Happy Birthday Little Girl!

On Tuesday the 22nd, we welcomed our little girl, Juliana McKinley, into the world at 10:57am (at a measly 6 lb 11 oz!). What a wonderful experience it was! I had a relatively easy labor and delivery with Tyler and thought I wouldn't get off so easy this time, but I was lucky yet again.

I had my last day of work the Wednesday before baby was born because I was so mentally exhausted and the commute to Harrisonburg and back was killing my back. My due date on Friday came and went with no baby and I was super frustrated. Tyler was 6 days early so I was expecting this princess to enter the world early as well, but no luck. So on Monday, 3 days past D-day, I went in for my 40 week appointment and saw Marty, the midwife who delivered Tyler. She knew I was anxious to have baby here, but I didn't want to plan for induction at all. I know pitocen (the drug used to induce labor) causes very painful contractions and I didn't want to deal with that while trying for another natural delivery. We planned to have a non-stress test (where they monitor baby's heart rate) and an ultrasound (to check amniotic fluid level) on Friday to ensure I could safely continue to carry baby, and to set an induction date that day as well. She told me we could plan for 42 weeks (which would be the following Friday) so hopefully baby would have plenty of time to show on her own before then.

Well, she did. That day I cramped all afternoon and at midnight I started to have contractions. They were about 8 minutes apart and not terrible, so I waited awhile to see if it was the real deal. I couldn't sleep and decided to clean around the house and shower and they picked up in frequency and intensity. In fact, I had to get on my hands and knees in the shower to deal with the pain (although it really wasn't as bad as labor gets... maybe a 7/10). Well Tyler woke up coughing (he's been fighting a cold) so I laid with him for a bit and my contractions slowed down but continued to be intense. Once Jordon and I realized Tyler wasn't going back to sleep and my contractions weren't stopping, we decided to take Tyler to Grammie and Da's and slowly make our way to the hospital. By 6:30am we were checking into labor and delivery.

My contractions kept spacing out when I'd lay down, to about one every 8 minutes, but when I was up and about they were about 5 minutes apart. I was nervous that they'd send me home once we got there because they were so far apart when they were monitoring me, but they checked my cervix and I was 6-7 cm dilated, so it was go time! They were going to break my water to speed things up (with Tyler I didn't dilate past 7cm until they broke my water), but Marty was coming on at 8am, so I told them to hold out until she got there so she could deliver. I walked around a bit, used the birthing ball and labored until Marty got on. She offered to break my water and I chickened out because I knew the pain would get so much worse so she told me to walk around a bit more and then we'd check back in a little while.

So we walked the halls and I had some pretty bad contractions, but they really weren't coming any closer than 4-5 minutes apart and then would space out anytime they had me in the bed to monitor me. I finally decided I was ready to celebrate my daughter's birthday, so I asked Marty to break my water. Before she did, she checked and I was 8-9 cm (much to my surprise!) so I knew we wouldn't have to wait long. Marty stayed and helped me labor through contractions in bed for about 20 minutes after they broke my water, and then we decided I should get in the jacuzzi tub to labor more since the contractions were definitely more intense.

I got in the tub and it was wonderful. They told me I could stay in 20 minutes, they'd check the baby's HR, and then if I wanted to stay in another jet cycle, I could stay in 20 more minutes. Well after 18 minutes I felt something drop/pop/ or lock (I really don't know how to describe it), but after that moment I was in a lot of pain and had an intense urge to push. I yelled at Jordon to get someone, and the nurses rushed in to get me to the bed and ran to get Marty. It was time to push and at first I was terrified (because I remembered how much it hurt and I really didn't want to tear) and exhausted from not sleeping at all, so my push attempt was so weak haha. But once I put my mind to it, I was able to push her out in ten minutes. Much easier than my 1+ hour of pushing with Tyler! And no tearing (thank goodness!). We had a little scare because baby's heart rate did start to decelerate and her cord was wrapped around her neck, but my midwife is amazing and handled the situation so well I didn't know until after I delivered that anything had been wrong. I was able to pull her out once her shoulders were delivered (just as I did with Tyler) and hold her for about 40 minutes after she was born before they even took her to weigh her. It was an amazing and really peaceful experience. Definitely easier than my last labor, and I feel like I can't even brag about going natural again because God blessed me with such a relatively easy experience. I saw one nurse in the hallway the next day and she said "Oh you're the natural laborer! You were cool as a cucumber at 7cm!" I wanted to say, "it really wasn't that bad!", but I appreciated the credit haha. Maybe I just have the world's highest pain tolerance or determination. Either way, I'm just happy to have a healthy baby girl now.

We are all at home now and getting used to our family of four. Tyler absolutely adores his sister. The first thing he said when he saw her picture was "she's tiny" and when he met her for the first time he pointed to all her features and said "her eyes... her nose... her mouth..." haha! And while holding her at home the other day he looked up at Jordon and said "I'm happy." It was the sweetest thing. It is definitely harder bringing baby home when you have a toddler, but we are all adjusting and working on balance now.

37/38 Weeks

Blogging on-time this week (although a week late for last week haha). Jordon had to leave at 5:45 am for JMU since he is off to UVA for tennis this weekend and I could not fall back asleep. Since I've officially finished my maternity plans for school and all my grading for this week, I am going to try to be a good blogger!

So pregnancy-wise I've been feeling good, but oh-so pregnant. I forgot how big you feel in the last month! It's not terrible, and I know I'm going to miss the little things about being pregnant like feeling baby move inside me, the built-in hand rest my belly provides and semi-decent sleep (compared to having a newborn that is haha), so I've just been trying to enjoy these final couple weeks. I am VERY anxious to go on maternity leave from work now (especially because I've planned it out so I could go into labor this weekend and have coverage for my classes), so that is the only thing that has me looking at the calendar/clock and counting down the days until the 18th.

This final month of pregnancy has been quite different than it was when I was pregnant with Tyler. It's crazy how our lives and bodies change. With Tyler, I had false labor contractions ALL THE TIME from week 35 on. I'd go for a walk and boom, contractions for 2 hours, I'd do anything else physical and boom, contractions. This time, I've had one single bout of false labor contractions, which weren't really even contractions at all, more like general cramping (although it was not comfortable!). I'm almost afraid I'm not getting the head start I got last time I was pregnant and will go into the hospital in labor and be a lousy 2 cm dilated as compared to my check-in dilation of 7 whopping cm last time. Let's hope my body is doing some work behind the scenes and I'm just lucky enough to not feel it.

I've also had NO heart burn this time (knock on wood) when last time I was trying to balance out my overwhelming desire to eat anything with "spicy" or "chili" in the name in order to jump start labor with my fear of being up all night feeling like my heart was on fire.

Lastly, my nesting instincts this time have put on hold not due to the fact that we don't have a room for baby (like last time when we were prepping to move before Tyler came), but because I have a very rambunctious and busy toddler and a very hectic work schedule. I just want to nest!! Tyler has "helped" me organize the diaper closet and get some things in order, but he also tends to make a mess in the process and I have to spend just as much time cleaning up as I did organizing. I've been anxious to get baby girl's crib set up but I've had to wait on getting Tyler a twin bed (which we FINALLY did last week!), but now it's a matter of having time to go pick out sheets and bedding for him (hopefully this weekend). I also have been hanging a dust-ruffle sewing project over Jordon's gma's head for months now and cannot find fabric (at a reasonable price) that I want. I'm considering just buying one pre-made now since Target has some decent options. But that needs to be done before I can really get the crib all made up. Busy busy busy.

