Welcome Home Joshie!

Look at what Andy and the kids made for us!

Isn't that the sweetest! I love that man of mine!

He's here!!!!!!!

Thursday around 11:00 pm I was sitting downstairs with Cecilia and I was working on my new web site. I couldn't get comfy for nothing. My lower back was starting to hurt off and on. I then started getting these cramps that kind of felt like diarrhea cramps and had to get up to either pee or have a (tmi) loose bm. This went on until I finally gave up and crawled into bed at 12:45.

I kept having those cramps all night long. I just assumed they were due to a tummy bug that we had running through the house. The boys both had it recently and I just figured I'd picked it up.

So, all night long I kept having these cramps and it didn't matter what position I was in. They kept coming and hitting my back which really hurt. Finally at 4:15 I got up to pee and had one while walking and thought hmmm...could this be.... nah and headed back to bed. No sooner than I laid my head back down I got another one and it was so painful that I shot up out of bed. I guess I was moaning pretty loud because Andy then asked me if everything was okay. I told him what was going on and then told him to try and stay close to the area at work today because I wasn't sure what was going on.

He asked me to go downstairs and see if changing position made a difference and he got up to take a shower. I came down and started looking on the internet to diarrhea cramps and labor and viola, they coexist...

I called my OB at 5:30 and told him what was going on. He told me that it sounded like labor and to head to L&D. Andy got the kids up and I got dressed and finished packing my bags and we headed out the door at 6:00.

At 6:30 I was at L&D (oh and funny thing, Andy dropped me off at the front lobby and Cecilia came with me. Well I had a huge contraction right there and these two "Doctors" just walked right by me). They got me hooked up to the monitors and all and per my Doctor he wanted them to put me on an IV to rule out dehydration as a cause of the contractions.

An hour later and they intensified! They called him and he came over to personally check my cervix. I was about 1 cm dilated from a dimple 2 weeks ago, but I was 50% effaced! He said I was in labor! first time ever!

So this was at 9:10 and we were scheduled for the c-section at 9:30! talk about super quick!

I got back to the OR at around 9:45 and they got me numbed up and started the surgery at around 10:00. Joshua Anthony was born at 10:20 butt first mooning the world! He weighed 6lbs 8oz and was 19 3/4" long. He scored an 8 and 9 on his apgar tests respectively.

The Pedi saw him today and said he is absolutely perfect! He got his circ this morning too. 1 hour after he was born they brought him to me in recovery and he started nursing right on the spot. He's such an awesome nurser! No problems whatsoever.

I had my catheter removed this morning AND got to get up last night at 12 hours after surgery to walk a little bit and get cleaned up. I took my shower this morning at 24 hours past surgery and boy that shower never felt sooooooo good!

I'm just on pain meds right now and I'm a bit tender, but doing very good. In fact the nurses are fighting over me to be their patient because I'm not complaining.

So, this is day 2 in the hospital and I could possibly go home as early as tomorrow but my target date is this Sunday, Father's day.

I'm shooting for tomorrow but not getting my hopes up.

Here are some pictures of Joshua from today, 1 day old


Look at all his hair! And I had no heartburn with this pregnancy at all!

Cecilia couldn't wait to hold him.

Check out that grin on that bigger brother! He was so excited!


Oh and I have to share this. The kids are being so awesome! Cecilia is over the moon and keeps saying how gorgeous he is. Andrew keeps going around telling everyone here how he's the bigger brother and all he asked for yesterday was when he could hold him. James was so excited to see him but is a little bit afraid in a way. BUT he is so protective it's so cute! Everything he does or anyone does to him, James asks what's going on. I was pushing the bassinet in the hallway today and he told me that I was pushing Joshie too fast and that I needed to slow down.

36w6d appointment

Well, I asked my OBGyn today about my feet swelling and he just said this is just par for the course. :( Not my idea of a good answer. He also said getting into a pool and swimming (lightly, moving my legs and such) would possibly help displace some of the water I'm retaining.

Yeah, and about that... In the last 2 weeks I've gained 6lbs! He's pretty sure that it's due to water retention (no, really?). I'm just so miserable.

This morning I woke up and used the potty and Joshua was lounging over on my left side. Scared the poo out of me, he's never been that far over before. I asked my Doc if it was okay to sleep on my right side and he said yes. I don't know though, that really frightened me. I think as much as I'm so comfortable sleeping on my right side (more like sleeping on my tummy) I'm going to try my best to stay on the left side.

