it'll tell you what to do. I'll make another post if I didn't do it right or if there is something else that needs to be done.

She's eating!

2010-06-14T16:22:00.000-07:00

Finally Izzy is eating table food. Not everything obviously (since she's not aloud to eeat just anything) but I cut things up in tiny pieces and she takes in by the handful.
As I write this we are eating whole grain cheez-its. Yes I made the mistake of giving her a tiny piece of one and now whenever she see's the red box in my hands, she comes running. Good thing we don't have these in our house very often.

YAY!

2010-06-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

I am so excited! Now that our computer has been restored and basically brand new, I was able to upload/download (whatever the right term is) my camera software and now I am able to do my blog with picture more often then just once a month! I was having to wait till I had a bunch of pictures and then take it and get them all put on a disc to be able to put them on my blog. So YAY! Now I can do it a lot more often and whenever I capture some great moments! Now maybe our blog will be like it was a while ago.
Anyways, here is some from today (sorry it's a little blurry) and some from the last couple weeks.

Here is one of her favorite spots. She doesn't like reading books yet, or even looking at pictures. She just wants to make a mess with them. Have at it!

She likes the camera, can you tell?

And she loves to play the piano and sing.

My handsome husband teaching himself how to play the piano

FINALLY...an update!!!

2010-06-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

OK, so I don't even remember what I have blogged about lately and I'm not going to lie, I really don't want to go back and read it all to find out. SO, I'm just going to write everything I feel I need to update on and it should fill everything in.
Also, I posted pictures at the end and they are somewhat in order, but not perfect and also still missing some because, shame on me, I haven't taken very many pictures this past month.
OK, so Izzy started crawling a week before she turned 7 months and started doing what I call the "run crawl". She started pulling herself up onto everything pretty much right away. She LOVES her baths. In fact, when you tell her it's bath time and she hears the water start running, she stops everything she is doing and comes HAULING! She also was introduced to the swimming pool recently and totally loves it. She will definitely be following in my footsteps and will be early at doing most things. Speaking of that, she is nine months now, as of yesterday, and she is on the verge of walking! She has taken a few steps here and there and LOVES to walk with her little push walker. She stands by herself when she wants to and doesn't cry if she falls down.
She loves her bottles and finally her food now too. For a little bit she wouldn't eat and was gagging on everything, but now she eats again. She just started being able to eat the little baby melt away cracker things. I had to start her out on these things called Baby Mum-Mums because she would gag and choke on the Puffs. So she mastered eating and chewing those, so now she is eating the puffs and doing great and loving them. Next will be Cheerios. The feeding has become pretty fun! However we are taking it slow because she still has a very quick and easy gag/choke reflex. Which is why, and all you mothers would probably agree, I hate when other people think they can just give her what ever they want. Without even asking her parents or even knowing if it's OK/safe. Don't EVER introduce any food/drink to a baby/child that is not yours. The mother and father are THE ONLY people to do that and to give the OK.
Aside from food, Izzy also likes to put everything else into her mouth. Including the dog bones and dog bowl. We're working on that. I've caught her may times playing in the cat/dog water bowl as well. Twice where she has picked it up and dumped it on her. She didn't even care...shinny bowls to bite on are way more exciting.
My brother and Megan surprised us this past month and flew in for a long weekend visit! I was so nice to have them there. I love having him around more for Izzy. They share a special bond. She would always sit in his lap and look at him and then lean in forehead to forehead for long periods of time. I was so cute. Of course I was always to late to get a shot of it. She loves her Uncle!
Bud also got a new job and had to shave his face bare. That was an adjustment...for all of us!
And Easter... wow it's been that long. Yeah, Easter was good. Izzy got some really great things for her first Easter and loved it all!

Other things she has started doing in the last couple months:
-more facial expressions
-will not sit still to get her diaper changed
-hair has gotten a lot thicker
-Wears size 12 month clothes
-(height and weight to be determined tomorrow)
-plays the piano and sings
-sings herself to sleep
-can be a little emotional (by hey...she's female)
-won't go to sleep if you rock her now
-loves to put her fingers in the dogs mouth for her to lick them
-tries to play with the cat. The cat is patient
-claps
-points
-dances
-ticklish in the same places her mommy is
-got a new nickname- Goose! (because she is always falling and getting goose eggs)
-is a perfect mix of mommy and daddy (mommy and daddy don't care what anyone says, we know best...she is a mix and made of her mommy and daddy and equals the perfect IZZY!)
-her personality definitely takes after her mommy
-has 2 teeth
-loves to scream (we're not loving it so much. It's cute, but we are not encouraging it)
-yells when she tries to get your attention
-only cries when she is really hurt
-whimpers when she is hungry and/or sleepy
-is a total daddy's girl
And...
LOVES JEWELRY!!!
She was also in her Auntie's wedding this last month and as soon as we get the pictures from that, I'll post them on here. She of course was a doll and every one's favorite aside from the bride!
Enjoy the picture update.
I will also be making this blog private sometime in the next week. I have every one's emails written down of my fellow bloggers that want to follow me, but if you haven't given it to me yet, then let me know!

I'M BAAAACK!!!

2010-06-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

OK, so I can't believe it has been a month an a half since I have blogged! Not ok, but when your computer crashes on you, what are you going to do??? It is up and running now and I can't wait to get back into it. I have so much to say and share about! I will be back to post all of that and new pictures in just a little bit. But first, I have to go make me and my husband some lunch. Just wanted to jump on here real quick though!

Our Sleepy Girl

2010-04-14T12:54:00.001-07:00

NOTE: MAKE SURE TO READ THE POST RIGHT BELOW THIS ONE IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!

Here is Izzy and her many sleeping positions. We are blessed with a little one that can sleep anywhere!

PRIVATE BLOG

2010-04-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

OK friends. A friend of mine just had a really disturbing thing happen to her blog and I understand now why some people have private blogs. So I'm letting everyone know that I will be making my blog private as well. So if you want to continue to be a friend on my blog, Please send me your email. I won't be blocking it for like a week or so.

