February Favorites

February Favorites!

I know I've told you before that Asher LOVES Thomas Rhett, well so does his Mommy and The Sister!  We saw him open for Brantley in November and he was awesome.  His first single came out this month and although I like the acoustic version much better I was so excited it hear this on the radio yesterday.  I bought his CD a few weeks ago and it is one of Asher's favorites.  He calls this song "stick it in your pockets."  He's so dang cute.

Sleepytime Herbal Tea

A big Thank You to Mel Brucker for telling me about the Sleepytime Tea K-Cups!  I do not like tea but decided to try this since I've been having trouble sleeping.  It doesn't taste all that bad (like spearmint) and I think it really helps!

Wen Cleansing Conditioner

I haven't used "shampoo" for several days now.  That seems weird.  While I was home sick I saw this stuff on QVC and they totally convinced me to try it.  It isn't traditional shampoo and is a little hard to get used to but so far I love it.  It has been great for Asher's hair as well!

28 Week Dr Appointment

Weight Gain This Month: 3 lbs

Total so Far: 24 lbs

Belly Measurement: 29-30 cm

Brudder's Heart Rate: 130's

Last Friday Dr Austman called to check on me.  After our conversation she pry wished she wouldn't have even called!  I've said several times over the last few months that I think this child is trying to kill me.  I've had more health issues since I've been pregnant than I think I've ever had in my life.  He is either going to come out an angel for all that he's put me through or be a complete hellion! 

I decided last week to give up on all medications (for my migraines) and just suck it up.  This poor baby has been through enough medications while I've been pregnant.  I give up.  The migraines have been worse - 3 last week.  Then I had some double vision last weekend that literally had me on the floor begging Asher to go find a phone - I was totally freaked out.  Add that to the "flu-like" symptoms I had this past weekend along with a nice eye infection and I'm doing just great.

I also had my glucose screening yesterday - yum!  Dr Austman also told me that we need to pick a date by the end of April for a C-Section that is within a week of my due date either way.  This is just a date that says if I hadn't had him naturally by then that we'll take him.  I will not be induced so she wants to have a date nailed down in case Brudder decides he doesn't wanna come out.  She is going on vacation the end of May so I need to have this lil bugger before then!  She also confirmed that they did not see the band in my 20 week ultrasound!  So happy that the band issue is completely behind us.  I go back in 4 weeks then we are down to every 2 weeks!  Time is flying by!

28 Weeks

Yes, I know these are terrible pictures.  But I was in a hurry this morning and Asher was throwing a fit about my belly being out again.

28 Weeks with Asher

How far along?: 28 Weeks

How big is baby?: 2 and 1/4 lbs and 14.8 inches long!

Weight gain/loss?: Right around 20 pounds - but I find out today how much I've gained in the last 4 weeks because I have my 28 week appointment and glucose test!  At least this time I'm pretty sure I didn't gain the 9 pounds that I did last month :)

Stretch marks?: Not that I can see but with the way my belly is growing it wouldn't surprise me!

Maternity clothes?: Yes! But a lot of them are getting too small!  I hate to buy new ones but when I purchased most of my maternity clothes (I hit the clearance racks all year) I was about 30 pounds lighter and NOT pregnant.  Evidently I thought I would stay that small....

Sleep?:  Decent.  Asher peed the bed 2 times a couple of weeks ago so I made him go back to pull-ups until he's been dry for one week.  He's done awesome but that also means that he gets up once a night to go potty.  That would be because this Mommy just can't tell him no when he wants "Just a widdle sip of water.  I's thiiiirsty!"

Food cravings?: Nothing I can really think of right now.  My cravings haven't been all that bad lately - hence me thinking I haven't gained as much weight.

Gender?: Another Brudder!

Movement?: Oh yes.  Sometimes I just sit there and rub whatever part is sticking out and beg him to please move so he isn't killing me.

Belly button?: Out. Can't believe how early it happened this time - and its looking a little indecent.

Tid Bits

This has kind of been a weird week.  Have you noticed my lack of posting?

