28 Weeks & 1 Day

Yesterday I hit the 28 week mark. I seriously can't believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by! Everything is going very smoothly. I went Friday for my last monthly check-up. Now it's on to every 2 weeks! I also had my Glucose test that day. I haven't gotten the results back yet, so hopefully no news is good news there. I have really been liking the sweets this pregnancy!

Miss Averly has been moving more & more lately and is getting big enough for some of those jabs & kicks to hurt a little. Last night I had heartburn for the 1st time ever. In my entire life. That was no fun. I'm praying it doesn't become an everyday occurrence!

I still haven't started on her room yet. I'm so behind! But I plan on starting as soon as Christmas is over & everything is a little less hectic around here. I also emailed my photographer today to schedule our Maternity picture session. Just one more thing I'm behind on!

Other than that, no big news to report. Everything is pretty smooth sailing right now.

I hope y'all have a Merry Christmas!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I cannot believe Christmas is next week!! I am so excited for this Christmas because Riley will be a little more aware of what's going on than last year when he was only 4 months old. Christmas is by far my favorite time of year. I love everything about it: the birth of my Savior, being with family, the smells, the food, the decorations & lights, Santa, the music, being warm & cozy on a cold winter night all snuggled up watching A Christmas Story or some other great Christmas movie. Nothing beats Christmas time in my eyes.

Growing up, my parents had a Christmas tree farm. Log Cabin Christmas Trees was the name of it. They worked year-round to get the trees in perfect shape to sell come winter. Looking back, I now know how much hard work they put into the trees, spraying & shaping them one by one on that 12 acre farm, all while keeping up full time jobs as well. But at the time, it was like magic & I always wanted to be at the farm when we were open to the public.

It was just as you could imagine a choose & cut tree farm would be like. There was a hay ride that took people back to pick out that perfect tree for their family. They had a choice to cut it themselves or my dad would help them out if they preferred. Once the tree was down, they would ride back up to the log cabin at the front where they would have their tree shaken out (dead needles) & wrapped to go on top of their car. While they were waiting we had hot chocolate & cookies for everyone to enjoy. My mom (and my sister & I if we were there) would stay in the cabin with the fire place burning, usually making wreaths from the scrap branches & greeting customers. Some years my grandfather would even dress up as Santa & entertain the kids. Just thinking about the tree farm & all that went along with it gives me chills. I'm sure having it growing up contributed to my love of Christmas! I just love it!

This past weekend we had a photo shoot to try & get a good picture for a Christmas card. I am so behind this year! Normally I already have them sent out the 1st week or so of December!

Riley has really started hamming it up for pictures. Big time. This kid knows what to do when he sees a camera! TAG says he looks like he is practicing for his career as a male model the way he automatically & constantly cheeses so big for the camera. ;0) We don't even have to jump around looking silly to get him to smile anymore. We just say "cheese" & this is what we get.

Since I was feeling a little better Sunday, we decided to go see Santa Claus after church. Last year we went to the crazy busy mall & stood in line for close to 2 hours. This year we decided not to go that route. We went to Cedar Hill Farm to see what it would be like. This was their 1st year to have Santa so we figured it wouldn't be too crowded.

We go to early church so we were out by 10:30 & needed to kill some time before they opened at 12. We ate Mexican & TAG ran in Wal-Mart to grab a few things while Riley & I sat in the car, then it was time to go see Santa!

We were trying to pump Riley up the whole way there by telling him who he was about to see & asking him what Santa says. He is getting better at it, but just says 2 "Ho Ho's". It almost sounds like his monkey sound. :0)

More cheesing on the way in the car.

We got there right as they opened the farm at 12:00 & we were the 1st ones there! We even beat Santa so they told us to go down to his cabin & he would be there shortly. We made our way down the hill & stopped for a couple pictures & about that time we heard Santa saying "HO HO HO" & his jingle bells ringing as he walked over the hill. I wish we would've gotten a picture of Riley's face when he heard him. It was priceless. He couldn't see him at the time so he couldn't figure out where it was coming from, but he was in awe looking around & listening. Then we saw him & Riley got so excited. He was laughing & acting like he couldn't wait to give him a hug.