APRIL FOOLS

2010-04-01T14:51:00.001-07:00

OK, now that our extended family has read the last post, I can officially announce...APRIL FOOLS!!!
I AM NOT PREGNANT! There is no way I would plan on getting pregnant right now with a 7 month old and still living at my moms. NOPE! However, God is the one in full control of that. And just to be blunt, the only way for us to be in control of making absolute sure we would get pregnant, would be to not have sex, and let me just tell you, a husband and wife are not going to stop having sex just to make sure they don't get pregnant. So, even with protection, there is always a chance of getting pregnant. But it's nice to know how people would feel if we really were pregnant right now. Don't get mad or upset with us, because in a case like that, it would be ALL GOD!
Maybe for the next real pregnancy, we'll just wait till I start to show. That would be funny (just joking! You know, being totally sarcastic here! I wouldn't even be able to last a week after finding out myself). Probably not for anyone else, but hey...it's our prerogative!
But anyways, we aren't planning to have number two for a little while, but like I said, God is in full control, so if he has other plans, then just be prepared for anything!
We love you all! If we didn't love you, we wouldn't pull pranks on you. That's what we do. Smile and laugh. It makes the world a better place!
Here's the Princess-
At Isaac's birthday party

This is her new favorite face

Bringing sexy back in her bikini

one of the black and whites I took of her outside. I'll post more later

getting undressed for her bath. silly girl!

Don't even know what to title this

2010-04-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

So, just when we think we have a hold on things, God smacks us around and says, "NO, I'M in control!" Two babies under 1 1/2. WOW. This is going to be interesting.
That's right, Im pregnant with #2. Apparently my body thnks ithas to be pregnant when everyone else is.

Tell me how cute she is!

2010-03-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

OK, so I was so sick of looking at those lobsters, so I'm happy to be posting a new blog post!
Here we have Izzy and her friend Gracie. They are just 4 days apart and it's been so long since they got together. Here they are, both 6 months now!

My sleepy girl. I never get sick of these pictures. And now that I've figured out how to change the colors on our camera, it's a whole new experience.

Love this somewhat profile.

This is a fav of mine as well.

ha ha, she looked rough when she woke up from this nap!

It finally was nice enough outside to put on a little spring/summer outfit. So cute!

And here is one with her bow.

She is always this smiley

But not always this cracked up.

Already taking money from Grandma and Grandpa

This girl can keep herself entertained for THE LONGEST TIME! Some of her favorite toys are her starfish and super cheapy rattle.

Every kid needs a care bear! This is an original too!

Life is so hard mommy! I exhausted!

She loves chewing on my sweatshirt strings. Her first tooth is about to pop through at any moment!

Here she is with her buddy Isaac. He loves to lay next to, on top of and all over her. He's only 2. He's so cute with her though and she doesn't mind it a bit. She's tough, however, she gets her "feelers" (feelings) hurt very easily.

In the past month...

2010-02-26T13:48:00.000-08:00

We cooked and ate a whole lobster for the first time. One big boy and one huge girl. They were pretty good, but I could go next time without watching them get cooked.

Izzy liked the crazy looking things

And she can't get enough of her daddy

I loved this and had to take a picture of it. His lunch box, gallon of crystal light and his Bible!

Her feet were freezing one evening, but the rest of her was fine, so Mimi grabbed the closest thing to warm them up. Mimi's huge fuzzy socks!

She picked up this new move one evening.
"Mom I want down"

"I said I want down"!

"Fine I'll do it myself"

"See, I did it"!

Nawing on an apple slice was fun this month too.

This night she wasn't feeling so good, but it was nothing a cup of cold water, Princess jamjams and cuddling with daddy couldn't fix.

I started a mom's group this month and we had a couple good walks in untill it started raining.
As you can see, Izzy thinks she is super cool in her big stroller and bright pink shades. However, I don't know how we are going to break her of this finger thing!

Thought I would play with my zoom on our new camera. SUPER CLOSE! This bird was so high in the sky that I could hardly see it with my eye, until I zoomed in!

It was so beautiful that day

Here is Kennedy experiencing the ducky's!

I'd say she liked them!

Izzy liked them too

OK, this was the best. She got a new jumper and has been having so much fun with it. One morning she got up earlier than usual and when this happens I just stick her in her excersaucer and let her play for a little bit while I rest my eyes for a few more minutes. No worries, I don't ever go back to sleep, I'm always up checking on her if it gets too quiet. So since we had the jumperoo, I stuck her in that and she had so much fun. Well, it got quiet so I went to go check on her and this is what I found. So cute!

Another moms group walk with Izzy, Kennedy and Blaze

Introdction to food has been fun. So far she likes everything except prunes. She was super constipated and I hadn't given her fruits yet, so I gave her a little prunes to help things along. She ate it, but each bite she got mad about.

And...another nap in her jumperoo!

And this 6-9 month outfit top is a little snug, don't ya think? What's funny though is that it's not really the right size. It's a very small and stretchy 6-9 months. So don't think she's this super fat baby, because she actually isn't at all. Looking at her face everyone thinks she is a chubby baby, but she just has cheeks, okay!! She's our cheeky girl!

This little girl, I tell ya. When she was born we though she'd have her daddy's butt (no butt), well she has proven that she has my booty. Baby got back! I put a pair of jeans on her the other day and I have to shake her into them to get them over her butt!

She needs lights out to sleep. We found her like this after coming home one evening.

And son...oh our sunny boy. I found him playing in the laundry basket and each time I came back into the room with the camera he was doing something different.

Our wonderful friends Jutin and Jenny took us out last night and it was so nice to spend time with them again, plus be able to get out since we've been stuck inside broke for so long

Izzy just discovered how fun it is to roll over in the bathtub. Her favorite toy to play with was the plug. Son enjoyed watching. Everything was great untill she got excited and put her face in the water and got some up her nose. That was no fun for her. (sorry or the bum shots, but who doesn't love a little baby bum?)

