The other blog

Since the end of my pregnancies tend to be full of fun visits to the doctor I’ve updated the pregnancy blog more than this one reciently.  SORRY.

I do have pictures from halloween and the week we were out but I can’t find the cable to connect my phone to the computer so I can 0nly show you what I happened to upload to facebook already.

Trick-or-Treat with Daddy

"NANDY!"

Last week JD and I spent a lot of time out of the house so that we could avoid getting sick.  We had a great time visiting family and going places but in the long run the kid still ended up with a fever.  I honestly think it’s because of some molars he’s got coming in but we did take him into the doctor to get tested for H1N1 anyway.  The test was negative so that was happy news.  He spent one day as a cuddly kid with a fever and then he was back to being the active toddler he is.  THANKS to those of you that let us invade for a little while.  It was fun to avoid bed rest for a few days.  By the time he got his fever my body was screaming at me to get back to bed.  Contractions and all.  I still enjoyed the few days out.

Playing with mommy at KK's House

The Bean Museum

Watching Conner play Soccer

 

Our Halloween Week

The major part of our week was the hospital/baby issues we had, but if you want to read about all that check out THIS post.  So many good things happened I just want to keep one post drama free. 

Thursday morning I took JD in for his first official haircut.  Until now I’ve always just buzzed his head when it got too long but this time I wanted him to have it a bit longer.  We went to Cookie Cutters in Lehi and it was worth every penny.  He was the first customer of the day so he got to pick out any seat he wanted.  We opted for a blue car that he could honk the horn on.  He also got to pick out a Winnie the Pooh movie to watch during the cut, but the biggest hit was the bubbles that he could try and blow during the haircut.  I ended up blowing them at him any time he started to get worried about what the girl was doing and it worked like a charm.  He’d giggle and laugh.  The little cut he got turned out very cute and we’ll probably take him back there again since it was so hassle free.  At the end they gave him a balloon and sucker, his favorite part of the day.

After getting his hair cut I took him to get a trick-or-treating pail.  We found a cheap Elmo one and he was so excited.  All the way home I heard “Melmo, nandy, tank too.” then he would kiss the pail on the nose.  It was so funny.  Jeremy’s been trying to get him to say trick-or-treat but it’s just not gonna happen.  He’s going to be Nemo for Halloween tonight and I’m excited to take some pictures!  Last year it was all about over his head, at least this year he knows what candy is.   I may drive him and Jeremy around so that I get to see him trick-or-treat.  We’ll see.  I’m not guessing he’ll last very long.

When we got home the stuff I ordered from Diapers.com showed up!  I ordered it Tuesday night and it got to the house before noon on Thursday.  Pretty snazzy.  JD and Parks loved playing with the box, I think I know what to get him for Christmas now.    It all came, no errors and I’m still excited about the awesome deal we got.  If anyone wants to try them out remember to use promo code MAUSS to get $10 off your first order.

Here are some other photo’s I had on my phone, enjoy their awesomeness:

 

Playing at the Doctors Office

Looking at all the "Punkins"

I'll take this one!

Sunday afternoon with Daddy

Hairbows I made for Gwen

 

 

Diapers and More

Today was a busy day so lets just do bullet points, shall we:

• Jeremy managed to pull a muscle in his lower back this morning while he was putting on his pants.  Poor guy, not even a good story about how it happened.
• High Risk appointment was Okay.  We saw a doctor I’ve not seen before (and won’t have to see again) and he was more interested in hearing himself talk than listening to what I had to say or reading my records.  Can’t wait to see the doctor I’m used to again.
• Scheduled Non-Stress tests for the baby twice a week for the next 4 weeks. 
• Pi’ikea came and worked on Jeremy’s back since it was more than I could do right now. (THANKS A MILLION)
• Had to go re-sign paperwork on the car.
• Filled up my car with gas.

