Check this out...

One of my friends mentioned this site on there blog. I went to it not expecting much, but I was surprised to learn how cool it was! Basically you set up a page with your favorite blogs and it checks to see if they have posted lately so you don't have to spend an hour checking all of them only to learn that 3/4 of them didn't post today. It has been working very well for me for over a month now so I highly recommend it! Check it out: www.bloglines.com
On a totally different note: There is a photography contest coming up at our zoo. I'm very excited about this and plan to spend many days up there with my camera in hand. I do really like this one though...Comments? Good enough to impress the zoo? I'm not happy with the composition, but I can try to twik that in photoshop. I had to "off-road" it so to speak to get this photo, but I think it was worth it.
For those wondering, yes, the girls and I are fine. We are very busy and doing well. I will post more cute pictures later this week.

New Pictures of the Girls.

For those of you who read my blog strictly so they can see new pictures of the girls.... Here are a few new ones from this weekend. Notice the cute dress Lola has on, I'd like to thank granddad Pogue for that one!

Memorial Weekend

For Memorial Weekend my sister came to visit us with her three kids. We took all the kiddos to the zoo, the park, shopping, and whole lot of other things! Needless to say Heather and I are Tired! Here are some pictures of the weekend!

Oh the cuteness!

I managed to hop on the computer before Jeff did so I thought I would post a few new pictures of our little girl. She's starting to get really big! Now if only she'd let me sleep!
Oh and Tammy: Notice the Duck hair on the 3rd picture. It showed up after her bath yesterday and I still can't get it to go back down! It's WAY worse than it ever was with Sophy! We love it!

Two Weeks old!

Can you believe that Lola is already two weeks old? It seems like yesterday I was griping about being pregnant! She is doing very well. We went to the doctor today and he said she looks the picture of health. Her weight isn't quite up to birth weight yet, but it's VERY close. The fluid in her ears from birth is now gone. We have to go back in two weeks to make sure she is still gaining weight, but I'm sure that will be fine.
Sophy is still having a hard time adjusting to Lola being here. She loves on her and thinks of her as her own personal baby doll, often playing a little too rough if mom and dad don't keep a close eye out! I think Sophy is just ready for life to go back to normal, not realizing that Life is never going back to the way it used to be. I have high hopes that it will get a lot better soon though.
My health has been good. I've had a harder time recovering than I hoped to have. A few set backs go a long way to slowing you down. I hope to be back to full capacity soon. In the mean time my help have all left me and I had to beg Jeff to stay home. I am so blessed to have a hubby who is willing to help out!
I think that is all the exciting news for our famly right now. I hope to be out and about again soon.

Home again, home again.

We are now home safe and sound. I still hurt quite a bit, but I'm healing well. Sophy is adjusting very well. She loves her sister, sometimes a little too much. She has had a hard time with me being sore and unable to carry her or hold her on my lap. I think shes doing very well for a little girl who's life has just changed in a HUGE way.

As for our new little girl...or should I say Leona Marilyn (we'll be calling her Lola) she is doing VERY well. She lost a little weight in the hospitol, but she has gained a lot now that my milk came in. Her cheeks have filled out quite a bit and she has such a cute face! It's amazing how my two girls could look so different and yet still look So cute both of them. She has dark eyes! They are blue right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if they turn green or even brown before too long! She loves to curl up in a little ball. She likes to eat and sleep and that is about all right now.

I want to thank everyone who came to visit us in the hospital. It was nice to break up the stay with friends and family coming by to visit. As nice as it was I am still very gladc to be home. I went home a whole day later with Lola than I did with Sophy. I do feel much better this time around. I was also a lot calmer during the surgury this time. All in all it has been nice.

And for all of those that said after I had Lola that Sophy would look older to me and wouldn't be my baby anymore. For me it was NOTHING like that. She is still my baby and I just have two babies now. One just happens to be alot bigger. I am also very in love with my new little girl. I can't wait to see how her personality grows and changes.

New Baby!

She's Here! 8 lbs 4 ozs! Can you imagine if I had gone 9 more days! She would have been over 9lbs! She is only 20.5 inches so she is short and chubby! I LOVE it! She's so cute. Sophy is doing well. She loves "her baby", but she doesn't like that she can't hold mommy. I am doing very well. I expect to go home on thursday so if you come see me you can find out her name!

Last weekly update before baby!

