35 weeks 35 days left!!!

Today was my 35 week checkup. I have weekly appointments from here on out just to keep a check on everything. Everything looks great. Gained a few pounds, blood pressure was 130/80 which is a tad high for me but normal, Ben’s heart rate was 140, measuring right on track for 35 weeks, and nurse reassured me that the bit of swelling I have in my feet is mostly due to humidity (since it’s been in the 70s this week) and Ben’s position, and not being able to rest as much as I did with Sam. My doctor is very pleased with my healthy pregnancy and told me that my strep B test was negative and my placenta is no longer an issue since it has moved 7cm since our last ultrasound! All around just a great appointment. Even better I was in and out in 15 minutes so I got to go home and spend time with my sweet girl and her Grandpa. Patrick is out of town for the last time until after Ben’s arrival. We are so thankful for such a great job, but my dad has had to come and watch Sam a few times so that I can go to my doctors appointments.Grandpa loves his time with Sam and she gets so excited about him staying to play. They play and eat snacks and she always ends up in her princess dress, because Grandpa is just that awesome. :) I know she enjoys her individual time with him as much as he does. :) We are ready for Patrick to be home for a while though so we can try to establish a new routine before he has to go back to Seattle again sometime after Sam's 3rd birthday.

We are staying very busy these days. Sam and I spend most of our days playing, crafting, and visiting with friends. I’m enjoying every minute of alone time with her that I can until she has to share with her new brother.

I worry sometimes, as mother’s often do, about how having a new baby will change our relationship. I know we will all love Ben so much, but this will be a huge change for Sam who has had momma’s undivided attention for almost 3 years. Yesterday we visited with 2 babies. One was 4 months old and the other was her cousin Colton who is 6 weeks old. Sam loves babies, she wants to hold them, rub them, shush them, hug them, kiss them, and tells them she loves them and how sweet they are. I just hope that once Ben arrives and is at our house all the time she still feels the same way. I’m so blessed to have such a sweet little girl, and so blessed that we are able to give her a baby brother.

34 weeks 4 days pic

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to post Sam’s latest crafts and our 2012 Christmas card! Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!

3 Years of Santa!

 

Putting up the tree! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

Tis the season for decorating VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

Craft fun VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

28 weeks

Whew I’m tired! When people ask how I’m feeling that’s what I tell them. I won’t complain, I’m excited about this precious baby boy that is kicking my insides out, but I’m exhausted! lol. The last four weeks have been crazy. Sam had an ear infection, then we went to Seattle for a business trip with Patrick, when we got back we got some news about a close family member that we are still trying to process, went to the pumpkin patch with some good friends, then some drama with my youngest sister, and my oldest sister gave birth to her precious baby boy Colton. No wonder I need a nap. I don’t think we’ve sat still long enough to breathe, so I’m just glad I’m finally getting a chance to update the blog! lol. Also between all of that I had to take my glucose test and do an antibody screen. Luckily my sugar levels were great, however I do have low iron (nothing serious just trying to eat a more iron rich diet), and my rh- screen showed that I needed to have the Rhogam shot, just like I did with Sam. All in all not bad, and everything is going well. Had my 28 week checkup this week too, gained a little more weight than I would have liked, stupid stress eating, but my doctor reassured me that I haven’t gained much in total so it was fine. BP was a perfect 120/80, Ben’s HR was 150 again, measuring perfectly, and I’m very healthy!

Sam is doing incredibly well. We still have those toddler days of “no way”s and tantrums over nothing, but overall she is just so fun. She loves to play with her doctors kit and give me checkups, she spent 5 days in a row playing in her princess dress and tiara because that’s the only thing she wanted to wear, she loves new babies so much and just wants to hold and cuddle and soothe them all the time. When we were at her friend Emma’s house this week she heard Emma’s baby brother Oliver crying and went up to him and said “don’t cry, Sammie’s here”. I mean how could you not love this child!!!!! I cannot wait to see her with her own baby brother. I know we will have obstacles, it won’t all be puppies and rainbows, but I’m so excited! Here are some much needed updated pictures. I promise to do my best and post a blog about our trip to Seattle soon.

October Album on FB

24 weeks

Well another 4 weeks have flown by. Had a great check up this week, gained another couple of pounds, bp was perfect, Ben’s heartrate was 150’s again, and measuring right on track. I got my “yummy” glucose drink to do my test in a few weeks and had to get orders to have an antibody screen done for my RHnegative status. Just hoping everything comes back fine and we’ll go from there.