It's the circle of life, REMEMBER?

2010-02-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

OK, so this is a little bit of a vent, but it's in all seriousness.

OK, so something has been happening to me over and over again, and it DRIVES ME CRAZY! So let me just use this current story as my example.

So, Izzy had a great morning this morning, but come her afternoon naptime, she was having a rough time. Bud and I fed her some green beans and shortly after that, she was getting fussy and rubbing her eyes. Naptime. So I made her bottle and took her into her room to rock her. She usually falls asleep before finishing her bottle, but this time she didn't, but she continued to be fussy and sleepy. She was just fighting it. So I put her in her crib anyways and was planning on trying the cry it out method since no one else was home or trying to sleep. (Now, no worries, the cry it out method does not mean that you let them cry till they fall asleep. It's an actual method, but it does consist of letting them cry for a short period of time before going in here again). Well, when I went back in there (like 3 minutes later) she had totally worked herself into a tizzy and when I went to giver her her binky, it made her gag and she threw up green formula EVERYWHERE! Gross I know.
So I get her out and sit with her in the rocker as she looks out the window. Of course now she is totally fine, but still very tired. So the only way to get her to sleep at this point was to take her on a walk.
Izzy goes to sleep EVERY time we go on a walk. She will fall asleep within 3-5 minutes of our walk. It's the sure fire way to get her to sleep when all else fails.
Now, it is suppose to rain today, but it hadn't started yet, so I did what any other mom would do in my situation and I got her all bundled up and set out on a little walk.
As soon as we turned onto the greenbelt (the walking path), this lady is walking in our direction and says with a smile, "You're chancing it, huh"? I smiled back and said,"oh yeah". Then, here came the comment that just makes me roll my eyes and want to scream. It's not the comment itself that drove me nuts, but just the point in general and I'll explain in a minute. She says in all seriousness in reference to Izzy, "Do you have a blanket"? No lady, I don't. I'm super stupid and bring my baby out into the cold with no jacket or blanket. And can she not see that my child is wearing a huge fluffy jacket with a hood, plus has a giant pink fuzzy blanket completely surrounding her?
I'm not directing my irritation directly at her (because she may not realize that most older folks have this problem), but just the act in itself. Why is it that older people (our parents age and older) feel the need to treat us as if we are so stupid and have no idea how to treat and care for a child, let alone our own who WE know better than anyone (other than the Lord of course). Hello! Don't they realize the same thing we are doing is the same thing they did years ago? Except now a days it's a lot easier. Easier in the sense that there is so many more things out there, i.e.; exersaucers, fancy swings, jumperoos, fancy learning toys, bumbo seats, etc. This just drives me crazy! It's the circle of life folks! When you become a mother, you naturally have mother's intuition and just know what to do. Remember? So why would it be any different for our generation? It's one thing when a stranger says something to me, but when someone that KNOWS me says something, it drives me even more crazy because they know my life has been nothing but surrounded by babies and children for most of my life. So am I blind, deaf and dumb? Have I not learned anything about babies and children? I mean really. For me, it's all real simple. Of course we all have our rough days as mothers, but these comments that are felt necessary to say are all topics of common sense child raising. Just like that one time when I went to the grocery store when Izzy was like 1 month old. She was fed right before we left and she started fussing because she was tired. She was just making her little tired cry noise when we were walking through the produce and an old man thought he needed to tell me something. In a very serious and almost mean voice, he walks over to me and says, "She's hungry, you need to feed her"! Oh is that why she is crying? I just thought she was tired or something, but what do I know, I'm only her mother.
OK, think I've made my point and let myself vent a little. But if there are any people who read this and think they might be one of these folks who says things like this, then PLEASE, think before you speak. Every adult mother knows her own child and is smart enough to care of them right.

According to Izzy...

2010-02-16T16:35:00.000-08:00

...everything belongs in her mouth (come on tooth!)
...giving kisses involves a wide open mouth and lots of licking
...feet are the greatest things
...little dogs are the funniest things
...plastic wrappers are the funnest things
...food is "mmmm" so good
...Mama and Dada are so funny
...being bored is the worse thing ever
...bath time is so exciting
...she must grab you face when talking to you
...fake coughing is her way to either get your attention or make conversation
and
...accidentally getting scared is the scariest/saddest thing in the world.

This is life according to Izzy!

5 1/2 months going on 2 years

2010-02-13T22:48:00.000-08:00

OK, so I just have to mention a little something that our little Izzy has learned to do. We got it on video and I took some pictures, but 2 things: One, I need to reload my camera stuff to my computer and see if it works now, and two, I can't ever get any of my videos to load on my computer. So those will just have to wait, but I'll describe this in as much detail as I can so you can picture it all.
OK, so as the three of us were sitting on the couch the other day just enjoying some time together, we had Izzy in the middle sitting up with the boppy behind her, dad on on side and me on the other. She started to arch her back and scoot down so she was laying on her back. Once she was on her back she then rolled over onto her tummy. THEN, she started to scoot backwards until she had her legs hanging off the couch and then she pushed with her arms to drop to the floor onto her feet! Can you believe it?? We thought it was just a fluke thing until we sat her back up and she continued to do it over and over again. That's when we decided to get the camera. I can't believe my 5 1/2 month old is doing all these things before she even knows how to balance! I say all these things, because she know the concept of walking too! We will hold her hands and she will be flat footed on the floor and start taking steps without us pulling her or anything.
So now our daughter can get off the couch by herself the right way, but she doesn't know how to balance yet so she just falls over. I don't know how to help her get better at her balance other than just continuing to hold her and help her balance. I've been practicing with her sitting up by herself. She's doing really well. Not too much longer and she should have the hang of it for good. I wanted to be able to have her 6 month pictures of her sitting up. So hopefully we can still reach that goal!

