*~*Wordful Wednesday*~* Another Week Down

This past week has been a whirlwind..... Last week was a bit of cleaning and preparing for baby plus relaxing, until Friday.... Friday I packed up the living and dining room (which amazingly did not take as many bins as I thought it would with all our books). Had to do so to move all the furniture and items to the garage to have our laminate flooring installed on Saturday. The hubby and our buddy finished up around 1am..... And it looks absolutely amazing!!!! It was a long day, and I tried helping out a little where I could (clean-up wise) but also had a terrible case of allergies hit. Which was no wonder because once the carpet and padding was pulled up underneath it all was DISGUSTING!!!!!! Enough dirt to start a mini sand box I'd say, and that was just on the ground, not including what had become airborne. Dusting the next day was no fun, but I made sure I took a claritin first thing this time because I did not want to be bed ridden from allergies nor have my nose become even more raw than  it was from the day before!  Sunday was mainly a day of rest. Brought most items back in but was so tired from the previous day that there are still a number of items in the garage that have to be moved back in, book shelves and everything that goes on them and the desk and so on.

I have officially joined the LBC (leaky boob club) lol.... I did not have anything come in until after the birth of my 7 year old and now it seems like I should have no problem with feeding this one when he arrives. Which is a good deal because as of Monday, Week 37 Day 2, he is measuring to be 7-8lbs 10oz, and 38-39weeks along. Big boy is going to need A LOT of food!!!!  My doctor's appointment went well too. Had a number of questions answered and had to have the baby's heartbeat tested to make sure it was accelerating properly. Everything looked great. They said because of the GD he is measuring much larger than he should be and they want to test his lungs for full development on Monday via amniocentesis..... A big needle going through my belly!?!?!?! Sigh..... They want to ensure that his lungs are developed enough to deliver him next week and make sure that the GD didn't slow down their growth. I've also had to switch over my blood thinner to Heprin (which makes me feel like some sort of drugy because I have to do all the work of getting the fluids into the needle out of a little glass jar, did I mention I HATE NEEDLES? Well, I do!!!) and then after the c-section I will be back on the Lovenox for at least 6 weeks.

New meds..... Bigger needle.... Uggggg :(

 Monday night was filled with terrible pains, but it has come to the point that unless my water breaks or something more dramatic occurs I'm not running to the hospital. The pain was so intense that I actually fell asleep/passed out from it all. By Tuesday morning it was very dull in the back but still sharp in the upper stomach/lower chest. I wound up going back to sleep until noon, ate, and then fell back asleep..... Of course the hubby was happy to hear that I had been resting as much as I did, even if it wasn't by choice... Today I'm feeling good, very tired, but good!

So we have approximately 1 week left until baby Mikey will be joining our lives in the outside world.... And as of last night, I am a wreck with it all....  I look around and see all the things that still need to be done, plus his mom and dad will be out here that first week and then my mom and step dad will be out here the day after they depart.... And me being an organized/clean freak, I want to make sure everything is order.... Ha, everything in order.... Hubby asked me to make a list of everything I want to get done..... Why does the list keep growing? Probably because I know I'm not going to be able to do a whole lot at first after Mikey is here and I won't have time to "prepare" for everyone's arrival... I am looking forward to having family here though and hopefully some yummy meals from our moms ;) I'm always down for a mother's home cooked meal. :))

Well.... I should try and get to some of the easier tasks done...... Oh and am excited to have our new fridge come in later today! Yay to no more frozen milk!!! hahahaha 

37 weeks

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*~* Wordless Wednesday *~*

The man-child's Lego Land (this week)

Resting........

This past week has been one of the most rewarding, boring, painful, sleepless and all around relaxing weeks of my pregnancy thus far. Last Monday I was told to be home and take it easy for the next two weeks until I could be seen again. Not placed on bed rest but told to relax to have the contraction episodes stop. The first couple days I got a bit of cabin fever/distressed over everything that still needed to be done.... Yes, I tried to get it all done on my own... To the point of more pain and contractions and then of course immediately taking the doctor's orders to heart and began relaxing.

