Will it ever get done?

Well, thats a good question. Hannah's room sure won't paint itself! I feel like I have a ton of things to do before Hannah gets here. In reality, I don't have that much to do. I just feel rushed. But that's the hormones talking. I think this Saturday I'm not going to paint the whole room, but I'm going to buckle down and finally get that bookcase out of the room and finish painting the shelves that line the walls. That needs to get done before the rest of the room is painted. My mother in law offered to help paint whenever the time comes. I think I will ask her to help me with the walls in the room. But since its just the shelves that I have to do, I only need like 1 other person to help me, and its been ages since I've really spent quality time with my mother. Of course, now that I've made up my mind to ask my mom to help me, she is probably scheduled to work and can't do it. That, or she's going to be busy trying to move more things into the new house. Bummer. I could actually do the shelves by myself, but its much more fun to have someone there to talk to. Its helps pass the time.

Anyway, despite not having Hannah's room done, I have gotten quite a bit done lately. I've kept up with my homework and studying, so I don't feel like I'm behind in any of my classes. And I know we've only had 3 weeks of classes, but alot happens in 3 weeks and its really easy to fall behind. I've kept myself busy today doing housework. Cleaning the bathroom, kitchen, dining room, living room, Sophie's room, laundry (only about 1/2 the laundry though. We ran out of detergent and I didn't feel like going out to buy any-so I went to the kitchen to wash dishes instead), and I made our bed and took the dirty clothes to the laundry room. I've also played ball with Sophie in her bedroom. She's learning that its okay to play in her room. Don't get me wrong, I don't want her to hole herself up in her bedroom and play in there by herself for hours, but I want her to feel like her room is HER room and she can play in there if she would like to.
Yesterday while Michael had his friend Anthony over and they hung out, I put together Hannah's new floor lamp while Sophie napped. I love it. Its the same kind of lamp that we have in Sophie's bedroom and its really great. Its a 5 bulb lamp and it has 3 different settings, so it can be really bright, not so bright, or kind of dull. Its perfect for a baby's room. I also went to WalMart and got some more lightbulbs (the energy saving kind. where 11 watts=60 watts) to change out some of the burnt-out bulbs at home. *sigh* It makes me feel so good to get some housework done, especially on a day that I have classes. I tend to get lazy inbetween classes, but if I push myself to do a little housework, then usually I get a burst of energy and have to clean clean clean everything! I love it!

I have Prob & Stats class tonight. I hope I get my quiz results back from Monday. Pray that I did well! I studied really hard for it and I feel good about it, but I'm going to feel a little worried about it until I see the results!

Monday Morning Catch-up

I thought I'd do a quick blog this morning before Sophie wakes up.
We had a great weekend! It feels so great to not work all weekend and be able to spend some quality time with Sophie and Michael. Plus, we usually do alot of family things on the weekends as well (with the extended family).
Last Thursday, Sept 10th, was Michael's 25 birthday! Halfway to 50. What a mile marker! I had school all day, so in between classes, we went to Erwin. My parents gave Michael his gift and then I gave him his gift and we hurried and went home so I could leave for my night class. All in all, it was a good day, but I would have liked to have done a little more for Michael on his special day.
Anyway, on Friday I got some housework done (YAY) and completely exhausted myself. haha. How quickly I run out of steam. As I am typing this, I'm looking around and it makes me sick how cluttered the living room has gotten since I cleaned up. Ugh. Cleaning is a never-ending process. I was telling Michael yesterday that he could be a little more romantic and liven up the romance in our relationship. He asked me what I meant. I told him that its the little things that I appreciate. I gave him this example: Clean the bathroom one day. Heck, just clean the toilet. When you finish, put the lid down and lay a rose/flower of your choice on top of the CLEAN lid, so that I know its been cleaned and that you were doing it as a kind gesture. I mean, you can't get much more romantic than that, right? That's MY idea of romance. Leave the wining and dining to other couples with larger wallets.
On Saturday, we went over to Michael's parent's house and had a family birthday party for Michael, Andy, and Jessa (other members of Michaels family). Had a great time. Kelly (cousin) was there and brought her baby, Abbi. She's the sweetest little thing! Anyway, Kelly and I also studied Epithelial tissues for an hour (we have the same teacher for A&P1, and we have a tissues quiz next week). Glad to have gotten those down and memorized! We didn't get home til 10:30pm. By that time, Sophie was asleep and out of it. We had a great time, but I felt a little guilty for having Sophie out that late, since she usually goes to bed around 9pm.
Finally, Sunday. We got up and got ready to go to church (which was very good, by the way). Great sermon on prayer. After church, we went to my parents and ate lunch. Sophie took a nap and while she was napping, Michael and my little brother David went to Johnson City and got their hair cut. By the time they got back, it was time for dinner. So we went to Primos in Elizabethton for pizza. Good stuff! We got home about 8pm, played with Sophie for a few minutes, and then she went to bed. So that was our weekend. Very eventful, but I guess it doesn't sound too exciting when you write it all down.
Well, perfect timing. Sophie just woke up.

