Cherishing the weekends

Now that I'm back to work, I find myself truly enjoying every moment during the weekends. Especially when the weather is as beautiful as it's been. I love this time of year - when you can feel the crisp, cool feel of fall moving in. 

Last weekend, we took full advantage of the weekend. We started by watching my cousin kill it as a kicker for our local high school football team. 

 

 

 

Miss M. did great at the game, even though we kept her up to almost 10 (eek!) She was thoroughly entertained by the beat of the marching band, the cheering of the cheerleaders, and the dancer's pom poms (oh yea, and the football team!) Of course, people watching provided most of the entertainment.

The next morning, we all enjoyed some blueberry pancakes. It wouldn't be Saturday without a special breakfast treat! 

Then, it was off to Glen Allen Day. We got to see a lot of my kiddos and Miss M. loved seeing all the festivities from the stroller. What a great festival and tradition! 

From there, we headed north to peruse the outdoorsiness that is Bass Pro Shop. Mr. B. was in heaven. We ate at their restaurant for lunch and the highlight was definitely the huge fish tank!

The next day, we enjoyed the weather outdoors at a cookout. Miss M. LOVED the big dogs that were there, although she was slightly overwhelmed by their size at first compared to little miss priss Bella, who is all of 12 pounds.

She was in such delight over the big dog that I had to share this cute video. She just couldn't get enough! 

The day we saw baby #2 for the first time

So, it's been months since we actually saw baby #2 on the ultrasound screen for the first time, but the day was so crazy, I just had to write down the story. 

Confusion began from the beginning. When calling the doctor's office to let them know I needed to schedule an appointment, they could not (nor could I) estimate exactly how far along I was. According to the calendar, I should have been at least 12 weeks along. This immediately sent me into a panic, as I quickly realized this would mean my entire first trimester had whizzed by without me even knowing baby #2 was growing each day. Because they thought I was so far along, they wanted me in for an ultrasound as soon as possible. Luckily, the day they scheduled us for an ultrasound was a day Billy happened to be off work. I had to take off work to make an ultrasound appointment in the morning at one hospital, and then a doctor's appointment across town at another hospital.

We awoke that morning ready for the day, but Billy was complaining of some stomach pains. I jokingly teased that he almost always seemed to be feeling bad on his days off (because unfortunately, a lot of times, he does.) He continued to complain and became increasingly distracted by his pain as we drove to the hospital. I, however, was not going to let anything get in the way of enjoying this wonderful day, when we would get to see our beautiful new baby on the big screen for the first time. 

In the ultrasound room, the tech surmised a guess that I was 9 weeks along. To our surprise, she was exactly right. 9 weeks and 2 days. The heartbeat of our healthy baby was 167 beats per minute, and we couldn't believe we actually saw the little peanut right there on the screen. We were definitely still in shock, considering we had just found out a few days prior. I was so relieved to find out I wasn't as far along as we had originally thought. During the ultrasound, Billy was doubled over, trying to manage his pain. I told him he needed to enjoy this moment and focus on seeing our baby for the first time.

 (I know, I know  -  I'm a wonderfully supportive wife.)

No one knew about our new arrival yet, so after the ultrasound, I got in touch with my family and asked them to join us for dinner so we could share our surprise. I had planned to arrive to dinner a few minutes late with Madelyn wearing a "Big Sister" onesie and the due date on the back. It would be a perfect reveal. 

We stopped off for some breakfast while on the road, and as we were standing in line waiting for our food, Billy made a b-line for the facilities to get sick. That's when it finally started to sink in that this wasn't just your typical stomach pain. Once we were on the road again, we stopped once more so that Billy could run into a gas station. I was feeling so sorry for him and could tell he was miserable. 

By the time we got to the hospital for our second appointment, he could barely walk. Luckily, our doctor's office is located directly behind the hospital. I told him to just drive to the doctor's office and wait for an appointment. I assured him I would be fine attending my appointment on my own. I told him I would meet him at the doctor's office when I was done. 