Friday the hubby had a St. Patrick's Day Golf Tournement and since he wasn't going to be home until later (he's been taking care of dinner) I decided to make corn beef and cabbage in the crock pot. Easy enough, except for the wonderful aroma throughout the house all day making me want to eat everything in sight....

Friday night was filled with tossing and turning and PAIN, lots and lots of pain. So much that I woke up after a couple hours in tears and asking my hubby to rub my back. That didn't work so I took a very hot shower, mainly on all fours letting the water hit my back full force. No help there either.... That's when I caved and took an ambien... The docs have prescribed me with flexril and ambien. I hate taking meds, especially when pregnant. It is bad enough I have to shoot myself up daily with blood thinner, but now these in order to get "some" sleep and pain relief....??? Since eight days ago when I got these I have taken them 3 times in an effort to find the sandman. They lasted all about 3-4 hours and I was up again middle of the night/early morning with the same or more pain. So I stopped taking them and have been working with 2-3 hours of broken sleep at a time.
The couch has become my place of solace. Comfort during the day of sitting or napping and comfort at night of sleeping/napping. The baby belly is so big it is difficult to turn from one side to another in bed without pushing/shoving my body in that direction. I compare it to doing a sit-up with 25lbs of extra weight being strapped onto the chest... (man if this were the way it was I'd have abs of steel right now... lol). So when I wake up between 1-3am I mosey onto the couch and find sleep faster there then in bed. Besides the comfort I don't like the idea of waking the hubby so much at night with all that he does and is doing during the day with all of my tossing and turning.

Saturday was a crawfish boil with the hubby's co-workers. It also happened to be a gorgeously WARM day out. I sat out talking to several wives while taking in the rays, ate some very spicy crawfish, and drank lots of water. Then it hit me, that need to potty but nothing there.... Pain had been generating throughout my back and belly for a couple days already and now dehydration. I had been drinking water all day, but just not enough. So, I found a cozy spot on the couch inside and downed a few bottles in little time. The man-child was having a blast making lots of new friends and the hubby was having a blast hanging out with his buddies and drinking some drinks for the both of us... hahaha.. So I relaxed and read a book on my kindle on my phone. Then the dessert table requested my guarding.... Needless to say, I caved and sat my prego butt there and consumed 2 pieces of cake, endless amount of apples and fruit dip, and a couple little cupcake like desserts with cherries and glaze on top.... Good for my blood sugar? Not so much, but I figured one binge day was well deserved for all the pain the littlest dude was having me endure. We were there into the evening and grabbed a big bag of food to go and took it to their friend on base that was on duty and didn't get to make the party.

Sunday we took a drive out to J-ville to get Baby Blue (my 67 Chevelle). We took her out for a spin around the block parked her and then waited a little while before trying her out again. The hubby went to take his turn driving it, would have been his first time doing so, and clunk clunk clunk.... She wouldn't turn over.... :-/ Tried again, nothing.... Damn... Re-built motor, new intake, new carb, new alternator, new exhaust... Sigh..... Carb needed to be readjusted was what our friend said. He'd get that done and bring it out to us this week. Well it turned out that the gas gauge is not working right. She was out of gas... LOL. This of course was found out after we had already made it home later that night. Booo... After we left there we went to Sears and took a look at refrigerators. Ours has decided that it would rather be a freezer for the entire upper back portion of the fridge. Walked around there a little, made our way to Lowes for comparisons and found one we liked but decided to discuss it and look up specs back home first. Decided on one and knew on Monday we would have to go buy it for the sale they were having plus the additional 10% for military discount. I love good deals! We also picked up our laminate flooring for the dining/living room. (Very excited about not having carpet there anymore). The guys will be doing all of that this weekend!