The most exciting part of the day was buying diapers.  SERIOUSLY.  We have to use Huggies Supreme diapers for JD or he tends to get diaper rashes really bad.  Trial and error have taught us this.  Sadly they are pretty expensive so I’ve become a queen with diaper coupons.  This week I found a $10 off coupon for diapers.com so I thought I would give them a try.  They happen to be having a HUGE sale right now and I was able to get (all industrial sized):

• 3 boxes always maxi pads (sorry guys, but it’s life)
• 1 box diapers
• 1 box wipe refils
• Glass bottles for Gwen (at almost 1/2 the price I’ve seen them elsewhere)
• Nursing pads (sorry again guys)
• Bubble bath (JD LOVES bubble bath)
• Diaper Genie 2 Refils
• and children’s Tylenol

I saved $24.74 in coupons and the $10.00 off.  I also got free shipping and it will all be here on Thursday!  I’ll let you know if it all comes in one piece.  If anyone is interested you can get $10.00 off your first order by using the promotion code MAUSS during checkout.  I’m so nice eh?

Well I need to go see how poor Jeremy is doing.  He’s had a rough day.

Cardiology

Mom and I just got home from my most recent cardiology appointment and heart echo.   Today it took forever, not sure why but we just felt like we were sitting there for a long time.

The heart echo when viewed by the first 2 technicians and the doctors showed that my heart function had a slight decrease and is now lower than it was when I was pregnant with JD.   They then sent it to a specialist who read said there isn’t enough of a change to warrant much concern right now.  Other things are better than they were with JD’s pregnancy, my blood pressure for example.    I’m optimistic that I wont have to start any meds and we’ll still make it a few more weeks before they induce me but only time will tell.

We have an appointment with the high risk specialist on monday so we’ll see what she says about the newest development.

One Call

Jeremy was enjoying using my old blackberry without the problems I was having with it.  Then one day he wasn’t able to navigate using the track ball or keys anymore and had to go back to using his old phone.  Technically I knew the phone had a 90 warranty since it was a replacement but I wasn’t sure if they would honor it since I wasn’t the one using it anymore and they processed the new phone for me.  ONE phone call later Jeremy had them sending him a replacement overnight and a promise that if it broke down in the next year they would upgrade him to the next level blackberry free of charge.  Lesson to take from all this; I am no longer calling about problems, I will have Jer do it!  It took me 6 weeks and countless hours on the phone to get them to upgrade the phone and give me a discount!

Life with the new car has been wonderful.  For the first time since June I haven’t regretted getting a 2nd car.  I am no longer terrified to drive and JD loves it.  Every day he brings me his shoes and socks asking to go in the car.  I can’t say enough about Josh at Murdock Hyundai in Orem for working with us and taking such amazing care of the situation.  They didn’t have to do all they did and we really appreciate it.

After signing the paperwork for the new car on Wednesday night we took JD to the park to enjoy it before we start getting snow.  He had a blast with his daddy there to chase him around.  We picked up KK on the way there so she could play too.  JD just loves his cousins!

On Thursday Trish and I headed to the health department to get ourselves and the kids vaccinated for H1N1.  We showed up about an hour before they opened and were probably about 200 people back in line already.  By the time we left the line wrapped around the parking garage!  Once they opened the doors they were sure moving people through there fast.  Poor Deeds hated the shot and hid his little face in my shirt after they gave it to him.  When I was putting him back in the stroller he just kept rubbing his little thigh.  He did like the little sticker they gave him.  We go back in 4 weeks for his second dose.

New Car 2.0

Be still my beating heart!  I do believe we are finally done with the car saga.  The dealership agreed to take the car back and get us in something for the same price, problem is we are still rebuilding credit from my divorce so our scores aren’t stellar and the bank gave strict guidelines for what kind of car we could be in.  It worked in our favor and we actually ended up getting a much better car than we had before.  Instead of the Suzuki (I’ll never buy another one) we now own a Grey 2005 Chevy Impala.  Thanks to all your prayers, this has been quite the ordeal and I’m so thankful for our sales guy and the dealership sticking it out and taking the lemon car back when they legally didn’t have to.  Sadly they lost money after all is said and done but they have gained us as customers for life!

This week my new phone also came and so far no problems with calling or anything.  The dumb thing is Jeremy has been using the other one and he hasn’t had problems with it at all!  Guess it was something specific to my number?  I’ve enjoyed the camera on it since it’s a little better than the old phone.

How I found him one morning!

