25 DAYS LEFT UNTIL MY DUE DATE!!!

Yep, that's it! :)

*4 more days until I'm "full-term"!

Dr. Appt- 36weeks, 1 day

My appointment went good again today!! Everything is still looking awesome. Haven's heartbeat was at 146bpm. I got my strep B test and got my internal exam. No dilation, but my cervix is soft and the doctor said that Haven's head is really low, so that's great!!! He said he expects me to go a little early since I did with Venily. I am now down to weekly appointments and go back again next week!! SERIOUSLY?! It is all coming so fast now! I also got all pre-registered with Labor & Delivery today!!!! I told Jason, "come on, let's just go upstairs and have this baby today!". He doesn't think that's funny and has been jumping at everything I say again, thinking that maybe I'm in labor, hahaha! He is so worried that he won't have our dryer hooked up before the baby is born. YES, I HAVE NOT HAD A WORKING DRYER SINCE WE MOVED INTO OUR HOUSE IN DECEMBER!!!!! And I haven't even complained about it!! I have to AIR DRY every thing I wash: socks, underwear, towels, EVERYTHING!! I can't wait to have a dryer again!

I had a dream last night that I had the baby. It was not a pleasant dream! I was walking around in my bathroom without pants on and noticed that the baby's head was already out, so I got in the bathtub and pulled her the rest of the way out (that part was fine, lol, no pain, no contractions!). But when I looked at her she was all deformed and her fingers were all fused together. It made me sick to my stomach all morning whenever I thought about it! I hate dreams like that!

36 weeks!

Here are my 36 week pics:



***1 more week until I'm full-term!!!***

At 36 weeks...

*I'm at 142 lbs (+22 lbs total gain)
*I get tired so easily! At about 3pm I'm wishing for a nap!
*My back still hurts almost constantly and makes it so hard to sleep! And yoga doesn't really help that much any more. I don't know how many more weeks I'll be able to keep going to yoga, it really wears me out! Jason wants me to stop, but Venily really likes going and I like staying active...
*I'm quite concerned about Haven's current position (she seems to be quite sideways!)! I used to be able to feel her hiccups way down by my cervix, but now they are a lot higher up on my right side. Her feet are on my left side! But sometimes she'll go back to head down, feet up. Venily was head down at 20 weeks and NEVER changed positions the whole rest of the time. Guess we will have to see what the doctor says tomorrow! I really hope she decides to get head down and STAY there!!!

(Bassinet is all cleaned and set up next to our bed. Jason was actually really happy that I had it done last week when he came home! And labor bags are getting there... still need to pick up a few things...I sterilized all of my breast pumps, bottles, and baby toys yesterday (since Venily has been playing with them and using them for her babies for a while now))

On my list of things to do this week:
*Clean Haven's carseat
*Pick up any other baby things I need

TOMORROW IS MY APPOINTMENT AND 1ST INTERNAL EXAM!!!! I'm excited to see how things are coming along! Though I'm not expecting much...

OUCH!

Why you shouldn't put nylons over your head and run to go show your Daddy...

But she's a TOUGH girl and was smiling with tears still on her face...

And even kept her headband of frozen corn on! :)

Less than a month left!!

Congratulations Jacki and Jake!!! The wedding was beautiful and you both looked amazing!!! We're so happy for you guys! :) I don't think it could have gone more perfectly! Venily is still asking for "more wedding party!". I can't wait to see your pictures!


And now that we don't have the wedding to look forward to anymore, it seems that my due date is coming even faster! Less than 1 month left!! Ahhh!

Counting to 15!

Yes, she has the hiccups and yes, she skips 14! :)

Haha!

Yesterday Venily laid her "Little Baby" down in our bed and was tucking it in. I asked her if the baby was taking a nap. She said "No, sent baby to her room!".

So I said "You sent her to her room? What did she do?"

Venily: (sigh) "Being sassy!"

HAHAHAHAHA!!! I laughed so hard! Because Venily NEVER gets sent to her room for being sassy, lol! (Yeah right!)


This morning she was playing with "Big Baby" and I asked her where "Little Baby" was and she had sent her to her room again! I asked her what she did wrong today. And Venily said "Kicking!".

That "Little Baby" is trouble!! :)

35 WEEKS!!! 88% DONE!!! :)

I was seriously worried that I might have been in labor last night! I definitely had Jason worried too! :) I was having LOTS of strong Braxton Hicks contractions for over 4 hours straight and Haven never once stopped moving around like a lunatic the entire time- I figured she wanted out in time for Jacki and Jake's wedding!! She was so crazy and my ribs were actually in pain! haha. Until I read this... (Venily at 35 weeks pregnant). I think Haven is a lot crazier than Venily though. I am so scared that she is going to be a difficult baby. I couldn't do anything to get her to settle down yesterday and I just kept thinking "thank god she's not crying right now"!