• I had Monday off - 2 Mondays in a row and it was great!  Asher and I hung out all day and cleaned and did laundry.  Then we made dinner and I actually had my parents over for a change. 
• Tuesday we had the funeral for my Great Uncle.  This came the day after they buried his Grandson after a tragic car accident - what a hard week for Glo's side of the family.  Weird thing is - Nikki, the girl I work with, its her Great Uncle too.  My Grandma's Sister is/was married to her Grandpa's brother.  How random.
• Tuesday night was family dinner night.  Mom made Marlboro Man Sandwiches which are soooo yummy.
• My Mom, Grandma Jane and Great Aunt Annie bring Asher to Pontiac to have lunch with me every Wednesday.  Its my favorite day of the week!
• Wednesday Dustin left for work at 6:45 and didn't get home until 9:15.  He works extra hard when his Dad is gone on vacation. 
• Yesterday I dropped Asher off at the sitter, dropped Boo off at Mom and Dads - then realized that there was no possible way I could wear the pants I had on all day.  They were just too tight on my belly.  So I went back home and changed.  I wore jeans and it was only Thursday.  Again - whoops.
• Last weekend I made skinny jeans out of a really ugly old pair of maternity jeans.  I used this tutorial and they literally took me 10 minutes.  And they didn't even fall apart when I washed them!
• I got my blog books in the mail.  I had to break them down into 2 installments because they have a maximum picture load of 1500.  Wow.  I love getting these in the mail.
• Tomorrow my Uncle Bob is coming to do my wood floors in the kitchen.  I'm so excited.  Dustin is working the Home Show in Forrest so Asher and I will head over there and have a look around.

I took one measly picture this week.  This is last Thursday when Asher and I headed to Gibson City with Mom and Grandma Jane to meet Miss Mel and the kids for dinner at The Bayern Stube.  I hadn't been there since Mom's birthday in November and I was due for some red cabbage!  Asher ate a ton of my steak and some cabbage too.  He loves that place - especially looking at all of the "animals."  I told Gunther as we were leaving I would make sure that I'm in the hospital with Brudder on a Thursday because thats the only day they serve lunch.  When I had Asher Mom went and got me some Hungarian Goulash Soup and it was AWESOME.

Mr Sandless!

My cousins Ryan & Milissa recently started a new business with Mr. Sandless!  The wood floors in my entryway had seen better days with all of the wet boots and traffic that goes through there so I wanted to be one of their first customers.  My Uncle Bob came yesterday and did them and they look great!  He was done in just a couple of hours and we could walk on them an hour later!  Good thing too because thats the only way into our house.  The pictures don't do it justice but they look great - makes me wonder why we didn't do something like this sooner :)

Years of wear and tear and being the first thing that wet/muddy boots hit made our entryway pretty rough.

Before - it doesn't look all that bad, but trust me.  It was.

After!

And just so you can see the difference here is a before and after shot right next to my stairs.  Pretty amazing that this was done in just a couple of hours!  My kitchen is next :)

Tid Bits

 Thoughts and happenings this week.... Make that 2 weeks since I didn't post last Friday

• Jessie made my day last Tuesday when she emailed me and asked me if I wanted the pre-sale code for the Brantley Concert in April!  Ummm is that even a question worth asking?!?!  I've been counting down all week until the tickets went on sale.
• **UPDATE**  I was sicker than a dog last week and totally missed buying Brantley tickets.  I was so sick I didn't even care.  Kind of bummed now though.
• Acid reflux is here - hopefully not to stay.  This past week it has been killing me and I never had it with Asher.  All along I've said that there is NOTHING the same about this pregnancy compared to Asher's.
• I've hardly used my camera lately.  When I do I just pick it up and shoot in auto mode.  I'm hoping to work on this in the coming weeks.  I wanna brush up on some skills before little man arrives.
• I also want to try to teach The Sister some basics.  I'm still hoping for a VBAC and I really want a birth photographer but I can't see having someone on call (or that I want in the room) so I'm hoping she can do this for me.  She always wanted to be in the room with Asher so I'm giving her a job!

On the way up to Wisconsin Mom and I played around with PhotoBooth on Dad's IPad.  I'm sure my Aunt Kristi and Cousin Milissa got a kick out of us sending it to them.  Give me a couple more months and my face really will look like this.  I about peed my pants I was laughing so hard - but then again - it doesn't take much these days.

Asher riding his scooter to the car.  In the snow.  In shorts and cowboy boots.

Thats how we roll.

Sending our cousin Kate a text with a thumbs up.  Her and the PC girls cheerleading squad won State!

My view last Wednesday of all the monitors hooked to my belly.

My Mom's view as I was saying "WTF?" when she was taking this picture.  I thought for sure it would be on FB.

