Weekend Update

Well, Friday was Freddie's 2 week "birthday." We headed to the OC for a quick trip to the Pediatrician and he is healthy as ever. He hasn't gained quite as much weight as he was supposed to, but he had grown 1-1/2 inches, so I figure he's doing fine! We're still working on trying to balance the nursing and formula, and we think we've got things figured out now and he is starting to get fat on him...he loves to eat, so we know there's nothing wrong with his appetite!! Although, unlike Karyl, he definitely does not prefer being fed from a bottle - even if he is getting the "good stuff" from it.

I have lots of pictures, and will put a few on here in the next few days. Greg goes back to work tomorrow, so we'll see how much computer time I can find with 2 kids to deal with now!!

We also had another surprise over the weekend...but I will blog about that later when I have a picture of it to share with everyone. Let's just say that we have been wanting this for a long time and finally got a great deal.

Until next time....

Family of 4

For once I'll keep this post short and sweet and let the pictures do the talking. At 11:57 am on Friday, February 27th we brought a brand new little baby boy into the world to join our family...He is perfect in every way. He was born healthy and strong, even though he was lighter than expected (he was 11 days early, so he hasn't quite "chubbed up" as much as he could have). The surgery went well and I am well on the road to recovery, just at a very slow pace!!

His name:

Fredrick Wayne

7 pounds 9 ounces

19 inches long

Dr. Cvar and Freddie

He can't keep his hands away from his mouth

Karyl tickling his toes...she has been sick and that is as close as she has been allowed to get untl her cough goes away =(

Uncle David and Freddie...These 2 spent many hours cuddling together at the hospital!!

Perfect in every way...and looks just like Daddy!

We hope you enjoy the pictures and will try and post updates soon.

Last pre-Freddie post

Well, tomorrow is the big day, and I feel like there are 20 million things that I need to do. I had planned to do so many things before he got here and I'm having to realize that it's just not all possible. I got lots of cleaning done, but not as much as I wanted...and I'm hoping to get some of Freddie's burp cloths with their decorative fabric sewn on today, but I'm not holding my breath. I need to tie the bumpers back onto the crib, but other than that his room is ready and I already got all his clothes washed and folded, so that was one thing I did get done that I wanted!

So, I need to go give Karyl a bath right now (I promised her that she could take a bath after Dora was over...). Then I'm going to try and get as much done as possible before taking her over to Grandmas and Grandpas, where she is spending the night tonight so Greg and I can come home tonight and finish up some last minute stuff!!

So, in less than 24 hours we will be the proud parents of 2 beautiful children!! I'm excited and not too terribly nervous...at least if I am, no one will know =)

Until later....here we go!!!

Getting Closer

So we're about 5 days away from having another baby...I can't wait!! We've discovered that having a second child brings totally different feelings than the first one as you get closer to delivery. We're so much more relaxed about bringing a baby home since we've been through it once and have more experience!

On Thursday night some of my friends from our new ward threw me a baby shower and it was fun to get together and get to know some more people in our ward! We got some really cute little boy clothes and blankets (which we desperately needed!!). I put a few pictures below...

This was a fun memory game that Denise brought...all the words were pregnancy related and when you made a match you got a prize relating to the term. For instance, for matching the word "conception" the prize was a Skor bar, and for matching the words "diaper change" the prize was Rolos!!

This was the diaper cake that Stephanie made, I have always wanted to know how to make one, and I was so excited to get one!! Besides, the diapers were much needed...we forgot how tiny diapers could be (we only see the size 6 nowadays!!)

Stephanie was sweet enough to host the baby shower at her house...thanks Stephanie!! I also put this picture on here because it's one of the only ones where I don't look like I weigh 300 pounds (which I DON'T...but it looks like it!!)

And I know I'll hear about this picture, but it was so nice to have both of Freddie's grandmas at the shower...Grandpa was back at our house watching Karyl with Greg (although something tells me Karyl was probably running the show while the women were gone!!). And again, this picture doesn't make me look quite a large, so another reason why I put it on here!!

It was a lot of fun and I just love our new ward! It's so nice to have so many new friends out here that we get along with and have so much in common with. And since we're all having babies around the same time, there will be lots of baby showers in the near future...I can't wait!!

