As promised, pictures of Brooklyn's nursery (minus wall art)

Here they are.... That paint job was pretty heinous, but so worth it... It really makes the room and is my favorite part so far. Thanks again Dad...Without you, she's probably be sleeping in our walk in closet!!!! Luv Ya!!!












*** More pics to come as soon as I can muster the energy to get pictures hung, shelves installed and tiny clothes put away!!! ***

So tired and sore...

A HUGE thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for basically making Brookie's room a truly beautiful place this weekend! My mom made bumble bee cushions for my rocking chair, replaced the cushion on my ottoman to back and white gingham to match, with matching decorative pillow, made curtains, and is in the process of creating Brooklyn's "B," so she'll have one just like the Duke. My dad, the super Mr. Handyman extraordinaire, managed to turn an old dresser that once belonged to my mom as a child, into a perfect replica of a cherry red, standing Snap.On tool chest for Capt. Duke's Car.s bedroom! He also fully refurbished a solid wood toy chest for Brookie's room that is absolutely adorable and matches perfectly! They brought over the coolest piece of wall art ever. My sis bought this round 1 billion piece Mary Engelbrei.t puzzle with my favorite of her sayings on it and after 3 people took turns putting it together, my dad Hodge Podg.ed it together so I can hang it on the wall above the changing table (Thank You Mel, Mom & Nancy for your mad puzzle skills!). So, her room now has a built and waiting crib, changing table, rocking chair and ottoman, and toy chest. Pretty much all that's left is filling said dresser/changing table with clean munchkin clothes, decorating the walls, and prepping for the little princess' imminent arrival!


Promise to post pictures of Brooklyn's room tonight when I get home from work...


Note to self, marathon cleaning for 7 hours is fully possible while almost 8 months pregnant, but HIGHLY not recommended. Pretty much every muscle from my knees up is sore and I'm walking like a 90 year old today... Not a good plan! Oh yeah, got a visit from my old buddy pitting edema this weekend! Was hoping that he'd stay far, far away this time but obviously not...

Gearing up for the weekend

Here's what I've got so far for a tentative menu for the family Thanksgiving potluck shindig at my house next week:

** Bacon wrapped, apple/wild rice/prosciutto stuffed turkey breasts
** Honey Ham, maybe Prime Rib
** Mom's mashed potatoes
** Mom's candied yams
** Green bean casserole
** Rolls
** Green Salad
** Pumpkin pie & ice cream, maybe cheesecake or apple crisp too, I can't decide...


My goal for tonight is to have a set in stone menu of what all of the fam is bringing, my grocery list made and ready for a surgical strike on Walma.rt and Cost.Co tomorrow morning, and to get to bed at a reasonable time...

I also need to try to figure out a way to rotate the Duke's toys in and out of the playroom/2nd living room so that I'm not forced with trying to pick up 3 billion tiny toys every single night. Maybe I'll start a bin in the garage and just swap out loads of toys every few weeks... I need more ideas...

Matt is taking care of the installation of the trim/chair rail in Brooklyn's room tomorrow, so I should be able to start decorating (FINALLY!!!!... We also have a 4 year old's birthday party to go to Sat afternoon...

Busy Weekend. We'll see how much I can get done!!!

Swollen Cankels AGAIN

Really, really tired today as I finally gave in to my fanatical football fan of a husband who's patiently waited to buy a new flat screen TV until last night... Poor Matt had previously been relegated to watching an 11 year old 31" dinosaur so I was really happy for him last night as he signed for the new (BIG) TV, sound system and TV stand/entertainment center. It was like watching a kid at Christmas morning! Anywho... We are now proud owners of a 42" fancy schmancy flatscreen TV, rockin' Bose surround sound system and all the fixin's! It really is pretty cool and I can't wait for Lukey Duke to be able to watch Cars and Finding Nemo on the new TV.

Oh yeah, back to why this is titled "swollen cankels!" I have, yet again, woken up to massively swollen feet and ankles. I guess "normal" swelling is supposed to fully drain after a night's rest, so I'm getting a little paranoid as mine is MORE swollen when I wake up then before I went to sleep. And it wouldn't be so bad if it had only happened once but it's happening twice or 3 times a week and has been for the past 3 weeks. I hope and pray that it is just swelling and not the beginning of Pre-E hell. I really , really don't want to deal with that crap again.