I've been wanting to take maternity photos with Tyler but our schedules are so nuts that we haven't had any free time to really plan that either... I told Jordon if I haven't had this baby over the weekend, we are definitely at least doing an informal photo shoot in the backyard on Monday. maybe. haha. We had an ultrasound last week to make sure baby was head down (and thankfully she is) but she didn't want to show off much to us! I had hoped to get a good 3d picture of her face, but it was so smooshed against my uterus that it just looked like a blurry mess. Even the pictures we got of her hands and feet are blurry because she is running out of room. I did have to laugh, however, because we got one, clear as day, 3d image of her lady parts haha. There is no denying she is a girl now!! Of all her body parts, she decides to give us a clear image of that... how lady like! I'd post the picture to show you just how clearly she was showing off, but it may be considered child pornography because it is just that distinct haha.

Anyway, on the toddler front, Tyler has been awesome as usual. He loves his new twin bed, but has only been napping in it since we just got the side rail for it yesterday and I was too nervous to let him sleep in it overnight without one. He naps great in it. He found my boppy nursing pillow and will ONLY use that pillow as his pillow for his bed. We're going to have an issue here in a couple weeks when I need it for nursing! It is pretty cute to see him cuddle up in it though. He's been doing great at school and goes without any tears now, which makes this momma proud. He even came home with a couple art projects the other day, and I was all smiles looking at how proud my little boy was of his work. He's growing up so much!

He's learned all sort of new words and phrases and it always surprises me what comes out of his mouth. The other day I asked him was shoes he wanted to wear, and was floored when he told me he wanted his "Nikes." hahaha! He definitely learned that one from Daddy! He's still giving baby sis lots of attention in the belly and I know he's going to be excited when she finally gets here. I'm so excited to see what his reaction will be!

32-35 Weeks

Another update fail, but I've been so busy I'm surprised I even updated at all. I officially started classes at JMU the last week of August and since then I've been completely on the go. Jordon also start tennis practice that week, so between both of our work schedules and Tyler's school schedule, we are just a hectic family. I'm enjoying work, as is Jordon (despite how exhausted we both are) and Tyler is doing great at school, so all is well on that front.

Pregnancy wise I'm doing well. I'm really enjoying pregnancy and trying not to wish it away quickly, but I have started to feel pretty big! It's very difficult to get a good night's rest because I'm constantly tossing and turning, and that tossing and turning is getting harder and harder to do (it takes more like 10-15 seconds to roll over these days then the 3 second pace I had back in my first trimester days). Plus the multiple midnight bathroom trips are taking a toll on me! Baby girl loves to move around and it's fun to feel her, although there have been some days where she'll tend to hang out high and make me extremely uncomfortable in the rib region. I feels lots of humps and bumps both anatomically and physically speaking on my belly, so I'm having a hard time figuring out what position she's in, but I've been told in my last three midwife visits that they are "pretty sure" she's head down, and they are doing an ultrasound in two weeks to confirm, so it looks like she is getting ready to come! (Ready or not for us!).

Tyler has been such a joy and I've hated leaving him to work. It is VERY sad that he can talk when he says "Momma, you go to work?" and I say "Yes" to which he responds "Tay with me!" However in the last couple weeks he's really become a Daddy's boy and almost always refuses to let me do anything when Daddy is around. Grr. Maybe he senses the change? But when it's just the two of us he's still my little boy, so I'm soaking up as much of that Tyler and Momma time as I can before our little princess invades the scene.

That's about all I have time for now... I still have lots of planning to finish up with for my maternity leave (and since I'll be 35 weeks on Friday, I really need to get those done!).

30/31/32 Weeks

Epic fail at updating weekly, but it's much harder the second time around. So here's what's been going on in our lives: Jordon finished up working his last two weeks at Wintergreen. Tyler and I joined him the first week and enjoyed spending lots of time together. We went on lots of walks, went to the pool (I had to keep getting him out of the hot tub, or as he liked to call it the "hot wader!"), dug for dinosaur eggs at the discovery center and played on the playground. He's just a joy to hang out with. We stayed home the second week Jordon had to work just because it was a lot of traveling to do again and I had a doctor's appointment anyway. My mom visited, and Tyler enjoyed being able to spend time with (and get spoiled by!) his grandma. This week Jordon and I both started work. I had so many faculty meetings to go to (which were, for the most part, extremely boring and long haha) and Jordon got into his office, got a new computer and cell phone, and of course, lots of JMU tennis gear. Who has the better job? This week we've been relying on each other and family for babysitting, but Tyler will start at daycare next week. Yikes! Thankfully Jordon doesn't have to be in the office until lunch time so he can stick around in the morning to help Tyler adjust on his first day being there alone (Jordon has taken him a few times to play for a couple hours, but is always in the room with him). I'm hoping he'll do fine since his best bud Lucas will be in there with him. Today we all went to the fair together, which was a blast. I was a nervous nelly and didn't want Tyler to ride anything, but after making him sit out on a ride his cousins went on, and after having him literally tell me "It's not scary momma" I caved and let him ride all sorts of unreliable carnival rides. He had a blast. And thankfully didn't get injured haha.

On the pregnancy front, I've been feeling pretty big recently! I know it will just get worse, which is kind of scary! I've also been having a hard time sleeping because my bump is so big, but other than that, I'm really feeling pretty good. I kind of want my flat belly back and to be able to go running again, but I'm really enjoying being pregnant this time and not wishing it away too quickly like I did last time (at least not yet!). At my last appointment things went well and for once this pregnancy, my thyroid lab work was normal which means no more increasing my Synthroid dose. Yay! And baby seemed to be measuring right where she should be, so all seems well. She moves like crazy and is getting to the point where limbs start reaching into my rib cage, which was one of the things I hated about being pregnant with Tyler. It's rather uncomfortable to have a foot in your rib cage, if you can imagine. Just yesterday I got a nice big bag full of maternity clothes to borrow from my good friend Sarah, so I'm very excited about that as well. Between those and all the stuff my mom's been spoiling me with, I think I will be well-dressed when I start work next week. I wonder what my students will think when their professor literally waddles into the classroom on the first day of class? haha.

On the toddler front, Tyler's just been a blast to be around. He talks SO MUCH, it's crazy. I feel like a month ago he was just starting to put words together, and now he speaks sentences to me. Plus he pulls the most random words out of nowhere... words I feel like I've never said to him before. It cracked me up the other day when I was watching TV and he started repeating random phrases the characters would say, like "muddy shoes." And when he was looking through his toddler Bible today, he randomly said to me "Where's Jonah momma?" haha! My kid is a genius. We still have a lot of uninterpretable phrases though, so it's always and adventure when it's time to figure out what Tyler is trying to tell us. He seems pretty excited for his "baby sis" to come, which is making me very excited for the moment he gets to meet her. It's precious when he pulls my shirt up to give my belly a kiss, or when he puts his hand on my belly and says "kick!" Kids are too much sometimes :-)

29 Weeks

11 weeks to go! I'm feeling bigger than ever this week, which is obviously technically true, but I still have a way to go and I realize just how big I will get if I look back on my belly pictures from last time. I'm happy to report a much less eventful week as far as my pregnancy goes and much more fun with my little toddler this week.

Our trip to the lake last weekend was great, and it was good to be reunited with my son after being in the hospital for so long! I was so happy to snuggle up with him our first day out at the lake and it was great to see how much fun he was having. Tyler LOVED swimming in the lake, and had absolutely no fear of running on into the water and diving under. I rebounded back quickly after getting out of the hospital, and other than a few days of fatigue, I felt much better just a couple days after getting home. Now I'm feeling back to normal (albeit, rather large haha), and I'm happy I can romp around and play with Tyler now.