Picture update! Izzy's 5 months old!

2010-02-03T18:39:00.000-08:00

Izzy has been just getting cuter and cuter. She talks more and more and has started making this new funny little face. I haven't gotten a picture of it yet, but it's so funny. She has gotten a lot better at eating her cereal, but is so much more interested in our food. She was on my lap one afternoon when I was eating my lunch and for each bite I took, she would bend down with me with her mouth wide open thinking she would get some. Not. Soon though. The time will come quickly. She is in total teething mode, bitting and drooling like crazy, however she's not fussy at all. She's been awesome! I'm expecting a tooth to pop up anytime this month. We'll see. Here are some picture updates as well has some other new things she's been doing.

Daddy's girl!

holding her bottle by herself

Son found a new home

Sleeping in her stroller again

Gangster baby

Mommy and Izzy

Telling me stories

Sitting up by herself!!

Whoops! I love this. Isn't it funny?

Daddy daughter nap time

I love these cheeks!

So she has one of these scratches on her face at all times. As soon as one clears up, she has scratched her face again. And I'm always clipping her nails. I can't keep up I guess!

She loves bath time

Loves her changing table even more!

I caught you!

Oh yeah mom?

She loves playing Wii so much it puts her to sleep now.

Sunny Boy has been a little jealous lately

Put he has been so good with Izzy. He let her love on him whenever. It's cute!

And finally, she is still a great little sleeper! She sleeps in her crib now and slept through the night the very first night!

-$112.36 and so grateful!

2010-02-03T18:13:00.000-08:00

For the past couple months, Bud and I have been the most broke of our lives yet.

We have zero credit cards (which yes, is a good thing, but in the case of an emergency, they are good to have), zero savings (due to the fact we haven't been making enough to even build a savings), and right before Christmas was the last time Bud was able to work and get any money. So... the money we did have, obviously disappeared quickly and we now have a negative balance in our account with zero income and bills that are due this week! And we couldn't be more grateful!! Here's why:

-We have my car payment due at the end of the week and I am so grateful because... I HAVE A CAR!

-Our car insurance is also due at the end of the week and I am so grateful...BECAUSE IF SOMETHING WAS TO HAPPEN TO ME AND MY FAMILY IN OUR CARS, WE ARE TAKEN CARE OF.

-Bud doesn't have a job right now, but I am so grateful because not only do we get to spend more time together as a family, BUT WE HAVE SO MUCH FAITH AND KNOW THE LORD WILL PROVIDE.

-We are a long way from owning our own home and a little ways away from even having our own place again, but we are grateful because WE HAVE A ROOF OVER OUR HEADS AND FOOD IN OUR CUPBOARDS.

-I can only wear the same 3 things over and over again because nothing fits me and we have no money to get clothes that do, but I am so grateful because I HAVE CLOTHES ON MY BACK.

-We have zero money and zero money coming in but we are so grateful because WE HAVE A FATHER IN HEAVEN WHO IS SO WORTHY AND AMAZING AND ALWAYS PROVIDES!!!

Pictures!

2010-01-11T17:54:00.000-08:00

It's like giving a cardboard box to a kid. She loves daddy's sunflower seed packages.

She took an awesome nap in her stroller after a walk

Sleeping on daddy

Playing Wii with daddy

"Mommy this is so fun!"

"ok, I'm over it. When is it going to be over?"

So tired

naky with Aunt Shellie

Yeah that's right...she like to bowl with daddy!

Waiting to open presents at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Sleepy girl

First time in high chair about to eat cereal for the first time.

So little!

Yummy!

All done!

Scoot scooting!

Love me some rolli-polli baby!

In one of my outfits from when I was little. However, I waited too long and it was just a little too small. So I had to take a picture with her in it. Maybe I can get it right for the next little girl!

Necce is still not too sure about Son

"Are you serious?"

Oh Christmas tree

Gotta love the redeye

Floor time!

Where's Waldo?

There he is!

Playing at Christmas time

Love my happy girl!

All twisted in her sleep

Sunny boy wanted some love too

So happy in her crib

who is this friend here?

I like this little friend

Love this sleeping face!

We love these Minnie Jam Jams!

Can't get enough of these fingers!

Where's the baby?

There she is!!

I figured it out!

2010-01-07T12:13:00.000-08:00

Actually, I tried doing this with our other session, but it wouldn't do it, but this time it did!! YAY!!! Sorry they are so small. It would only let me save them to my computer in the small format and I don't think I can enlarge them. And I already have them on the "large" setting on here.

CUTE PICTURES!!! or not

2010-01-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

So, everything is just pissing me off!!! I want to post so many cute pictures and not only can I not upload pictures and videos of my sweet little girl, but we're so broke that I can't even go to Walmart and get them on a CD so I can put them on here. Plus, I just tried to post a link to our session at Picture People and IT WON'T DO IT!!! Someone tell me what I might be doing wrong here. I'm so angry about it. I can't not share super cute pictures of my Izzy!

So mad

2009-12-30T21:59:00.001-08:00

OK, so someone tell me what the point is of having a new video camera and a brand new beautiful camera, WHEN I CAN'T UPLOAD ANY OF MY VIDEOS OR GET MY NEW CAMERA TO CONNECT TO MY COMPUTER!!!! This makes me so mad! I have cute videos and super cute pictures and it's really starting to interfere with my blogging when I can't load things for everyone to enjoy. Man almighty! Someone help me!

PICTURE UPDATE!

2009-12-21T15:01:00.000-08:00

OK, so without further ado, here are some special pictures!

It snowed in Clayton!!! Seriously! Like not just on Mt. Diablo.

Izzy and I loved the snow!

Emily and Kennedy!

Sleepy girl!

She loves to stand up. It's all she wants to do.

So fun!

Guilty! She loves the TV! We're not making this a habit...at all!