Rain, Rain, Go away!

Its been raining all day it seems. The power went out for about 45 minutes. That was fun, especially considering it went out while I was changing a dirty dirty dirty dirty diaper!

Sophie let me sleep in this morning til 9:22 am! I was shocked. When I woke up, I hurried and went into her room to make sure she was alright. She was just laying there, smelling her blanket and quietly talking to herself. She's such a sweet girl. At 11am, I had my glucose tolerance test. Thats always a joy.

School started last week and its going great! It feels SO great to be back in school. I'm very excited about getting it all done with and being able to help support Michael while he goes back to school. He's doing a great job being a loving, supportive husband. I'm not usually one to go on and on about my undying love for anyone (besides my daughter of course!), but Michael really is a wonderful husband and I love him to infinity and beyond. He's not perfect, and we get on each others nerves all the time...but he really is a keeper. And I'll just leave it at that and not make anyone sick with all this talk of love and mushy stuff.

Hospitals, dehydration, doctors, and strep.

Oh its been awhile and I have LOTS of updating to do for the month of August.

I start school on the 31st of this month. I am excited, but at the same time...anxious. It seems like a lifetime since I've been to school, but I will be successful and I will do well! I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR!!

Anyway, last week, the week of Aug 10th- Sophie was sick. Again. with a virus. Poor thing was miserable and nothing made her happy. It was frustrating and sad. There's nothing like a sick, unhappy baby that can us Moms feel inadequate and vulnerable.

So this week, guess what?! Mommy comes down with what Sophie had (so we think). I actually started feeling sick Friday, Aug 14th. I worked all weekend, though, and continued to gradually feel worse. On Monday, my glands on my upper neck were very sore and my lips were getting unusually chapped- cracked and sores all over them. Monday evening at 6pm, I went to the walk-in clinic at SOFHA. I had a low-grade fever and my pulse was quite elevated. They did a 7 minute strep screen which came back negative. So they sent of a culture to the lab at JCMC, just to be safe, and told me to take it easy and drink lots of fluids (I was dehydrated) and no working for at least two days. Well, I come home and drink 1 cup of water and decide to go to bed early (around 8pm). Woke up quite a few time during the night feeling horrible. Got up at 5:30am and just couldn't make myself get up and face the day and I knew that something was wrong. Woke up Michael and we took Sophie to my in-laws. We then went to JCMC and went to the ER. The ER transferred me to The Women's Center (since I am almost 26 weeks pregnant). They hook me up to the fetal monitors and take my B/P. BP is 90/48. But Hannah is fine and kicking. As it turns out, I was extremely dehydrated. They stuck me with an IV 4 times and finally found a vein. The gave me 2 1/2 liters of fluids before they let me go home. I went home around 4pm with instructions to take my phenergan as needed, tylenol for headache, and tums.
When I got home, I wondered why I wasn't feeling any better. Worse, actually. And to beat it all, I started having constant heartburn, which is unusual for me. Ate tums after tums and no relief! Dealt with it until Wednesday, and then called the Doctor on-call. Dr. Hinton told me to try Zantac and if that didn't work, go back to the hospital. The last thing I wanted to do was go back to the hospital, so Michael went to walmart and got the Zantac. Took it, helped a tiny bit, but still had the constant heartburn. I still refused to go back to the hospital. So I stuck it out. Anyway...all the days are kind of running together, so I'll skip to today and how its going....
As it turns out, my culture came back from the hospital and I have strep-for the first time in my life...and I'm not exactley thrilled, but I am SO glad that I have meds to get better. I found that out last night about the strep. Well the past week, I've gotten sores in my mouth. On the roof of my mouth, around my gums, on my tongue, inside my lips, and my chapped lips? Nope- Severe Cold Sores...which I have never had the "pleasure" of experiencing before. Bring on the Carmex!! And because of these sores in my mouth, I haven't been able to eat anything. So today, the Doctor prescribled something for me called "magic mouthwash" that supposedly helps with pain and healing from the sores. So that's where I am right now. Just waiting and biding my time, and praying that I feel better soon because I feel frazzled. Luckily, I am a very blessed person with lots of willing babysitters! So although I miss Sophie, she has been in the care of her grandparents for most of the week. So I'm not too worried about her catching what I have because she's not been around me enough to catch it.