Happy and cuddling

On Thursday night the girls from school threw me a baby shower.  It was so fun to see them all and they really spoiled baby Gwen!  JD keeps trying to play with the pink rattles, it is cracking me up.  It’s going to be quite a shock for him when she comes and he has to share.  Thanks again ladies for the party, it was awesome.  I didn’t take any pictures and I haven’t gotten a chance to get them off my sister’s camera but I do have one picture of the spectacular diaper cake that they made for me!   It’s quite the work of art.  Mom and Trish made me an ABC’s book from some hand puppets I made when I was 5 years old.  It’s amazing and JD already loves looking through it.  It will be treasured for a long time!

While it’s been a very stressful week, everything has turned out amazing.  We are feeling very blessed!

We are ALIVE!

So much has been going on it’s been hard to find a moment that I want to sit down and blog.  Lets just start off where I left off before.

The stomach bug worked its way through the entire house with the exception of JD, Dad and Gray.  Thankfully it never hit too many people at once so the bathroom rotations were pretty good.  I can’t even imagine how bad it would have been if it had knocked us all out at once.

Jim Gaffigan

Last weekend Jeremy and I went to see Jim Gaffigan up in Salt Lake.  It was a great comedy show and it made me laugh so hard I started to get contractions.  Our seats were right up front and there wasn’t a seat in front of Jeremy so he got to stretch out his long legs.  We have had the tickets since June and so there was no way I was going to miss it.  Jeremy was able to book us an employee rate room for the night up there so I didn’t have to worry about driving back after the show.  The next afternoon we had lunch and then Jer had to get to work so I headed back home in my car…you know, the one we just got in June.

Let me start off this little segment by mentioning that dad has been driving the car too and from work without any major problems since I’ve been on bed rest.  The car drove fine all weekend until I was turning onto 5th south to get on the freeway and head home.  It died, mid turn.  The steering wheel locked up and if there had been ANY traffic of if I’d been shooting a gap there would have been a major accident.  Once I finally got it off the road I called dad in tears.  This car is out to get me, I think it doesn’t like that I own it OR it was punishing me for skipping on bed rest for 24 hours.  I was able to get it started again and took state street and back roads home.  It took me almost 2 hours for a drive that usually takes 45 minutes.  The car died 3 more times.  Dad took it straight to the dealership when I got home.  He happened to catch one of the owners at the dealership and they told him to leave the car.  Skip to today.  I called since I haven’t heard about the car and the stupid thing isn’t acting up for them at all so they can’t figure out what’s wrong with it.  The guys at the service center are getting just as sick of the car as we are since it’s been in about 5 times since we purchased it.  I’m expecting a call tomorrow about where we go from here.  Let me just tell you this has been one rollercoaster we never wanted to be on.

About 6 weeks ago my phone started to act up by randomly failing to call out or send text unless I turned it off and on again.  After a lot of trouble shooting they finally just sent me a replacement phone.  That phone did the same thing so yesterday I got the 2nd replacement phone in the mail.  Guess what, started to do the SAME THING.  Finally they told me to go get a new SIM card for the phone.  Mom ran out and did that for me today and GUESS WHAT!  Yep, same problem.  When I called back again tonight (3rd time today) they finally decided it wasn’t the phone at all.  They first offered me a different phone.  Not a blackberry but something they thought was close enough.  I just don’t believe that the blackberry is the problem since mom has the same phone and not the same problems.  I’ve had a blackberry for years, I’m an addict I know.  The thought of going to a different phone was not something that made me really excited.  After a lot of time letting them know how disappointed I was and more time spent on hold they finally offered me the Blackberry Curve 8900, the newest model they have at a discounted upgrade price.  After even more discussion since they were going to extend our contract for the new phone I talked them in to letting us keep the current phone (so Jeremy could use it or sell it).  I’m feeling good about the way things worked out   I have 14 days from when I get the new phone to decide if I like it and to make sure the same problem doesn’t happen again.  The perk for all of you in blogging land is that the new phone has a better camera on it and since I’m a slacker and most of the photo’s I have of JD are on my phone they shouldn’t be as grainy.