I'm 38 weeks today! I had a doctors appointment and the baby is moving up instead of down. Much like what Sophy did. I started contracting on Friday and it hasn't stopped so my doctor decided to move things up a bit. I'm now having the baby on Monday! She also gave me some medicine to help me sleep through the contractions and I'm supposed to take it easy until then. We had a little scramble of phone calls to try to rearrange everything. I think it's mostly worked out, but I have 5 more days to get it in working order. I just might have to call a few friends in to help if things don't quite fall into place in the end.
I think all the major cleaning and preparing has been done already. All I really have to do between now and then is sit back and wait. Which if you know me is not my favorite thing in the world to do.....so maybe some scrap-booking instead. I'm missing my monthly crop this month to have a baby so it would be nice to get some work done. That is if Sophy would cooperate. I think Jeff and I are going to go out to eat once this week as a finale family of 3 before things get crazy around here. That will be nice.
Sophy is doing really well. She is starting to catch on to the whole idea of the potty. We credit this to my friend Jessica and her daughter Ruthie who is potty training right now. Now we just need to go get the little potty cover and the step stool so she can start trying. She also learned several other new things this week:
- How to open a door.
- How to close a door.
- How to balance a spoon on her nose.
- How to blow bubbles with a bubble wand.
- To buckle herself into her highchair.
- To ask for a hug.
She is super cute too! I love to see her stretch out her arms and say "ug". She'll also give us kisses now. Bedtime is a lot sweeter than it used to be.
Now to get Jeff to do the things I'm not supposed to do......

Nesting

I can't believe I only have 2 weeks left! In two weeks around this time I'll be holding my sweet baby in awe that it's all over. It's amazing how quickly time flys! It seems like yesterday Trish was having her baby and already she's 2 months old! For that matter I can't believe that Sophy is as big as she is! She's talking so clearly now and have very definite opinions about things. She is such a wonderful little girl! I can't imagine having two little girls!
In other news we are having our house painted today. That is if the painter ever starts! We are going with a darker color to show off the brick better, but I'm still not too sure about it. We'll see how it turns out. I think I will just be happy when everything is all said and done. House work is TOO expensive to do too much of it!
While we've had people busy fixing the outside of the house I have been busy fixing the inside! I have swept and dusted and reorganized all over the place. It still seems like there is more work to be done than I can do alone. It's not that my house is very messy, it's just that small things bug me right now. Like the insane urge to clean my toilet bowl brush, or wash the door to our closets (in my defense they were dirty). I am currently washing all the rugs and mopping all floors. I think I might enjoy the hospital just so I can get a break from cleaning!

36 weeks!

Wow! I have been so busy! It's hard to even write out everything that has been going on, so I'll just hit the highlights. Last weekend was Easter. We had a lot of fun with Sophy. While she was hunting eggs (no joke) it started Snowing! Just a tad bit cold for easter! We were supposed to have a lot of family in town, but that didn't work out, but we still had a lot of fun anyway. We sure did miss the Sutherlins though. We had to have some work done on the front of the house. That wasn't too cheap. Now we have to have it painted (raw wood looks weird) and that SURE isn't cheap! Can you believe I spent over $200 on paint alone? Then the painters who are supposed to start work tomorrow call and reschedule because of the rain. So now it'll be next week. I like the color I picked out. It took a while because I had to check with the HOA and consult some others before I could choose a color. At least it'll be done before the baby comes. Speaking of baby- I only have 3 weeks left! I'm very ready to have this kid. I'm tired of being huge and always running my tummy into stuff. I had a doctor's appointment today and she said everything looks good. I'm holding steady at 3 lbs. weight gain! The baby has dropped a lot, something Sophy never did so it's nice to get to eat and breath easier this time around. I get to go in once a week from here on out. I think I have all nursery ready now. I'm just can't find a soft purple blanket with silk ribbon trim! Sophy has a pink one and I can't find a purple one. It's Sophy's favorite so I'd like them each to have their own. Babies R Us has one, but ours is always out of stock! So if you live near a Babies R Us run by and check to see if yours has one. I might have to get one there!
Here's what Baby Center says about the new baby:
Your baby is still putting on the pounds — about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds and is a little less than 19 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the creamy substance that covered and protected her skin during its submersion in amniotic fluid. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, which will stay in her bowels until birth. This blackish mixture, called meconium, will become her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Babies between 37 and 42 weeks are considered full-term; a baby born before 37 weeks is pre-term and after 42 is post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position by now, which is optimal for a smooth delivery.

What a crazy week!