When I walked into the doctor's office, holding my "Oh, Baby!" folder, low and behold - who did I see? It was my Nanny, in the office for a routine appointment. She was noticeably confused to see me walk in, because Billy had told her I was at work (not wanting to ruin our new baby surprise). He didn't realize she would be so kind as to wait for him in the case he had to go to the hospital (she saw how sick he truly was when h walked in.) Within a few minutes, of course, I let the cat out of the bag (I ALWAYS do that!). I didn't have the mental capacity to come up with a story of why I had had bloodwork drawn and was holding a hospital folder with a big baby on the front, and why I was suddenly here after Billy had just said I was all the way across town at work. I think Nanny's mind was as blown as mine was, and she walked out of the waiting room with a shocked face after I insisted that I was fine to wait for Billy on my own. 

After wandering around the maze of hallways in the doctor's office, I FINALLY located Billy in a patient room, hunched over and looking awful. I knew, and so did the doctors and nurses, that it was time to head over to the hospital. Once we made the trek back over to the hospital, they informed us it would take another hour and a half before anything could really be done, because Billy had to choke down the terrible drink mixture so they could see everything moving through the scan. Poor hubby. Watching him try to sip down that awful mixture while continually throwing up was awful. It became clear that our plans for the day had been thwarted, and he was going to need some serious medical attention.

After almost two hours later, after managing to choke down the liquid, they finally took Billy back to scan him. We did a lot of waiting that day. The news came back, as we had expected, that Billy had appendicitis and would need his appendix removed immediately. 

Meanwhile, the hour was getting near for us to figure out how we were going to get Madelyn and get her home. I ran home to grab our phone chargers, because, to make matters worse, our phones were dying, I picked Miss M. up from daycare, and brought her to the hospital, where Mom met me to pick her up. While trying to communicate plans, Mom thought I had driven from work to meet Billy at the hospital. She was so confused as to why we only had one car at the hospital. After several of her probing questions, I finally let the cat out of the bag (AGAIN!) explaining that I was pregnant, had taken the day off with Billy to go to the ultrasound, and he had gotten sick while we were here. I just couldn't think of a plausible story, and at this point, I certainly didn't have the energy to make something up.

In the midst of transferring the car seat, base, and Miss M., I ran back into the hospital, but they had just taken Billy back to surgery. I had just missed him! What a day! Now it was time to wait. By now, it was nearing the 6:30 hour and I knew there was no way for me to return to work the next day, as Billy was scheduled to be released in the morning, and I had to get home to take care of Miss M. I busily began trying to secure a substitute, and began writing sub plans for the following day as I waited in the waiting room.

Surgery was complete in a matter of ten minutes. It's amazing how fast they can do these things now a days! The surgeon came out to assure me everything went great, and by 8:00, I was able to see Billy in his recovery room. 

It had been a whirlwind of a day. We had seen our baby for the first time, heard the heartbeat, gone to two hospitals, the doctor's office, the hospital again, the ER, and we were ending the day doing well in the recovery room. We were exhausted by the end but glad circumstances were able to work out the way they had. The next day we enjoyed a day of rest, relaxation, and sleep, which we desperately needed. 

And that, you see, was the day we saw baby #2 for the first time! Whew. Thanks for reading!

Miss M's one year slideshow

So I know it's been a month since Miss M.'s big first birthday, but I wanted to upload the slideshow I made for her party. I had so much fun making it, and spent countless hours crying as I put it together. I'm so glad I was able to capture so many of her memorable moments from her first year and put them together in a way that we'll be able to relive time after time. 

She's (FINALLY) finding her legs!

Miss M. has been such a careful, timid, little thing in regards to most new milestones. With many of her gross motor skills, she had definitely taken her time. Through it all, I've tried to take everyone's advice, and enjoy the fact that she wasn't completely mobile and not able to get into EVERYTHING. Since Miss M. has been crawling around for a few months, we've been trying to get her accustomed to standing on her own two feet, but a lot of times, she crumples under the pressure and cries like a little princess. 

Over the last few weeks, she has gotten really good at pushing up on things that are low to the ground and straightening her legs, (the first step, low to the ground fireplace hearths), but she hasn't been able to actually pull up on to something, such as a couch. (She's been thinking about it, though!)

However, this week, she FINALLY pulled up! Unfortunately, I was at work when she finally made her big move. :( I was so sad but luckily the babysitter snapped a few pics of her in all her glory. 