Ty man had his big 2 year appointment that Monday, and got a good report. 28 lbs and 35 inches tall, about the 50th percentile for both height and weight (actually a little higher for height, but I'm not buying it haha). On Tuesday I had my 28 week appointment, and they were all happy to see I was feeling better. I had my glucose test, which I thankfully passed (I've been craving sweets so much, it'd be a tragedy if I did have gestational diabetes!), and they were happily surprised to see I managed to still gain a couple pounds since my last appointment despite my illness. I was actually pretty surprised/shocked as well, but I've still only gained about 10 lbs total, so I'm not freaking out (yet, haha). They tested my hemoglobin at this appointment as well, which did come back low, but I hadn't been taking my prenatal vitamins since before I was sick (for some reason my discharge papers from the hospital said to discontinue them), so starting those back up should straighten that out (after calling UVA and speaking with the doctors there, we found out that the discontinuation of my vitamins had been a mistake).

We held Tyler's birthday party this weekend, and although it was small (most people who had planned on coming the weekend I got sick had plans already for this weekend), we still had fun. I did an "under the sea" theme, complete with a watermelon shark, fish shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, blue frosted cupcakes, "pool punch" and of course, bubble wands for the kids. It was fun getting it all together and to see family that came in to help us celebrate. Since our house is still semi- in shambles and not 100% moved-in, Jordon's parents let us have the party at their house which was great and super helpful. Tyler wasn't really into the fact that it was his birthday, but he did enjoy getting some fun new toys (after unwrapping everything he'd say "open dis" or "out" haha). From what I can tell, he was appreciative of everything :-)

We are at Wintergreen this week while Jordon teaches another Nike camp, and I'm hoping for nice weather so Tyler and I can lounge at the pool and play outside alllll day! I feel like summer is just flying by and I hate it! I have my new faculty orientation on the 19th, then other stuff that week for school, and classes start the 26th, so summer really is coming to a close. Boo. Jordon will work one more camp next week, then he'll be getting ready for the fall season at JMU :-) My big-time, division 1 coach.... so proud!

28 Weeks

Hello third trimester! And what an eventful one it has been. I had been hoping to be posting about Tyler's wonderful second birthday party this week, but instead I get to update on my crazy trip to the hospital... wait, hospitalS. Yes, plural.

On Friday (as in a week ago) I woke up at 6 am with nausea and some upper stomach pain. I had been feeling a little off and couldn't sleep well the night before, but hadn't thought anything of it until the morning. I tried to wait until the doctors' office opened at 8, but at about 7am and after throwing up decided to call into the midwife on call at the hospital. She figured it was a stomach bug and said to go into the office when it opened at 8 and they'd get me some IV zofran (nausea medicine) and fluids to get me through the initial hump of the bug, and it shouldn't last longer than 24 hours. Well after a painful wait, dropping Tyler off at Grammies, and a sickening ride to Harrisonburg, I sat in the office for an hour getting pumped full of drugs. I was still in pain when I left the office, only felt about 10% better, and threw up on the way home, but the medicine made me sleepy so when I got home I was about to sleep the first half of the day away. They had prescribed me some oral zofran as well so Jordon picked that up for me. I spent the second half of the day in and out of sleep, popping zofran and some Tylenol because I was having actual stomach pain and felt ok by the end of the day. I ate some crackers, drank some gatorade and went to bed.

The next day, Saturday, I woke up sick again, still in pain and still throwing up. This "bug" was NOT going away. By 11 am or so I couldn't stand it anymore so I called into the hospital and the new midwife on call told me to come in to L&D so they could check me out. Since I had a spell like this last pregnancy, which had eventually been diagnosed as reflux, they figured they could treat me for that. So this time Uncle Luke came and picked up Tyler, and Jordon and I were back off to Harrisonburg. I was feeling pretty crappy but actually not quite as bad as I had the day before, but I figured it was good to get checked out. We got there and it was a mad house on the L&D floor (I later found out my midwife delivered NINE babies that day!) so it took forever to see a nurse and then it took them forever to get an IV in me. The first nurses who tried couldn't get a vein because I was so dehydrated and then she had to go into a delivery so I ended up going down for an ultrasound before I had any medication. They wanted to check my gallbladder and organs in that upper stomach area, but the tech also let us get a sneak peek at baby (even in pain, I was excited for this). She was batting her eyelashes (you could see them!), puckering her lips and was "definitely a girl."

I finally got back up to L&D, and after a lot of tries I got an IV of fluids in. Because my midwife was so busy I couldn't get orders for medicine forever, and after pretty much crying and writhing in pain, I finally got some nausea medicine and pain medicine. I felt a lot better after that, so they had me eat and drink a little (cheerios and gingerale). Bad idea. I was back writhing in pain before the hour was up. So at one minute they were planning for me to go home, the next they were moving me into a bigger room to stay the night. I was alternating IV morphine and oral percocet for pain then IV phenergan and oral zofran for nausea, in hopes to move to all the oral medication I could take home with me the next day.

Well long story short, I never felt better. Well, I would start to feel better, then I'd try to eat or drink, and get sick within the hour. I was even throwing up the Popsicle I tried eating. When it was clear I wasn't going home Sunday to be home Monday for Tyler's birthday, I had to make the hard choice of sending Jordon home so my boy could wake up with at least one of his parents on his special day. They came and visited me in the hospital Monday night though, and I got to celebrate a little with him there. They had gotten brownie bites (in lieu of a whole cake) and Tyler sat up on my lap in my bed and indulged. It was so sad though because he held one up to me and said "Mama?" for me to eat one, so I had to pretend to eat a bite and hand it to Jordon to satisfy him. And he gave my IV site a kiss because he thought it was just a "boo-boo."

After Monday the same thing pretty much happened Tuesday and Wednesday. I'd feel a little better then get sick again. I was trying so hard to get myself to the point where I could take the oral drugs and drink on my own so I could go home, but for a few days I was on a morphine pain pump because I just felt that crappy. The GI doctors were called in to consult and even they kind of seemed stumped, mostly because all the tests they'd usually do in my case were inappropriate for pregnant women. Jordon spent the nights and days with Tyler and would come visit me for a couple hours in the evenings, so I was missing both him and Tyler. Jordon said Tyler would say "Mama, sick" or would pick things out of the closet, like my shoes, and say "mama!" which just broke my heart.

Luckily, the medicine I was on made me so sleepy I was pretty much in and out of sleep all day. Finally on Wednesday they decided they'd go ahead and do a CAT scan. Usually it's not recommended for pregnant women because it's essentially an Xray, but my midwife assured me she's recommended it to other pregnant women when necessary and the radiation was one time and not a super high dose, and that the benefits of finding out what was wrong outweighed the risks (at this point I hadn't eaten in about 6 days). The nurse came in with this HUGE water bottle of contrast I was supposed to drink for the scan and I started bawling. I was SO sick and couldn't imagine even drinking a normal water bottle full of liquid (heck, I wouldn't be on IV fluids if I could keep that much water down!). I drank about half, the nurse finally told me it'd have to do, then prayed to God I wouldn't throw it up before the scan. Jordon got back to the hospital and went down with me for the scan. They put a lead apron over some of my belly but I could feel baby girl at my ribs so I knew a little of her would have to be in the picture since that's where they were imaging.