In the last four weeks we’ve celebrated 12 birthdays with family and friends, one of my closest friends had her adorable baby boy, and Patrick had another trip to Seattle, my sister got married, and today we celebrated our 12th dating anniversary and tomorrow we will celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary tomorrow. Needless to say, not much time for rest. I’ll post some pics of our month, but don’t have much time to catch up on every thing.

September Album on FB

Sam is growing like a weed and learning so much. She surprises me every day with something I didn’t know she knew. Seeing her is what makes me more excited about Ben. I love my baby boy, but knowing that I get to watch him learn and grow like I have watched Sam, it makes me so happy I could cry! I know I am in trouble because Sam is going to help him figure out all kinds of things, but I just can’t wait!

20 weeks: Halfway there!

Well folks, we are halfway through this pregnancy and while the first several weeks seemed to go by in slow motion while I was sick, the last 6 weeks have flown by! In that time I've started feeling more movement, we found out that our precious baby is a little boy, and Sam has grown so much! She is still getting used to the idea of her brother Ben, and sometimes still calls him "brudder sisser". lol. She snuggles with me every day, and hugs and kisses the belly at least ten times a day! She is loving playing with all of Ben's toys (her old baby toys), and playing hide and go seek in his closet. Speaking of his closet, I cleaned out all of Sam's old baby clothes to make room for Ben's things. It was very bittersweet, because while I am thrilled that we are having a little boy, it's hard to let go of the girly things. Never thought I would feel that way, but it's not really letting go of the girly, it's letting go of teeny tiny baby Sam, because she is such a big girl now. I had a little bit of a meltdown going through her things, Sam heard me and came in Ben's nursery to find out if I was ok. I told her that I was ok, she asked me why I was sad, I told her I'm not sad but sometimes mommy's have a hard time watching their babies grow up and that she is growing up so fast and is so big. Her reply saved me, she said "but mommy I little". That's all it took, she gave me a hug, I wiped my tears, and then I packed up the boxes of pink and labeled them by size for some friends and family that can use them. I of course kept a few things for Sam's keepsake box, mostly things that I just couldn't see anyone else wearing, but for the majority they will be worn by other little girls we love and I cannot wait to see the pictures! We are so blessed to have such an amazing daughter, and now a son. I just don't even have the words to express what joy it brings me. :)

 I had my 20 week checkup on Friday. Everything looks great, bp was 110/70, Ben's heartbeat was in the 150s, I am measuring right on track, gained a few pounds, and my doctor is very pleased with how everything looks. I have a mild case of placenta-previa, nothing to be concerned with, just keeping an eye on things to see if it moves up before my due date. If it moves, great, if it doesn't there is a possibility of a c-section, but there is that possibility no matter what so I'm not worried a bit. Just wait and see and I'll let God handle the rest. Here is my 20week3day pic. Sam was wanting to hug me and the baby, she is just too cute! :)

*********************************************************************************** Dear God,
Thank you for everything you do for us. Thank you for our precious daughter and son, and please continue to keep them both safe and healthy. Thank you for giving us Sam and for giving her the ability to put all my worries at ease. Thank you for my wonderful husband who is so excited about finishing out our family. Thank you for giving us friends and family who will put Sam's clothes to good use and thank you for giving us those clothes for Sam to begin with. Thank you for watching over our family and for blessing us so much. I cannot begin to express how thankful I truly am. Thank you for everything.
AMEN ************************************************************************************

It’s a BOY!

Today we found out at our anatomy scan that Sam will be getting a baby brother in January!!! We are so excited, we would have been happy with another little princess, but just felt like we were meant to have this precious boy! We are naming him Benjamin Parris Jeff! Everything looked good, we got a sweet picture of him sucking his thumb, just like his big sister did at her 20 week ultrasound, and he is measuring about a week ahead. He was moving around like crazy so it was difficult to get a profile shot, but the gender was very clear. We are so blessed to be completing our family with this precious boy!

We decided to wait to tell everyone about Sam’s little brother until later that night so that all of the grandparents could be here to enjoy watching her find out. I found a pin on pinterest.com of a reveal with a box filled with balloons. I figured this would be a great way to tell our sweet girl about Ben since she is only 2 1/2 and a visual would be easier to understand than just the words “it’s a boy”. We decided to do our big reveal at a local park and it was so fun!