And one just for fun .  As I was going through the old pictures on my phone I came across this one.  These are my cousins Heidi and Milissa in Vegas for my 21st Birthday circa 2007.  This was after the Thunder From Down Under and Coyote Ugly - and that is a bathroom counter.  Hehe. 

Wordless Wednesday

Maternity Shirt Re-Do's

A couple of weeks ago I was so over my maternity clothes.  I decided to take a couple of those shirts I had from Asher that I never wore and try to make them just a little bit cuter... if it was possible.

I started with one of the ugliest ones I had.  That way if I totally ruined it I could throw it away.

Just not flattering!

After seeing this tutorial on Pinterest I found out that ruching the side seams is actually much easier than I what  I did on the swim suit. 

I measured about 4 inches down from the arm hole and about 2 inches up from the bottom hem.  The I measured the space in between divided it in half and added about 1.5 inches.  Got all that?  I then cut a piece of elastic that length and pinned it the 2 inches from the bottom and 4 from the top.

I then secured the elastic right on top of the seam where the top pin was (making sure to back stitch).  Then just stretch the elastic to come down and meet the other pin and sew.  It will look pull itself together and you're done!

I also like a more banded bottom so I cut a small slit in the inside hem of the shirt.  I measured a piece of elastic around my waist and fed it through with a safety pin.  Make sure to pin the other end to the shirt so it doesn't pull through!  Then I just sewed the elastic ends together really good and sewed up the hold I cut in the shirt.

Still not exactly cute but its bettter!

Asher thought I was pretty.  Thats all that matters anyway!  And this took about 20 minutes.

So I grabbed 2 more shirts I paid about $3.00 each for and I had never worn.

And did the same thing!

26 Weeks

How cute is he? 

I told him I was gonna take pictures and he yelled back "wait for me!" 

26 Weeks with Asher 

How far along?: 26 Weeks

How big is baby?: A pound and 2/3 and measures 14 inches long

Weight gain/loss?: 18 pounds.  Lost a few when I was sick.

Stretch marks?: Not that I can see.

Maternity clothes?: Yes!  I ordered a few new things that have been coming in the last week.  Thank God because I'm getting down to a very small section of my closet that actually fits.

Sleep?: Well normally its pretty good.  But while I was sick I don't think I slept more than 30 minutes at a time.  It was awful!

Food cravings?: I didn't eat for like 3 days last week.  The thought of food made me sick.  But I have been craving and drinking a lot of Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade Kool-Aid.  Yeah, not the best thing to drink but its yummy!  Mom had some at her house to mix with Blue UV but since I can't add vodka to mine I started just drinking the Kool-Aid and every time I left her house I'd swiped a pack.  Saturday I finally broke down and bought my own.

Gender?: Another Brudder!

Movement?: There was a party in my belly this week.  I can sure tell he's 14 inches now!

Belly button?: Out. Can't believe how early it happened this time!

Deja Vu

About 3:00 Wednesday morning I woke up with a migraine and the worst lower back pain ever.  I didn't know what the deal was but I just laid there for the longest time because the thought of getting up was making it worse.  Finally about 45 minutes later I got up and took one of the Tylenol 3's that Dr A gave me for migraines.  I laid back down for a little while and couldn't stand the back pain anymore.  So at 4 am I was up and running water to take a bath.  That was the only thing that seemed to help.  It was when I was up and walking around that I noticed how crampy my lower belly was.  I soaked in the tub for about 15 minutes and just when I was getting out Asher started yelling from across the hall that he peed the bed.  Great.

So I took the sheets off and everything off his bed, wiped him down and put him in bed with Dustin.  I went downstairs and put everything in the washer and laid on the couch.  Asher came down a little later and told me to come upstairs.  So I laid down with the boys and not 15 minutes later I was running for the bathroom because I was so nauseous.  What a WONDERFUL morning!  I called my boss because I knew there was no way I was going to work and Mom came and picked Asher up.  I called the Dr office when they opened to talk to Dr Austman but after an hour of her not calling me back (told you I was in pain) I called again and told them just to make me an appointment and I'd come to Gibson.  Of course I couldn't get in until 2:30 but thankfully Mom and Asher were with me.