Other than that, not much else is going on. Just in case I don't get another post up before the baby is born, I will be home from the hospital on Tuesday the 3rd and I will try and get pics up ASAP. I'll try and show Greg how to do it, and if he has time while I'm in the hospital maybe he'll put up some pictures...but he'll be busy with Karyl and I'm not going to make him promise!!

Also, if any of you are going to be near Mission Hospital between the 27th and the 3rd, I love having visitors...so give me a call on my cell phone (I'll have it with me).

Fredrick's New Birth Day

Freddie has a new brith day...he is now going to be born on Friday, February 27th at around 11 am. After my appointment today my doctor decided that our first scheduled date was too close to the due date and since my blood pressure has been going back and forth between normal and way too high she decided that it would be better to go with an earlier date.

So...we are now looking at about 10 days away!! Honestly I'm really excited to bring him out and give my insides a rest, and since he's so big already and everything seems to have developed properly there very little risk in having him 10-11 days before his due date.

We'll keep you posted on how things are going, but as of right now I am having contractions but am not showing any signs of being near labor (not dilated) so he should stay put until Dr. Cvar goes in to get him!!

Oh, and so Karyl gets some time on here too, yesterday Grandpa weighed and measured her and her are her stats:

HEIGHT: 37 inches
WEIGHT: 31 pounds

She is a big girl...heck, she's bigger than a lot of the 4 year olds we know!!

Wish us luck...baby time is even closer than before!

Valentine's Playdate

So, here's how the morning started....

She was up at about 6:15 am and kept calling "mommy" over and over, so I finally went in to see what was going on. She was ready to get up, and despite my best attempts to assure her that it wasn't time yet she wasn't believing me. So, being that I was still wanting to sleep I told her she had 2 choices...she could come in mommy and daddy's bed and sleep some more, or she had to stay in her bed. As you can see above, she chose our bed, and amazingly she actually fell back asleep until about 9:30!!

Once she woke up, we headed over to Karyl's friend Diego's house for a Valentine Playdate. There was cookie decorating, a "lovebug" craft, and lots of lots of playtime. We had an awesome time and it was so nice to be able and sit and talk to other adults.

Stephanie was brave to let all these kids play with frosting, but they did pretty well and they had a blast!! Although, once Karyl figured out was on the knife, she wanted to lick it off rather than waste it on the cookie!! Then, when I got her another one to decorate, she refused to put anything on it, she just wanted to eat it....go figure!!

And to end this post....since I'm getting closer and closer to delivery day, I have been wanting to take a picture of myself so I'll have a record of how pregnant I looked. I'll have to check my picture from the days before Karyl's birth, but I think I've matched or surpassed with belly size compared to Karyl, and I'm still 2-1/2 weeks away from D-day!!

So, here it is, the belly pic!! I decided to try out the timer function on my camera...it works really well, but I had to balance the camera on top of a lunch cooler to get it just right, but I was pretty happy with how I looked in this picture, so I share it with all of you...here I am in all my pregnant glory. And if you're wondering, that is ALL baby...this belly is hard as a rock!! You can feel exactly where his butt and legs are!!

I was also told at my last appointment that since he is in the right position, if I go into labor early that they wouldn't section me...they would let things go naturally unless I stopped progressing or something. I had no idea that was even an option up until then because I was under the impression that my doctor didn't do VBACs!! So, I'm kind of hoping that he decides to head out early...I'm scared to death since I was prepared mentally for another c-section, but a natural birth would save us much needed money and would take away the limited number of births that come with having all c-sections.

We know that Heavenly Father has a plan, and that He already has a perfect plan for how this baby is going to get here, but I can hope =) I've been having more and more random contractions, so maybe it's a sign he's heading out the exit sooner than expected!!

The LoveSac finally gets unleashed

OK, so anyone who knew us when we were first married knows that right before we got married we went to the Grand Opening of the LoveSac store here in Riverside to get a LoveSac for our new apartment. When you go to the Grand Openings, you automatically get anything you buy half off and depending on the store you get even deeper discounts depending on how early you were there. We set out at about 2 or 3 am the morning of the Grand Opening and waited for hours until they opened.

Anyway, as of that date we became the proud owners of a 6 foot LoveSac. We had it out in our apartment and in the condo until we started accumulating too much stuff...then we had to vacuum pack it the best we could back into a gigantic plastic bag and tie it up and put it in the garage. That was over a year and a half ago.