After the scan the techs were flabbergasted because of the picture they got of baby. She was completely folded in half, both her head and feet up at my ribs... a "little gymnast" they kept saying. I guess they don't scan many pregnant women because they even had us pop in the back and look at the scan which is typically a no-no. It was pretty cool, despite how crappy I felt. We got back up to the room, and 15 minutes later I threw up everythingggggg in my stomach. Ugh. It was disgusting. I felt terrible. They thought they same some tiny gallstones in the scan, and maybe a partial obstruction of my upper intestine, but the contrast wasn't great because I hadn't drank enough of it and in the end they decided it was best to send me to UVA for further evaluation. Thank goodness Jordon was there with me! We were suppose to leave for our annual camping/family reunion trip that day and had decided to send Tyler ahead with Jordon's parents and catch up when we got out of the hospital (hoping it'd be later on Wednesday), so Jordon was prepared to spend the night with me. So I was transported via ambulance (my first and hopefully LAST ambulance ride ever) and Jordon followed right behind.

We got to UVA around 9:30 or 10 pm and had doctors in and out of the room until 1 am. They did a quick ultrasound of baby, who was looking good, although still in her breech gymnast position, so of course they freaked me out more warning me that if, in the case of an emergency, they had to deliver her, they'd have to do a c-section and all the risks, etc etc. But she was high up in my belly and I had dilated at all, so I wasn't too worried about that. I was more worried about having to get tests done that had the potential to harm the baby and how they would treat whatever I had and if that treatment could hurt the baby.

I finally got to sleep at 1 am and woke up feeling better. They had started me on complete restriction of food or drink the night before when I left RMH (I couldn't even have water for my dry mouth... I had to use a wet cotton swab to dampen my mouth... yuck) and I think that's what finally did it. I had another ultrasound at about 6am on Thursday and by mid-day I had a diagnosis (sort of). From what they and the doctors at RMH saw, it looked like I had something in my gallbladder (small stones or maybe just some "sludge") that clogged my pancreas and made it flare up... so acute pancreatitis. I had an enzyme in my blood that had slowly elevated to very high levels over the week, and while they initially thought it was just from vomiting so much, paired with the fact that I was getting better when not eating, and the junk in my gallbladder, they concluded it was from the pancreatitis.

So on Thursday afternoon, I felt much better and was STARVING, they finally let me eat. It was amazing. I hadn't eaten a real meal since the previous Thursday. The baby kicked like crazy, I mean the most she has ever moved, after I ate that first time. She was hungry! And after 24 hours of observation, and no more pain and vomiting, I was discharged today. I was SO ready to get home after being gone nearly a week! I weighed myself at home and it looks like I lost about 5-7 lbs while sick. And my arms look like I'm a drug addict after 4 IV sites (one at the doctor's office, one at RMH , one at UVA (the one from RMH had clogged/or blown or something after being in so long), and one failed site from my first day at RMH) and 6 blood draws.

 I'm feeling much better in the stomach department, but I am feeling weak from a week of not eating and pretty much being in bed all day. I took it very slow today once I got home (my biggest excursion was to get ice cream in the afternoon and putting away some laundry) and took a couple naps. We are heading to Ferrum tomorrow to spend the day with family and pick up Tyler (who I miss SO SO much) and then hopefully getting back to normal life next week. I think we'll try to have Tyler's birthday party next weekend (since it was postponed due to my ill-timed illness) and he had his big 2-year-old doctor appointment next week as well. I'll have my glucose screening at my appointment on Tuesday, so we'll have a busy week!

Anyway, I am so glad to be home and feeling better. We were very lucky to have already moved back to the are when this happened because I would have been out-of-luck to be far away from my midwives and hospital if this had happened in Ferrum, and we were so very lucky to have our family here to help watch Tyler... knowing your baby is being well cared for while you are sick and can't care them yourself is priceless! Plus although Jordon was great staying with Tyler most of the time I was in Harrisonburg, I would have been so depressed and homesick if he hadn't been able to travel to UVA with me. God is good, even when times seem rough. And lastly, on Monday Jordon officially accepted a job as the new assistant men's tennis coach as JMU! Moving on up to division 1! So all in all, life is good.

26 Weeks

We're getting ready to close out the third trimester and I can't believe how time is flying by. What's even crazier is that my little baby boy will be TWO next week. Yikes! Can I hit the pause button on life for a few moments?

Anyway, life has been crazy busy as usual, thus why I've been slow to update here. Moving definitely has been keeping us busy. Our new house is great, but we've been doing lots of work to it (specifically painting) and lots of unpacking. I love that I have a whole playroom for Tyler, I love that we have lots of yard space for him to play and I love our master bedroom. Jordon is VERY pleased he has a whole 2 car garage to fill with his tools, bikes, etc that used to crowd our tiny shed at our old house. We decided to keep Tyler and the new baby in the same room, even though we did have an extra bedroom which is our guest room now, so I've been scheming on how to create a wonderful, gender neutral nursery. I've been playing with the idea of a turquoise, coral, and yellow theme, so we ended up painting the walls turquoise (they used to be bright yellow, ceiling included... see the before and after photos below) which looks great and now I'm deciding on bedding. Jordon's grandma is very gifted at sewing so she's going to be making a bed skirt for the crib. I want a three tiered, ruffled skirt, but I haven't quite decided what color I want it. I also think I want to include some chevron style pieces (yes, I know this will probably go out of style in a few years, but humor me), so I'm looking around to see what I think. I found a blanket at Target which is kind of what I'm going for, but not the exact colors (I'd like to have my coral rather than powder pink). But I still have plenty of time to decide! I'm honestly not in much of a rush to get that done because I know from experience that baby will end up in our room for the first couple months anyway and the last thing I really have time for right now is nursery designing. Prepping for my new job and classes and unpacking everything is definitely higher up on the priority list.

On the pregnancy front, things are going well. Little baby girl is moving and squirming like crazy (just like her brother!) so I'm enjoying feeling that all the time. My hips have definitely been aching and I don't think there is much I can do about it. I've been slacking on my yoga because we've been so busy with the move, and I'm sure that's not helping, so hopefully I can get my pregnant butt back into that routine and start feeling a little better. I've been having a hard time sleeping because my belly is getting bigger and bigger which means more naps are necessary during the day, but other than that and my hips, I can't complain too much.

On the toddler front, Tyler is adjusting pretty well to the new house. He seems to love having a playroom and is very happy with his big yard. He has been a little more fussy than usual, so I think he definitely can tell something is going on, but other than that, he's been a pretty happy little guy. He also is enjoying seeing his cousins more, and having a lot more to do around here. We've taken him to the park, my mom got him a water table to play in outside, he loves getting sprayed with the hose when I'm working in the garden and he likes our (almost) daily trips to Lowe's haha. He's been talking SO much, it's crazy. He's definitely been a late talker, but boy is his vocabulary been booming the past couple months. He's learned the words "tennis" and "exercise" much to Daddy and Mommy's delight and he's linking words together now. I was completely taken aback when we were in Walmart the other day and he found a toy he liked and proceeded to tell me "I need dis!" I'm in for trouble! He also will say "I'm comin'!" when I ask if he wants to go somewhere and he has the cutest little baby accent ever! We haven't made any grand strides in the potty training department yet, but honestly haven't had time to put much effort into it. I really want to put some time into it soon though, so he'll be trained before he goes to school in the fall.

Tyler's SECOND birthday is just around the corner and I have no idea how it snuck up on us so quickly! Last year I'd been planning his party for months beforehand, but this year we've been so busy and distracted I've only planned out a couple ideas in my head and am having a hard time figuring out when we are going to plan a party with all of our moving, working and traveling. I don't even have a clue on what to get him for his big day! I'm seriously slacking in the mommy department. Jordon and I need to get our brains together and come up with something quick... only a week left until B-day!