Too early!

I hope Sophie doesn't make getting up at 6:50am a habit. For a couple months, she was getting up at 6am and I was used to that, so it wasn't that big of a deal. But for the past few months, she's been sleeping until between 8:30 &9am. So I am not used to getting up too early these days.
Since she woke up so early, though, I got her ready and we were planning on going grocery shopping early in the morning to beat the walmart crowd. However, the Heavens opened up and the sky poured rain for about an hour and a half. I wasn't going to leave the house with it raining that hard. For anyone who knows me really well, you know that when its raining, I seem to fall down my stairs outside easily. So we waited until around 8:30am to leave our apartment. Got all the grocery shopping done before 10am. Yay! When we got home, Sophie was ready for a nap. While she slept, I put the groceries up and made the pasta salad for tonight. While I made the pasta and cut up the veggies, I talked to my brother Josh on the phone for awhile. He and my brother Adam are coming over for dinner tonight as well as Michael's cousin Jake and his wife, Ashli.
Sophie woke up at 11:20am and I fed her an early lunch since she had such an early breakfast. She ate a PB&J Sandwhich. For those of you parents who cut off the crusts of your child's sandwhich: WHY? Why waste bread and let your child grow accustomed to being so picky over a sandwich? I understand if the crust is really tough and crunchy, but most regular bread is soft and is just fine for a toddler to eat. Sophie isn't picky at all. Anyway, sorry, I just feel strongly about that for some reason. At 12:15pm, we left to go to the hospital to see Michael during his lunch break at work. Got home at 1:45ish. Sophie was ready for another nap. She is still sleeping. So while she's napping, I thought I'd catch up on some cleaning and update my blog.
I have been on a cleaning kick for over a week now. I feel like I'm nesting already. I never nested with Sophie. Seriously. I've never been a clean freak. Never had the urge to clean the house like a madwoman- until now. I cleaned the bathroom, living room, and kitchen YET AGAIN today. The other day, I cleaned the tub twice and the toilet 3 times. Why? I have no idea. I just get an overwhelming urge for things to look nice. Michael hasn't been complaining about the house being unusually clean. He is enjoying it. I told him to enjoy it while he can. Once Hannah comes, he can clean for awhile while I love on my two girls *smile*.

Ultrasound

Its been awhile since I've updated, so be prepared for a long post.

First of all: School. My classes start August 31st. I am excited to finally go back and make something of myself. Seems like all I do lately is pop out babies.

Secondly: Sophie. She's doing great! Still into everything and giving kisses all the time! She's such a joy. I love her dearly. Today I was folding her laundry and she decided that I wasn't paying enough attention to her, so she walked up to me and layed her head in my lap and gave my knee a kiss. (I'm smiling as I type this)....I will take that kind of diversion any day! She's such a sweetheart.

And now to Michael. I'm so proud of him. He went to the gym today after over a year of not going. Also, he is now a PCP! Yay! That means a $1 raise, and he's starting to pick up iChoice shifts again (extra shifts means overtime which means more money!). So I don't feel as worried now about going down to Part time at work once school starts. And that's one less thing to stress about.