Now that we have a house, I am done working until after baby is born we were able to move my computer into the "office" and free up the space in the living room for our prized LoveSac. For those who don't know what a LoveSac is, it is a giant bean bag, but instead of having beans inside, it has chunks of foam. It is by far the most comfortable thing you could ever sit on and we have been missing it for a long time!!

I have put a picture below with Karyl sitting on it so you can get a perspective on how big this thing really is.

Sicky McSickerson

Well, it doesn't happen very often, but I can't get lucky all the time, right? We went to Disneyland yesterday morning with some friends from our ward and I couldn't figure out why Karyl was enjoying being there, but kept wanting to ride in the stroller (not normal!). Well, the way home I noticed she was warm and red in the face, but it was HOT and I just figured she needed to cool off. Unfortunately, we got home and despite the blasting air in the car, she was still just as hot...so I proceeded to take her temperature and discovered that I had a sicky on my hands.

She has been coughing and had a runny nose for the past week or so, but apparently it turned into a viral bronchitis (I found that out after calling the 24-hour nurse at about 11pm). She was perfectly happy after giving her some Tylenol and things were reasonably ok until bedtime. I put her in bed, but just kept hearing her cough...and she couldn't fall asleep. So, Greg headed out to the couch and I to the recliner with her in my lap. Keep in mind that being almost 9 months pregnant isn't exactly condusive to sleeping on a recliner with a wiggly toddler on your lap....especially since I'm up every hour or 2 anyways going potty!!

So, after a call to the pediatrician Karyl and I headed to the 24-hour Wal Mart close by (Greg had to be up early and I refused to let him go with us...I wanted him to sleep). We got some cough syrup and a season of Spongebob on DVD so I didn't have to keep playing individual episodes from the DVR.

Then, we settled onto the recliner for a semi-restful night for her, not so much for me....but we'd rather have them be comfy than us, right?? At about 2:30 after she had been sound asleep for about an hour I very awkwardly got out of the recliner and put her in bed and Greg and I headed to our bed. He got up in an hour and headed to work and I finally fell asleep about 4am...then about 20 minutes later she started crying. So, I brought her in our room, propped her up with a few pillows on the bed and put on the Nick station (THANK YOU for having decent cartoons at 4am!!) and she eventually went back to sleep and I was able to get some comfortable rest at least inbetween her moving and coughing. It was as close to perfect for that night as I could have imagined.

So, she was up at about 9 am and stayed tucked on our bed for about 2 more hours while I brought her breakfast and we watched more cartoons. Funny enough..as long as she has the Tylenol, she is perfectly fine...just a coughing machine. Hopefully things will get better tonight and I can get a little more sleep. The recliner thing just doesn't work right now...It is almost impossible for me to get in and out of that thing when the feet are kicked up seeing as how I have no stomach muscles right now and my legs ache so bad at night that staying in the recliner is like slow torture....

So here we sit, watching Spongebob (which I have memorized), and me praying that this cough subsides enough to at least let her (and us) sleep tonight!!

At least she got sick BEFORE the baby was born!!! Always look at the silver lining =)

Baby boy update

Well, yesterday I had to have one of those "special" ultrasounds where they send you to a ultrasound guru (or whatever you'd call it) and they do a very detailed ultrasound where they measure everything with the baby to make sure that all is well....

Well...the reason I was sent there was because my blood pressure has spiked (the same reason I'm on modified bedrest) and it was just to check and make sure that the hypertension wasn't being caused by something else and that Freddie was growing and functioning just fine. And it was just what we had thought, it's strictly some last minute pregnancy induced hypertension and it hasn't done anything to Freddie! This doctor actually kind of laughed at the thought that this baby had been adversely affected by anything! Freddie was moving ALL over the place, he was working his little diaphragm and his little heart was beating like a champ!!

My favortie part of the whole thing though was this....

At some point when the Dr. said that I only had short term hypertension, and that the baby was fine, Greg asked "what would have happened if the hypertension was affecting the baby" and the Dr. looked at him and said that the baby would be smaller than normal. Then the Dr. laughed and said "which most definitely isn't the case with this guy." Then Greg asked the question I was thinking..."How big do you think he will be?" The Dr. looked at me and asked how big my daughter was, and I told him...and I jokingly added that we don't have tiny little 6-1/2 pound babies....and he laughed and looked at both us and said "no, you certainly don't....because that's how big this baby is NOW!" Then he said that this baby would be at least 8-1/2 pounds as a safe guesstimate. So...I'm definitely excited that Freddie will be a big, hearty baby!!