Quick Update

I've been failing in the blogging department, so I wanted to pop in while I had a quick second and update on what's been going on. We are in full-fledged moving mode... in fact, we should be out of Ferrum by tomorrow evening if all goes according to plan. We got the keys to our new house this past Friday and spent the weekend cleaning and painting and cleaning and painting. I was exhausted and my body hurt. Apparently you can't do everything you used to do when you're pregnant... boo. If I had a dime for every time I heard "make sure you're not working too hard" I'd... probably have a dollar haha. I just want my house to shine :-)

We had a baby appointment on Tuesday and everything was looking good with baby girl. They checked my thyroid and it started to slow down some more so they upped my synthroid dose (I think I have at least 5 bottles with different synthroid dosages in the bathroom, it's nuts). I've been feeling pretty run down so maybe that's why and hopefully the new dose will zap some more energy into me. My hips have been KILLING me too, which sucks, so my midwife referred me to a PT in Harrisonburg. Hopefully I can get around to that sometime after the move, because nothing I do seems to help my poor hips. But all in all, I really don't feel too bad, and still forget I'm pregnant sometimes... except when baby girl goes all karate kid inside me, then I have to remember ;-)

Tyler has been doing great too. He was loving spending lots of time with his cousins in Woodstock and is officially confused as to why our house is in complete shambles. He makes packing extremely difficult, but thankfully we've been able to send him over to Jordon's grandma's house for a little uninterrupted work time. Plus we got a dinner invite when we came to pick him up, and with just ramen, peanut butter and bread in our cabinets, that was a huge plus! We'll definitely miss having them close to us.

That's all for now, I really should be packing while Tyler is napping. I promise to post a belly picture and some pictures of the new house when I get the chance.

23 Weeks

Friday marked the end of week 23! Going by quickly, huh? Everything has been going great for our little family, and I think Tyler is getting more excited for his little sister to arrive. I taught him to say "sis" and he likes to lift up my shirt and give her stuff.... sometimes a sip of his drink (through my belly button, of course), a snack, a stick, and more often than not, a ball (still his favorite word and toy haha).

I've been feeling pretty good, just getting a little random nausea every now and then but I can deal. My hips seem to be less sore now that I've been regularly doing yoga (Jordon got me a pregnancy yoga DVD... Love that sweet man). I've been walk/running (okay, definitely more walking with a few 1-2 minutes bouts of light jogging) about 6 days a week and that's helping me keep my energy up. Jordon taught at a basketball camp at Ferrum this past week and Tyler and I had a nice routine of a longggg morning walk pointing out all the cars and their colors, which was great. Jordon's teaching at Wintergreen this week, so Tyler and I plan on keeping up the same routine. We actually walked FOREVER this morning, but we did stop at the playground, so that may be why we didn't get home until 2 hours after we started.

I've been so hungry recently, so I guess baby is growing away. Unfortunately, I'm craving cookies, ice cream, and all that sweet stuff. Baby girl's got a sweet tooth! I'm trying not to indulge toooo much, but chunky chips ahoy cookies have their way of calling my name at all hours of the day haha. I'm also getting bigger and bigger so it is getting very difficult to sleep. Lots of tossing and turning in my bed at night. Thankfully I have the faithful old Boppy pillow! I did, however, leave it at home this week, so I'm dying here at Wintergreen and trying to situate three pillows into a makeshift Boppy.

On the toddler front, Tyler is saying more and more! Jordon taught him to say "honk, honk" and squeeze your nose, so he's been doing that all the time. He also learned the word "swim" and it is PRECIOUS to hear him say it. Additionally, he's learned to demand "gum," which means fruit snacks, or gummies in toddler-speak, as I DO NOT give my child gum (and will not for several years... just think of the mess). Anyway, his vocabulary is just growing and growing! He's loving swimming since the weather got hot, and is always able to get completely soaked outside if there is any source of water around (baby pool, watering can, puddle, water bottle). Today we were splashing in puddles with our feet and he decided to sit down in one to play... got his whole butt soaking wet haha. But he was having so much fun and I love to see him happy, so what's a little water?

I think we have unofficially set the big move for the first weekend in July. I'm excited to move into a new house but I've been getting very nostalgic as we pack up. Tyler has spent his entire life from about 2 weeks old in that house! But we are moving onto bigger and better things and I'm excited to see what the future has to hold for us.

22 Weeks

I'm more than halfway through and it still hasn't really sunk in that we are going to have TWO children before Christmas rolls around. Crazy, huh? Baby girl is kicking and squirming away like crazy though, so she's making it harder and harder for momma to forget haha. I've been feeling pretty good other than my body aching. It's just so difficult to get in a comfortable position, but I guess that's to be expected. I haven't really been having any real crazy cravings, but I have had the taste for ramen noodles all the time recently. Which is kind of a tragedy because they have about zero nutritional content, but I guess this girl just loves salt haha.

My belly is definitely growing and it's getting much harder to squeeze into my non-maternity pants. By looking back at my belly pictures from my pregnancy with Tyler, it looks like I'm carrying this little one lower, so maybe that's why my pants are more uncomfortable. Regardless, I'm very happy my mom treated me to some maternity shopping and I have two new pairs of elastic band shorts (blue and yellow). Maternity pants are awesome.

Jordon and I have been wracking our brains trying to decide what to name this little one, but we haven't quite figured it out. We are leaning towards one name, and I'm sure it will probably be what we pick, but we're too indecisive as a couple to make anything official. So no buying anything personalized yet! Plus I'm still the tiniest bit nervous that "she" is actually a "he" who was hiding his goods at our ultrasound and has butt cheeks that disguise themselves as the elusive "three bright lines" that point to a little girl (yeah, I'm super paranoid, I know). I'm hoping we'll have another ultrasound sometime this pregnancy so I can harass the ultrasound tech and ask them to check umpteen times for little girl parts to confirm. As much as I HATED our scare with Tyler (and as much as I hated how it scarred me for all future pregnancies), I did enjoy having so many ultrasounds! I had six, I think, when we were pregnant with him and this time I'm only anticipating the two we've had (one being super early so it barely counts haha). But, we'll probably pay to get a 3d one though in the third trimester just to see our little one again!

On the toddler front, Tyler has been an awesome little boy. He seems to be growing out of the terribly obnoxious toddler phase and into the rambunctious, full of energy (but seemingly well-behaved) toddler phase. This I can deal with. Jordon and I spend our days trying to fill his day with fun and adventure and he usually is worn out enough to eat well and go down for naps and bed easily (*usually* being the key word there... we still have the occasional dining room meltdown or restless evening). He still lovesssss to mow. In fact, he rode along with Jordon today! It was funny because he was down for a nap when Jordon started mowing the front yard (planning to save the backyard until Tyler woke so he could ride along), and Tyler woke up just before Jordon finished the front. I went upstairs for something and all I hear from the bedroom is "mow..... mow...... mowmow." No crying or anything, just standing up in bed chanting "mow" because I guess he knew Daddy was mowing! He is also saying a lot more now which is so cute and hilarious. His new phrase he says ALL the time is "Idunknow!" .... translated from toddler-speak, "I don't know!" You can ask him anything, even something he knows the answer to, and he usually responds with "Idunknow!" He also asks "atsdis?" about everything ("What's this?"). It's hilarious to take him to the store or on a walk because I hear that every five seconds. He's also saying things we've yet to translate. For example last night I was trying to get him to sleep and he was restless (he had taken the dreaded late-day nap) and he kept saying something that sounded like "I'm wet" over and over again. I have no clue why he'd be saying that, so I'm assuming I have yet to figure out what he was trying to tell me.