Sunday night turned into another night of hell with contractions, stomach pain/stretching stabbing pain in upper stomach/lower chest and lower back pain. Walking around the stores was not my body's idea of relaxing. :(  I found myself on the couch again after only a couple hours of tossing and turning in bed.... Between the softness of the couch and being completely exhausted I passed out quickly and was woken 3 hours later by the alarm clock to get up and help get the man-child ready for school.

36 weeks (Sunday morning) and little/no sleep

Monday was spent relaxing and napping while waking every 30 min, then picking up the man-child to take him to his dental appointment. After we went and indulged mommy's new craving and one of little man's new favorite drinks from Dairy Queen. 

Hawaiian Blizzard... So yummy!

Jake's Arctic Rush

Came home and relaxed. Hubby made dinner and we decided to go on out to Lowes to buy the new fridge. But the door bell rang and there were our friend's Chris and Rick (his dad) and behind them was Baby Blue!!!!!! Little sneaks!!!! They drove her out to us! They told us that they received 2 offers from guys just on the drive out and gave me their cards... lol... might be something I'm willing to consider if the price is right. Immediately little man and I hopped into the front seat and took her for ride down the street. Hubby and son drove her to Lowes (his first time driving her) while I followed behind, just in case.  ;) Got there with the intention to buy a top freezer fridge and then saw a bottom freezer one with tons of fridge room.... For less than $1,100 with 4 year warranty!!!! Hubby wanted it more than the other one so we went with it and it will be here next week! Yay, no longer will have to defrost the milk in the morning... hahaha!!! I drove Baby Blue back home. Got her up to 55.... Speedometer is off a bit too because hubby said I was going 60-65....... But she sounds soooooo awesome and drives great!!!!! Now normally I can handle the smell of the engine/car.... But during the drive it was making me a bit nauseous..... Which means if I don't sell her this little man needs to come out soon so I can drive her without feeling sick!!!

I have been trying my hardest to take it easy and we will see next Monday how big baby is and what we'll be doing the following weeks. We both decided after the last appointment that a c-section would be the best option for delivery. Went over everything with the docs, including the med records from when the 7yr old man-child was born and it was not leaning anywhere close to being favorable for me having a VBAC.... So instead of going through the pushing stress and baby not being able to even pass through because I am too small and/or putting baby through the stress and having to go into a c-section or emergency c-section we're going to try and just schedule for it to take place... Either the first or second week of April since they schedule at least a week before due date....  I'm hoping I'll be able to go back to work for the last week or two, but the hubby is pretty adamant that I stay home. I'm getting a little taste of being a SAHM. Not so bad.... But it is driving me crazy that I can't do even half of what I would normally do.... That will change after baby comes of course and I won't feel so utterly useless.....

*~* Wordless Wednesday *~*

My big boy with two of his favs. Legos and Star Wars

*~*Traveling Down Memory Lane*~*

Today the FedEx man delivered 4 boxes sent from my daddy's. Inside each of these boxes was a rush of memories..... My most favorite items from when the man-child was a baby; clothes, toys, stuffed animals, bassinet, car seat, etc. :) There were a few items that I thought had been lost during the move out east.... I cried when I saw them. Most of all, his first teddy bear and coming home outfit....

This was the teddy bear the hospital gave my son after he was born. The outfit was suppose to be his going home outfit, but as it turned out, he was a BIG Boy and this was way too small for him. His dad and I thought he would be small like we were.

This is the onesie he wore home from the hospital <3

I didn't know that I had kept so many of his "baby" toys!!! Baby Mikey is definitely set!

This is the outfit he was wearing the first time he started crawling! :)

These are a few of the onsies I absolutely loved him in, especially the red one! (which happens to be his favorite color now). :)))

My little beach bum outfit. One of my favorite's on him with his crystal blue eyes.

His first pair of jeans and leather jacket from Grandma

One of the rompers I loved him in.

These pj's are my favorite, even come with built in mittens so baby can't scratch his face, didn't know I kept so many of them! :)

Hehehe, a little shirt I bought for him at a tattoo convention

 His first swim trunks that he wore for his first time in a pool at 6 months old.