Anyway, my blood pressure was excellent (neglected to find out what it was) and my labs came back good (no protein in the urine or sugar), so it's business as usual. He wants me to check my blood pressure at home on Thursday to make sure it's not going up and if it is, or if I have wicked headaches OR Joshie's movements seem to become non existent; then I'm to call on Thursday and he'll see me on Friday for a possible c-section.

I found out today that Cecilia was born at 35w3d, Andrew was born at 37w3d and James at 37w4d. If I make it to this Sunday, that will be a record for me in terms of length of pregnancy. I go back again next Tuesday and that will be my last doctor visit until the c-section on July 1st.

So, the betting has begun. Or really it did a while back but it's getting down to the nitty gritty.

Cecilia and Andy say Joshie is coming this Sunday (Father's Day). I say this Thursday, but after my vist today I'm thinking of going back to my original date of July 1st. James says this next Monday (the 22nd) and Andrew says next Wednesday.

I guess we'll see who's right. ;)

My poor feet :(

Ugh, this pregnancy is killing me during this last month. My feet have swollen up so badly in the evenings that it's painful to walk. :(

I've got creases at the backs of my feet from when I bend them. My toes are so fat, my feet are so fat, you can even see the indentation my flip flops make into them. I just want to cry.

A new site!

Well, I've decided to get my diaper bag business back up and running but wanted to do something different than what I had before. I kept bouncing names off of my Hubby and told him that I wanted something unique and different; but not necessarily baby related.

I suggested the names Ranch Dressing, Spicy Jalapeno and my daughter suggested Pecan Pralines. Well Andy suggested The Spicy Pepper and it was the only one that wasn't taken; so I nabbed it.

I've been working with a friend of mine who does web design for a living and she suggested I talk a look at Joomla; which I've tried before but was a bit intimidated by it.

I gave in and tried it and tinkered with a few templates. The new site is in the works and is up and running, now I just need to get the shopping cart loaded and configured and I'll be good to go.

So, tell me what you think...

www.thespicypepper.com

WOO HOO for the potty fairy!

Okay, so some of you know that I've been struggling to get James my 4.5 year old potty trained. My Pedi was quite peeved at me when I took him in for his 4 year old check up in November and he was still in pull ups. :( He told me that I had 6 months to get him out of the pull ups and trained or he'd have to run a series of tests on him to make sure there was nothing developmentally wrong with him.

This pissed me off something fierce... Don't even get me started on how my husband felt. Needless to say, we changed Pedi's soon after that and I started working on getting him potty trained.

I went and bought the Peter Potty system from Walmart, you know that stand up urinal for potty training boys. James immediately took to it and within a matter of 2 months (he's hard headed, did I mention that) we finally had him going pee on the potty.

1 down, 1 to go!

Well, I've been trying since February to get him to poo on the potty and to no availe. I've even taken away playing th Wii, taken away playing on the computer and took away his Geotracks. I figured hit him where it hurts and he'd come around...

Nope! He doesn't care, he'd found other things to play with. Ugh! Stubborn little guy. Well, I finally figured out that when he had to do his business, he'd run up stairs into his room and shut the door so we've been trying to catch him to stop him in his tracks.

Well, what ended up happening is that he'd hold it in so much and for so long that he'd end up just going little bits in his underwear. We'd go through about 5 pairs of underwear a day. :(

I didn't think the day would come. I even told him that he can't start Kindergarten next school year because he wouldn't poo in the potty; it didn't even phase him. I thought great, I've got a new born baby coming very soon and I'm going to be changing poopy 4.5 year old pants and new born...AAAAAHHHHHH!

So guess what happened... Andrew is now home for summer vacation after finishing Kindergarten so I asked him a while back if he caught James taking off to do his business in his pants to lure him into the bathroom. Well, he got home yesterday from watching Night at the Museum 2 with his cousin and had to do his business.

James was interested and so he followed Andrew into the bathroom. Andrew is on the big potty and so he convinced James to sit on his potty (the training one). Andrew did his business AND SO DID JAMES! WOO HOO!

Andrew even went so far as to empty out the bowl from James' potty into the big potty, wiped his bottom and flushed it all down the commode. He informed me after the fact that James pooed.

I was so excited that I baked him (James) home made from scratch chocolate chip cookies! I told Andrew that if he got James to go again in the potty to call me before he flushed anything.

