History Repeats Itself

Well this has been an interesting past two days to say the least. Monday morning I started having contractions. They were not close together or very hard but they were contractions none the less and that was progression. We dropped E off at school and Chris and I went to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We decided to do other errands that involved walking and walking then headed home. I took a nap and when I got up, contractions had come to a complete stop and didn't start back that day. Tuesday morning contractions started back. They were a bit harder and closer together. I had a doctors appointment that morning so I was excited to see the progress that had been made. The midwife I've been seeing was coming off being on call and wasn't in the office, so I saw another doctor that I really liked. He measured my cervix at 3 cm and told me we should be having this baby within the next 24 hours! So of course I left on could nine! He was going to call into the hospital by 1:30 and let them know I was coming. The other piece of information that made things a little hairy was that there were down power lines all around the hospital from the huge thunderstorm that came Monday night. Nurses were having a really terrible time getting in and out so therefore there were some really tired and irritable nurses still working the shift from the night before. The doctor warned us that we better be in true hard labor or they would send us home. We got to the hospital a little early at 1 PM so we wouldn't get stuck in any crazy traffic. I was NOT having this baby in the car! When we got there, they did all seem irritated that they were unaware of our arrival. Long story short - they hooked me up to a machine for about 45 minutes to monitor my contractions and baby's heartbeat. They also checked my cervix and it was still at 3 cm. They made us walk the halls for an hour and the contractions once again came to a complete stop. Urgh! I was so frustrated and down and about to just break down in tears right then and there. I was so sure we were gonna have our little man. So, they sent us home. Here we are here today and no contractions at all. I had a few last night as I was sleeping but none that would truly count towards hard labor. As it stand now, we will just wait it out. They told me to make an appointment for 41 weeks - YIKES! So I did but not with my midwife. She is not even available until Thursday and that is very frustrating. I left her a call today to to talk to her about induction, which was in the plans if I still hadn't had the baby by the due date, but have not heard back. Pray for us but more importantly me. I am losing focus on the big picture because I'm just ready to have this baby. I know God is constantly teaching me a lesson in patience and this isn't any different. I just get discouraged and disappointed very easily and this was not what I anticipated. Let's hope this baby decides to make a move very soon. I'm off to get a pedicure and have my calves rubbed down so maybe, just maybe, that will help speed things along! :)

What I've Been Doing On Maternity Leave ...

So I've been on maternity leave since March 1st and I knew I had to keep myself busy or I'd go nuts. Here's a summary of what I've been doing:

COOKING UP A STORM

Over the past four weeks I've made the following that are tucked away nicely in the freezer for after the baby comes:

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  spaghetti sauce


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  meatloaf


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  baked ziti


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  baked chicken


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  chicken pot pie filling


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  chicken and dumplings filling mac and cheese


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  breakfast casserole

I've also been baking homemade chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, blueberry muffins and pound cakes that we've been enjoying now! Yum!

READING BOOKS AND WATCHING MOVIES

PLANTING STRAWBERRIES WITH ETHAN

One beautiful Saturday a couple of weekends ago, I wanted to have a fun project with Ethan. Of course I was into it more than he was, Mr. 5 Minute Attention Span. But we did get them planted and they are thriving well and growing strawberries, especially with all this rain. We go out and check them every other day and he says "Look Mommy - mine is growing strawberries. And look -yours is too!" It's fun to watch something like that grow and certainly makes me want to plant a vegetable garden someday.

BOYS BATHROOM

For seven years we've had the guest/hall bath the exact same way. It was time for a change especially since it's really the two boys that would be using the bath the majority of the time. When I set out to find something, I originally wanted some kind of safari or animal theme. I could not find what I was looking for. I stopped by PB outlet in Gaffney one day back in January and found this really cool shower curtain for $20 and quickly changed my theme to surf/beach theme. I am excited about how it came out and you cannot tell from the horrible quality of the pictures how bright the green and blue are. It's really pretty. We are hoping to get something above the toilet like a surfboard or paint a silhouette of a surfer with seagulls, but we are undecided. So there is a clock there now. And of course we have both names monogrammed on towels, but we can't let you see that now can we? :)

NURSERY

We are very excited about how this room turned out. It's very peaceful and serene in there, which is exactly what I wanted it to be. Sorry for the notebook paper over the name on the wall - it's still a secret ... to most of you that haven't talked to Ethan. He's a big mouth and has spilled the beans to well, pretty much everyone! LOL. At least it is a secret to the general public! The trees are vinyl which was our saving grace from having to actually paint them. Thank God for those! They were a piece of cake. Above the crib I do have his first and middle name along with the meaning of the name. Nana Cassidy made the beautiful bumper and is in the process of making a baby blanket and pillow with his monogram on it with leftover material we bought for making the bumper - THANK YOU SO MUCH NANA! You will never know how much this meant to us!