 He cried and threw a fit when we had to leave.... A little fishy just like his mommy :)

His dad is a Star Wars fan..... Yes, he has passed it down to our son, this was just the beginning...

Every Marine's child needs a camo outfit :)

From his first visit to the ocean/beach. He loved it even though his lips started to turn blue from the wind!!!!! Cocoa Beach, FL

Big Brother's baby bassinet. Baby Mikey will use it now and probably the next baby too ;)

Emotions are High and Nerves are on Edge

Wednesday night little man had baseball tryouts and did pretty darn well for hitting from a pitching machine!!!

 
5 more weeks!!! Or as the doctors would claim, only 3 more weeks based off of this big dudes size..... Last week had another rough pregnancy incident.... Wednesday came and I felt okay.... Wednesday night gave way to another bloody show...... At which case I called the doctor and fell asleep waiting for a call back that never came... :-/ I figured with as many times as this has been happening I would try and wait it out and make sure it didn't just stop an hour or two later. Morning came and the crimson color was still there.... Drove the hour and half to the doctors and was taken into L&D triage... Was then hooked up to monitors and there they were... Contractions. Strong and close. But still not dilated past a one. My lower back was taking the brunt of it all... Back labor sucks..... The docs then gave medicine to calm it all down as they did before.... Maybe it's a sign he's ready, but my body isn't? I don't know, but after being there for over 7 hours and told no work until they see me again Monday and to go home and rest, I was beat.....

35 weeks

This dude is taking his toll on me at the end of the pregnancy.... Maybe this is payback for not having any real major issues or sickness in the beginning....? He's just going to throw it all out there at me at once at the end when I'm already super emotional, humungous, TIRED, and sore everywhere either from sitting too long, standing too long, walking too long...... I think I may just start poking at him every time I feel him move and tell him to come on out and join the world already.... Or, as luck would have it, (like me when I was little) I'll have to play some reverse psychology on him and tell him to stay in there in order to get him to come on out....

We decided on a coming home outfit for him on Friday. I relaxed a bit.... But wound up doing more cleaning than resting at first. Was able to get all baby Mikey's clothes cleaned and put away though! It wasn't until it felt like something tore in the lower belly area while vacuuming that I took it easier the rest of the day. I would make a terrible bed rest patient.... And I'm crossing my fingers that nothing leads me in that direction.... I am not one for sitting still long and when things need to get done I'm usually good at getting it taken care of, unless the belly gets in the way... I didn't realize how difficult it is to scrub a toilet with a big baby belly!!

Saturday was spent going to a beer shop and a wine store that was next door, doing baby shopping at Babies R Us and mommy/baby shopping. Daddy picked out little socks, pacifiers and the baby's bathtub, and got us registered on the baby registry!! :)) They happened to have the breast pump I wanted on sale with all the items that went with it, got that too! :)) After all that walking it wasn't just my feet that were swollen and sore! Of course I should have been resting still but it is so difficult to do when so much still needed to be done!

Today was spent relaxing until the afternoon. Our son has been a bit more needy recently. And the slow transformation of his room to be shared with his baby brother might be the culprit. He has stated that the baby is not allowed in his room or allowed to touch his legos. LOL. Yea buddy good luck with that!!! Come the time the baby is too big for his bassinet he'll be in the room in his crib. This transition should be interesting! He's stoked about having a brother, finally, but not if he has to really do anything or share.... He's in for a rude awakening! :P But I'm sure it'll all work out and in time they'll be at each others throats as brothers do. So this afternoon we went to the dog park on base and let the dogs run around while hubby and son played catch. Then little man found a number of kids to play with at a playground and had a blast. This is something we plan to do more often weather permitting.

I had a fever earlier but needed to get out of the house and hoped it would help me. I think it did a bit but now I feel it starting to come back and will be making my way back to bed....Seriously looking forward to this big boy making his way out of my belly and into our arms!!!!! So DAMN tired is an understatement..... And these hormonal/emotional outbursts are enough to drive a crazy person sane! I don't recall it being this bad when I was pregnant with man-child #1!