Here are my 35 week pics (don't worry, I no longer go out in public in my swimming suit!):



At 35 weeks pregnant:
*I am at 141 lbs (+21 lbs total gain)
*I get agitated soooo easily!! I don't like to blame things on being pregnant, but I'm sure that I have a much better patience level while not pregnant!
*My back KILLS me!! This baby is GIANT! And the house and laundry refuse to clean themselves...


On my list of things to do today now that I'm 35 weeks:
*Pack up everything I can in my labor bag and finish up my list of things that need to be packed right before
*Get the bassinet set up and cleaned and ready to go! (I wonder what Jason will say when he gets home from work... haha. After last night, I think he'll be fine with it!)


Not much longer to go....!!!

Venily is 22 months!!

And I ask myself "who is this little girl?" all the time! She is just perfect!! She wants to do EVERYTHING herself, tells me she's a big girl all of the time, and wants to help me with EVERYTHING!!! She is starting to get very girly and WANTS pretties in her hair, WANTS her nails painted, always asks me to put makeup on her, and picks out her own clothes, etc.... I love it!

She is also HILARIOUS!!! And has us cracking up ALL the time!! I don't even know where she gets half the stuff she says from! Some funny things she says a lot are "Sooooo meaty" (from the Soup), "Daddy likes tacos, Yum, Yum tacos" (from her ABC, Music & Me class), and when she comes into our bedroom when the air is on she always says "oooooh, nice and cool in here!". haha. And then she says a million other funny things throughout the day. The other day she was standing up on our bar stool (which she knows she's not supposed to do) and says "Look Mommy! No red owwies!!" (which is what she calls owwies that bleed). I also love looking in my back mirror while driving and seeing Venily dancing completely crazy when a song that she likes comes on! She goes so nuts!!

This morning she held up a purple turtleneck shirt and said "wear purple shirt to wedding party?" and I said "No, you are going to wear your pretty new dress" and she got excited and said "YES I am!"!! She's very excited for the wedding and talks about it all the time now! :)

I also asked her to bring me something that was in her hand and she was quite a distance away from me and held it out as far as she could and said "Here ya go!" and I said "Could you bring it to me?" and she said "Reeeaaaach Mommy!". hahahaha

And we were watching Landen today and she kept calling him "buddy" and "honey"! It was too cute! She'd bring him his juice cup and say "Here Landen, here you go buddy!" haha and "No touch! Dangerous honey, get red owwies!". She was like a little Mommy to him... so funny!




*2 more months until her birthday!! She told me she wants a blue cake and blue balloons, haha!

*Less than 6 weeks until her baby sister is due! And she CAN'T wait!!

Current favorites:

*Coloring (she asks to color 10 times a day)

*Shoes (she's SUCH a girl!)! And just the other day my aunt sent her 14 pairs of new shoes!! I don't know if I've owned 14 pairs of shoes in my whole life!! And they are the CUTEST shoes ever too (and that's in addition to the 7 pairs that she already has!).

*Loves, Loves, Loves other kids (especially older ones like 7-12yrs). If there are no adults around them, she'll go right up to them, take their hand and lead them where she wants them to go, lol. Then she'll start telling them about random things like the baby goats at the fair and how she is getting fishies for her birthday! (She is still pretty shy to adults she doesn't know, though her circle of adults that she is not shy towards grows and grows all the time, so that is good!)

*Playing hide-and-go-seek! Her cousin Kaitlyn taught her! When she hides though, it's funny, she always gives herself away by saying "I'm right here!" even when I pretend to not see her.

*Her Daddy. She is such a Daddy's girl!!! Every morning she sadly asks "Daddy at work?" if he's not there. And when he gets home she doesn't like him out of her sight!

New things from the last month:
*Venily can count to 15 now! She no longer skips 7, though sometimes she'll skip 14 now! :)
*She says the 7 days of the week (as you can see from her videos)
*She also is working on her phone number. She always asks me what her phone # is! And when I tell her the first 3 numbers, she tells me the last 4.
*She can also spell Haven now in addition to Venily and always asks me how to spell Mommy and Daddy.
*And when you ask her what her Mommy's name is she says "Jennifer" and her Daddy's name she says "Jason".
* Sometimes she will let a "Mom" or "Dad" slip instead of Mommy and Daddy. It breaks my heart! I want to be Mommy forever and I yell at Jason if he uses Mom or Dad in front of her!
* She now calls herself "Venny" instead of "Yeahyee" and her sister "Haven" instead of "Hay". She also refers to herself in the 3rd person a lot!
* I got her a little table and chair set so she no longer sits at a high chair! She loves it, though it's going to take some work to get her to sit down and stay sitting down. It's a good thing too to get her started now b/c Haven will need to use her high chair soon enough!