Blackberry Curve 8900

Life is otherwise pretty good right now.  We are hoping to make it into November before they induce me to have Gwen.  I’m trying to get back into the habit of bed rest but that 24 hours out of it last week has made it hard to stay down again.     JD is growing at a surprising rate and I’ve been scrambling to make sure he has enough winter stuff since the weather got cold.  I think we are finally set, at least until the next growth spurt.   He is also talking so much more and I love it.  Jeremy is still working like a mad man but he LOVED his break last week.  I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to top getting him those tickets for Jim Gaffigan.  I may have ruined every birthday and fathers day gift from her on out.

6+ Pounds Later

Here is a quick rundown of the past weekend up to now:

• I got a stomach bug on Friday afternoon
• Friday night I started to have contractions and we had to go to the hospital.  They were able to stop everything with an IV that had fluids and antinausia medication in it.
• Friday later night/Saturday early I still “dealt” with the stomach bug, while trying to stay hydrated so I wouldn’t have to go back to the hospital.  Since I don’t normally throw up unless I am pregnant I remember asking Jeremy to kill me at one point.
• Saturday… ya… still sick.
• Sunday finally kept some food and liquids down, on the mend except for the bizarre back muscles I pulled thanks to all the intense sickness.
• Monday, other than the muscles I felt better than I had in days.  Even ran out with mom to buy JD’s diapers.
• Monday late……. Jeremy gets the stomach bug….
• Monday later/Tuesday morning neither of us get a lot of sleep due to Jeremy being sick.
• Tuesday early I finally convince Jeremy to call in sick to work, something he NEVER does.
• Tuesday afternoon I went to the cardiologist only to find out that I may have to switch high risk specialists and OB this late in the pregnancy if I want to keep my new cardiology team.   I have some decisions to make, ick.  Got my flu shot and found out that over the course of the weekend I lost 6+ pounds because of the sickness.
• Now, blogging and dealing with JD refusing to go to bed praying he doesn’t get the stomach bug since I’m still pretty queezy.

Aren’t you SO happy I caught you up?

Video’s of JD

The longer I sit in bed the harder it gets to sit in bed, but since I’m really starting to have a hard time breathing moving around a lot isn’t an option.

Today someone dropped off a little bag with a book, some gum and flowers.  There was no name so I’d just like to thank whoever it was.  I really appreciated it and the flowers are in a vase by the TV so I can see them all the time!  It really did make my day.

A few weeks ago I found really cheap subscriptions to TIME and Newsweek magazines and today they both came at once.  I LOVED sitting and reading them cover to cover.  I feel a bit more in tune with some current events, daytime TV doesn’t really keep you posted unless you want celebrity gossip.

Here are a few video’s from our little outing outside today.  Sorry the quality is really bad, I need to find our camera so I stop taking all our pictures and video on my phone.

Disc Golf and Dog Dishes

I had a nice long blog typed up on my blackberry and then the thing froze and I lost it all.  THE AGONY.  I’ve been dealing with T-mobile all day trying to figure out what is wrong with it.  Sadly I think they may have to replace it. 

Pi’ikea brought me over the TV series Roswell to entertain me.  It’s kept me occupied for the afternoon so I’m very grateful.  Dad’s decided he wants to watch it too since it has aliens in it.  It makes me laugh.

We spent some more time outside today.  First Deeds played with the disc golf stuff then it was all about the dog dish.  Don’t worry, I had just washed it out and refilled it so I let him enjoy himself.  I personally like when he dumped it over his head.  Once I refilled it and he kept standing in it I decided to just put him in a swimsuit and fill up the little pool for him to splash in.  His cousins thought this was a great idea and they all joined him.  I do believe JD’s favorite part was being sprayed with the hose.  What kid LIKES that?  Mine apparently.  We finally had to come inside because I way boiling hot.  I don’t think the lovely compression stockings I have to wear were helping the situation.

I am looking forward to Labor Day because we get to see Jeremy for 2 WHOLE DAYS!  He has Monday off and thankfully doesn’t have to be at the radio station so we get to see him Sunday and Monday.  JD will love it, I can only imagine how much I’ll be hearing him say “daddy” on Tuesday when life starts back up again for Jeremy.  Poor Jer needs this break so badly and I’m so happy he’s getting it!