At first I thought maybe I had a bad UTI.  Of course in the back of my mind I had looked up preterm labor and I had several of those "symptoms" too.  So she said my urine came back fine and was concerned it might be preterm labor.  So she did a test in the office that would check for something that would be present if I was actually in labor and sent me to the OB at the hospital across the street.  At this point I was starting to freak out.  She asked me if the cramps I was feeling were contractions but I never went into labor with Asher so I wasn't real sure.

When we got up to OB the nurse was waiting in the hall - just like they were the night I had Asher.  It was like deja vu.  So they got me in a room and all hooked up.  They gave me something in an IV and took the sample I brought in to send it to the lab.  Then they sent someone in to do an ultrasound to check the length of my cervix.  Brudder was hooked up to a monitor and they checked me for contractions.  Dustin got there about an hour afterward and then Dad came to pick Asher up because he isn't good a sitting for a long period of time!  After about 3 hours in the hospital Dr Austman came over and said that everything came back good and she wasn't real sure why I was having the pain.  The nurses tried telling me maybe I slept on it wrong and I seriously wanted to hit them.  I was in TERRIBLE pain - this wasn't from sleeping on my back wrong.  So they gave me soemthing for the pain and we went home.

And then I laid in bed for 2 more days and moaned, and vomited, and had chills and then sweats and a fever.  It was awful.  Thursday morning I thought I had  the flu but the vomiting only lasted half a day.  I talked to Dr Austman again on Friday and she said that it could either be a raging bladder infection that somehow didn't show up on my test along with severe constipation.  Fun stuff!  She went ahead and sent me in a script for an antibiotic and a new medicine for my head.  After about 3 doses of antiobotic I was starting to feel much better. 

I also went to the chiropractor twice in those couple of days in case I was out of line.  And I was but just a little bit.  So I'm still not sure what was going on but I really thought I was dying.  Feeling better today, just tired.  Being sick sucks but being pregnant and sick is 10 times worse.

Rough Week

I've had a rough week.  More on this when I'm not posting from my phone
But this is how I spent my wednesday afternoon/evening:

So Much and So Little Has Changed

I snapped this picture a couple of weeks ago.

And I instantly thought of this photo

Asher was less than a week old.

I can't believe how much Asher has changed in the last 2.5 years.  He is such a big boy and SO tall.  Do you think when he's 7 - 10 - 13 - 18?!?!  he'll still wanna cuddle with us on the couch, give me lots of kisses and tell me he's my boy?

Kalahari - Saturday

On Saturday morning we headed down to the water park.  I was a little nervous about how Asher would react because usually things like that are just a little "too much" for him.  But I was surprised that he loved it!  What a good weekend for my little man.

Kalahari gets a "thumbs up" from Asher!

Kisses for TeeTee

The guys checking out people coming down the "worst" water slide.  I think they were trying to decide if they wanted to do it.  You stood in a capsle and they literally dropped the floor out from underneath you and you went straight down.  Dustin said it was crazy.

Evidently Josh thought so too.

He was sore for a couple of days.

This place really was amazing - and huge.  Have I said that?

Next Dustin and Josh thought they would race each other.

I thought all their facial expressions were hilarious.

I think they had fun.

I love this kid.  He's a pretty boy.

Next they tried their hand at the wave pool.

This thing was pretty cool. 

After the water park someone was tired so we went back so he we could have a nap. 

I love sleeping little boys. 

Do you think when he's 18 I'll still wanna kiss his baby feet? 

Ok.  Story.  On Saturday Dad and Kevin took off because water parks really aren't their "thing."  We had no idea where they were going or what they were doing.  Little did Dad know Kevin was taking him to a shoe store an hour away.  I think Dad would have rather gone to the water park.  But Kevin totally made up for it because after that they went on a tour of local hole-in-the-wall bars.  They just stopped whenever they saw what looked like a local hang out.  This was right up Dad's alley.  One of the bars they came across was selling raffle tickets for a ham.  I guess they do this every Saturday and it draws a little crowd and everyone is vying for this ham.  So of course they bought tickets.  Wouldn't you know Kevin won?  They said the local people were none too happy that they walked in and won their ham.  They said they about had to back out of the door.

Yeah, a ham.

My Lil Man gettin Sauced at Famous Dave's.  I had a root beer that night.  He must have thought that looked pretty good because he kept begging me for one.  I thought, what the heck, we're on vacation.  He drank 3 of them.

Before dinner the girls ran to an outlet mall across the street.  I found both Dustin and Asher quite a bit of stuff.  Of course we couldn't get out of there without riding the helicopter first!