This weekend, she has been busy practicing her new skill. She's been pulling up on the couch and the baby gate. Now we'll just have to watch and wait for that next milestone - taking her first few steps! Which will officially mean she is a toddler - so I'll wait as long as it takes!

Doesn't she look like such a BIG girl?!

The day we found out about baby #2!

AHHH! I've been a neglectful mother, and haven't written much (if anything!) on the blog about our tiniest new arrival - baby #2. While I've been trying to enjoy every moment I spend with Miss M, go back to school (in a new grade), try my best to keep the house out of a disaster zone (HA), and just manage to stay awake past 8:00, it's been hard to get everything accomplished that I would like. (I won't even begin to pretend that I've been cooking dinner on nightly basis). Doesn't every one feel that way!?

BUT, I thought it'd be fun if I wrote up a little blurb about the day we found out we'd be adding a new addition to our family - mainly for my own memory as I try to begin to put together a pregnancy book like I did with Miss M. It will be different, for sure - because I haven't been able to do the weekly updates - but I want to at least include important milestones in the journey. 

So,  for a few weeks, I had been feeling more emotional than usual, more tired than usual, and more hungry than usual. (I know, I know - I'm always emotional, tired, and hungry - but this was extreme!)

One day in May, on the way home from seeing Butterflies LIVE at Lewis Ginter, I was so exhausted, I could barely keep my eyes open to get home. Often times, when seeing my bed, I would feel an OVERWHELMING urge to just crawl right in and sleeeeeep. I was starting to feel like naps were a necessity for me just to get through the day. (And let's face it - naps are not really a luxury a mother of a 9 month old can afford.) On one particular night, I was so knocked out that Mr. B walked in and I was drooling all over the couch, and he muttered, "You're not pregnant, are you?" I suppose exhaustion is just one of those early tell-tale signs for me.

 

I found myself starving often - even after forcing myself to eat high protein foods. With Miss M, I never noticed a difference in my hunger level. But, with baby #2, I found myself feeling as if my stomach was eating itself with a starving hunger that actually physically hurt. I'm not proud of this, but one day, I was so hungry while on my way to my parent's house (for lunch!) that I had to stop off on the way and grab a kids corndog. Thank goodness that only lasted for a week or two! Then, at a family get together, I felt queasy at the thought of eating a slice of tomato pie - which I LOVE, and had actually made myself, because I LOVE it. Weird. My sis in law jokingly remarked at the table, "Do you have something to tell us?!"

All these things should have been signs for me - DUH. But it wasn't until one particular day, when I couldn't drag myself out of bed while Miss M was napping, and I was starving but couldn't bring myself to munch on anything other than plain crackers, that I loaded her up in the car and drove to the store to grab a few tests. 

I eagerly took the tests as soon as we arrived home, and sure enough - it was a done deal! Baby #2 would definitely be joining our family. I was instantly overcome with a multitude of emotions. Happiness, joy, confusion, disbelief, and a surprising reaction of sadness. Don't get me wrong - I see every baby as a true blessing and joy, and I was so happy at this news. But, I had tinges of sadness because I felt guilty for taking away time from Miss M - barely 9 months at the time. I didn't want to take any of her baby time away - from her or us. I wanted to enjoy her and lavish her with our undivided attention for just a little while longer. It took a few weeks, but eventually I began to get over my guilty feelings of adding to our family, and I started seeing it as a wonderful opportunity for Miss M to experience the joys of having a sibling, which we knew we always wanted, we just hadn't planned on it happening so soon.

When Mr. B got home that night, I couldn't wait to tell him the wonderful news. Miss M was rolling around on the floor in the middle of all her toys (still not crawling), and we were enjoying watching her cuteness. As Billy gazed down at her from the couch, I casually asked, "So, do you want another one?" "Of course", he replied. "How about in nine months?" I responded, looking him in the eyes to see his reaction. The realization of what I was implying took a minute, and at first all he could say in an unsure, trembling voice was, "No...." as if in disbelief. "Yep." I matter of factly stated. He was so much in disbelief, he made me go upstairs and show him the pregnancy test right then and there. 

I know from there, his head immediately began spinning, as it does when you realize for the second time that your life will never, ever be the same - but in the most blessed and beautiful way.