Love the tu-tu!!

Our first trip to Picture People! A success!!!

Just a few pictures

2009-12-18T13:15:00.000-08:00

These are just a few from a friend. I have more but I'm still waiting for my internet to work and I'm down at my mom's work and I forgot the other CD's. Soon they will be up, but meanwhile, here are a few. They are maybe a month old.

Quick post

2009-12-10T12:56:00.000-08:00

OK, so real quick, I just have to say and let everyone know. Izzy turned 3 months last Wednesday and last night she rolled over for the first time. IN BOTH DIRECTIONS! Back to front, then front to back. I thought she would be delayed in this, due to my own fault of not laying her on the floor very often for tummy time or back time. But boy, she got it in no time! On top of that, she looks like she's trying to scoot!
OK, just thought I'd make a quick note. I'm at the library right now because our Internet is down for about a week. Which totally sucks because I have a ton of pictures to post! We went and got professional ones done, plus I've been borrowing a camera and have a bunch of Izzy standing and being totally cute!
I guess I'll have to do it next week. Hang in there with me folks!!!

New home and no camera

2009-12-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

Well, the day after I wrote my last post (it's only been forever)my camera totally stopped working. I hate it so much. Having a baby with no camera really suck. I mean, we have a video camera that takes still shots, but they suck. It's not made for still shots, so all the pictures come out blurry and crappy. On top of that, I can't seem to figure out how to upload them to my computer (it's very different from my last camera). So, all in all, it suck and I want to take pictures of everything Izzy is doing now. We should have our new camera shortly though. For sure before Christmas.
Bud and I are in Concord now, back in my childhood home. I have to say, it's so nice to be back in Concord were I'm closer to my friends and don't have to be scared of whats happening in my town or not. We moved in so that we both can save money. During this time, Bud's work has either laid him off or has gotten slow and couldn't work him. Thankfully he has had some side jobs and has been able to bring in some nice money. However, those don't last forever, so it's a blessing to be able to save and to be helping my mom at the same time.
OK, as for Izzy! She is getting so big and changing all the time. Which, as you could imagine, sucks not to have a camera. She is 3 months old today!
Here are some of the things she has learned and is doing now:
-she's been smiling all the time for a while now, but always knows when there is a camera around; she won't smile.
-crys only when she is hungry or sleepy, but if she's overtired she freaks out and scream like she's hurt or something.
-Doesn't quite get the raspberry blowing thing yet, but if you do it on her belly and then look at her and give her a big smile, then she'll give one back.
-She can be a little jabber jaws. She loves to talk and tell stories. This might just get worse. We're in trouble when she actually does start talking. MMM, wonder where she gets that...:)
-She's starting to somewhat hold her bottle. Not all the time and not all the way, but it's in the works. She likes to at least wrap one hand/arm around it.
-Loves to stand up (with help obviously). She is always straightening her legs out and trying to stand. Due to this, I am having to do more tummy time (fault of my own for hardly doing it at all to begin with, oops). I don't need her to skip over crawling and start walking first.
-Still thinks it's funny when you stick your tongue out at her.
-has giggled only twice now for a very quick second. We're waiting for it to kick into full gear soon.
-I have a feeling her burp rags are going to be her blanky. They have always been with her since we came home from the hospital and she is always grabbing hold of them. At least we'll have a million of them so there will always be one around!
-She loves her changing table and loves having her diaper changed.
-It's been a while since we've been to that doctor, but she's right on track with the size of her clothes. She's wearing some 0-3 months still and is also in 3 months.
-Loves loud music and movement. It's the only way to get her to sleep. A car ride, swing or beating her bum really fast. She's weird, but we love it!
-Has a little baby eczema by her elbows. Thank goodness for Baby Eczema cream and Aquaphor (the miracle cream).
-Had her first shower with mom the other night, and seemed to really enjoy it. She loves her baths too.
-Does not suck her thumb or fingers, but loves to suck on her fist. Her left fist. Every once in awhile throughout the day though, she gets a her thumb or finger (or 2 or 3 of them)in her mouth and ends up gagging. That goes to show you how long her fingers are. MMM...wonder where she gets those!
-She is just now starting to get a little chubby roll on her thighs. I'm loving it!
-She usually sneezes 3 times, but not always and sometimes we get the fake sneeze. It builds up and her face starts going, but then it goes away and we get big eyes and a "ooooohhh" from her. It's so funny. She gets that from me because I still do that myself.
-loves her daddy time, which usually is in the evening, but since daddy has been getting home earlier in the day, she gets bonus daddy time!
-She met Santa yesterday, but seemed to be more interested in the decorations all around. And of course, would not smile for the camera.
-Loves her binky, but only when she's tired or a little fussy (which isn't too often). If she is perfectly happy and content, then she just sticks her tongue out and shakes her head when you try and give it to her.
-hate to admit this, but it's only done when I need free hands and need to quickly get something done. She loves watching TV. I'll sit her up in the couch and prop two pillows beside her, turn on seasame street or Dora and she is fixated on it. It's so funny to see this tiny baby watching TV. It's so funny.
-Loves it when daddy shakes her. I know that sounds bad, but her does this very controlled wiggle with her and she loves it!
OK, I think that's it for now. It's time for her nap and she's letting me know! Hopefully I can get some pictures up soon!

Bad Mom and a sleepy Bug

2009-11-06T11:35:00.000-08:00

OK, so first and for most, I totally suck lately. My blogging has gotten really slow and I'm so terrible at taking pictures! What is wrong with me? Does this make me a bad mom or what? I guess Bud and I are just so in love with this little angel that our eyes are so drawn to her and I don't want to take them off of her to go grab my camera. Also, I feel like all the pictures I do take look the same as the ones I've already taken. I know she's changing rapidly, but I feel like every picture I take looks the same. Even for Halloween, she was so freakin cute, but we were so involved in her and going from place to place, that I was only able to get 2 pictures of her! I totally suck.
On top of all that though, I dropped my camera and thought I broke it. Well, I kind of did, but it's still functioning enough to take pictures. My heart just sank when I watched it fall from the table to the cement floor. The lens was open and everything. So it tweaked the lens and it gets stuck from time to time. I guess we'll have to save for a super nice camera now (since we have to save for one anyways, I'd like to pick out and get a really nice one this time. So no family members get any ideas, we'd like to pick it out and get it!).
So here are some pictures that I know everyone has probably been anxiously awaiting.