Low and behold this morning Andrew had to go potty and so did James. Same routine as yesterday, this time I got called in and OH MY GOODNESS!!!! James pooped out two huge pieces of poo! I have never been so excited in my life to talk about bodily functions, but I have to say I am SO EXCITED!

So, as a reward for the both of them we went to the store this afternoon and I bought them the game Mouse trap. Andrew played it at school during his last week and was really wanting it. Anything Andrew does/wants James does/wants too; so I got a 2 for 1 deal there. ;)

Now we just have to make sure we get James to hit the potty instead of his room and I should hopefully have him fully potty trained before Joshua gets here!

Yippee!

I'm going to miss Miss Simmons!

Today Andrew brought home a bunch of stuff from school as they are getting ready for the last week. In his take home folder there was a letter addressed to his parents. I opened it up and found this (click the picture to see a full size version):

I balled my eyes out! OMG, I couldn't get through the entire thing. Poor Andrew kept asking me why I was crying. :) I was so touched. I'm really going to miss his Kindergarten teacher. I wish she was moving up with the kids.

Ugh, more contractions!

Just like the energizer bunny... I keep going and going and going. Ugh!

They are not consistant, but they are increasing in strength. I wonder if I'll make it until the 1st?

Contractions!

EEeeekkk! I'm having contractions. I called my OBGyn this afternoon, of course I totally forgot that today was Friday and they close up shop early. :( I had to call the Medical exchange and get the on call Doctor. Thankfully he was still in his office and I spok with his Nurse.

She told me that I need to time them and that when they get to be around 5 minutes apart and I have a minimum of 5 an hour (which doesn't add up) to head into L&D.

Well, low and behold about 3 hours later they stopped. I'm so glad that I didn't go in. :) I guess I really over did it at Andrew's field day yesterday...

Andrew's 1st field day!

He had so much fun today! I remember going to all of Cecilia's field days. This one was a bit different though. When we lived in the other city while Cecilia was in elementary school they always included water activities. Well this new city and different school system decided this year that they would do an olympic type event.

It was near 90 degrees out today and the kids were outside all day long! I was DYING! I suggested to Andrew's teacher that they should plan for water activities next year.

James even got to participate in some of the events, so he had a blast! Turned out to be a great day!

Oh the power of prayer!

I didn't grow up in a very religous house hold. I was baptised Catholic at 4 weeks old and that's about as far as my religious education went until I was a Senior in High School. During that time, I really knew that I wanted to have a nice church wedding some day and wanted to be married in my faith; but unfortunatly I wouldn't be able to do so until I made the sacrament of 1st Communion and Confirmation.

So, I drove my sister and myself to religious education classes and made 1st communion and confirmation in one year. I was so excited, and the Bishop of our diocease called me Smily (like a lot of people have over the course of my life). A few years later (3 to be exact) I married my DH in a full catholic mass at our church.

All the while I didn't feel as though I fit in totally with my faith because I felt ripped off from not going to RE classes and learning how to propperly pray. I still to this day don't know how to pray the rosary and I'll be 35 in September... Due to this I never properly learned how to pray. I really never did much praying at all really.

When my Mother in law was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer I prayed like I've never prayed before. She survived and has been in remission since January 2008.

Well, things got kind of rocky with my "day job" and there was concern that we might not have any funds to keep going full steam through the end of July. Our 4th child is due July 1st and that would have meant that I would have to find a PT job at nights leaving a newborn home with my DH in addition to our 3 other children. Not the best situation, but one that we'd have to muddle through.

I enlisted the help of friends and family as well as my church's prayer chain to pray for my job and our family to make it through this tough financial time. Low and behold, 3 days later we received good news that our client was going to keep us on and not cancel!

Praise Jesus! God is gracious, God is good! Thank you to all of my friends, family and others I don't know for praying for us during this tough time. I continue to pray that things will get better so I don't have to worry about income after baby Joshua gets here.

TGIF

Thank God it's Friday and Thank God that I got to sleep in today! :) My sleep pattern is so screwed up. Glad that Andrew has no school today or Monday for Memorial Day holiday.

Now, if I can just get my kids to not fight at all today I'll be an extremely happy camper! Ha ha! Yeah, right!

So, I managed to get two loads of laundry done and a ton of stuff done for work. I've been pretty productive today. Yay me!

I have an 8th grader!

Holy cow where did the time go? My Cecilia's last day of 7th grade was today and she's officially an 8th grader! Not only that, but she's in the local news paper for having A/B honor roll!

