Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

We actually had a party for Halloween! We celebrated Skylar's 2nd and Jaxon's 5th birthday (her cousin) since both of their birthdays are pretty close together in October with a Halloween party. The kids had a lot of fun, played games, ate food and then went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood.

Nikki (Jaxon's mom) made several games to play, bean bag toss, ring toss, bowling, etc. and we had glow-in-the dark tattoos and lots of other little goodies to give out. We had a pinata filled with candy, bobbing for apples, eat the doughnut without your hands while someone dangles it from the air with a string, and decorate your own Monster rice crispy.

For food we had mummy hotdogs, eyeballs, spider cookies, little pumpkins, oranges carved to look like pumpkins, punch with "ice" hands in it... and more.

And most of all, I'm just happy that we actually got to have a party, even though the weather could have been better. We noticed Skylar had a lot of little bumps all over her torso last night during tubby time and after doing some googling, saw that they looked just like the beginnings of Chicken pox. Just to be sure, we took her to the dr.'s today and was told that although they do in fact look like chix pox, since they have not begun to blister over, are not itchy, and she doesn't have a fever, it is probably being caused by something else. So, the party was still on!

After a lot of coaxing, we finally got Skylar to wear her Cat in the Hat outfit that I made, although she refused to wear her hat for the first half of the party.

The cutest little leopard ever!

Izzy, successfully retrieving an apple!

Skylar refused to bob for apples, but was kind enough to help hold the towel for Cheyanne. While she ate a doughnut. p.s. I have several pics of different kids bobbing for apples with Skylar in the background surreptitiously eating a doughnut...

Skylar's "monster" rice crispy treat. She really just wanted to eat the marshmallows.

Ahh, the famous "Skylar" face. This was a teddy bear that her aunt and uncle got her for her birthday and this was her face when she saw it. Not the most gracious of recipients. She hasn't learned how to act overly excited in the hopes that they will get you bigger and better things next time...

The big balloon toss- quite possibly the best part of the day for most of the kids. Just give them a room full of balloons to throw around.

The fam about to go trick-or-treating.

Notice the tail? Yea, she was cute. :)

Part of the gang!

I wish I had better pics of all the kids and all the decorations, but oh well. You'll just have to take my word for it that the kiddos were cute, the food was fun, spooky and yummy, and the house was nicely decorated (mostly in part to my wonderful hubby :)).

I passed!

I passed!

A little history: Last week I went in for an early glucose tolerance screening since I had gestational diabetes with Skylar. And I failed. :( I was really upset about this even though chances were high that I would get it again. But I had tried pretty hard to eat right and knock out a lot of carbs from my diet in an attempt to steer clear of the diabetic diet this go round.

So, I prepared myself all last week but planning low-carb meals, ditching basically all snacks, and letting go of my one soda day per week rule. And it was incredibly hard. I forgot that the worst part about gestational diabetes is that you crave what you can't have. And pregnancy cravings for me are pretty strong. I don't crave weird things or specific things, but if I think about a certain food, or hear a TV ad, etc. then I really crave that food until I get it. I downloaded diabetic recipes off-line and tried out a few... and tried to convince myself that they tasted just as good as the real thing. Not so really.

So, with a big fat "F" on my record, I was scheduled for a 3-hour glucose tolerance test this morning for a final slap in the face confirmation. And surprisingly, I passed! Everyone was really surprised, especially since I failed my first (out of four total) tests- my fasting one. Usually if you fail the fasting one, then you are a shoe-in for failing at least one more. Earning you a big diagnosis of gestational diabetes. But surprise, surprise, I passed all three of my next tests!

I'm not sure what this means next for me; I will probably have to test again at a later date b/c the further along your pregnancy is, the greater your chance of developing diabetes. Since I tested early this time in an attempt to be proactive and catch it early (that is how certain it is that I will develop it again), we had decided that if I was close to the limit, we would test again in a few weeks when most women test.

