12 Weeks

Today I am 12 weeks pregnant.  Just one more week until I start the supposed honeymoon stage of pregnancy.  Boy am I ready for that stage!!  For some reason this pregnancy has been really hard on me.  I haven't been throwing up or anything, but I've been fighting a cold almost the entire time, I've had hives and itchy skin, I've head migraines that come once every couple weeks and last for a good two days at a time, I've been tired, crabby, miserable, and exhausted.  Not exactly a fun person to be around lately... heck, I can't even stand being around myself!  With that said... I've decided to try to make a couple changes within myself.  I need to remember that I have to do things for myself and not just for everyone else.  I need to take time for myself and find things that make me happy.  So last night after putting the kids to bed I decided to sit on the couch and read for an hour.  I love reading, but never seem to do it.  I have been reading the same book (400 pages) for the past year and a half.  I would LOVE to finish it and move on to another book.  Maybe I can finish it tonight... only 50 pages to go.  It felt so nice to disappear into my book and enter a world of quietness and relaxation.  Why don't I take the time to do this more often?!  The second thing that I started doing is exercising.  I am not exercising to lose weight or get some awesome body, because during pregnancy that is pretty much impossible.  Instead I am exercising because I've heard that it releases your natural mood enhancing endorphins and makes you happier naturally... and yup, I definitely need that!  So this morning I woke up bright and early and ran on my elliptical for 20 minutes.  So far, so good!  Now if I could just make these two things a habit at least a couple times a week...

Merry Christmas

Pictures

Visit our flickr site to see all of our updated pictures from the past couple months! 

www.flickr.com/photos/ckbartlett

11 weeks

I am 11 weeks today and finally starting to feel better.  My hives/rash are better, my queeziness is less, and my energy is slowly returning!  Phew!

10 weeks and 2 days

Baby and I had another routine appointment this morning.  Daddy joined us at the appointment and was lucky enough to get to see the baby!  Baby was wiggling all around and had a perfect looking heart beat!  My blood pressure was 118/78 which is pretty good and I've only gained 1 pound.  Yah me!  :-)  We go back again in 4 weeks for our next check up! 

Here is me at 10 weeks and 2 days.

Here is baby at 10 weeks and 2 days.

 

A PACKED WEEKEND!

Mariah had 10 friends spend the night on Friday for her 14th birthday celebration.  The girls were really well behaved and Ethan loved all the extra attention! 

Cory picked up his new snowmobile on Friday night.  I'll have to admit... it is a pretty awesome machine...

Yes... Ethan is wearing my jacket and Mariah's tiara. LOL, he will be mad at me later in life for this picture...

Mariah and the dance team performed at the VETS home and in the Waterford Christmas parade on Saturday.  They did a fantastic job!!  Such a great group of girls!

On Sunday, the community came together and built a wonderful snow fort for a little boy that has been fighting leukemia since 2006.  Mariah and Cory were a big part in helping with this.  Very proud of my family....

The kids got a letter from Santa on Sunday!  Mariah and Ethan ran over to the couch, opened the letter and Mariah read it to Ethan.  (precious moments) :-)

  

Happy 14th Birthday Mariah!!

Happy Birthday Mariah!  14 years ago today an amazing little girl entered this world. 

Over the years she has brought so much joy to myself and everyone around her. 

It is an honer to have her as my daughter. 

xoxo LOVE YOU MARIAH xoxo

Love Always, Mom

Soon to be a family of FIVE :-)

Yes, that's right!  We are pregnant and expecting baby number 3!! :-)  We are very excited and I am starting this post today, but probably won't publish it for a couple more weeks.  We have started to tell our family and a couple friends, but are waiting to put the word out publically until we are a little further along. 

Today (November 5th, 2010) I am 7 weeks pregnant according to "the charts" but I really think I'm closer to the start of 6 weeks.  My first appointment with my doctors next week should give us a better idea.  I have been feeling okay besides a couple days of hormonal migraines; however, today my stomach is turning for the first time.  I really indulged in many treats yesterday... I will never be doing that again... I think I have a food hangover today.... or I guess they also call this morning sickness.  Yuck... luckily I haven't actually gotten sick yet... just feel icky. 

The first person we told was Mariah.  We put a little t-shirt on Ethan and had him walk down the hallway to her room.  She read his t-shirt and then looked at us and said... "big brother?!" She gave us a look of 'you did what...' Ummmm is she excited?!  Don't worry, she will come around... this just means that she might have to move from the big bedroom to the smaller bedroom so that Ethan and baby can share the bigger room.  She'll adjust.  (fingers crossed)

**Well, Mariah has known for almost two weeks now and she is definitely coming around more to the idea of having two little sibblings in the house.  :-) Yay! **

A week after telling Mariah, we decided it was time to tell our family.  We called our parents and siblings and shared our great news!  Telling my mom was probably the most exciting for me.  We were able to facetime using our iphones and show her Ethan's t-shirt!  It was hard for her to make out what Ethan's shirt said, but one of my step-brothers was able to read it and shouted it out from the background.  As soon as they realized what was going on they all started cheering as if they were in a sports bar and their favorite team just made a touchdown!  Is was an awesome way to spread the news!