But that wasn't the case. Not at all. Once we got inside the cabin & I sat him on his lap it was over. He did sit still for a short while & I got a few decent pictures, but then he had had enough. He never cried or screamed, just whimpered a little & squirmed to get down.

Overall, Cedar Hill Farm was a great experience. It reminded me a lot of our tree farm at Christmas with the log cabin & the hay ride back to the trees. Plus we didn't have to wait in any lines to see Santa! I'm so glad we decided to go for this experience for Riley rather than the mall. I just hope my children grow up loving Christmas as much as I do & for all the right reasons.

Christmas is next week!!!

90% Well

Y’all. I just had probably the sickest week of my life last week. Hor.ri.ble. I actually started feeling bad about 2 Thursdays ago. I didn’t really think much of it. Just thought it was sinus junk so I kept on going. One of my best friends got married last Saturday so we went to the Rehearsal Dinner Friday & the pre-wedding events Saturday morning. After the wedding, we headed to my parents house to visit & decorate their tree that Sunday. And this is when I really started feeling bad. TAG went on back home Sunday evening, but I stayed there because I knew there was no way I could keep up with Riley all day by myself while he was at work the next day.

Monday morning I woke up with literally the worst headache EVER. I couldn’t breathe out of my nose, my throat & ears were killing me and I had no voice. I went to our Family Practice doctor & she said I had an Upper Respiratory Infection along with an ear infection. I told her it felt like Strep & that I get it very easily. She said that she could do a Strep test on me if I wanted, but that the treatment would be the same as the URI & that my throat didn’t look like one with Strep right now. She did say that my heart rate was way too high & that is was likely from the over the counter stuff I had been taking. Even though my OB doctor said I could take it, she told me to stop immediately & to only take Extra Strength Tylenol & the Amoxicillin she prescribed me.

So Tuesday & Wednesday both went by & I didn’t feel any better. Worse, actually. I called the doctor again & she said that the antibiotic should have already kicked in, but to be patient & I should feel better by that afternoon. At this point I could barely pick my arms up to eat & my head is still killing me. I didn’t see me feeling better that quickly.

During all of this Riley was just getting over being sick himself, but I think he caught a 24 hour stomach bug Wednesday night. He threw up about 3 times over night & had some pretty nasty diapers. We kept giving him Pedialyte & he was acting like he felt fine so we let him be. It didn’t last long at all. Which was definitely good.

Thursday morning I woke up with a black eye & all the same horrid symptoms. The black eye was from a blood vessel that busted due to all the intense pressure build-up in my head. I called my OB doctor to see if there was anything stronger I could take because the Amoxicillin just wasn’t cutting it. The nurse said to also take Mucinex & that they would call me in some cough medicine. She said to take that & call her back Friday morning to let her know how I was doing.

Friday morning. Yet again, same thing. I called the nurse & she said that they wanted me to come in & let the Nurse Practitioner there take a look at me & do some chest x-rays. She said basically the same thing my General Practice doctor said: looks like URI, but she really believed it to be Strep as well (the OB doesn’t have the Strep test there so she couldn’t test me). Ear infection was still there. And my heart rate was high. She asked if I had any shortness of breath. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I did. Also, during this whole thing, I never had a fever. Since my symptoms were weird & all over the place, none gave a straight diagnosis. She stepped out of the room & said that she was going to talk this over with some other doctors there & see what they think as well. She came back in the room & said that 2 of the 4 doctors believe I had H1N1 without the fever (just going by the symptoms—they didn’t test me for this either because she said it has almost run its course by now & there is nothing we can do but to let it as of now). As soon as H1N1 left her mouth, I teared up immediately thinking about my baby girl. She said that the baby is fine. As long as I wasn’t in any danger, the baby wasn’t in any danger. Meaning no fever, I didn’t have to hospitalized for fluids, & I am otherwise healthy. Still not something a pregnant woman, or anyone for that matter, wants to hear.

So then they wanted me to do the chest x-ray to hopefully clear up some of the doctors assumptions. I have yet to hear back on that but I’m praying that no news is good news.