ETHAN'S BIG BOY ROOM

Well, here it is folks - Ethan's big boy room. What you've all been asking for for months now. I haven't wanted to show pictures yet because it wasn't 100% complete, but it still isn't. LOL. I think the running theme in our house is it's always a work in progress, but who's house isn't? We finally finished the truck painting and put it up this weekend. We still have a chalkboard frame that we will eventually get around to to the left of the window and growth chart as you can see below. We like how it turned out and we hope E does as well.

OUR WEDDING ALBUM ... 7 YEARS LATER!

I am so behind on this project it's not even funny. We will be celebrating our 7 year anniversary on April 10th and I'm JUST now completing this book. No time better than now that I had five weeks to do absolutely nothing but catch up on unfinished business! I would show the rest but I'm not 100% complete. I'm hoping to finish up today! Very exciting and a wonderful gift I can give Chris, besides a new son, in 10 days!

YEARLY BOOKS I MADE FOR THE BOYS

I've been doing this since Ethan was a baby, so I have a mini book for every year, 1 - 3, for him. In these, it's like a baby book where I record milestones, weight, and what's going on in his world. I also put in a picture or two - ones that I don't make an actual scrap page of but I still liked the picture. It's a lot of fun to go back and take a glimpse of how much he has changed through the months and years. I've also started this for baby #2 as well, in an owl theme to match his room.

So in summary, I have been keeping myself quite busy. I'm to the point where I am done. Ready to have this baby. That will certainly be keeping me busy for the next 18 years! I'll keep everyone updated! Love ya'll!

Four More Weeks ...

... until baby C makes his arrival! (Although, I'm hoping it's a tad bit earlier). I've been home for an entire week for my very early maternity leave ... long story. My boss didn't really have the money to pay me for another month so I didn't really have a choice. As much as I feel bad being home not bringing home some dough, sometimes I think God has other plans. Maybe I need this time to relax/sleep, organize/clean, bake/cook and reflect on the major change that is about to happen in our family. Seriously though, I think it's costing more money for me to stay home right now - I'm now finding small projects to start (not good)! We have however finished the nursery for the most part - I have a few loose ends to tie up but it is ready for it's next resident. :) We also at the last minute decided to redo the hall bath to make it kid friendly for the boys. Excuse me if I've already talked about this but it's a surf / beach theme. I'm just looking to either make or find a really cool surfboard to put above the toilet and as we speak I have towels getting monogrammed for both boys. It'll be a fun room when it's 100% complete. But we all know nothing around here is ever 100% done. Look at E's room - which is GOING to be done before this baby comes, if it kills me! :)

Other ways I am spending my time is by preparing meals to freeze for when baby comes (any suggestions are welcome), scrapbooking, reading, cleaning and organizing and just resting. I just purchased "The Help" last night and I'm hoping to dive into that soon. As far as scrapbooking, I'm just trying to stay caught up on Ethan's yearly book I've done since he's been born, our family album and finish baby #2's so I can just stick pictures in there when we take them. My other goal is to finish this durn wedding album which will be 7 years old in a month! I'm not sure I'll get all of it done but hopefully we'll be one step closer!

I have been to three consignment sales - Upscale Weesale (which I consigned at), For Every Season and one up in Huntersville, which was not really worth the gas I put into going. There are two more coming up next week then I'll be done. I'm just on the search for shoes - if you have a boy you know exactly where I'm coming from. I just buy consignment Stride Rite but E has club feet so I have to find wide, and not worn down to the nubs. He does that enough by just wearing them! So needless to say, it's very hard to find some. I'm good to go with clothes for both boys so luckily I haven't had to spend a lot of money this season on clothing. Thank God! I did spend a little chunk of money on a double stroller so I can walk with both boys when the summer comes and they'll both be home with me. Yikes - that is so scary but exciting to think about.

I will have more random thoughts to come ...

Baby Shower

Three weeks ago my wonderful mother and sister threw me a small diaper and onesie shower at the cutest coffee shop called BackInTyme in Fort Mill, SC. It was so sweet of them to do this for me. Since we were already having another boy, we really didn't need anything but everyone can use diapers! I need to take a picture of my closet because it is pretty stocked up with diapers that will probably last me at least a month or two! I have the most wonderful and sweetest family and friends. Here are some pictures from this wonderful event.

Checkin' out the bump

The two mamas of two to be! Su is having another boy in just two weeks!
The AWESOME diaper cake that of course, Carrie made

My sweet mama

My sweet sister

Preggers doing what she does best ... stuffing her face!

The sweet hosts

My better other halves - mother in law Nana and sister in law Ashley

Sweet Amber drove an hour and a half for lil' ol me!

My WU gals! and yes Meghan drove two hours for me!

Little Man #2 First Photos

I'm FINALLY getting around to posting these pictures from our ultrasound last week. Here is our little mans' first photos:

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Yep ... no mistaking that is a boy!

We did not have a 3-D ultrasound with Ethan so when we saw this, we were blown away. Look how similar this picture is to when E was born ... freaky! We're gonna have a little Ethan mini me.

We're already boring him to tears!