What a week! After my last post things sure did get busy in our household! Sophy got a stomuch bug. Not a big deal, but a lot of mess to clean up. It only lasted 24 hours so that wasn't too bad. The next day she cut TWO teeth! Yes, the baby that had no teeth now has 12! She was cranky and fussy for the next few days because her mouth hurt her. She is now Much better!
On Saturday I came down with Sophy's bug! Not fun to say the least! Only bad part was that I wasn't just sick, I was in pain! So I went to the hospital and sure enough, I was having contractions. I was severely dehydrated so I ended up there for the day with an iv. As soon as they got the first iv bag in me the contractions stopped and I felt much better. the rest of the time there was just boring. The next day was my church baby shower. It was a lot of fun. The girls did a great job decorating and I was surprised by how much this little girl got! She was truly showered with love! I had a doctor appointment yesterday and she said the baby looks good. The baby is right where she should be and the happy news is I've only gained 3 pounds! Yea!
In all of this Jeff has been great. He ran to the store, sat bored at the hospital, and even helped with the house work a little. He has been a rock through it all and somehow always manages to keep from getting sick.

33 weeks! Where does the time go?

I know I haven't posted in a while. I haven't been on the computer too much at all lately. I have been busy with Sophy and friends. For those of you who asked Trish and Annabelle are doing great. Annabelle even smiled a true smile at me the other day! I can't believe she's already old enough to smile! Sophy is doing well. We are all three of us fighting allergies, but it is that time of year! The new baby is growing very quickly now. I have definitely gained weight now and have a hard time finding clothes to fit me, even a lot of my maternity clothes don't fit anymore. I have a very busy couple of weeks coming up. I'm having an ultrasound on Friday to check size and position. I'll try to post pictures as soon as I can. My friends from church are throwing me a baby shower on Sunday. I'm very excited about it! I have a new dress (that fits!), I got my toe nails painted, and I got a haircut so I'll look cute for all the pictures. It still seems like time is flying by. I guess that feeling will only get worse. I'm actually not too anxious about the new arrival, just busy!
Here's what Baby Center says about the new baby:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds and measures 17.2 inches from the top of his head to his heels. Thanks to his recent weight gain, he's losing that wrinkled alien look. Most of your baby's bones are hardening now, but his skull is still quite pliable. It's actually in separate pieces with spaces in between. This flexible structure allows your baby's head to compress so it can fit through your relatively narrow birth canal. The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance. This is totally harmless, normal, and temporary. Your baby's head will quickly take on a more rounded appearance, but his skull plates won't completely fuse until he's about 9 to 18 months old.

31 weeks and counting...

Everything is very well here. Sophy is growing and learning everyday! She can now eat applesauce with a spoon neatly! I'm so proud! She also knows the first 4 abc's. Just not the rest, although she does try to sing the whole song. She is quickly leaning to walk next to mommy and hold my hand so that I don't have to carry her all the time. That has been nice for me since my tummy is now getting BIG! Can you believe it's already March and I'm 31 weeks along! I only have 8 weeks left! I used to tell myself "theres no need to feel worried or rushed until after Christmas", then Christmas came and went. Then I told myself "theres no need to be worried or rushed until after Trish has her baby." and then she had Annabelle two weeks ago! Then I told myself "Rebbecca still has to have her baby so don't worry" and I found out yesterday that Rebbecca will be induced on Thursday! So now I'm starting to worry a little. Time is going so fast! I have the next several weekends busy which only makes time go by faster. This kid will be here before I know it...(and Courtney will finally know her name!)
Here is what Baby Center says about the new baby: This week, your baby measures about 16 inches long. He weighs a little over 3 pounds and is headed for a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and he's beginning to accumulate a layer of fat underneath his skin in preparation for life as a newborn. As a result, his arms, legs, and body are filling out.

Family Update.

Sophy is doing very well. She seems very intrested in baby Annabelle most of the time, but would rather play or bring her toys than sit still and hold her. We got to go see baby Annabelle on Sunday and we got a picture of the two girls together. I think Annabelle looks a lot like Aaron, but in a girly way.

Jeff and I are doing well. We've gotten back to normal life with Jeff back and it's been nice, busy, but nice. We appreciate Jeff a lot more after he has been gone for a while. Luckily there are no more trips planned for him in the near future. So maybe he won't have to go anywhere until after the baby comes.

I'm now 30 weeks! 3/4 the way through this pregnancy! It seems like it is going really fast so I know it won't be long. I had a doctor appointment today. Just a check up. I'll be going every two weeks now. The baby looks good and I've been gaining weight so I'm back to my prepregnancy weight. That makes me kinda sad, but I know that it is good for the baby. I'll go back at 32 weeks. Here's what Baby center says about the baby right now: Your baby's a bit more than 15 1/2 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds. A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and fills out your uterus. Her eyes open and close, she's able to distinguish between light and dark, and she can even follow a light source back and forth. Once she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have a visual acuity of only 20/400 — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face.

Baby Annabelle!