So for now, I will take my few extra weeks and be happy! I won't go overboard b/c I want to do right, but I will enjoy my cereals, breads, fruits and pastas with a lot of happiness... for a little while!

Portrait Photographer on the side?

As some of you may know (or can judge from the massive amounts of pics on this blog...) I love taking pictures. I would love to learn more about photography and perhaps start a productive side hobby doing portrait photography. Sooo... if you remember from a few posts back, there was a baby shower for a friend at work who had her baby girl. I asked if I could come take pics and went over this past weekend. It was actually much harder than I was prepared for, but I hope I got some good ones. The worst thing was putting my skills out there and not being able to deliver... Please keep in mind that none of these pics are touched up or edited. I would love to get photoshop, but that will have to wait. Maybe Christmas?

Here is Aftynne with baby Mackenzy. She is such a sweet baby, and Aftynne and Ray and great parents. It was so sweet to see them interact with her!

You can't see in this pic, but Ray is HUGE! I loved watching him with his little girl!

The family portrait...

I love how Aftynne is looking at Ray here, with Mackenzy making her feelings known. I think this was the only time she cried the entire time I was there.

Look at the difference in their head sizes!

The feet shot. It took forever to get a shot of her feet actually in focus- she was a wiggly thing!

And, a bit softer light up in her bedroom.

I love how happy she looks here laying on her mom's chest!

And for some reason, this might be my favorite shot.

Happy Birthday Skylar!

Yesterday was Skylar's 2nd birthday. I cannot believe that she is 2-years-old now, sometimes it really freaks me out... other times it is so normal I never think about it. We are having an "official" birthday party on Halloween for her, but wanted to do something small on her actual birthday to commemorate the event- even though she won't know the difference! She was actually really excited whenever we mentioned it, like she really knew what it meant!

We went to church in the morning and they sang happy birthday to her in the nursery, which she loved! Then we took the doggies for a walk in the park and she had a great time running and "walking" the dogs. Then we came back for pizza for lunch and a short non-nap. She sat and talked to herself/put diapers on her babies for 2 hours. After her nap, daddy took her shopping, just the two of them while I made her two birthday cakes (one for her and one for everyone else). When they got back, we watched part of a movie and played with balloons while waiting to open presents, eat McDonald's for dinner (she requested "burber and fies") and of course... cake! Sorry the pics are out of order- I still haven't mastered that art!

Since pretty much all of my family is sick with the flu or a croupy cough, it was just us and Ken's parents! And enjoy the pics!

Sky post-cake... Much cleaner than last year!

Attempting to use a fork

And then just digging in!

The big teddy cake for everyone else

And... Skylar's teddy cake! It took me FOREVER!

A little balloon action

Playing with one of her presents- an animal puzzle that makes sounds

Skylar and daddy watching tv

See the family resemblance??

More balloon fun!

Where's Skylar?

Oh, there she is!

"Girl you carrying so low they gonna put you on bed rest..."

So, I am sitting here at 4:00 in the morning, hating the fact that I couldn't fall asleep last night and have been waking up all night since I did fall asleep. I know I am going to be exhausted tomorrow!

And here I am, updating the blog. Yikes.

To start off with good news- Skylar has now peed in the potty two times! Both times at night right before her bath! Ken and I did our little song and dance routine and congratulated her, gave her a gummy vitamin early without making her brush her teeth first... etc. And she couldn't really care less. She just gave us one of her looks that says, "You guys are weird, I'm getting in the tub." If you know her at all, you know what I mean by "one of her looks." Ken and Skylar met me for lunch the other day and some of the ladies from school came over to say hello to her and she gave them "one of her looks" and they thought it was hilarious- wondering where she got all that attitude from! But I digress... peeing in the potty was a huge breakthrough for us, as we had pretty much given up hope at this point and were just waiting for it to happen one day. Skylar has known how to sit on the potty, wipe herself (and anyone else in the room) flush and then wash her hands for many months now. (It's actually a really cute process.) If she is in a room that does not have her little potty in it, and I am going potty, then she will squat, make the potty noises (her favorite is the "poot" sound) and then "wipe" herself (and me of course) even with all of her clothes still on. Very cute. Most of the time that she sits on her little potty, she will squeeze and squeeze and out will come some gas. She will look up in awe and say, 'I poot!!" and then search for it in the potty.

