Wisdom from my walk

well heres a not so grand pic of Baby E, well you know what I mean. this is 21 weeks, and I swear I wasnt this big this early w/ Bo and Caleb, guess that’s what happens w/ your third and when so soon after your last pregnancy.

Boaz had his 1 year check up today, a little late I know! the dr was impressed with how well he was doing and made me feel like a proud momma. He is 21 lbs. (25%) and his length is 30 1/4 in. (50-75%). He got a ton of shots, including his first flu vaccine. He also got a blood draw which was so sad to watch. So he did well and other than an allergic facial rash to tomatos there’s no concerns. He’s growing fast and I’ll try to get some pics up of he and Caleb later today.

We took advantage of those dollar admissions this weekend, going to the science center on saturday which was fun, me and two kids alone in a swarm of others taking advantage of the cheap prices. Yesterday along w/ friends and my mom we enjoyed a trip to Port Discovery. Last night we finally got to spend time with Dean, who worked a ton this week. we went out for dinner as a family and a trip to Target. I’ll have my f/u ultrasound this Thursday so I’ll update more about Baby E then. well Bo is fussy so I gotta run, we’re anxiously awaiting the first big snow here and I ran out this morning for snow boots and good play in the snow gloves for caleb….so now we wait and see if the forecasters are right!

Dollar admission at Baltimore Museums this weekend!!! I am so excited. the lighted boat parade is also at the harbor tomorrow, Sat. Dec 3rd at 6 p.m. too. We went last year and Caleb loved it. Sadly this year Dean has to work but I think I’ll bundle the kids up and go still. I’m glad it’s dollar days this weekend, I was in need of something fun and cheap to do with the kids while Dean is working or sleeping since he’s working all night tonight.

forget it, no MVA today….need the dumb papers notarized and cant get it done today. i hate legalities. so much for getting it done soon…..

I need to head to the mva today and I am dreading it!! I know the last few times we’ve had to go there it went swiftly and painlessly, but that was when Dean went w/. So it will be my first time all alone there and I’m not looking forward to it at all. the plus side is though that this will make the van ours and that is so exciting. we’ve had it sitting in our driveway but havnet taken it out since it’s not been official yet so I’m hoping to get at temp tags today til Dean can get the it fixed to pass inspection.

we really need two cars this month too as dean is working tons this month in extra jobs. this weekend alone he’s putting in 20+ hours at two different jobs. It’s a shame we actually need him to do this so our kids and family can have christmas gifts this year, not to mention all these expenses w/ getting the van insured, tagged and titled, and repaired. we were going to borrow some money from friends but I dread doing that, esp. friends who have blessed us so many times as is. So I think we’ll be ok this month esp. w/ Dean working more, if he didnt work the extra jobs we’d be able to do either the van stuff or christmas presents but not both. and even then things would be tight. things would have been fine if we waited on our tax money to get a van but this is such a good deal that we didnt think it was worth giving up this chance when we can swing it til we get our tax refund. not like we know how much it will be but it’s always been substantial enough for what we’ve needed so this year shouldnt be any different since nothing has changed.

Today would be easier if Caleb didnt have a half day at school, i was hoping to go to the mva w/ just Bo but caleb gets out at 11:15 and the chances of me being done in 2 hours is slim and I dont want to chance it. Hoping a friend will watch the kids, she offered last night I just need to confirm that it’s still ok. So I’ll let you know how the ordeal goes! in the end though it will be worth it to say we have a van!! now if we can just afford two cars each month, that’s another thing we’re unsure of. our plan is to try to as long as we can and if it gets too hard we’ll sell our old car. but we know miracles happen and we are throwing around ideas on how to cut our luxuries more and for months the answer has been get rid of directv and tivo but it will break both of our hearts to do so so we’re prolonging that as much as possible! we’re oh so spoiled….

Caleb is getting so big. I love that he goes to school so that we can work on his homework together. today he was able to do it on his own. He’s missed so much school this month that he had left his communication book that they use to share stuff w/ parents at school so we havent had it to fill in his reading chart or to get any papers we needed to get. So yesterday was his first day back in a while and they kept the book to add his homework to it, so today he came home with a ton of stuff that needed my attention before Friday of course, and Friday’s a half day even and we are busy tomorrow night so I knew I had just today to get stuff done.

He came home w/ 3 scholastic catalogues and I told him to go through and circle what he liked so that Dean and I could go through and pick some as Christmas gifts for him. It was funny the things he circled, I mean he cant read so he was going by the pics of the books to make his choices. he picked a lot of scholarly things, as in wash off writing tablet type books, pattern books, a magnetic math set, and an astronomy type set. he’s a smart kid and for most of his picks it was things that would benefit him education wise as well as entertainment.

he also was excited to tell me there was going to be a Christmas store and I wasnt sure what he meant til I saw the info on it. You fill out a card with family members/friends names and give them a budget of how much they can spend on each person. they go through the christmas store w/ an adult helper and chose christmas gifts based on their budget. they can chose to spend the budgetted amt or less, if less we get the money back he didnt spend. I asked Dean if he did this as a kid and he said yes, I dont remember having that as a kid. he is going to love going shopping! We gave him a budget for us, Bo, grandmom and his friend Abby just for fun. the info says the prices range from $0.50 – $10.00 and the majority of the gifts available are for small amounts of money, as in under $5. we gave him a total budget for everyone of $15 it will be interesting to see what he gets. I’m glad they do this but I’m also afraid he wont know what to get anyone. hopefully the parent helpers will be very helpful!! he takes forever to decide on things so we’ll see how it goes.