*~* Wordless Wednesday *~*

Looking Glass Falls

To Be a Working Mom or To Be a Stay at Home Mom

 

My husband came home last night and wanted to have a talk about budgeting for the baby prior to us taking the actual Budget for Baby class we're registered for next week. He wanted one of me working and me not working. Easy enough for me to provide to him as I had already done so a while back.... He had a conversation earlier that day with a buddy of his about his family's life since the birth of their child and his wife being a stay-at-home-mom now, after having been employed before and during pregnancy.... I'm not too clear on what their situation is or was and/or what "type" of employment she had, for how long, or even her work history to even try and make an attempt to compare our situation with theirs though. But the hubby seemed a bit excited to discuss it. During his explanation, at first, it seemed he was leaning toward me to continuing work after the birth of our son. A little more into the conversation I had to stop him and ask him if he was wanting me to stay home or still work, you know, to get to the main point/topic of the conversation, his response was stay home....... This took me aback a bit. I had been thinking about both possibilities, but have been leaning more toward getting back to work as soon as possible after the birth.  But my husband seems quiet certain that me staying home would be the most beneficial action to take for our family as a whole..... He named a few of the benefits, being able to raise our children and be there for them (not paying someone else to do so), having the opportunity to not be so stressed and go-go-go all the time, being able to take longer vacation times to see and visit family, and dive in more to my schooling. In reality, I would be working half a month strictly to pay for full time child care for baby and after school care for our school age son. Based off of both of our income it is over $1,100 a month (to include disposable diapers{since they won't do cloth diapers}, wipes, food, etc). And during the summer it would be even more because our oldest son would be in full time care/summer camp also. I responded back that  me working helps keep my sanity, being able to be personable and have adult conversations in person is something I need. Then there's the fact that I have been working for 13 years. Even when I first had my 7yr old, I was blessed with a work from home job for 2 1/2 years that paid great and I was able to work when I wanted in between naps with baby and outings to friends and family's houses. I have always had some sort of employment; part-time, full-time or both at the same time. So thinking about me not working on purpose is a whole lot of frightening to me... I am thankful to have the choice as to what to do though. I just didn't know it would be such a hard decision to make.

 
My mom stayed at home most of my brother's and my childhood and during our breaks we would have numerous trips to the beach, theme parks, the river, locations to go dirt bike riding, lakes, and so on and she would be able to make it to almost all of our performances. All things that I have felt guilty about not being able to do with/for Jake. Guilt is the word that I think best describes it. Guilty for not having enough time for him, guilty for always being in a rush after work to get his school work done, eat, sports practice, shower, then bed. Guilt for the days I come home completely exhausted and half-assing nightly routines or becoming more than easily irritable by him. Guilty for him asking me for years to just stay home with him.... Even though it was no where near an option before. But at the same time I am stuck not knowing how I would react and deal with being a SAHM. Yes, I can go on and on about being more involved in our oldest son's school, being present for every milestone our baby will have, being able to get things done throughout the house and make more diverse yummy meals, being able to do things and go places during breaks, practice my photography more, finish school a lot faster, etc.... But how would I be financially providing for our household? How would I be as a mother who is with the kids ALL THE TIME? How long would it be for?

The husband sees our daily lives as a rush through, constantly on the go, constantly a strain, and not enough enjoyment, and he's said how he'd rather not have that rush feeling once the baby is here. I wonder if he sees it as being a Leave it to Beaver episode or Stepford Wives type of life style when he thinks about how it could be..... I know he is only trying to do and go forward with what he sees is best for the family, for us individually and for the kids, but I think I am a lot more skeptical about it all.