		Brother Benjamin! :) VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I’ll post a video to youtube soon, so you can experience this joyous occasion with us! Tonight as we were laying Sam down for bed we got to pray for Benjamin by name for the first time, I teared up knowing that we are able to call him by name and plan for this precious baby boy!

 

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Dear God,

Thank you for everything you do for us! Thank you for our precious little girl and baby boy. Sam and Ben are true miracles, and YOU have given them to us, and for that I can never thank you enough. Thank you for the excitement of today, and for all the days to come. Thank you for all of our family and friends who have been so sweet to us, and especially for making it possible for our parents to be able to come up for this occasion. Thank you for everything, I could not ask for anything more. Please continue to watch over my family and all of those around us.

AMEN

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16 weeks

Did I really just type that? Oh my goodness how time flies when you are busy! Luckily I have started feeling better in the last few weeks. Still exhausted, still have horrible heartburn, but the nausea comes and goes and I haven’t actually been really sick for a little while. I’m thankful for whatever comes my way to bring us a healthy baby, but even more thankful that I’m not hugging the toilet daily. lol.

Today was my 16 week check up. Very routine, bp was 128/80 which is a tad  high for me but considering our week keeping up with Sam and her friend Lilly (her momma had a new baby girl Audrey Elise on 7/23) and the prior week spent with Patrick in Seattle, and the week before that I was helping my best friend put her mother to rest, it’s been a crazy month. I gained a few pounds, my doctor was happy that I didn’t continue to lose and I am still down a pound, although my clothes don’t show it. Most importantly my little one’s heartbeat was a very fast 170bpm. He/she kept moving around and was hard to catch. lol. Speaking of he/she we have scheduled our anatomy scan for 8/20 at 10am!!!!!! We are so excited, and cannot wait to see baby #2 again, and hopefully find out the gender so we can start getting their nursery ready! Today was also the first time I have felt this little one move. I thought I might have felt some flutters yesterday, but today felt definite movement. I cannot wait until they get more consistant!

Sam loves her brother/sister so much already. Last night she was laying in my lap and looked up and rubbed my belly and said “baby is so sweet, so precious brudder sisser” and then kissed it. I had tears in my eyes. I cannot wait for her to meet this little one!

Here is today’s 16 week bump picture.

Dear God,

Thank you so much for our family. Thank you for our precious little girl who continues to amaze me each and every day. Thank you for this precious little one growing in my belly, and for letting us have this amazing experience again. Thank you!

AMEN

<3 <3 <3 <3

12 weeks

Baby heartbeats never get old. Today was my 12 week checkup and I got to hear our precious little one’s heartbeat! A beautiful 140 beats per minute! They sure are squirmy though because the nurse had to keep chasing them down to get a proper count. lol. Reminds me of Sam, stubborn, haha. Everything else went well, bp is good, lost another pound but I explained I’ve just been eating smarter than I was able to a few weeks ago with the constant nausea subsiding, and now just having it first thing in the morning, some of the afternoon, and right before bed. lol. Hoping that the second trimester will put an end to having to explain to Sam that “mommy just needs a minute, go get your baby doll and I’ll be right there”. lol. Patrick has had to work during my appointments thus far, but luckily I have a friend from my message board who lent me an at home doppler so we could check on the baby a little more often than every 4 weeks. It took us about 15 minutes of trying (we aren’t trained!) but finally tracked our little one down and Patrick got to hear the heartbeat too. I love those little heartbeats.

After my appointment I went and had sushi with mom and Sam, and did a little late birthday shopping. We had a great day, the highlight was Sam picking out some Minnie panties. She has been doing pretty well at using the potty lately. Not all the time, but Granna thought the cute panties would be a good incentive for Sam to want to try and stay dry. First cute thing was that she hugged them like a stuffed animal and fell asleep on them like a pillow, the second cute thing is that the purse I got for my birthday ended up being Sam’s second favorite thing of the day so she stole it from me so she could put her panties in it, then she wanted to wear her new panties so badly that she put them on herself! We took her to the potty and let her tinkle, then let her wear the panties over her diaper because this momma wants to potty train, but she’s also still too exhausted to clean up any messes on the couch. lol. Sam actually stayed dry for several hours and then went to the potty again! She was so proud of herself, and it was the first time her daddy heard her go so he made a big deal out of what a big girl she is. We aren’t pushing the training, all in good time, but we definitely are trying to get her ready.