Our cute little Bug on Halloween

So snuggly in her swing! Thanks Lyn and Gretchen! She LOVES it!

She is still such and awesome sleeper. Just last night she slept from 10/10:30 to 5/5:30, ate and then went back to sleep till 8:30!! I love her!! Her naps throughout the day have been a little off since the time change. Not that she has specific times that she sleeps, but it's as if she's just not napping at all during the day. A 20 minute nap here, a 20 minute nap there, just a couple times a day is all it is right now. But she's not fussy about it, so it fine with me. She's just a very alert, happy baby. But today I got her to finally take a long nap in her crib!

We love her so much we can't stand it!

We call her a grown up baby

2009-10-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

She is growing so fast. She can now sit in her Bumbo seat for short periods of time (cause she gets sit of it after a little bit). She is so active and loves to sit up and look all around. Her neck, even though she can hold it up for the most part, still isn't perfectly strong, so she gets this attitude head bob going on and gives these awesome expressions at the same time. It looks as if she's got a lot to say about something and she gets her attitude head bob going. It's funny. It looks like an adult most of the time, so that's why we call her the grown-up baby.
Her appetite has also increased a lot. Ever since I had to start supplementing her, I decided just to do both bottle and breast because she was use to the extra and pumping and other supplements weren't helping my supply. So I was doing both and still am, but now it's mostly formula because she is SO hungry all the time. I'm not all that excited about it, but with a fast, hungry, growing girl, I gotta do what I gotta do and my body is not doing what it's suppose to do. Oh well. At least she's growing and healthy. I'm still going to give her whatever I have from myself, just for the goodness of it!
Anyway, with all this hunger she has, she's been eating more and the other night her belly was so big and she didn't even spit any of it up! I was surprised given that she's a big spitter. So here are some of those pictures.

Such a cute sleeper

"Heeeeyyyy!"

I love these jammies!

What a disappointment

2009-10-23T21:38:00.000-07:00

OK, so of course we took Izzy to the pumpkin patch for her first Halloween and what an ugly disappointment. Almost all the pumpkins were GREEN! I couldn't believe it. They were so ugly. Only the super little ones were normal. So we just took pictures of her. Oh and "accidentally" walked out with a little one inch pumpkin. She had a good time though and once we got home she talked and laughed with her play singing dog for the longest time. We have some video of it. I'll try and post it, but I always have trouble with the videos. We'll see.

Oops! I broke it!

Forgot these cute pictures

2009-10-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

So precious. I need to frame this one! Too bad it's kind of blurry.

These are her thug pictures. Her hat kept coming off.

Shopping tuckers her out!

This is how she fell asleep in Target.

I know, I know...It's been too long

2009-10-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

OK, so I have totally been slacking. I have a few good excuses though, but all in all, I'm bummed I haven't been blogging more. So here is an update.
We took a quick trip up to Tahoe the beginning of the month for a wedding. What a wonderful weekend to go too because we were there for their first snow! There must have been about 6 inches of snow. Izzy was alseep for most of her first trip to the snow, but we took plenty of pictures.

We had a good time and shorty after we returned home, I got sick. I got the flu real bad. Luckly, not swine flu, and also, Izzy was SO good while I was sick.
She is such a snuggler, which is totally cute, but makes it hard when you need to get some things done and she just wants to be held. But while I was sick, she let me lay her down next to me and she would just look out the window and coo or take really good naps.

She has started smiling and "talking" more which has been so much fun. She has also developed really good head control. It's not mastered yet, but it's really good and the doctors say she's awesome! She is so dang cute and we don't know what we ever did without her.

Her hair is slowing lightening up and her eyes are taking their sweet time determining their color. At this point they are looking like they will either be green like her daddy's or possible hazel like my dad's. I'm thinking they won't be turning brown just cause they are on the lighter side. Which is ok with me cause I wanted her to have green eyes anyway. But they are just doing their own thing right now.
We started having some tummy time on the Boppy and she has really been enjoying that and it gives me a few minutes of free hands to get some things done. However, she has some quick, strong legs and loves to kick them. During one of her tummy time sessions, I looked over to see that she had kicked herself over the front of the Boppy. I laughed so hard. She didn't seem to mind, but boy was it funny.

She has FINALLY gotten back up to her birth weight (6 weeks later). Right before she was 5 weeks she was weighing in at 9lbs 10oz and a week later she was 10 lbs 4oz. She's a growin girl now!
I think that's about it on the updates. I'm feeling a lot better now and thank goodness Izzy didn't get sick. All is well in our little family now!

Little Ms. Bug

2009-09-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

Our little girl is growing up so fast. It's almost been a month already! It's gone by so fast. She's getting closer and closer to finding and keeping her thumb in her mouth. She's holding her head up more and hopfully by next weeks appoinmtment she'll be back up to her birth weight. She's such a good girl and we're so blessed to have her. Oh and we call her Bug because she is such a gassy little girl, we call them toot-tooter bugs, and it's transitioned to Bug. Mommy and Daddy's name for her. That and "Pungkin".
Mommy and Bug

So precious

Her favorite thing until she has control over her hands and can suck her thumb!

Mommy love!

Love this face!

Curly hair after a bath!

Just chilaxin.

Tired of chilaxin

Loves her new swing. For a little while at least.

This is Grace and Izabella, both 3 weeks old. They are only 4 days apart.