So, everyone is healthy...my hypertension looks like it's just pregnancy induced, and Freddie is big and healthy and head down (of course the second baby is going the right way...oh well, right?!?). I will keep you updated in the future with anything else. For the next few weeks I am just going to work on letting him grow and trying to sleep despite the little feet that are nestled up in my ribs!!

Ah Man.....

Well, it's getting closer, and that wasn't more apparent than after my Dr.'s appointment yesterday. Apparently my blood pressure has decided to spike and I've been put on what my Dr. called "modified bedrest." Before anyone asks, Freddie is perfectly fine =) They monitored him for a little while and didn't even finish the entire 20 minute test since he was so active.

Something new I learned...apparently babies try to breath in utero?!?! They were watching his chest and ribs contract because babies apparently practice breathing, I had no idea!?!?

Anyway, Freddie is perfectly fine, and VERY active. And, he is facing the right way (why couldn't Karyl have done that??).

So, mommy has been told to stop working and to take it easy...I feel fine, but I will try and obey orders. And if any of you need company during the day, I have a lot of free time the next 5 weeks and I'm sure Karyl would love to see some other kids instead of just me all day =)

Bummer...but Monday night redemption...

Well, the inevitable has happened...remember how I mentioned a few posts ago that I was so happy to still be wearing my wedding rings this far along?? Well, Saturday night we were sitting in bed and, well, I have a bad habit of playing with my rings (pulling them on and off)...and I suddenly realized that they weren't going to come off. Well, I got the engagement ring off pretty quickly with some painful persuasion...but had to hold my hand above my head for a few minutes to maneuver the band off.

So, they have been put away...so sad....BUT, since I was able to wear them so far into the pregnancy I know I'll be able to wear them again quickly after Freddie's born. I was so scared last time that they would never fit again, but that was obviously a silly thought.

Well, we pulled out the blue light special ring I had bought last time, only to discover that cheap (probably not even real meta) rings don't stay silver looking over 2 years locked up...so I wore it to church on Sunday (luckily I don't think anyone noticed)...and this afternoon Karyl and I headed to Kohl's to get another cheap-o ring. Karyl was so cute, and so excited to help me choose a "place holder" ring. I told her it would be quick, and I even surprised myself...we were in and out of there in less than 5 minutes!! I found the cheap rings, found the first one in my larger size that was just a band (don't need a gaudy fake jewel...) and hit the checkout line.

So here I sit, with my new ring...it was only $10!! I know, most people probably think I'm nuts for spending that to replace my rings for like 2 months, but I just hate walking around pregnant and not having a wedding ring (and I hope I don't offend anyone that's not married with children) but I just feel like people are starting at me when I'm pregnant and not wearing a ring. $10 is a fair price to pay for peace of mind =)

Oh, and on a side note...it's Monday night and there should be a new episode of The Big Bang Theory on tonight!!! YAY!!!!!!! Redemption!!!

Wow....

OK, so I noticed the countdown to Freddie....5 weeks and 4 days...we have 5 more Saturdays (not including today) until he's here!!!

That's not that far away!! With Karyl I was getting really nervous right now, and I think even maybe freaking out just a little bit. This time, it's business as usual...it just means that in 5 weeks I stop waking up 5 times in the middle of the night to pee and instead I'll be waking up to feed a crying baby...

This time we know what we NEED to get ready, and what we don't...and we have Freddie's room all ready to go and everything we need ready. Now we just need to get some clothes in his closet....

Proud Kitchen Moment

This post is for my Mother-In-Law....

I have been trying LOTS of new recipes the past 2 months since we moved and MOST of them turned out, well, edible....but that was about it. I've been getting better though and last night I decided to make her VERY DELICIOUS Broccoli and Cheese Soup. The only problem I had was that I wasn't sure if my pot would be big enough....it was a close call, but it just barely all made it in!!