What an exciting journey we have ahead of us!  Oh and by the way.. here is a picture of me at 6 weeks.  Nope... ya can't tell yet that I am pregnant.  I am hoping I can hide it for at least 6 more weeks. 

November 9th, 2010

I had my first appointment yesterday with the nurse educator.  She was very nice and gave me some awesome "reminder" pamphlets.  We talked about my due date and I told her that I was pretty sure I was closer to 6.3 weeks instead of 7.4 weeks.  She decided to order an ultrasound and was able to get me in that afternoon!  It was absolutely amazing getting to see our new little addition this early on.  The baby was tiny and a bit hard to find at first... but the tech found him/her and magnified the image... and we were able to see the tiny heart beating!  I think this is the moment that the entire pregnancy became very real to me.  Amazing how something so small can truly melt my heart instantly.   :-) 

According to the ultra sound I am just over 6 weeks.  Pretty much what I was guessing.  This gives us a new due date of July 5th, 2011.  I will meet with my doctor on Thursday though to comfirm the new date. 

Here is a little sneak peak at our soon to be new addition.  I told the tech that it looks like I swallowed my wedding ring... She said the baby is the small round dot and the ring next to it is the yolk. 

November 10, 2010

I met with my new doctor today.  I had only met her once before and I was very nervous about starting my third pregnancy with a new doctor.  Thankfully though, everything went really well.  She is so kind!  She also keeps an ultrasound machine in her room and likes to look at the baby through an ultrasound at most visits!  We are going to see a LOT of pictures of this baby!  :-) 

My doctor confirmed my new due date as July 5th, 2011.  Looks like we will be having a FIRECRACKER instead of a JUNE BUG!   That puts me at 6 weeks and 2 days today.  Kind of weird since I originally would have been 8 weeks tomorrow.  I feel like I am doing a chunk of this pregnancy over, but as long as baby is healthy and things are good... then I am a happy mama! 

November 16, 2010

Today I am back to being 7 weeks pregnant!  Things are still going well.  Morning sickness is kind of come and go...  luckily it still isn't too bad.  I was nervous this past Saturday because my sister and I took a bus down to Chicago for a day of shopping!  (through Johnson's)  I was afraid that the bus ride would give me motion sickness, but fortunately I did very well!  I even managed to walk and shop the entire day with no issues.  We had to stop for little snacks throughout the day, but I never complain about that. :-) 

November 17, 2010

I went to the dermatologist yesterday because I have this terrible rash that has been itching like crazy!  It started a couple days before I found out I was pregnant.  It started on my ankles... I would try so hard not to scratch them, but just couldn't help myself!  About 2-3 days after I found out I was pregnant, the rash started appearing on my stomach.  I knew then that it had to be baby related... I talked to my doctor about this and she didn't think it was pregnancy related, but really had no other answers for me.  So, for the past three weeks I have been in limbo and wondering why I am itching?!  I have been taking benadryl and putting a ton of lotion on the itchy areas.  I switched all soaps to sensitivie skin and fragrance free and still nothing made it go away.  Finally, yesterday when I saw the dermatologist... I learned that what I have are hives!  I am having a reaction to something and more then likely it's the fluctuating hormones in my body from the baby!  She started me on a daily allergy pill called XYZAL.  It is a class B drug which I guess is the best it gets when taking meds while pregnant... I am still not excited about taking it daily though.  I hate putting all these extra things in to the baby's body.  Please say some prayers for me and baby.... I am hoping these hives go away quickly and I can stop taking these extra meds.  Thanks!

December 1, 2010

Today I am 9 weeks and 2 days pregnant!  I've only gained about 2-3 pounds (more than I was hoping, but oh well). However, my clothes are getting tight and I am looking chunky... time to break out the boxes of maternity clothes. 

I've also decided that today is the day that I will finally post this message on our blog!  We have been telling people little by little and are finally ready for all to know!  YIPPY!!!!!



Thanksgiving Weekend!

Wow, have I really not updated the blog since my Halloween weekend post?!  Geesh... guess I have some catching up to do!  :-) Lots of things have been happening over the past month.  I will give you a giant update in the blog to follow, but first I want to finish this little post about Thanksgiving.  (okay, post got longer then expected...)

I took an entire week off work for the Thanksgiving Holiday and it was WONDERFUL!  I did tons of Christmas shopping, lots of sleeping in and nap taking with Ethan, a little bit of decorating, and spent some much needed time with family and friends! 

On Saturday night (Nov 20) we had our annual ladies night out.  We took a limo up to a piano bar in Milwaukee ~ 10 of us ladies ~ and had a really nice time.  The limo brought us back home around 2:30am... much past my bed time, but I managed to survive!  It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to our adventure again next year. 