Well, for those who don't know, I went to a specialist to have another ultrasound done on the baby to get a more in-depth picture of the heart, kidneys and bladder. It was a much better experience this time around than at my dr.'s office. They said that baby is doing well, was only measuring a day behind my due date and looks good! She said not to worry about low birth weight, and it looks like all serious disabilities can be ruled out. So, we opted to not do an amnio because of the high associated risk involved and will just pray that all is healthy until this little kicker is born. I have another appt. on Monday to do an echo of pittbaby's heart and an early glucose intolerance test. Here's to praying that both of those are good! Chances are good that if I pass this test at 24 weeks, then one at 28 weeks will be normal as well. If I am borderline or already over the limit, it will be sad news for me. :(

So far I have gained 7lbs. since pregnancy, which is much better than this point last time (I think I was already like 14lbs. by 23 weeks) and I have been feeling much better. I fluctuate between feeling big and small. My feelings often revolve around other people's comments: whether they think I am big or small. I am still beyond exhausted and have fallen asleep while typing at my desk on several occasions. One time there was a mysterious piece of paper on my desk that appeared in the midst of the power naps... from my principal... And my headaches are finally gone away for the most part. I still get occasional headaches, but nothing like the daily occurrences of a few weeks ago.

So far the most incredulous thing that has been said to me was today: "Girl you are carrying so low, they gonna put you on bed rest. You gotta be real careful. I mean it." Thanks random lady, I really appreciate the advise. Not that I really think you know what you are talking about lady, but maybe that is why I couldn't sleep tonight...

On other news, Ken and I are actively searching for a house. Yet, we still don't know if we are going to put an offer down until Ken finds a job. Basically if we put an offer down now and get the $8000 tax credit, then Ken must find a job within 6 months for us to be safe. And we would "make" money from the deal. *note- not factoring in all expenses here when I say "make" money. We have looked at a ton of houses, found three that we really liked. One was a short sale and the listing agent basically told us not to waste our offer b/c they already had two in for the house and it was a complicated process through their bank. The other two are nice houses for us and we have decided that we definitely like one better than the other. Now it's just a game to see if we should put down an offer and pray that we are doing the right thing; or wait for Ken to find a job and lose out on the $8000 bonus.

And on that note, I am going to try to go back to sleep for a few hours before the day officially begins.

Puppies!

Puppies!!!

My mom's dog, Lucy, (who is 8-years-old and never even let another dog get close to her) got pregnant about 10 weeks ago. Lucy is a rescue dog from what we suspect was an abusive situation (or else she is just seriously neurotic!) has always been super shy and scared of people and other dogs. It took her years to get used to my two dogs and they were puppies when they first met! Needless to say, no one ever expected that she would get pregnant!

So far, she had a wonderful delivery- about 6 hours long and birthed 5 beautiful puppies- two boys and three girls. She has been a wonderfully natural mommy to her babies over the last week!

Here is my mom with one of the puppies.

Skylar holding one puppy in her lap- it tickled her to death when they wiggled around!

Lucy with her puppies. They are all good eaters!

Skylar petting a puppy with a pillow in her lap.

Such a cute little face!

Look at their little bellies!

P.S. If anyone is interested in taking one home in a few weeks... let me know :)

Belly photos :)

Last pregnancy, I think I took about 5 total pics showing that I was pregnant. Most of them involve wearing a large over-sized shirt that doesn't really show my belly at all. So this time I was determined to get some pics of the belly! And of course, here I am at 22 weeks and just now got some pics of the belly! Thanks to my loving hubby for taking the pics. :)

Skylar and I were swatting bugs away- you can see them in the pic too.

Skylar checking out her belly :)