Hibernation

I've been in hibernation mode for almost two months now. And my blog has been suffering longer than that! LOL. I don't have much time...I'd rather be sleeping...so here's what's been going on with us:

Gabriel is growing so fast. He's up to 8 1/2 pounds from 5 1/4 when we left the hospital. He eats much more than Olivia did at his age, but he also sleeps much better and is just more content overall. He is such an easy baby, which I am so grateful for.

Olivia is going non-stop. She talks so much now and some of her favorite things to say are:

"What happened?"
"Oh NO! A baby!" Every time Gabriel makes a peep.
"Hi Mommy! How are you?" Holding phone up to her ear.
And I can always tell when she's getting tired, because she will lay down where ever she happens to be (stairs, porch, playhouse, kitchen floor) and say, "Night Night!"
She is such a good big sister and only tries to hurt Gabe ocassionally, when I'm not paying enough attention to her.

Ryan is just plugging along. He works like crazy plus he's taking two classes this semester. He's doing great, grades are excellent and I'm just so proud of him.

I started back to work a couple of weeks ago, and am working overnights at my group home. It is pretty simple most nights, just cleaning and checking on the girls. I'm only doing Sunday nights and filling in when the other two graveyard shifters have nights off. I really am a night owl, so it's no big deal. I do play sleep catch up the day after, but good thing Olivia doesn't mind a couple of movies and Gabe sleeps a lot :)

Happenings

I can't believe I am 26 weeks pregnant. Its starting to sink in a little bit, slowly. I have been a busy busy bee the past few months. I made Olivia a scrapbook for her first year milestones, went through all of the baby stuff to determine what was usable for a boy, painted Olivia's room, made graduation announcements for my brother, Chris, made a missionary scrapbook for my brother Alex, and organized everything in sight. Whew! All that is DONE! Which is good, because I have no energy left. Nothing. I feel like I'm starting all over with those first trimester blahs. All that I have left to do is collect boy things as I find sales and cook this baby!

Olivia and I have been having fun with her new stroller. There have been a handful of decent weather days that we've gone for walks and we were able to hit the zoo with Ryan a few weekends ago.

Olivia is so fun and learning so much. She says things like "Dadda, Wh'are You?", "Teef", "Bye Bye", "Where is it?", "Elmo", "Drink", "Its OK", "Good Job!", and her personal favorite, "Bobba". She knows lots of body parts and has this fascination with taking things out of drawers, containers, bags, etc., and then putting them back. OCD? Probably. Must get it from her dad. On a daily basis, I find her clothes stuffed in the bathroom drawers and all of her washcloths in the bathtub. This makes keeping things neat pretty much impossible, but I'm learning to childproof just as fast as she learns how to open and close EVERYTHING. For example: I like to shower in the morning, but I also treasure every minute of sleep before Olivia wakes up. Solution: Take her in the bathroom while I shower. So she usually sits in her bumbo on the bathroom floor and eats a snack while I take a 3 minute power shower! The other day she decided to take the tray off her chair, open the bathroom door and head out into the hallway while I was totally soaped up! This would not normally be an issue, but I live in the basement of my in-laws house, and Olivia makes a beeline for upstairs every time she's set free! So I jumped out of the shower and threw on my robe in time to catch her halfway up the stairs and everyone having quite a nice laugh at my expense. Locking bathroom door from now on. I just can't believe she can open doors. Not even 18 months. I'm so in trouble.

Baby boy (still nameless. LOL) is doing so good. He is quite a mover and hardly ever stops when I am sitting still. Ryan teases me that I should be exercising at night time to teach him how to sleep at the right time. I don't feel huge yet, but breathing is definitely becoming a chore and I have this permanent charlie horse in my right back thigh. I can only assume that is sciatic nerve related and will hopefully go away after delivery. This pregnancy is very different from my last one, but with one definite similarity: My nose is congested ALL the time. It sounds like a small thing, but 6 months of not being able to breath through my nose while I'm sitting or laying down is no good. But, I've had such easy pregnancies that I can't even complain. Minor things. Can't wait to meet this baby!

Ryan and I are enjoying our new jobs. His new job is in addition to his day job. He's such a trooper. We are trying to get ahead in preparation for this fall when we'll have a new baby, and Ryan will be starting a full-time semester at the college. I will admit I may have pushed him a bit to get things going with school, but we definitely both agree that now is the time to take advantage of someone else being willing to pay his tuition!

A post of pictures to come soon! I need a new belly one anyway...I'll get on that!

Oh...PS JAMIE NICOLE JOHANSEN: if you are reading this...You have a post on your blog entitled "WHOA BABY" but I can't open it, and I want to know if this little bundle of joy has made his/her appearance! Let me know! Hope you are well! Love ya girl!

21 weeks

I probably shouldn't be 'nesting' quite yet, but I definitely feel like I'm getting ready for this baby! I've been trying to clean things out like crazy (like, borderline OCD crazy), organize and take inventory of what we need for a baby boy! No name picked out yet. But we're getting closer, I think. Right now I'm working on the babies' scrapbooks and after those are done, I'm going to paint olivias room (again). What can I say? I'm not in love with how the last paint job turned out, so I'm starting from scratch. Luckily my husband works at a paint store :) And has the patience with me to just let me do my thing when it comes to the decorating!