This is Izzy's first cake. My mom made it. She use to make all of our cakes when we were little, so of course we have to continue the tradition. Every year she'll get a special cake made by Mimi!

Making faces and just haning out!

She was in this position for the whole time she was eating. It was so funny. Legs sticking straight out!

Look at that squishy face! I love it!

So sleepy!

2009-09-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

Not us, but Izabella! What an awesome sleeper we have. She would sleep through the night if I let her. I have to wake her up to feed her. We've also made sure she has more awake time during the day. Our first night home she had her days and nights switched, but we fixed that real quick! I thought it would take a while and I wasn't looking forward to it, but we just made her stay a wake more the next day and got her up right before bedtime and she slept through the night!! I couldn't believe it. I kept waking up and checking on her cause I couldn't believe she was still sleeping. Sometimes she wouldn't even wake up for me to feed her either.

Some new updates since we've been home...
*She lost like 12% of her weight since she was born and that's not good, so they had me start supplementing with formula after I feed her. I didn't like the idea, but I knew I needed to help her gain weight and I wasn't making enough for her yet. So we did what we had to do.
*The formula started making her constipated and I wasn't even giving it to her throughout the day. Maybe 2 2oz bottles a day. But because all formula has extra Iron in it, any amount can make a baby constipated.
*Come Saturday, she was so constipated that she was screaming and wouldn't even eat from me. So...to the ER we went. They didn't even tell me how to help her or what to do. She just so happened to relieve herself after they checked her temp rectaly. The look on her face was priceless! She was so relieved! Poor baby.
*Before we went to the ER, I called the advise nurse to see if there was anything I could do to help her go since she was miserable. The stupid lady, first of all, tried to tell me that it's so normal for babies not to go poop everyday. And I told her, well actually, you are the first person to tell me that because every nurse, doctor and lactation consultant has told me that breastfed babies should poop at least 2 times a day! Second, I told her it was just not like her to cry and scream like this and that something was wrong and I knew it was because she needed to poop. Then she had the nerve to tell me, "How well can you really know a 10 day old baby"? UM HELLO!!! This is my baby that I'm been with for 24-7 and she has been consistantly mellow and perfect every other day except that day. Plus, when any baby or child is screaming, something is obviously wrong!
*She has found her thumb every once in a while. She is trying really hard to suck that thing, but her hands have a mind of their own right now and tend to hit her in the face quite often.

*She has curly hair and you can really see it after her bath. The top mohawk area stays curly the longest! We love it and can't wait for it to grow!

*She is a very gassy woman! Boy oh boy!! She can past some serious gas and clear the room. And this she has been doing from day one, so it's not all for the formula either.

My husband is so awesome! When we came home from the hospital these beautiful roses were waiting for me. He had written me a beautiful letter and told me the meaning behind the roses. He is so sweet and kind hearted! I love it so much and he is such an amazing daddy!

Now a family of 3!

2009-09-06T20:27:00.000-07:00

It's been long awaited, but she is finally here! Izabella Grace Morrow entered this world on September 2 at 10:31am. Weighing in at 9lbs 12oz, 21 inches long. We had a scheduled C-section and everything went beautifully. She is the light of our life and we arer so in love with her! She is the missing link in our family and we don't know how we ever lived without her. We are so thrilled to be a family of 3 now!
We are having to suppliment with some formula for a few days to bring her weight back up. She keeps losing weight and is now weighing 8lbs 8oz. She's lost 12% of her weight which is not good, so we're needing to put the weight back on her.
Here is a bunch of pictures of our little angel! Oh and she looks SO much bigger in these pictures than she does in person. Just so you know.

Izabella's birthday!!!

2009-08-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

OK, just got back from the hospital for my weekly monitoring and they gave me my C-section date. Izzy will be born on Wednesday September 2, 2009! We are so excited and can not wait to meet her!

So behind

2009-08-24T13:09:00.000-07:00

OK, so it's been a while and no, no baby yet. I sure some were thinking, "it's been a while since she's posted, maybe she's had her baby". I wish! But not yet.
I'm 38 week today and she has one more week to come on her own and if she doesn't, then I'll have a scheduled c-section next week. I see my doctor Friday morning and I'll have the date for that. I can't believe it's already time! It has really gone by very fast! And slow all at the same time. Bud and I are so anxious to have her. We just can't wait to hold her and love on her!
The reason for the C-section you ask? Well, here's the story. Since I have Gestational diabetes, they've been monitoring me and the baby more closely to make sure she doesn't get to big. This is also the reason they won't let me go all the way or past my due date. So 3 weeks ago I had an ultrasound to check her size. Mind you, there is no way of it being totally accurate and with EVERY mom I've talked to, the doctors have never been right and have always been way over on guessing the weight - even though ultrasound. So 3 weeks ago, they were measuring her at about 7 pound. Which on average, a 34/35 week gestational baby weighs around 5. I knew they were off. Not at all thinking my baby is average, we know she'll be a little bigger, but not that big. So just this past Thursday I had another ultrasound to check her weight again, just to see. The lady who did it this time said she was measuring around 10 lbs!!! HELLO! I don't think so. First of all, I am not that big, second, I'm not even all baby, third, you mean to tell me she has gained a pound a week since the last ultrasound? You are trippin! They don't even know what they are talking about. She also said her head and abdomen were measuring at 41 weeks. I think this lady was just a little off on her measuring. I know she'll have a bigger that average head and what not, but come on. So anyways, since the doctor has to go off of that, I was then given the option of going ahead with the original plan of being induced, or having a c-section. Bud and I decided to go ahead with the c-section because there is a very high chance that I won't be able to pass her anyways (my mom ended up with a c-section for her first because she was to small and his head was too big, and he was only a little over 8 lbs). This whole pregnancy, not once did I ever think of having a birth plan, just because I think it's stupid when you have NO IDEA what can go on in labor and delivery. I'm a "go with the flow" kind of girl, so that was pretty much my birth plan: Whatever happens, happens. My goal in the whole birth process though, is to make sure my baby is born happy and healthy as possible and also for me to also be put in as little "stress" as possible. So we decided to go with the c-section because it could take up to 3 days just to dialate enough through the induction process only to more than likely find out I need a c-section anyways. So tell me, why put myself through all that an d become totally exhausted only to more than likely end up with a c-section anyways and have to then recover from super exhaustion plus surgery. I don't think so. We'd much rather go in happy, excited and ready, have a baby and start my recovery. I perfectly aware that my recovery will be a lot longer, but I'm happy with our decision and we also prayed about it and feel very comfortable with it. We asked the Lord to provide for whatever he has in his plan. If it's meant for me to labor and deliver naturally, then I told him, "put me into labor naturally". I'm not going to get drugs to throw my body into labor when it's not ready. So anywho, that's the story and we're just a week away!!!
Onto other things that have taken me awhile.
My mom threw me a beautiful and amazing baby shower a couple weeks ago and we were so blessed with friends and family! Here are some pictures from that day. As well as some belly to belly pictures of 2 close friends. They are both tiny people so they are not as big as I am. One of them is just a week ahead of me (although we may be delivering the same week now) and the other is 2 weeks behind me. YAY for babies! I can't wait to take side by side baby pictures with our babies! It will be so interesting to see the difference in size!