Moving on to me and my pregnancy....I had a doctor's appt July 8th. Finally gained 2 lbs!!! After months of losing (-17 lbs total), I have finally started gaining a little. And I'm also not dehydrated anymore. That's a MAJOR accomplishment. Also, I only throw up once or twice a week now instead of 2-3 times a day. That makes me pretty happy. Finally feeling Peanut kicking around now. Oh....!! Speaking of Peanut.....
.......I had my ultrasound on July 9th. Took forever to get any good pictures. This child kept its legs closed for the first 25 minutes. and finally....after lots of jostling, frustration and turning on my sides...Hannah opened her legs! Yep...another girl =). I'm thrilled. Her name will be Hannah Julianne (after my mother, Julie, and my grandmother, Ann). I go for another ultrasound on Aug 20th because they couldn't get a clear picture of her heart. The doctor came in and talked to me and showed me on a couple of the pictures that they were able to get, there was a white spot on her heart. He said that it could be nothing and although I shouldn't worry too much, there is a possibility that it could be sign of a genetic defect. So I am going back at the end of August so they can hopefully get better pictures after Hannah has developed a little more. I am not letting myself worry, because what would that accomplish? Genetic defect or not, we will love Hannah the same, regardless. And it is probably nothing anyway, but I will keep everyone posted on the details when I find out more.
After my ultrasound, the doctor was also kind enough (I am rolling my eyes) to tell me that Hannah is measuring small, so my due date has yet again changed BACK to December 5th. BLAH. Which is a slight concern, because that's only 7 days before finals. So hopefully I can talk to my doctors and discuss a birthing plan. I am hoping they will agree to induce me on my due date if I haven't had her by then, so that I won't miss final exams. We will see what they say...

So I guess that's it. I will try to do a better job updating in the future!

School

Well I registered for classes last week and talked to financial aid and all that good stuff. Yay! I will be a full-time student starting Aug 31st. I am taking: Probability & Statistics; Anatomy & Physiology 1; Speech Communication; Concepts of Computer Applications. Thats a total of 13 hours. And I found out after looking at my transcript that my GPA is 3.8, which is certainly better than a 3.6!
So getting to the good stuff...Sophie! She's doing great eating like a big girl. She eats 3 meals a day and drinks from a sippy cup. She's been in a really great mood this week. Its so fun to play with her. She loves to dance and listen to music. Its wonderful. I think she's finally learning that she's not the center of the universe anymore. haha. Now that she's getting older, she's gotta learn that its not "all about her" anymore. Otherwise, we're gonna have BIG problems when Peanut is born.
Speaking of Peanut, I am 17 1/2 weeks pregnant and I wanna know the gender of this child!!!!! They haven't even scheduled the ultrasound yet, though. That's disappointing. However, I am confident that it will be scheduled at my next doctor's appointment.
We are taking Sophie to her first Drive-In movie this Friday! We are going to see "Up". I am very excited. It will be my first Drive-In as well, so its going to be fun. I've arranged for someone to come into work for me at 7:30p, so I can get home and we can get Sophie loaded up and get over there to park in a good spot.
This weekend is my last weekend at work before the 4th of July weekend! I have that whole weekend off to enjoy time with my family. On Friday, Michael is working, so Sophie and I will probably go downstairs to visit with Donna and Mike (my in-laws) for awhile and then go to Erwin to see the family for awhile. On Saturday (the 4th), we will be spending the day with Michael's family. I think we are going to Uncle Andy's house to play baseball (I'm not sure if I'll end up playing, but you never know) and cookout. Last year we went to see the fireworks at Freedom Hall, but the year before that we set them off at Donna and Mikes. So we will see. Personally, I love watching the fireworks at Freedom Hall. They are gorgeous. Setting them off is fun, but I always get nervous because Michael never seems to be cautious enough, in my opinion. Regardless of what we do, I know we'll have a great time. On Sunday, we are having a picnic/cookout at Grammas house with my family. That will be fun, too.
Anyhow, I have gotta get stuff done today, and its not gonna get done if I don't get off the computer. So ta-ta for now!