I couldn't be prouder!

Happy Trails!

This is too cool. Last school voting session our school district (Parents and School board) voted to initiate "Happy Trails" for middle school students. Basically if any student in 7th or 8th grade passes the TAKS test (standardized testing in Texas) will get out 2 weeks before all other students.

Well, I got a letter in the mail today announcing that my lovely daughter passed all three TAKS tests for 7th grade and she's been granted "Happy Trails". I'm one proud Momma!

Her last day of school is tomorrow and won't go back until the end of August. Too cool!

Way to go Cecilia!

32w6d appointment

Wow, I cannot believe that tomorrow I'll be 8 months along! EEEEkkkk! I'll have Joshua here and in my arms in 6 weeks from tomorrow. OMG! I have absolutely NOTHING! Well, I have his crib & bedding (Thanks to my Mother in law) and thanks to my Brother and Sister in law, a car seat.

I still need to get a pack N play or a bassinet, I need clothes, I need more cloth diapers (I think I'm going to be shopping on eBay later). Oh my goodness, so much to do and yet it seems as though I've got so little time.

I was doing the math while waiting for my OBGyn this morning and I'll be full term on June 17th. That is when I'll be 37 weeks even. I had both the boys at 37 weeks (not even, but in the 37th week) which is entirely possible could happen with Joshua too. That being said, Father's day is that Sunday (June 21st) and wouldn't it be the coolest thing to have Joshua on Father's day?

I guess we'll have to see what God has planned for us.

Too cool!

Oh man the siblings class tonight was so worth the $15 that I spent! The kids really had a good time, even Cecilia my 13 year old (I kind of thought that she'd be a bit bored with her being the oldest of all the kids there and all).

When the tour started we headed up to the L & D floor. They took us around to the nursery first and we got to see a brand new less than 5 minute old newborn. Andrew was so intrigued by this new baby, he was so focused on what the nurse was saying and just soaking it all in.

After we visited the nursery, we went to a postpartum room where the nurse explained to the kids that this was where their mommy and their new babies would be staying either for 1 night or more. She went into detail about hand washing and how it would be their responsibility to make sure that anyone who comes to visit their new baby MUST wash their hands.

She explained how Mommies bed has lots of buttons and neat things to push but that they really shouldn't push them or they could hurt Mommy. She also showed them the call for help cord in the bathroom and explained that they really shouldn't pull on those cords or a ton of people are going to come flying into Mommy's room. :) Mine will! Ha ha!

After we toured the room, we went by the nurses station which is where the kids get to come after their baby brother/sister's are born and they get a wrist band to wear that says their a big brother/sister.

We then went into a room where we watched a video with Arthur and it was about his new baby sister (did you know that Arthur is an ant eater????). Then the nurse brought out these anatomically correct life sized baby dolls for each of the soon to be big sibilings. She taught the kids the proper way to hold their new baby and taught them how to change a diaper and swaddle the babies back up.

After that was done, she gave each one of the kids a certificate claiming them to be a certified big brother/sister and they got a plastic tumbler that said "I'm a Saint" and in smaller wording "David's big brother/sister". They also got 3 finger puppets and cassette tapes with the children's singer Raffie (sp?). Too bad we don't have a cassette player...

Anyway, Cecilia really enjoyed the class more than I thought she would and Andrew really got into it. James, well he's just 4.5 so I wasn't really expecting a lot out of him but he really liked getting to wrap up the baby and change her diaper (we got a girl, and the funny thing was that he kept on taking the diaper off to see her girl parts).

Now we just wait!

The big siblings class!

WOO HOO!!! It's tonight! I don't know who is more excited, me or my Andrew. :)

The class starts at 6:00 in the lobby of the hospital, so we're going to head out of here a bit early to make the drive (and fight that lovely traffic).

The last time we had a child in the siblings class, Cecilia was almost 7 and I was pregnant with Andrew. That was 6 years ago. When I was pregnant with James, Andrew was too young to participate and Cecilia had just done it a few years before so we didn't sign her back up.

When she took it they gave us a tour of the hospital which included the birthing rooms, PP rooms and the nursery (we didn't get to go in, but we got to see it from the outside). Then they took us down to a multipurpose room and they had life sized newborn dolls that were anatomically correct.

A nurse then showed all the kids how to properly hold their new sibling and to avoid the soft spot on the top of their head and how to help Mommy change a diaper. Afterwords, each sibling received a certificate stating they were a certified "big brother" or "big sister" and they got a tumbler stating the same thing and a pencil. It was the neatest thing!