On Monday, November 22, our town was hit with a tornado!  Luckily we had no damage to our home, but the RV place up the street had a couple campers tipped on their sides.  Downtown Union Grove got hit pretty bad though... a ton of down power lines, a couple gas leaks, a couple buildings with torn off roofs, some fences and trees were knocked down, but luckily no one was hurt!  Here is one picture that I took of our back yard during the storm.  Just looks like a typical rain storm. 

On Thursday, November 25, we had our family over to our house for Thanksgiving! Cory put the turkey in the oven bright and early and then went next door to play the annual football game with the guys. They all managed to stay safe this year! No broken ribs, broken fingers, or ankles... way to go guys!

After football, Cory came home and finished cooking the turkey.  He does really well with this so I don't even bothering attempting to help out... ;-)  well... this year I was in charge of basting the turkey while Cory played football, so I guess I did help a little.  My specialty is more in baking the pecan pies, cleaning and decorating the house, and getting the family ready for the occasion.  Here is a peak at our set up.  We managed to fit 17 people around one big Thanksgiving table.  It was really nice! 

And here is Cory getting ready to carve the turkey!

  

 

When the Thanksgiving festivities were over, we decided to put up the tree.  Cory and Scotty were out marking snowmobile trails so Mariah and I lifted the tree up from the basement section by section.  We  rearranged the family room, put together our tree, and fluffed out the branches one by one.  Hopefully we'll get to putting the decorations on it this week.  Ethan is in love with the Christmas tree and insists on having it lit up at all times. 

Speaking of Ethan... here is a picture of our little man with a face full of powdered donut (in daddy's truck - hee hee)!  Yup... mommy gave him the donuts... We took this picture while we were out driving around checking out all the damage from the tornado.

Well, that's all for now!  Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday!  Now on to kids birthdays and Christmas! 

Halloween Weekend

We had a wonderful Halloween Weekend!  On Saturday we went to the Moose for a kids Halloween party.  Ethan wore his John Deere costume proudly and Mariah "dolled" herself up as a rag doll.  By the way... she made her own costume - very creative child!  Oh yeah and I was a Foxy Lady. ;-) Ethan won first place in a costume contest!  Daddy and Ethan were very excited!  Great job Cory! 

On Saturday night we went to my dad and Kathy's for their annual Halloween party.  The kids went on a couple hayrides, carved pumpkins, and broke open a pinata!  On Sunday we went trick or treating in one of our favorite neighborhoods.  Our friends Miranda, Kevin, and Lucas came with us and Miranda took lots of pictures.  Thanks Miranda!  :-) 

I will add many more pictures to our flickr site soon.  :-)

Fall Walks, Ethan's Room, and John Deere John Deere!

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately and we have been spending as much time as possible outside!  This weekend Ethan and I went for walks around the yard with the dogs and looked at all the pretty colors of the leaves.  Ethan loved shouting out the names of all of the colors. 

Ethan giving Oscar loves: 

 Finding the tall grass and yellow leaves:

 Showing mommy a leaf (oops... his eyes were closed...):

 Enjoying the beautiful day:

Another thing we did this weekend was re-build Ethan's bed (again).  For those of you that don't know the entire story... Ethan's full bed used to be his crib which converted to a toddler bed and then a full size bed.  I bought the fancy conversion rails and we tried them out for a couple months but constantly had to reinforce them!  It was extremely frustrating and didn't feel safe at all.  This past weekend I went to Menards and bought a metal bed frame for $30 and Cory and I attached Ethan's headboard to it.  His bed is extremely sturdy now and we love that he no longer has a foot board!  Definitely a great buy! 

I had to put Ethan on his changing table in order to get a picture of his room while it was clean:

 I removed Ethan 'AKA the tornado' from the changing table and seconds later....

 Such a happy little guy :-)

Now for Ethan's favorite project that Cory and I have been working on (mainly Cory)... Ethan's John Deere tractor Halloween costume!  This thing is going to be awesome!!! It's about half finished, but it's already looking cool!  Ethan absolutely loves it.  :-)

Cory and Ethan taping the boxes together:

  Ethan eyeing up the green tape and wondering what daddy plans to do with it:

 Ethan realizing that daddy's building him a John Deere tractor... "I Love You DAD": 

 Cory adding the yellow stripes:

and... the WORKING headlights!!  (how cool is that?!)

Way to go Cory!!!  Ethan will remember this forever. :-)

Another Wonderful Weekend

This weekend was pretty busy.  On Friday night I had a Pampered Chef party at my mom's house.  Since it was at my mom's I brought Cory and the kids with me.  We had a really nice time, ate some excellent food, and had some great sales! 

Every year our neighbors have a huge Octoberfest Party in their back yard.  They rent bounce houses, hire a DJ, have lots of foods and drinks, a bon fire, and hay rides.  We had a ton of fun at their party on Saturday. 

On Sunday evening we made homemade pizzas.  The kids made their own personal pizzas and Cory and I made a big deluxe pizza with lots of fresh toppings! 

 We also closed the pool this weekend with the help of my brother-in-law.  :-(  Very sad to see the pool closed and am definitely looking forward to next May already. 

I don't do well in this cold weather... and speaking of cold weather... their was frost on the ground this morning... BURRRRRRRRR