We're also thinking a lot about the potty training front. I'd LOVE to NOT have two children in diapers, so my goal is to potty train by October. Of course, I know a lot has to do with how ready HE is for the potty, but he seems interested and knows when he has a dirty diaper (one day he came up to me, fanned behind his butt and went "ssssss" which means "stinky" in Tyler-speak). Also this evening he was running around naked before his bath and started to pee on our bedroom floor (tragedy!) so we told him to hurry to the potty and he knew right where to go... of course once he sat on it and tried to pee nothing was left, but hey, good effort! So I think if we really invest some time and energy into it in the next few months, he SHOULD do okay with it.

That's it for now. We have a couple busy weeks ahead... Jordon is helping teach a basketball camp at Ferrum next week then we'll be heading to Wintergreen for a week then to Woodstock for a tennis tournament. I have a feeling I'm going to be one tired momma come July!

20/21 Weeks

We've been out of town so I'm combining the last two weeks, but I have plenty to update on! On the pregnancy front, I'm now 21 weeks along and it's sure gone by quickly. I've been feeling pretty good recently. Since my Synthroid dose was adjusted my energy has definitely been up, although I won't be running any marathons anytime soon haha. I've definitely been achey and having a hard time sleeping because my bump is getting in the way of my belly sleeping preference. I'm about to cut a hole in my mattress for my bump so I can continue to sleep on my belly. I also have to pee ALL the time now. I didn't really remember how annoying that could be from last time, but boy is it obnoxious!

We had our anatomy ultrasound and 20 week appointment on Tuesday. What we saw was a appropriately growing and apparently healthy little GIRL. I had sworn up and down during my first trimester that baby was a girl but as we got closer to finding out I started to doubt myself, so I was actually pretty surprised when the tech showed us those little girl parts. In fact, part of me still doesn't believe it... I asked the tech a few times if she was SURE and even though she said she didn't have any doubts I'm still not buying any girls clothes. I guess it will take a little while for it to sink in since I am so used to being the mom of a little boy. As for Jordon.... well, let's just say we went to Dick's after the ultrasound and he went straight for the hunting section to research shotguns haha! We have a name that we are leaning towards, but we're not ready to make it "official" yet, so we'll still take suggestions :-)

On the toddler front, well, we have a crazy child. We went and visited my family in MD which was great since we hadn't been since Christmas. My mom had gotten Tyler a little push mower and he was OBSESSED. I heard the word "mow" at least 100 times in the 3 days we were there and he played with it at least a good 2 hours a day. We went to Clark's Farm and Tyler loved seeing the animals there. It seems that the busier we keep him during the day, the better he behaves. Which is unfortunate on days like today when it rains ALL DAY LONG and my bored little toddler throws hissy fits left and right. Sigh. Parenting is hard work! But on a good note, Tyler has been eating great. I've been trying to feed him healthier foods (I admit, since I got pregnant I've been going for the easy, more processed foods) and he's been eating turkey, tomatoes, bananas, that fancy pasta that has 1/2 a serving of veggies in it (haha), yogurt and other fruits often. I've also been trying to steer myself away from the typical pregnancy craving foods (which are usually some sort of processed carb) and snack on healthier options (like carrots and dressing, fruits, and eating more eggs). Of course, that doesn't mean I don't indulge my french fries and milkshake craving every once in awhile.

As for our family, the news has gotten out to all the appropriate parties, so I suppose I can let the cat out of the bag so to speak... we are moving back to the valley this summer. I was offered a teaching position at JMU (which actually will include maternity time off for me) that offered a generous salary, so we decided we couldn't pass up the offer. As hard as it is for Jordon to leave his job and for us to leave the home Tyler has essentially grown up in, I think this will be the best situation for us. Plus I have been planning on using my midwives in Harrisonburg, which would be quite inconvenient if we were still living in Ferrum come "labor" day. And it will be great to be closer to both of our families when we will really be needing the help! So big news for us!

19 Weeks

So, I missed a week. Oops! We had a very hectic week last week and weekend though, so please forgive me. Jordon's grandad passed away last Monday and we had to travel for the funeral and viewing, so blogging wasn't on my mind.

But we did have an appointment last Thursday (18 weeks). Baby's heart was beating away (143 bpm) and seemed to be doing well so we were pleased. We have our anatomy ultrasound booked for June 4th.

Also on the pregnancy front, I felt my baby kick! Yay! I have been way too cautious to call anything I feel going on in the belly region baby movements, but I got some definite kicks last Friday night. So official kick mark to this pregnancy was 18 weeks, when last time it was 20. Since then I've felt a good amount of movement, and I love it. It gives a good reassurance that baby is still okay in there. Jordon caught a kick the other day for the first time so he was excited. At my appointment I had them test my thyroid because I had been feeling so terribly exhausted and low and behold my thyroid was off so they upped my Synthroid. I've been feeling better this week tired-wise, but I've been pretty achy. For the last two weeks almost my SI joint (where your lower back and hip meets) has been in terrible pain. The chiropractor hasn't seemed to be helping and I keep icing but I'm still in pain. Boo. So that's my gripe for the week.

On the toddler front, Tyler has been a wild child. He was terrrrrible this past weekend, fussing when he didn't get what he wanted, refusing to sit in his high chair and eat and constantly wanting up and then down when you held him. He's exhausting! He's driving me absolutely nutso, but it's hard to be mad with him because he's still the cutest thing ever. He's been talking so much and trying to repeat a lot of what you say. He's saying "I'm done!" when he's done eating (over and over and over again haha) and he'll say what I think is "What's this?" when he points to something new. This week he's been saying "mow" like crazy. He's obsessed with mowers... I mean absolutely obsessed. In fact, we went to Lowe's today and spent 25 minutes letting him sit on the mowers, and when we left he still had a conniption repeating "mowwwwww, mowww!). Plus when we go walking and he sees someone mowing he repeats "mow" at least 10 times, even after we've long passed the lawn being mowed.  He's still sleeping in our bed and it drives me nuts in the middle of the night because he likes to sleep horizontally and kick Jordon or I all night. But he's now doing this precious thing where he wakes us up in the morning by patting or rubbing our cheeks and giving us the sweetest smile, then nuzzling up under one of our arms to cuddle before moving on the the other parent. It is seriously the best way to wake up! Personal space during the night is a small price to pay for those precious moments that probably won't last much longer.

Lastly, Jordon and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary on Wednesday! It has flown by so quickly. Jordon's grandparents watched Tyler so we could go out to dinner and we had a great night spending time together. Love me some date nights!

17 Weeks

17 weeks yesterday and I am very excited because we have an appointment next week! I'm eager to make sure my little one is still doing okay in there.

On the pregnancy front, I am exhausted as usual. Tyler tires me out! This pregnancy I've been having more episodes of just total, downright exhaustion, which I only used to get after working out hard last pregnancy. This time, I watch Tyler and do laundry in the same day and my body is like "whoaaaaa let's slow it down now momma... you're not as fit as you once were." Blah, depressing! I miss all the muscles I had when I had time to work out an hour and a half every day in college. Kids change stuff, don't they? Other than being tired, there hasn't been too much exciting going on in baby-land. I still am feeling the same flutter-y feeling as I reported last week, very few and far between, so I'm still not convinced 100% that it's baby. They say you're supposed to feel the baby move earlier in subsequent pregnancies, but I blogged at 18 weeks about Tyler moving, so maybe the theory won't hold true for me. Or maybe I was more confident in what I was feeling last time, and it was the same thing I felt last week? Who knows.