I'm guessing they'll do the same thing this go around; maybe something different but I haven't told the boys about that dolls and the certificate and all. I can't wait for tonight, I need to remember to bring my camera.

Ugh!

So I was running to the grocery store yesterday and on my way there I passed by this one house that I've passed a gazillion times before. I just happened to look up and saw this:

I took a picture of it with my phone because I just couldn't believe my eyes (sorry it's so grainy). Can you tell what that is on top? It's the AMERICAN FLAG! WTF? All that is left is just the side seam of the flag, the rest is gone.

Uh, don'tcha think it's time to replace the flag? Unbelievable!

E gads...

I 'think' I have a cavity. :( This sucks big time too because I've got 6.5 weeks until I deliver and I absolutely detest having any dental work to begin with. I guess I need to make an appointment. I just hope to God that I don't have to have a root canal done. I don't have the money for that right now, but at the same time the tooth in question is pretty viewable when I smile and would hate to loose it.

Where is that money tree I planted?

I've got cankles!

Eeeek! I was hoping to hold this off as long as possible, but a las.. I've got fat ankles! I'm starting to retain a little bit more water. Nice . . .

32 weeks and 1 day along

Well, here goes nothing. I'm sitting at 32 weeks and 1 day. I've got less than 7 weeks until my scheduled c-section and I'm dying! :) I look like I've swallowed a beach ball!

Looking at the side view, I think I've definitely dropped...Hmm... Let's compare.

Here is me at 7 months on the left, 7.5 months in the middle and me just 5 days shy of 8 months.

Note, the picture in the middle and the picture on the right are take 1 week apart from each other... Look at how much higher I was just a week ago. Then again, I guess I look to be the same as I was at exactly 7 months. Hmm...

Less than 7 weeks to go!

Holy Crap! My ticker says 6w6d to go! OMG! Is that really true? Is it really 6w6d until July 1st?

Eeeeeeekkkkk! I need to get my butt in gear! I've got so much to do. I still need to buy the rest of my toiletries and pack my hospital bag.

Joshuas room isn't even finished yet. E gads!

Holy Crap!

I cannot believe Danny didn't make it to the finals! WHOA! Never thought it'd be Kris and Adam.

Wow! I'm pulling for Kris (I can't STAND Adam).

Go Kris Go!

My AI prediction

I predict that the final 2 will be Danny and Adam. I cannot stand Adam and I don't see how he's going to be able to pull off an album of screams and whatnot.

I thought that the second song that Kris sang was absolutely Awesome, but I don't think he's confident enough to make it to the top 2.

I guess we'll see!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you lovely Mothers out there.

I told my kids that I didn't want anything (no cards, no flowers, no gifts) for Mother's day, I just wanted them to get a long for one weekend...

Did I get that? Nope Oh well, I tried. ;)

Got a Diaper bag order!

Double WOO HOO! I had another request through my Etsy shop for a custom made diaper bag.

She said she wanted black and white matrial, not animal print though. She said she would like either flowers or dots or something like that but NOT animal print.

I headed up to Joanns and found this

Is that not the cutest fabric? It's black and white flowers. They almost look like hibiscus flowers or Pansies (well, maybe not pansies).

Anyway, she wanted to have nylon strap reinforcement but not showing, so I found black nylon that's 2" thick that I'm going to cover with the black interior fabric. I have until June 30th to get this complete.

I think I'm going to go back and get more to make me one! :)

My 1st Etsy sale!

WOO HOO! I am so psyched out! I had a guy contact me yesterday wanting me to make him a custom onesie for his wife. He then asked for another one for the grandmas.
After we worked out all the details, this is what I've come up with

I ended up meeting him outside a Barns & Nobles in Austin because he was leaving that afternoon with his wife and son to go and spend Mother's day with his family out of town. I was a bit leary about meeting up, but he showed up and I delivered my items to him.

I even packaged them really cute with a light blue ribbon around them. I thought it looked cute. I then asked him how he found my Etsy shop and he said he did a Google search for custom onesie austin, tx and there I was! How cool is that!

I didn't even have to pay for advertising! Double WOO HOO!

Here we go again.

So, I cannot remember my old blog login for the life of me. :( Bummer because it had a ton of stuff on it. Oh well. I guess I'm starting over.

Dig in and enjoy!