I enjoy the work I currently do about 90% of the time and I get along well with all my co-workers. I love being able to help our soon to be veteran's and military spouses and I'm good at what I do. And I am working hard toward earning another promotion later this year. It is not my ideal job though. Dream job would be something in investigations or photography or both. But I know what I do helps those that I work with find employment after serving our country and that feeling of accomplishment is very rewarding.

My dad has always said write a Pro's and Con's list to any difficult decision.... There are more Pro's for the family in the matter of staying home..... Not to be selfish but personally, right now, I feel there are more Con's for me as a mother and wife to stay home. Buuuuuut I still do not know. I guess I will see how being a SAHM is during maternity leave. 

Articles I have read Stay at Home vs. Working Mothers

http://stayathomemoms.about.com/od/becomeastayathomemom/a/fromwahmtosahm.htm

http://www.workingmother.com/blogs/confessions-pajama-mama/stay-home-mom-vs-working-mom-vs-work-home-mom

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/15/study-working-moms-are-ha_n_1152202.html

http://www.webmd.com/baby/features/hard-choice-for-moms-work-stay-home

http://www.workingmother.com/research-institute/what-moms-choose-working-mother-report

http://www.workingmother.com/blogs/powermom/resolutions-working-and-stay-home-moms

Maternity Leave

http://pregnancy.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Statutory_Maternity_Leave_Entitlements


Returning to work after Maternity Leave

http://pregnancy.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Maternity_Leave_Return_to_Work?bcsi_scan_8D0E087B2ACD4119=veyXRs9HNAQwUfZvYjWZCbeivvJlAAAAJYbyfA==:1

*~*Music Monday*~* Military, Love, Deployments, Loss.....

Here's a list of love, sad, angry, and upbeat songs that remind me of our military members and those of us that remain on the home front when they are away. Feel free to add songs that remind you of your loved one when they're away or patriotic songs that you enjoy! <3

God Bless The USA- Lee Greenwood

Ours- Taylor Swift

The Bumper of My SUV- Chely Wright

Who You'd Be Today- Kenny Chesney

Makin Me Fall In Love Again- Kellie Pickler

Wait For Me-Theory Of A Deadman

Here Without You- 3 Doors Down

Citizen Soldier- 3 Doors Down

When You're Gone- Avril Lavigne

They Also Serve- John Conlee

Letters From Home- John Michael Montgomery
I'm Already There- Lonestar
Love Don't Run-  Steve Holy
Without You- Keith Urban
In God We Still Trust- Diamond Rio
Come Home Soon- SheDaisy
All I Ask For Anymore- Trace Adkins
Traveling Soldier- Dixie Chicks
Loving You Tonight- Andrew Allen
Long Distance- Bruno Mars
Tattoos & Scars- Montgomery Gentry
Politically Uncorrect- Gretchen Wilson
Only In America- Brooks and Dunn
Little House- Amanda Seyfried
Warm Whispers- Missy Higgins
All We'd Ever Need- Lady Antebellum
A Thousand Years- Christina Perri
God Gave Me You- Blake Shelton
Whiskey Lullaby- Brad Paisley
Soldier Song- Steve Azar
I'll Wait For You- Joe Nichols
Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning- Alan Jackson
American Soldier- Toby Keith
Where The Stars and Stripes and The Eagles Fly- Aaron Tippin
America First- Merle Haggard
God Bless America- Martina McBride
One Last Time- Dusty Drake
Riding with Private Malone- David Ball
If I Don't Make It Back- Tracy Lawrence
One More Day- Diamond Rio
Arlington- Trace Adkins
Ragged Old Flag- Johnny Cash
American Child- Phil Vassar
Some Gave All- Billy Ray Cyrus
Courtsey Of the Red, White & Blue- The Angry American- Toby Keith
Wake Me Up When September Ends- Green Day
Unsung Heros- Josh Gracin
Just A Dream- Carrie Underwood
Til The Last Shots Fired- Trace Adkins
19- Bill Gentry
If You're Reading This- Tim McGraw
Semper Fi- Trace Adkins
I Just Came Back From A War- Darryl Worley