Lukey's Christmas Wish List

I have set a goal of churning out Captain Duke's Christmas List by the end of this week... It might be tough as EVERYTHING he sees on TV he has decided he MUST have.... I love toddlers =)

Migraines SUCK

What did I do in my past life to deserve 48hrs of stabbing pain in my temple and when did I become such a friggin' saint about these damn things? What happened to the hours curled up in bed, curtains locked up like Fort Knox, whining for relief? Oh yeah, I remember! A wild and crazy 3 year old hopped up on sugar like a crackhead and being 7 months pregnant happened to my self pity!!!

It never fails that Luke the Duke will come home in rare form on nights where NOTHING is going to make the pounding stop. He met me at the door of daycare with a yelp, squealing shoes on the tile, and a sing song greeting that sounded a lot like,"guessss whatttt I hadd for snnnnack!!! Misss Cawwie gave us cheeesecake!!!"

I don't think I've met a mother yet that hears something like that and reacts with anything other than a smile forced through teeth clenched so tight they might just shatter out of your head. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a sugar Nazi, and I get it that it's daycare and occasionally my child is going to eat shit that is horrible for him. I just wish it was any night but the night that the sound of my shoes on the sidewalk has me inches from yakking in Miss Carrie's lovely front yard.

Enough crying over yet another migraine... At least my Excedri.n is taking the edge off a little. It's kinda nuts how good you get at functioning while in serious pain... Chics rock! Could you imagine what would happen if it were a 7 month pregnant man with constant migraines? It would be splashed all over the TV.. News at 10... Pregnant man shoves ballpoint pen through temple to end the pain...

Ready, Set, NEST!!!!

Here we go! I knew it would hit me full force eventually and I believe that time has finally arrived. I have this overwhelming, aggressive drive to have Brooklyn's room done NOW. Not in a few weeks, or a few days, but now. It's probably the realization that if she follows in her brother's footsteps in any way, she'll arrive early. Lukey Duke graced us with his presence a full 3 weeks early so I have made up my mind that I need to have our little world ready for this sweet girl by the time I hit 36 weeks, just in case of premature poppage. The craziest part of all of that is that 36 weeks is only 6 weeks away!!!! 6 weeks to finish trim, move furniture, wash clothes, decorate, fill my freezer with yummy pre-made meals, install a car seat, pack hospital bags and finally wrap my mind around the fact that for the 2nd time, my world is about to do a full 360. We will walk into the hospital as 3 and leave as a family of 4.

Wow, that still sounds so crazy... I can't wait to meet her though.... I'm so, so excited to be able to hold my little girl.

Oh yeah, all is still (fingers and toes crossed) well on the blood pressure and swelling front. My blood pressure has stayed quite low (120ish/75ish) for the last few weeks, and only a few episodes of swelling after too long shopping trips and wearing heels that I know I'm not supposed to be wearing...


Thank God for my Dad... The man has helped me so much over the past few months that there probably isn't any true way that I can thank him enough. Thanks daddy... I think you may be nesting like me!!

Where'd the time go???

I remember with Luke that his room was finished, decorated and totally baby ready long before I went into labor with him @ 36 weeks. I feel like things are far more relaxed and slow and we still have so much to do this time around. We still need to finish the trim, assemble the crib, move the dresser, decorate, paint Luke's new dresser, dig out and install the infant car seat, pack the hospital bag, get the rest of the baby stuff out of the storage unit, and wash and fold/hang all of Brooklyn's clothes. I know it might not sound like much to do, but worst case scenario, we only have 7 weeks from yesterday until I'm 36 weeks like I was when I went into labor with Lukey Duke. That means 7 weekends to knock out all of our chores/tasks and be mentally prepared for our daughter to arrive!! I can't wait to finally meet her... I wonder if she'll be blond like Lukey Duke or have dark hair like me... Maybe she'll get Matt's eyes... Who knows...

29 Weeks & 5th OB Appt

Fetal development in pregnancy week 29:
If you’ve been feeling butterflies moving around in your belly, it’s not just your run-of-the-mill pre-birth performance anxiety. No, it’s your amazing baby with a case of the hiccups: a fairly common occurrence at this point resulting from practicing breathing for their big birthday. In addition, to getting a round of butterfly-like hiccups, your little swimmer has arduously managed to accumulate enough baby fat to account for nearly 3.5% of their overall body weight. Yeah, compared to we adults, it’s not a lot, but when they’re little like that—it’s certainly a healthy (and warming) accomplishment in its way. Another fantastic accomplishment: your baby's spleen is now in charge of hematopoiesis—the 10 dollar name for the process involved in building up certain important blood components. Another fantastic-accomplishment: your little monkey has been peeing into their amniotic sac for a little while now (this is why potty training takes a while) and if you didn’t know, actually swallows it along with the rest of the amniotic fluid. Although the concept is nasty, their urine is sterile and as part of the amniotic fluid base, is replaced several times throughout the day. So if you didn’t know before, now you can tell people, that yes, you drank your own urine—you were still in the womb, but nonetheless, you’ve been there.