Our ultrasound was the longest thing EVER! I think I was on that table well over 45 minutes. I ate and drank a lot right before in hopes of getting the baby to wiggle and ensure I would be able to tell the gender! Well, he was sure a wiggly little thing. The gender was quite obvious, but other, more complicated things like heart chambers and spine measurements were nearly impossible to get with him all over the place! We'll be going in for another ultrasound around 30 weeks just to double check where the placenta and cord are in relation to my incision. Good news: my doctor said if I decide to have another c-section, we can schedule it for 39 weeks, if I haven't gone into labor by then. Hey, every week counts at the end!

19 weeks!

Babies have taken over my mind. I'm sure everyone else can relate! LOL. Sometimes I just sit back and wonder when the exact moment was that my entire life became centered on things like when to take away the bottle, how long to let her cry, how to convince myself that I'm not being entirely neglectful if I do let her cry. Sheesh. And the contents of my purse. When did hairbows, bottle parts and odd socks make their way in there? Hahaha. Just making sure I'm normal here. Motherhood seems so glamorous when I see other people doing it with their perfect kids, but the thought of being mom to two scares me to death just about every time I think of it. I am truly excited, but mostly afraid :) On that note, ultrasound Wednesday! Yay! On the first ultrasound at 8 weeks, little baby looked just like a bean. Hoping to see fingers and toes this time (and a few other things! I really want to know the gender so Ryan and I can start fighting about a name...I mean, picking a name. Hehe)

We've had a little bit of sickness through our house the past few weeks and I'd like to think I handled it pretty well. I haven't really had to deal with a lot of that with Olivia before, but I really didn't mind the sleepless nights like I thought I would...probably due to all of the cuddling! She's never been a cuddly baby, and I can't even remember the last time she actually fell asleep in my arms. So, it was totally worth it. But we're all feeling much better now!

Here's a shot I took yesterday. Bump getting bigger.

It Was Probably Nothing...

So I had a little bit of a freaky moment today! I got up, went to the store, came home and then went out again to go see Ryan for lunch and a quick Costco trip. When I left the house the second time I was thinking, "Hmmmm....kinda feels like Braxton Hicks contractions. Should I be having them this early?" I had them a LOT with Olivia, but I couldn't remember when I started having them with her (I'm 15 weeks). So I freaked out and called my doctor on the way home from Costco, and was reassured that as long as I wasn't feeling pain, cramping or bleeding, it was probably just from dehydration and stress, and maybe a little something brought on by the UTI that is clearing up. The nurse told me to 'put my feet up and take it easy'. She doesn't know my child. LOL. So, basically, I should be drinking more water to cure EVERYTHING that is wrong with me! I hate plain water. I'll have to figure that out. :) I read on one website later today that the B.H. contractions can actually start in your first trimester, but usually they aren't noticable until late in the second. Moral of the story: I've never been one to call the doctor about every little thing, but when it comes to my babies, I'd rather feel silly for being too concerned than feel sorry if something really is wrong!

Heartbeat

Just a quick update today. We went to the doctor this morning and got to hear our baby's heartbeat. It was great. I could really hear it this time. With Olivia I just heard the whooshing and kept waiting for something that sounded like a heartbeat. And, I have another UTI. I had one last month when we went in for the first time, and didn't have any symptoms then, either. It's kind of scary to me that I can have an infection and not even know, but I'll just know to keep a closer eye on it now. I was starting to have a little back pain this time, so I kind of knew something was up. Another round of the horse pills for this momma. And I see lots of cranberry juice in my future. :)

13 weeks

Well, I had energy for exactly one day and ever since the last time I posted, things have pretty much gone downhill. Luckily, my husband makes sure Olivia at least gets dinner every night, even if I am completely ready to crash by the time he gets home from work. I just can't snap out of it! I am exhausted all the time and not quite sure how I am going to figure out having another one! But I just keep telling myself (and this is completely derogatory...just so that you're warned.) that dumber people have done this. LOL. It's silly, but I feel like I'm a relatively smart person with a brain (when I'm not pregnant) and I will work it out eventually. Hopefully, the second trimester treats me better. And I feel like if I can figure out a way to motivate myself to excercise I will feel better, too. And that motivation will probably go something like this: Jayelle to self: "If you excercise for 30 minutes, you can have a slurpee." So that will be super-productive. :)

I have been having some crazy dreams as of late! It's really quite funny. I had to share this one, because it is just so out there!

So my brother is getting married (in real life). They had some issues when they tried to pick up the dress the other day. I dreamed that I was the one that had to go pick up the dress this time. So, naturally, I wore my wedding dress to go pick it up (?). And it was hideous (Shareese, if you're reading this, which I don't think you are, I'm sure you're dress is gorgeous.)! It was burgundy underneath with a peach-colored overlay of lace and sequins and oh...just awful. LOL.

I also dreamed that I went to the store and bought bologna for Ryan's step-dad. I should start writing these down, because I know there are more good ones to come. :)

Totally unrelated note: I have a job interview next week to work in a group home with autistic adults. I hope it goes well. Because this salon is just not for me. At all. It will be part-time and sounds like it will work well with our family's schedule. Wish me luck!