I seriously doubt I had the Swine Flu. At least I hope not anyway. But I know they have to take extra precautions with pregnant women. So now, since there was no set diagnosis for me, I am being treated for the URI & Ear Infections with Amoxicillin, Strep with a “Z” Pack, & H1N1 with Tamiflu (even though it was way past the 1st 48 hour range, they said it would be best to go ahead & take it).

I am finally starting to feel better. Right now I feel the way you should when you have a cold or sinus infection…not like my head is being held under 20 feet of water pressure with pencils jabbed in my ears & bees stinging my throat.

On another note, Riley also had a doctor’s appointment on Friday to do a re-check on his ears. We finally got some good news in regards to that. Both ears were clear as a bell! The level 3 antibiotics worked! His doctor is still going to keep a close eye on them, but for now we are in the clear & don’t have to make a visit to the ENT! We were so relieved to hear that news!

While we were there, I told the pediatrician about what was going on with me & asked if Riley’s throat looked red or if he needed to be on Tamiflu or anything. He said he looks great & that if he was going to get it, he would’ve already gotten it in days 1-4 of me being sick (this was about day 5 or 6). Praise the Lord no one in my family got what I had. I was really worried they would, but I seem to be on the upswing now & hopefully everybody is still in the clear.

And now a picture of my little cheese monkey just because.

Sick sick sick

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I have been sick while trying to comfort a sick little one. Riley seems to be doing much better though. I just wish I could get over this. I went to the doctor Monday & she said I have an upper respiratory infection & my ears are also infected. I have a new found respect for these babies with ear infections because it hurts like no other. Little ones are much tougher than me! She put me on Amoxicillin & said that I can't take anything stronger due to being pregnant, but it has not done a thing for me. I've been on the meds for 4 days now & don't feel any better. Actually, I don't think I have felt this bad since I had Mono in high school. Riley & I have been staying at my parents house since Sunday & thank God for them. I would never be able to keep up with Riley by myself while TAG is at work feeling this way.

Speaking of ear infections, we go tomorrow to do a re-check on Riley's ears for the 4th time to see if he still has the infection. I don't know if I mentioned recently or not, but we went last week & they had come back in both ears even worse. The doctor put him on the level 3 antibiotic & said that this time we may have to be referred to an ENT to talk about tubes if it hasn't gone away. I pray we don't have to go that route, but if it will help him, I guess I am all for it.

So that's it for now. We are just trying to get/stay well. I will be back soon!

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was so great this year. Next to Christmas, it's my favorite holiday for sure. I love seeing the whole family that we otherwise don't get to see often. Of course I have so much to be thankful for this year. My husband who provides so much for us. My happy, healthy baby boy. My mom & dad who do so much for me. I still couldn't make it without their help! My sister & best friend. My sweet baby girl rolling around inside of me! My wonderful friends who are always there no matter what. And of course everything else God has blessed me with! I am so very blessed & thankful for it!

Every year we do Thanksgiving at my Great Aunt Helen's house. It has been here as long as I can remember except for last year. We went to St. Louis to be with family there because my little cousin had a brain tumor & was on chemo treatments so they couldn't travel. Well a full year has past since we've seen little Thomas last & it is truly a miracle how much better he is doing! The mass was removed not too long ago & as long as it doesn't come back, he is absolutely perfect! It was so good to see him doing so well this year.

Below is a picture of precious Thomas. Isn't he so sweet?!

One memory I have growing up of my Great Aunt Helen was that she always had Tennessee Walking Horses. My great aunt & uncle have since passed & my aunt now lives in their house & of course has horses. Riley LOVED petting them & was amazed by them. Needless to say, we spent a lot of the day doing this.

These two (3rd cousins!) were born 2 weeks apart & were only 3 months old last Thanksgiving. What a difference a year makes! Also, I love the look on both of their faces. They look like they just got busted doing something they shouldn't have!

Running back out to see the horses!

On Saturday we did Thanksgiving with TAG's side of the family. For some reason the only pictures I got were after dinner when we went to the park. Oops!

And of course you have to end the Thanksgiving weekend with a ride on the 4 wheeler with Dada & Uncle Josh.

I hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!