I have been meaning to make this soup for over a week but just because of stuff happening have not been able to do it...I cut up the carrots and broccoli on Friday morning and they have been waiting to be used since then in the fridge. I was then going to make it on Sunday, but the Elders in our ward apparently enjoyed the Chicken Pot Pie the last time they were here and asked Greg if they could come over for dinner Sunday night...so being that I wasn't sure about the pot size we opted for meatloaf (which is a recipe, along with chicken pot pie and a few others that I have gotten down pretty well in the past 3 years of marriage). So, I knew I had to do it last night or those veggies I spent forever peeling and chopping would be lost to the abyss known as the back of the fridge.

It looked good didn't it?? And you want to know the best part?? It is a scientific fact that this soup tastes better the next day, so guess what I'm having for lunch today?!?!?

Oh my goodness!!

OK, so I've been kind of stressed out the past few days with just random stuff...Unfortunately life doesn't slow down or stop when you're tired and pregnant =)

Anyways...now that I've gotten that out I just realized a few things in the past week that have made me smile!!

Number 1 - Have you looked at the baby countdown?? As of today it says 6 weeks and 6 days...that's REALLY close!! While I am already uncomfortable (this kid has nestled himself up in front of my rib cage, so anytime he moves it puts pressure on my ribs and sometimes lungs), I can still remember the day that pregnancy test came up positive...I can't believe it's already been almost 8 months!!
A really scary way to look at it...we have only 7 more Saturdays before this little guy makes his official appearance!! That's not very long!!

Number 2 - Whoever invented the public playground should be immortalized. The past 2 weeks we have been meeting a few other moms from our new ward at the local parks and I have realized that kids this age will play on a playground for HOURS if you let them. And when you go with other moms (that you actually WANT to talk to) you not only get a much needed physical break, but you can sit and talk with other adults!! I love that Karyl is old enough to just let play while I watch her...although I have had to get used to her getting kind of dirty, all our playgrounds here have that wood mulch stuff (never understood why, it's not terribly forgiving when they fall!) and she loves digging in it. For anyone that knows me, I hate getting dirty...which means I hate seeing my kids get dirty...but I'm learning to relax and let her have some fun - although I did bring some of those big red plastic cups for her to use this last time and she did use them, most of the time, so that made it a little easier to watch!
I love our new ward...no offense to anyone in our old ward, but I was never invited on playdates or park days back in OC, but here we have already made some great friends and I have a great group of women with kids the same age that I can relate to and hang out with...and they at least pretend to like having me around...and that's good enough for me =)

Number 3 - This is kind of a random thing, but it stunned me when I realized it....at about 6 months with Karyl I had my fingers swell so bad that my wedding rings got stuck and I had to maneuver them off with soap and a few other maneuvers, after that they were packed up, I bought a $6.00 Kohl's "band" and didn't see my rings again until about 2 months after having Karyl.

I am at 8 months now, and I can still get my rings on and off with no problems!! I thought for sure I was going to have to pull out my blue light special ring, but so far, I have been able to continue to wear my favorite pieces of jewlery!! With Karyl, my feet also swelled so bad the last 2 months that I was confined to only wearing sandals and one pair of tennis shoes if I loosened the laces and barely tied them. This time, I think I have only seen my toes look like snausages once, and that was after walking around at Disneyland for a few hours. Otherwise, I can still fit into all my shoes!!

Now I know you're thinking "what's the big deal about your feet swelling, that goes away after the baby comes"...but most of you may not have realized that I have HUGE feet. Before having Karyl they were a size 10-1/2..then they got longer while I was pregnant, and never went back, so I am now a size 11. Those of you with nice size 8 feet will have no idea what a pain it is to try and find cute shoes in anything over a size 10...I guess that's why I've never been a shoe person, I can never find them in my size!! And it was making me nervous thinking that my feet were going to grow a 1/2 a shoe size with every pregnancy!!

OK, so I'm done ranting...I've been inside too long today I guess!!

1-800-TERMINIX!!!!!

Well, the time has come. I had to wake Greg up this morning again to rid our home of a few "pests" and he had finally had enough....he said we needed to call Terminix. You know it's annoying if Greg finally gets tired of killing bugs =)

So, I have VERY happily offered to call a few pest control companies today and get some quotes!! Hopefully in the next week or so we can hope to be "pest" free for a VERY long time!! I can't wait to be able to come out to work in the morning without having to worry about putting something on my feet =)

Until next time....