She won!!

Venily won 1st place at our parade!! And she won $20!!! :)



We decided to go with the statue of liberty b/c that was the easiest costume to make and I already had all the materials. All I used was a green pillowcase, some cardboard and some green paint! Matt just showed up and he won $5! There was seriously not a lot of kids there this year... I guess that's what happens when you hold a 4th of July parade in the middle of August!

But Venily had a lot of fun even though it was really hot out and she was so proud to ride in the parade and wave at the 10's of people who showed up to watch, lol! And she got lots of candy, fruit snacks, and popcorn... as soon as we got home she was already saying "More parade!"!

Doctor Appointment- 34w, 1d

My doctor appt went perfectly again today! As I suspected, I was just in and out again. Haven's heartbeat was 145bpm. Everything else looks good as well. My appointments are now 2 weeks apart and my next appointment (at 36w) I get the lovely Step B test and an internal exam!!! Is it weird that I'm excited about an internal exam? Lol, b/c I really am!!!

This child is wearing me out today!! And she is so gigantic I almost can't take it anymore! I think she'll be an 8 pounder! I'm so curious to see what my doctor says at my next appointment...

A woman checking me out at a store today said "Wow, you are so fit!" and was surprised by my due date when her sister is due Oct 1st. Definitely made my day and made me feel somewhat less huge! :)

Venily is also now 22 months old today!!! 2 more months until she's 2!!! I will try to put an update about her up tomorrow, I started one but have been gone most of the day today and couldn't finish it! Now I'm off to scrub my shower and go to bed!!

34 Weeks!

3 more weeks until I'm "full-term"!! 6 more weeks until my due date!!!

Here are my 34 week pics! As promised, I'll have weekly pics from now on... though I'm hoping to not get too much bigger... oh my gosh!!



At 34 weeks...
* I'm at 140lbs (+20lbs total gain... okay Haven you don't have to go for 2 lbs a week, 1 is plenty!)
* I am so torn between wanting this baby out (to see her, hold her, watch my girls interact with each other, and feel normal again) and keeping her in forever (b/c I still have so much I want to get done, I do love being pregnant and will miss it terribly, I'm terrified of "starting from scratch again" and things are so easy right now with Venily and that is going to be turned UPSIDE DOWN!!)!!!
* Haven is still as active as ever and I doubt she will slow down before she is here (her sister was still crazy all the way to the end!)
* I was just reading what I wrote when I was 34 weeks pregnant with Venily and things seem to be going almost exactly the same! I wrote...
As far as how I'm doing, I think I'm doing pretty well for being 34 weeks pregnant! My lower back just absolutely kills me, but other than that- no real problems! I take a nap every afternoon and wake up a couple times a night to go to the bathroom, eat, and rearrange my pillows. But, I'm extremely lucky not to have to work right now, so all of my energy can go to taking care of myself and the baby! The ticker thing on here last week said I probably have cankles, lol, I DON'T!! I don't have any swelling at all (and my rings are still falling off of my fingers). Also, I don't have ANY heartburn (I still don't even know what it feels like!) and no stretch marks (pray that it stays that way- I don't know how much bigger I can get though!).

The only differences are that I don't get a nap every day this time around (Venily's nap periods are frantic attempts to get as much done around the house as possible) and I also DO in fact work every day (24hrs a day) this time around chasing after and caring for the most beautiful, sweet, yet CRAZY child in the world! :)

*Venily was putting her baby under her shirt this morning so that she'd have a big belly like Mommy and then pushing the baby out, lol! :) She still tries to get me to push Haven out every day (actually she tells me that SHE is going to push the baby out of me, lol... she is more impatient than I am!)!



**I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow! I'm pretty sure that it's just a regular in and out appointment and then the one after that I will start getting internal exams...!!!! It's going to go very quickly now!!!!

Any suggestions?

So our neighborhood has a silly little parade every summer for the 4th of July (that lasts all of 30 seconds) and since I grew up right down the street of where I live now, we used to go every year. Well this year, people were slacking and didn't get the permits in time, etc., so we are having our "4th of July" parade this Saturday (in the middle of August, lol).

I wanted Venily to dress up. Any suggestions? The categories are pretty hard this year!