And how's mom doing?
Here’s another new-parenting-issue that you probably don’t have the time or energy to handle: the decision whether or not to breastfeed. If you thought this was one of the obvious ones (stick out breast, attach child, feeding commences!), think again. Right off the bat, there are women that simply the vain reason to breastfeed: all that charming excess body fat you’ve gained is used for milk production, thus making it MUCH easier for you to return to you pre-pregnancy weight cannot breastfeed for medical reasons—and have no choice in the matter but to opt for formula-feeding. Then there are the women who attempt to breast-feed and run out of milk, or the baby won’t latch on (they even have breast-feeding classes because despite the apparent animal-easiness of the behavior, some babies just don’t take to breastfeeding).

Now, if you are planning or deciding whether or not to breastfeed, here are some of the big reasons why it’s a great thing for you and your little “sucker”: breastfeeding actually releases a hormone that will help you relax (and if you don’t nurse milk production will actually cease: i.e. use it or lose it!). If you choose to breastfeed, your body will produce oxytocin—(no, not Oxycotin, Rush Limbaugh already took care of that), which actually increases uterine contractions to decrease post-birth vaginal bleeding.

And the vain reason to breastfeed: all that charming excess body fat you’ve gained is used for milk production, thus making it MUCH easier for you to return to you pre-pregnancy weight. Also, nursing mothers’ bones re-mineralize faster than those who don’t and are less likely to contract ovarian or uterine cancer before and after menopause. Not to mention the fact that breastfeeding means you’re directly bolstering your baby’s immune system. For even more reasons why your child will benefit from breastfeeding, visit womenshealth.gov.


** My OB appointment this morning was pretty much uneventful like usual... She said that I'm measuring on track, Brooklyn's HB was in the 140's, My weight was 183 (Damn!) and my BP is still low @ 120/62. She also gave me a heads up that she's going to run me through all of the tests that she ran last time around the same time that my BP started increasing rapidly, just as a precaution. That means a couple of non-stress tests a week with fetal monitoring and constant BP readings, followed by urine tests once a week and bed rest if my BP goes crazy again. She seems pretty confident that I might make it through this whole pregnancy without a flare up.... Lets hope!

We've created a monster!

So, most of my family knows this but I have a slight addiction that verges on madness when pregnant for Ben & Jerr.y's Ice Cream. During my pregnancy with Luke it was Pistachio, Pistachio flavor and this time it is shaping up to be Oatmeal Cookie Chunk. No, I don't sit down and plow through a quart and them feel sorry for myself. I really don't have a very big sweet tooth so I can usually only stomach around a half a cup or so before I am fat and happy. Well, last night Luke and I had to make an emergency run to the grocery store to grab two huge jars of peanut butter so I could bake 80 cookies for a potluck at my work. As we were getting ready to check out, the ice cream aisle started calling to me... I grabbed my usual and then Luke and I made an awesome discovery! At the bottom of the freezer shelf were these tiny, half cup mini cartons of a few of B & J's most popular flavors!! EUREKA!!! Luke's eyes were as big as saucers as he stared at the munchkin sized containers.... He turned his best,"mommy pleeeassee" eyes on me and I couldn't resist. He picked out Cherry Garci.a, another of the household favorites (Matt's actually)and then was an angel as we checked out and headed home... The look on his face was priceless as he sat next to me savoring every bite of his tiny little ice cream.... Ahhh, the little joys in life!

Sleepless night...