Thank you Nurse Oblivious!

2009-08-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I went into Martinez hospital to have my weekly fetal monitoring done (by the way, cause I've been bad at blogging lately, Since week 34 I've had to have fetal monitoring twice a week. No big deal and baby is super healthy and very silly). So I get to the hospital and all of a sudden they decide to run this "code red" drill and shut the elevators down. I thought, ok I'll just wait till the drill is over (since labor and delivery is on the 5th floor and I wasn't about to take the stairs). Well 10 minutes go by and after sitting next to some crazy person in the lobby, I decided to just take the stairs and take it one level at a time. So off I went. I made it up all 10 flights of stairs (2 flights per floor)!! Go me! Of course I was out of breath cause not only am I almost 9 months pregnant, but also totally out of shape. It was a workout, but I was proud I did it!
So I get up there and the nurse that was there wasn't the usual nurse that takes care of me. No big deal. She gets me all set up and gets me some ice water. She does the ultrasound first and then gets the monitor going. About 5 minutes later she takes my blood pressure. She didn't look at it right away and when she finally did she said, "wow, that's high! Have you been diagnosed with high blood pressure at all?" I said, "no, I just had my doctors visit on Friday and everything was perfect". I then just thought that it honestly had to do with climbing 10 flights of stairs and even though I wasn't out of breath anymore, my body was still recovering. So she runs it again...still high.
She then begins to ask me questions about any other symptoms I might be having or have experienced. Yes to some and no to others, but nothing out of the ordinary for me. So she begins to tell me about Pre-eclampsia (sp?). What it is, what it can do and how it's cured. She tells me she want to go ahead and take a urine sample to check for protein and then do some blood work to check for something else and also told me I would be there a little longer because of it.
So off I went to the bathroom and then she had moved me into a new room and hooked me all up again. She set the blood pressure thing so it would check it every ten minutes or so. The nurse came back and said my urine was just fine and that someone would be in soon to take my blood. She also said that her shift was over and "so and so" was going to be taking over. The lady came in and took my blood and was off to the lab. Mind you, I had just been to the Pittsburg health center before I came to the hospital to have have some blood taken for some routine checks, so I had to be poked in the same spot twice in one day...OUCH!
At this point, I had been there for about 2 hours. The new nurse came in (who was very nice) and said she wanted to check my blood sugar levels. So she got her crazy kit out and took my levels. Those were super high! I think I knew why, but I wasn't about to say, " oh it's probably because I ate McDonald's for lunch because I was super low and also had no time to stop anywhere else in order to be here on time." But it still was oddly high, so I told her, "let's try it on my machine". Sure enough, my numbers were still a little high, but not at all as high as hers. She had a super big and old machine. Not at all caught up with today yet. So anyways, now that was their new concern.
Another half hour goes by, the nurse comes back in and says that my blood work came back totally fine as well, but they still would like to send me home with what they call "the 24 hour urine test" just to get a more accurate reading and try and see why my blood pressure was still high.
THEN, all of a sudden, she looks over at my arm cuff (the blood pressure cuff) and says, "you know what? I think we need to find a cuff that fits a little better". She comes over to and grabs a new cuff, straps it on, runs my blood pressure and what do you know... my blood pressure is perfectly fine now! The stupid first nurse had THE WRONG CUFF ON THE WHOLE TIME!!!!
I couldn't believe that I had just spent 2 and a half hours in the hospital running all kinds of tests just to find out that goofball put the wrong size cuff on.
However, I still had to wait for a doctor to come and see me because they wanted to talk about my sugar level being so high. They were concerned. I assured them that my numbers are never like that and even showed them my chart. She thought it looked great and was ok with it. But yet, they still wanted to send me home with the 24 hour urine test just to completely cancel out any chance of Pre-eclampsia developing.
I'm glad that they are doing what they need to be doing to make sure everything is as perfect as it can be, but let me tell you, nothing makes you feel more like a 95 year old woman then having the pee in a little bowl and then have to pour it in a bucket and then "keep it on ice" as they told me! GROSS!!! And the nurse made a big point about how every drop for the next 24 hours needs to be collected. I'm so glad it's only 24 hours, but even that is such a pain!
Bud laughed when he saw the collection bucket sitting in ice next to the toilet. He asked if I felt like an old woman and I said, "heck yes I do! It's the window into our future". I hope to heck it's not. What a pain! I think it just feels like more of a pain, only because I know everything will be fine and this whole thing wouldn't have even happened if Nurse Oblivious had used the right size cuff on me!
So glad this pregnancy is almost over! HURRY IZZY!!!