I'm getting eager to find out whether baby robinson #2 is a boy or girl. After having to wait much longer than we did last pregnancy, part of me felt like, "eh what's 20 more weeks and maybe we should wait until he/she is born." That thought lasted about 10 seconds. I'm tired of calling baby "it" or "baby brothersister" to Tyler. He may grow up thinking brothersister is one word by the fact that we use it like that so frequently haha. So anyway, I'm officially getting a little anxious! I also think it will feel much more real when the creature inside me is no longer and "it" and becomes a "he" or "she." We still have a few more weeks though, so it's time to be patient.

On the toddler front, boy do we have an energetic boy. He is FULL of it. Maybe that's where all of my energy went? It makes me glad we didn't pregnant any sooner because I CANNOT imagine having a newborn at this moment. Tyler demands our full attention and must be watched 24/7 because I swear he is a kamikaze toddler. His new favorite activities are jumping 3 inches from the edge of the couch, climbing up our tall dining room chairs, jumping on the edge of his bed, dragging his riding toys into his bed and trying to ride them in bed, and going down the steps all by himself (NOT using the tried and true butt scoot method either!). Sigh. I WILL have a heart attack by the time he is four.

He has been SO hilarious recently though. He has finally decided that yes, speech is an effective form of communication, so he is trying to talk up a storm. Not only does he say new words in the cutest manner possible, but sometimes he gets ahead of himself and will just babble an entire sentence in his made-up toddler language as if he were having a conversation. Some of his new vocabulary words are ice, juice, and shoes. He also has been saying MY name like crazy! I love it but there are definitely moments where I think, "If I hear mom, mom, mom one more time, I'm going to go nuts!"

Ah, the joys of motherhood! I'm excited to think, soon enough we'll have another! Although I told Jordon, I'm having a hard time imagining the day when I'll finally get a full night of sleep. If we keep up with this baby-making thing, I may be 30 by the time I get a solid 8 uninterrupted hours. Sigh. It's all worth it though ;-)

16 Weeks

I "turned" 16 weeks pregnant yesterday, but more importantly, gained a niece (sort of)! Congrats to Jordon's cousin Jameson and his wife Katie on the birth of their baby girl, Sadie Elizabeth :-)

On our baby front, I've been tiredddddddd. Tyler wears me out and so does pregnancy haha. Other than that, it's been fairly easy to forget I'm pregnant. I'm anxious to feel baby move so I have a little more assurance that he/she is actually in there and okay, but I'm not sure I'm getting anything yet. Yesterday and today I did feel some flutters, but I'm not 100% sure it's baby, so I'll wait another week before I make any claims of quickening.

On the toddler front, we've entered the terrible 2s (I can't remember if I mentioned this last week, so if I did, forgive me). Tyler has been VERY bossy and really lets us know if he's discontent with something. Okay, not really bossy, but definitely demanding. We have these folding chairs that go with our card table, which I brought up to the living room when we had the tennis teams over. Well Tyler has decided these folding chairs are his special seats and he likes to point to each and tell Jordon and I where to sit. Then, 15 seconds later, he points to a NEW seat for each of us to sit in. Jordon and I also have the job of finding someone to sit in the fourth seat since Tyler, Jord and I only take up three. Mr. Rocking Horse, Mr. Woof, and Mr. Musical Dog. He is not content unless all four of those seats are filled. Goof ball. And as usual, he throws a fit if we don't take him outside or if we bring him in from outside. Unfortunately, the weather has been a bit sub-par recently, making less than ideal outside playing conditions and a very discontent toddler. Boo. But even with all that, Tyler is still giving out kisses, laughing at Jordon and I's attempts to be funny and is a great snuggle buddy. So all is not lost during those terrible 2s.

15 Weeks

Today I am 15 weeks pregnant. It all has kind of flown by and sometimes it still doesn't hit me that I'm pregnant. Tyler has been wearing me out everyday, but I guess that is what toddlers do best. He is awesome and so full of life and energy though, so I don't necessarily consider being worn out at the end of the day such a bad thing.

On the pregnancy front, I've been feeling decent. I still feel a little nauseous every night before bed (my "morning" sickness has always been worse at night, even with Tyler) which sucks, but I'm thankful I'm not throwing up like I was just a month or so ago. I'm feeling plenty of stretching and little cramps as my uterus is growing to accommodate our growing child and I have a fairly legitimate baby bump. Not big enough for people to brave the "Are you pregnant?" question, but enough for those who know I'm pregnant to comment on how I'm showing. I have one amazing pair of maternity jeans (thank you Mom!) that fit great right now, but the rest of my maternity jeans will have to wait another 4 weeks or so before they get worn because they are a tad big in the belly area. In the meantime, I've been wearing my non-maternity jeans fine with a hairband through the button hole (giving me an extra 1-2 inches in the waistline). I'm excited to get some new maternity wear though... I'd wear elastic pants and empire cut shirts all the time if I could :-) And no movement in this belly yet! I think I felt Tyler around 17 or 18 weeks last time and they say you can feel them a little earlier in subsequent pregnancies, but I haven't sensed anything yet. I'm very anxious for that to start so I'll have a better indication that everything is okay in there, since sometimes I forget I'm even pregnant right now.

On the toddler front, Tyler has been busy busy. He is OBSESSED with playing outside. We'll play for 3 hours outside and the moment we come inside he has a conniption and cries while pointing the the door saying "dis!!!!!! disssss!!!!!!" (translated: "You see this door here Mom, Dad?! I want you to open it up and take me back outside!). It's been great to have such nice weather to take him outside though.... I think he is a much happier baby toddler when he gets outside time. He's been helping me garden, splashing in the water I use to water my plants, and collecting all the rocks I dig out of the garden and putting them in his little race car. So easily entertained! He's also been very contently sleeping in between Jordon and I every night. It's going to be a tragedy in October, but for now, it's working for us. And honestly, I love waking up to his smiling baby face. Ahh so in love. He's the best.

That's it for now. We don't have another appointment until May 17th (18 weeks). Can't wait to hear baby's heart beating again!

Here's to you, baby Robinson number two!

Yes, the Robinson family is about to expand by two little feet! We found out at the end of January that we are expecting baby number two, and I'm in my 15th week of pregnancy. I've been a little anxious this time around, which would be why we haven't made this quite as big of a deal as last time. I'm not sure if it's the fact that we actually had to try to get pregnant this time (Tyler was our pleasant little surprise), or because I know what can go wrong in a pregnancy thanks to our scare last time, or because I'm sort of freaked out that we will soon have TWO children at once, but I've been a nervous nelly for the last three months.

So to catch you up, we found out I was pregnant and unlike last time, I didn't have a single symptom of pregnancy when I tested. I basically just tested because I was anxious to know if we'd finally succeeded haha. But of course I was nervous because I wasn't having symptoms so my midwife went ahead and did a 48 hour HCG blood test. They take your blood and measure the amount of pregnancy hormone (HCG) in your blood, then take your blood 48 hours later and ensure it at least doubles in that time. Mine more than doubled so that calmed my fear for the time, but then when I was about 6 weeks pregnant I started having pain on one side of my pelvis. Yet again, I worried. They did an ultrasound to make sure the pregnancy was in the right place, and not in my tube, and I thankfully saw our little peanut in my uterus, with his/her heart beating right away. The ultrasound tech said it probably had just started beating THAT week. Crazy!!!