He seems so much older than he is, today when I told him the chocolate chip cookies i was baking werent ready yet he got frustrated and said “damn” and stomped away to wait not so patiently. I was like what! Dean was sitting closer and asked what he said and we had to remind him it’s not nice to say but I’m not quite sure where he’s hearing it. i mean I occassionally slip up but maybe I just dont notice how often it is happening that or his friends at school are saying things like this, which is very possible as well. He says so many big things and often has Dean and I hiding our laughs to keep from letting him know how darn cute his is, that and it’s not always appropriate but it’s still so funny. So my big boy is growing up so fast, and it’s kind of sad. then on top of that Bo is growing like a weed and sprouting all kinds of new talents/ words. All while this goes on around me Baby E is starting to show his/her prescence and spends a good part of the day kicking me quite strongly. It’s hard to beleive I’ll have two more kids to go through this firsts of school with, I look forward to it, but boy is it going to be expensive! 😉

So the doc says I have a stomach bug of course but the most important part was that I was not dehydrated as I feared. I even ate two meals today and am doing much better. Ironically I didnt mention to her the mid back pain I’d been having since it went away as soon as the stomach bug arrived, so of course today now that the stomach thing is gone and inevitably because I didnt ask the dr about it; my back is now killing me. I’m all hunched over and no position is comfy. Ugh…if it keeps up I’ll go to my pcp i guess. if it’s not one thing it’s another. they are going to call me when they know if the date I want for my c-section is available at the hospital so we should know this week when baby E may arrive, pending no problems at the end of the pregnancy that is. I need to call to schedule my u/s which will be w/in the next week or so, so hopefully then Baby E will reveal it’s gender to us!

Since Dean is home today he was able to enjoy the nice temps and get our outdoor christmas lights up. I was determined to put up our tree too since he will be working side jobs all weekend. So I put the artificial tree together then while Caleb and I had a walmart run for baby essentials Dean put on the lights. Caleb and I will decorate it tomorrow w/ ornaments, Dean’s not really into the whole tree trimming thing which I think is sad. In our house growing up it was always a big production. We’d bake cookies and decorate the tree. I got some slice and bake cookies for us tonight so it at least felt somewhat familiar but not the same since Dean doesnt really want to get into it. I think next year we’ll do a real tree and see how that goes, we would this year but it’s a matter of money and we already have the ‘fake’ tree so it’s just as easy to use, and low maintenance! so it’s feeling a little more festive around here now, despite the 60+ degree temps, but they say the cold front is on it’s way. I could live without the cold…

Finally added those previous entries that I had written but due to internet issues couldnt post while in Ohio. Originally, weeks ago when making our trip plans we planned on staying til tomorrow and driving back then since Dean was off and doesnt have to be at work til Wednesday. After dealing with being miserably sick and not being able to eat for a few days I convinced him I needed to come home to see my dr or at least suffer in my own bathroom! The drive to Ohio last week took 8 hours, today it took 10+. no it wasnt traffic, it was bathroom and food breaks, of course bathroom breaks for me and food breaks for Dean and the boys.

I havent really eaten a meal in days. I’m worried about how it’s affecting the baby and when I had to call the ob’s office back today anyway since they left me a message about my test results I asked about whether or not I can wait to be seen til Wednesday(my original ob appt time) or if I needed to get in sooner. She fit me in for tomorrow morning and I’m grateful. The drive could have been worse and since we’ve been home I’m been much more sick than I was all day. I want to be in bed but I cant because I keep getting sick, and that’s on an empty stomach. Poor Baby E isnt getting any nutrients and I can barely make myself drink anything because nothing tastes good and drinks make me nauseas on top of a yucky stomach. So we’ll see what the dr thinks tomorrow, I also find out how soon we get another u/s. That’s one reason they called today, to let me know that I needed another one, which I already knew but didnt know when, the nurse said the dr hadnt noted how soon I needed to go but since I’m going in tomorrow we’ll talk about it then. we’re also supposed to be able to set our c-section date too tomorrow so we’ll see! lots of important stuff tomorrow, it’s a much needed appt for many reasons and I’m glad Dean is home to keep Bo for me since originally for Wed. I was going to have to take Bo w/ me.

well I”m hoping to crawl into bed soon…..I hope this sickness ends soon, it’s been way too many days of feeling like this….