Tuesday night Matt and I were awakened by Capt. Duke tugging at his right ear and telling us that there was a bubble in his head and it hurt really bad. Now I don't know about you, but there are two sickies that I hate dealing with: croup (aka The Devil) and ear infections. Maybe it's the amount of pain that they both cause that makes me worried just hearing the words come out of his sweet little lips. Anyway, into bed with us he crawls, Tylenol is given, and then comes the trial and error of what will comfort him enough for all of us to be able to get some sleep. He settled on a hot washcloth pressed over the offending ear, which soothed him quite well but proceeded to keep mama bear awake and having to re-heat a wash cloth every 20 minutes or so. Needless to say, come six hours of no sleep I realized that work wasn't going to happen and that Tylenol sucks! We swapped to kiddie Motrin, Duke finally fell asleep and I passed out. Woke up around 8 to call work, daycare and Matt to make sure he got to work on time and up bounces my sweet little boy looking well rested and ready to play. He cheerfully announced that his ear didn't hurt anymore and he wanted to watch the Smurfs.... So much for the sleepless night! Not sure if he just has a cold that caused some pressure in his head or he just wanted a little lovin', but all is well in Lukey Duke land as of this morning. We decided to not do the doctor thing as most ear infections clear up on their own and antibiotics don't do anything but create resistant bacteria... His doc said it was fine to put it off as long as he gets better not worse and there is no fever involved. So, cross our fingers, it looks like it was a false alarm....

Belly Shots.. No Laughing!!!

Finally got the succession of pictures that I've taken so far loaded on the computer... No laughing at my stretch marks (aka battle wounds) from Capt. Duke!

Thanksgiving

I still need to chat with the rest of the fam to see if it will fly, but I really want to host Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year. There's plenty of room for everyone, Matt gets to watch his beloved football, and it saves us from having to do the annual house crawl where we end up having to eat 3 or 4 times and spend all day driving around to all of the different houses. I found this yummy recipe bacon wrapped stuffed turkey breasts that I'd love to try and then maybe get a honeybaked ham for any non-turkey lovers. I figure we could probably pot-luck out the rest of the fixin's so no one is stuck having to cook the entire meal and we get to try a little of everyone's cooking! We'll see what everyone thinks!

28 weeks.... and counting...

A few snippets from my favorite pregnancy websites...

What's Happening with Your Body
Added baby weight is taking its toll on your body. Chances are you're feeling aches and pains all over! Your feet, ankles, and hands may be swollen. Cramps may cause intense pain in your legs, especially at night, and it may be hard to find a comfortable sleeping position. You may also be experiencing false contractions (called Braxton Hicks) where your abdomen tightens, then relaxes. Hang in there—you're getting closer to your due date!

Your uterus is around three inches above your navel. If you are Rh negative, you'll be getting a RhoGam injection right around now. And those tightening sensations? Braxton Hicks "practice" contractions.


All About Baby
Your unborn baby's survival rate outside the womb increases as each week passes. If he didn't open his eyes last week, chances are he'll take his first peek this week. Your baby-to-be's skeleton and muscles are maturing quickly. This week he can turn his head from side to side.

Most of the lanugo has disappeared at this point and your baby may have a full head of hair by now.

How Big Is Baby?
Your Baby weighs in at around two pounds, seven ounces and stretches to 10 inches (crown to rump).

Fetal development in pregnancy week 28
You know how you’ve been feeling a bit like a barn with legs? Well, that feeling won’t subside before… well, you know, when you finally give birth. For the time being, you’ve got yourself a baby in the business of collecting fat and lots of it! In spite of the dubious joys of being a human-barn, this baby fat business is very serious and you’ve got to put up with it because it’s going to keep your little porker warm and healthy after birth. Other good stuff from inside: their eyes are doing lots of blinking this week because they’re now able to respond to light and dark. Also, their industrious little bone marrow is now a major construction site for developing red blood cells, while their super-cute adrenal glands are actually producing androgen and estrogen—which will stimulate your hormones to begin milk production. Can you say, “Moo?”


So there it is...

I guess that's what I'm supposed to be feeling/growing/doing right about now during my pregnancy. It's funny but I really don't remember much of anything other than being righteously swollen, grumpy and uncomfortable from about this moment on in my pregnancy with Lukey Duke. I've had everything crossed for a few weeks now that the somewhat bothersome swelling that I've been having is actually normal swelling and not an impending sign of crappy things to come. I have my next doctor's appointment next Monday and am hoping that I haven' gained a bunch of weight, there's no protein in my urine, and my BP is average and steady like it has been up to this point. I believe that after this appointment I will "graduate" to appointments every two weeks instead of ever four like I have been doing.

She is calm and chill like she has been, kicking and rolling in response to my Decaf Peppermint Mocha in the morning and then she will settle in for a long nap until lunch time when she'll wake up and assault my insides again for another hour or so... I hope I'm not jinxing myself but she really doesn't keep me up at night like Capt. Duke used to do. She'll move around for about 20 minutes or so when I first lay down and then she is totally quiet until I wake up in the morning. Maybe this awesome skill will stick around!!! Anyway, off to work land... Maybe it will be busy today so my time will fly...