Since then I had my 8 week appointment, which was a nurse educator appointment and completely pointless because I'm pretty well educated on pregnancy having been pregnant before and slightly obsessed with it haha. We were supposed to go in 4 weeks later but had to push our appointment back due to Jordon's crazy tennis schedule, and the fact that we're still seeing my midwives in Harrisonburg even though we live 2.5 hours away. So I was very anxious to hear our baby's heartbeat again, and finally got to this past Friday at 14 weeks.

This pregnancy has been fairly similar to my last, but definitely has it's differences. Although I was symptom-free for the first week, my morning sickness kicked in about a week earlier than last time and was, I believe, worse. Jordon says I just don't remember last time, or having to chase Tyler around while sick makes it worse, but I'm pretty sure it was just worse in general. I definitely threw up a lot more this time... there was a period of 10 days where I lost my dinner EVERY night. Ugh. It makes me sick just blogging about it haha. The morning sickness lasted a little longer as well. In fact, I'm still a little nauseous at night (definitely not the extent that I was thank goodness) and in the past couple days I've had a little relapse of my all day sickness, so I'm hoping soon enough it will all pass.

At first, my fatigue didn't really seem as pronounced as it did last time, but I'm pretty sure that was because I'm used to being tired all the time thanks to Tyler, and I just didn't have the option to be overly-tired because I had to take care of my son. However, more recently the exhaustion has really gotten to me and my body is really feeling the toll of pregnancy. Last pregnancy I was able to get back to running at this point of pregnancy, but this time when I just take Tyler for a walk or go to the grocery store, my body is just exhausted. I've been getting a little light-headed and feel like my blood pressure or sugar is low and it is just not fun! I mentioned it to my midwife and she said it's probably just exhaustion from taking care of a toddler at the same time as growing a baby, so she's not worried.

My pregnancy probably couldn't have come at a worse time, because Jordon was in the midst of tennis season during my entire first trimester. So while dealing with fatigue and nausea, I had to take care of Tyler alllllll day and deal with Jordon being gone :-( NOT fun. The day after tennis season officially ended, I spent almost the entire day on the couch while Jordon entertained Tyler. Totally deserved.

And as for my little boy (who will ALWAYS be my little baby)... he is just SO big. He has so much personality and is so much fun to be around. I can't believe how much I love him. He is still obsessed with dogs, however he now calls them "woof" instead of "da." He's also obsessed with balls... "ball" is one of the 5 or 6 words he actually says consistently. He is so smart and great at listening. He'll throw a piece of trash away in trashcan if you ask, picks up his toys, will lay down for you to change him if you tell him and helps put the laundry in and out of the machines. He's been a great eater and will eat anything we eat (which is occasionally annoying when this pregnant momma doesn't want to share, but I'll do anything for my boy). We told him that mommy has a baby in her belly and I think he sort of understands. He'll give my belly hugs and kisses and will bring toys over to it too, which is precious, but occasionally I'll ask about the baby and he'll point to HIS belly button. Hmmm. Not quite! But I guess I shouldn't expect too much from a 21 month old haha. I think he'll be excited to have a sibling though. He loves to see the babies in the nursery at church and in our family, so he should be pumped to have one of his very own.

So before this blog becomes a novel, I'll end the update here. I'm exhausted and this pregnant momma needs her rest!

I'm a terrible blogger

Four months, no blog. I've been a terrible blogger! In my defense, we have been a busy family and I've been one busy momma. My mother has been bugging me to update, so mom, this one's for you!!

So since my late-August update, I've been busy at my new job. I taught 10 credits of Health and Human Performance courses at Ferrum, 9 lecture credits and 1 lab credit. That's enough to keep me busy, but adding a toddler on top of that and any opportunity for me to do anything else flew out the window. I really enjoyed teaching, but it was tiring! I worked from 8am-12pm Monday-Friday, then played mom in the afternoon, wife at dinner time, then had to catch up on my school work and house work once Tyler went to bed. I won't lie though, having a significant increase in our household income was VERY nice. We managed to pay off one of Jordon's school loans in about 3 months by putting the majority of my paychecks towards the loan (thank you Dave Ramsey!).

Tyler did well with me working. Even though I worked a little last spring, this fall was definitely a big change for him. Plus he was spoiled by having both Jordon and I home all summer, so it was a bit of a shock when he had to start leaving us every weekday. On Monday, Wednesday and Thursday he stays with Jordon's grandma and granddad and on Tuesdays he stays with our neighbor who has twin 3 year old boys. It's nice for him to socialize with some kids! And Jordon keeps him on Friday mornings. This new semester I'm teaching the same times, so we've kept the same schedule. Luckily I'm teaching a couple cardio classes in place of one lecture course this semester so hopefully I'll be a little less busy. Of course, Jordon's tennis season will pick up here in a few weeks, so things won't exactly be easy!

Tyler has been growing like crazy since I've last written. He of course walks everywhere. I love holding his little hand and walking with him in the store or around campus. He's not much of a talker yet... too busy moving I suppose. He has said "dada" and "mum" (he thinks he's British apparently), "dog" and "duck" and actually today he said "stick" haha. But more often than not, he won't saying anything, just point to whatever he is concerned with and say "dis" (This). It's hilarious. He'll do it with the most random things... my coffee cup, a picture on the fridge, a shoe. Crazy baby.

He's been a terrible eater. I'm not sure who is to blame for giving him his first taste of sweets, but he's obsessed with candy. Definitely my child. It's weird though, because of all the random cravings I had while pregnant, I never wanted sweets. Other than candy (because I refuse to let my kid have a diet of candy alone), his diet is comprised of peanut butter (on a spoon, in a sandwich, on crackers, apples dipped in it.... the kid LOVES peanut butter), any fruit (especially applesauce in a pouch haha), goldfish, cereal and milk, and waffles. I've tried and tried for vegetables but he's just so darn picky! He'll also eat pizza and spaghetti most nights, but really he is already a picky boy. Sigh. I do only give him milk and water to drink, so at least he's drinking healthy!

Jordon and I have definitely been getting that "when's the second baby?" question and ton recently and for the record our answer is..... Whenever God chooses to bless us with one! We'd love another child (in fact, I'd love a bunch more children) but apparently my body is just not ready for one right now. Since Tyler has been born my thyroid has been going crazy. In fact, I see my endocrinologist for blood work every 3 months, and with one exception, I have been put on a new dose on Synthroid EVERY time. I also had a wonderfully (note the sarcasm) painful 5 cm cyst on my ovary which has finally gone away. I could tell a nice longggg story of how that diagnosis and recovery went, but I have a stack of dishes waiting to be washed, so I'm trying to make this blog concise. And lastly, somehow I weigh 3-5 lbs less now than I did prior to my pregnancy with Tyler, so I'm sure that's not helping the situation.

So I've been trying to get my body in tip-top baby shape while impatiently waiting for baby #2. Jordon and I started going back to the chiropractor (we've been so busy, we haven't gone in a year) and it's made a huge difference. If you've never seen a chiropractor, I highly suggest it! And I've started acupuncture. My chiropractor said she went and it made a big difference in her stress level, so I figured it'd be worth a try. Definitely an experience! It does not hurt and it feels like you're floating on a cloud kind of. The doctor even thought we could get my thyroid under control with the acupuncture and diet (rather than medication) which would be great since I'm way to young to have a crazy thyroid like I do! So hopefully it helps.

For now, Jordon, Tyler and I are having fun being a family and getting adjusted to having a crazy toddler! We've already dealt with a marker on the wall/floor/fridge experience, pulling trash out of the trash can incident, breaking of fragile items, throwing food on the floor, etc. And I'm sure there is plenty more to come.