Aaron and Trish had their baby! She is beautiful! Annabelle Grace was born at 4:06 pm on Sunday weighing 7lbs 11ozs and looking oh so cute with a full head of dark hair! They all came home from the hospital today and I took Sophy over to greet them. Sophy wasn't too happy about her at first, but by the end we were having to intercept all the "gifts" she kept bringing over to her. It was very sweet.

Sophy is teething and very grumpy, but other than that she is fine. I expect a tooth to appear any day now. Jeff made it home safely, even if all his bags did not. Both Sophy and I are very happy to have him home! I am fully over my cold with only a little lingering stuffiness and congestion. We got a new big humidifier for our room so hopefully that will help out. It sure made a difference last night!

I am officially 29 weeks pregnant today! I will deliver at 39 weeks so that means I only have 10 weeks to go! Wow! Where did the time go? I feel like I lost at least a whole week in there somewhere. The baby finally flipped and I feel her kicks up high now, so that is really good. Here's what baby center says about the new baby right now: The baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. Her muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and her head is growing bigger to accommodate her brain — which is busy developing billions of neurons. With this rapid growth, it's no surprise that the baby's nutritional needs reach their peak during this trimester. To keep yourself and her well nourished, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamin C, folic acid, iron, and calcium. (About 200 milligrams of calcium is deposited in your baby's skeleton — which is now hardening — every day.)

28 weeks

Today was CRAZY! Sophy woke up with a snotty nose, and she's drooling! She wouldn't nap long and woke up crankier then when she went down! And all of this right before I went to have her pictures made! Isn't that always the way of it. To top it off she fell and bonked her head right before we left, and we were almost late because I discovered that the security tag was still on her dress right before I left. So I had to run down to Baby Depot (20 minutes away!) to get it removed and make it back in time for her appointment. I'm still not sure how I made it!

She is definatly in the 'terrible twos' because she would not cooperate with the photographer at all! She even likes getting her picture taken, but not today! I can't believe we ended up with any pictures at all, but the two I got are cute. Portrait innovations is really good!

It's snowing! Not a lot, just the light flaky stuff, but it's still really pretty. I htink that is all our news for today. Sorry I'm not more intresting.
Here's what Baby Center says about the baby right now: By this week, your baby weighs a little over 2 pounds and measures about 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can open her eyes — which now sport lashes — and she'll turn her head toward a continuous, bright light from the outside. Her fat layers are beginning to form, too, as she gets ready for life outside the womb.

Where is everyone from?

Since Jeff is so far away I thought this would be fun to add. Just a warning I had to copy it personally for blogger. For some reason it wouldn't let me copy paste. Oh well, it's still fun. So add starts people!


Create your own visitor map!

Silly Brother!

I took some pictures for Trish yesterday. I won't post then all because they really are more personal to her, but this one of Aaron was really funny! I had to share it!

He should know by now that if I have a camera in my hands I have no problem catching silly pictures!

(p.s. If you are wondering about the sudden frequency of posts it's because Jeff can check it and see what's going on. No matter where in the world he is.)

New babies!

Here are some Pictures of the new baby. She is doing very well. I had an ultrasound yesterday and we were able to see her blink her eyes and open and close her mouth. It was really neat to see how much she has grown in such a short amount of time. I read about her development each week on babycenter, but it's so different to see it on the screen. Her nose doesn't look as pointy as it did last time, so maybe she's finally filling out. We were also able to peek at baby Annabelle while we were there and even though she is too big to really see anything in particular anymore, we discovered that she has Hair! It's like getting a sneak preveiw of a new movie or something. I am so excited! I can't wait to meet that little girl! And for Trish's sake I really hope it's soon.

Like Father Like Daughter

I know that in the story about Jeff he's on the Big fridge...but this was scary enough! I sat there and watched her climb right on up to the top. Even with me saying "NO" she still giggled along. That girl can move fast! She did get in trouble, but only after I grabbed the camera. She hasn't tried it again so maybe she'll stay off? Doubtful, but I can hope.
Another funny tale: Usually Jeff gives her a bath in the evening. It's too hard for me to bend over the tub right now. With him gone I had little choice, so I jumped in the tub with her and she played and laughed. She learned "bubbles" and "bath". She is catching on quickly right now. After she was all clean I rinsed her off and put her out of the tub thinking I would stand up and get out too. Before I was even out of the tub I realized my mistake! Off went a wet and naked Sophy running for the door...which was open! She ran out of the bathroom, through my room, across the kicthen, and by the time I caught her (also wet and VERY cold) she was in the living room. I had little wet foot prints across the house for a long time till they dried. I'm just glad we don't have much carpet!