I guess that’s all for now, so I’ll just post some recent pics of Sam so you can get your fix.

		June 12’ VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Our precious bumblebee

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Dear God,

Thank you for everything you do for us. Thank you for a precious little girl that we love so much and thank you for this healthy baby growing inside of me. Thank you for this family that you have blessed us with and are trusting me to raise. Thank you for showing me how much love my heart can hold, because you are showing me that my heart just expands to make more room for others.  Thank you for everything you do for us, and for watching over us in every way.

AMEN

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Announcing to the world!

11weeks

Today I had my 11 week checkup, nothing special bp was good, lost a pound, and next week we should be able to hear out little one’s heartbeat so we have so much to look forward to. Until then, we decided that we cannot wait any longer to share our news with the world. We are so excited and it’s taken everything we have not to shout it from the rooftops since we found out almost 7 weeks ago, but we cannot wait any more! Here is the picture we are posting on fb!

Sam is excited and prays for “brudder or sisser” every night, and knows that she has to “be carful mommy’s bewwy brudder sisser in there”. lol. We are so incredibly happy and are so glad that now we are ready to share our news with everyone!In other good news I've just started feeling better, which is happening a little sooner than it did with Sam. I'm only taking the zofran occasionally so that is great!

Oh and belly pic 11weeks 2days. I was this big at 18 weeks with Sam. I’m praying that it’s just that warm up thing that most second time mom’s experience and that the belly growth will be healthy but not HUGE. lol

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Dear God,

Thank you for everything that you do for us. Please continue to watch over our family, and help this baby to grow healthy and strong. Please watch over Samantha and continue to guide her into becoming a wonderful big sister. Thank you for all that you do!

AMEN

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8 weeks, Morning sickness sucks!

Today I had my 8 week checkup. Nothing really to report, BP was good, and weight was fine. I started getting really nauseated and sick a week and a half ago, but my doctor called in some zofran since it helped with Sam. I feel awful, exhausted, nauseated, and the heartburn is killer, but I’m still so grateful for this precious baby. The morning sickness is what scared me into waiting until Sam was 2 to consider getting pregnant. I remember how sick I was with her, and having a 2 year old while being sick is not easy. She stays very concerned and constantly gives me check ups with her doctors kit. She likes to use her toy stethoscope to check on brudder sisser too, so sweet. We have had to slow down in our crazy schedule due to my not feeling well, so she has been enjoying her toys and books and movies galore, my sweet girl loves movies! I keep promising her that soon mommy will feel better and we will play more outside, but this week I can barely move so we will snuggle and watch movies.

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Dear God,

Thank you for everything that you do for us. Thank you for a sweet little girl who likes movies and playing check up with mommy. Thank you for how badly I’ve felt lately because I know that’s just our precious baby growing, I appreciate the moments where I feel better, but am so thankful for the symptoms. Thank you for watching over us and please continue to do so. Thank you for everything you do for us.

AMEN

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Baby #2 first picture!

The first picture is our little bean measuring 6 weeks 3 days, with an expected due date of 1/10/13!!! That means we are due exactly one month before Sam’s 3rd birthday! Unfortunately Sam could not come back for the ultrasound, and since Patrick had to stay with her he did not get to see it either. I’m glad they gave me the pictures to share, and we will make sure that we have a grandparent baby sits next time so the daddy person can see his little one next time.

This picture is of our little one’s heartbeat. Healthy and strong at 128bpm. This sound never gets old. I am enjoying every second of this pregnancy, just like I did with Sam. This will likely be our last baby and I just want to remember every moment like I did the first time with their big sister. I’m just so thankful!

Just so you know baby #2 does already have a name picked out if you are interested. If it is a boy we will use the name we had picked out 3 years ago with Sam, Benjamin Parris. If it is a girl we have decided on Zoey Grace. Samantha changes her mind daily on which one she would rather have, but the good news is that she can already say both names and knows that Ben is the boy brudder and that Zoey is the girl sisser. lol.

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Dear God,

Thank you for everything that you do for us. Thank you for letting me hear the sweetest sound of our precious baby’s heartbeat today. Thank you for the reassurance that comes with hearing a heartbeat, when there is no way of knowing what is going on inside of me right now. Thank you for all that is to come with the new responsibilities of caring for two children. Thank you!

AMEN

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