Kids with Crazy Wheels – Decorate your bikes and strollers
Kids Across America – Dress as a landmark or event from one of the 50 states
Famous American Heroes – Pick some American who has contributed to our history, e.g., Presidents, Astronauts, Musicians, Scientists

Hmmm.... yeah.... Jason wants to dress Venily as Abraham Lincoln, lol! I don't how he thinks I'm going to come up with a costume of Abraham Lincoln!?!

More Videos!

Haven kicking (33weeks, 5 days). This is what I have to deal with 100 times a day and night! :) But I love it....!!! She was being even crazier before I took the video (as always seems to be the case!). She really starts going at about 20sec in.



Venily falling asleep at her high chair during lunch, lol. When she notices that I'm taking a video she gets mad and starts saying "No Mommy! No Mommy!". :)



Venily singing the 7 days of the week!



And the sped up version, lol!



And "Little Baby" singing the 7 days, haha! Venily is such a proud little mommy as well!

33 week, 2 day comparisons :)

After feeling sooooo much bigger than I was with Venily, I decided it was time to do some more comparison pictures to see if that was the case! Nope, about the same still! My gosh, do I still really have 6 1/2 weeks to go?! (click to see them bigger)

Rest In Peace Aunt Cindy

My aunt passed away yesterday morning after losing a battle with cancer. I just saw her a month ago and she looked and felt great.

My uncle wrote this and I thought it was worth sharing...

You find yourself at times like these wishing you had done more, or loved more, or been kinder and more thoughtful over the years. I remind all of you now to remember to love your significant others with all your heart NOW, today, this minute, this second, because you never know when they will be taken from you.


I can't even imagine the pain he and the rest of his family are going through. And when I try for even a second, I can't stop crying. I'm simply not that strong...

My little camper!!

Yay!! Venily peed in the grass today for the first time (twice actually) while we were at the boy scout camp!!!! (I told her that there were no pottys out in the woods!)

The things that make you proud as a mom.... lol! :)

33 weeks!

Yep, more of the same! Another week closer to my baby girl!!!


At 33 weeks....
* I'm at 138 lbs (+18 lbs total gain)
* She is getting HUGE and got into a new position now the last couple of days that is quite uncomfortable! She pushes off on both sides of my stomach and loves to kick at organs and ribs! :)
* I am starting to get desperate to see her and hold her... I so can't wait!!! Soon enough...
* I am thirsty ALL the time and drink so much water a day it's ridiculous! Definitely doesn't help w/ my peeing every 5 minutes problem! :)
* My eye has been twitching for 3 days straight and continues to do so as I type this... maybe I'm stressed out? I don't know... it hasn't done this this bad since I was in college!

I came across a really good site for what to pack in your hospital bag! Wanted to pass it on to my pregnant friends! :) Click here!




If you are reading this, please keep my aunt in your prayers. I am not a religious person by any means, but I really don't know what else to do. I have attempted to write about it, but just can't. She is literally one of the most amazing people I have ever met and a wonderful wife, mother, daughter, and grandmother. She just turned 50 last month and is spending her last remaining days at home with her family right now. Please pray that she holds on until her son can be with her, he is on his way home right now from an overseas CIA mission. She and my uncle were married 27 years last Friday and are an inspiration to me and others on what a perfect marriage would constitute. They are such wonderful people, it is so unfortunate...

50 Days Left And Counting!!! :)

* 50 days until Haven's due date!!

* 18 days until Jacki and Jake's wedding!!
* 29 days until Haven is "full-term"!!
* 70 days until Venily turns 2!!!! (Seriously, TWO years old!!!!)


And we have so much to do!!

I am trying to plan Venily's birthday party now since I will probably be quite busy as the time gets closer! We've decided to have it at our house to serve multiple purposes.

1. I never did get to have her party at our house last year since it wasn't ready yet
2. A lot of my family haven't been to my house yet and keep asking to see it...
3. They'll get to see Haven and it will be easier for me to take care of her here! :)

We still have some work to do with our house though before the party! Jason got the back and side retaining walls in, which is awesome! He also cut and covered all of the pipes that were sticking out into our yard. Now we need to do the retaining wall by our deck stairs, get some black dirt and seed the whole yard (it is currently complete sand). We are also trying to figure out what we are going to do as far as landscaping! We were thinking some kind of patio, possibly a water feature, and we are looking for fast growing trees or bushes that can live in sand to put along the retaining wall and possibly the side by our crazy cat lady neighbor (which, if it's possible, I learn to hate more and more each day!)!

In the inside we still need to touch up the paint and get a giant ladder to clean our trapezoid windows on top! As well as finish up our whole basement (but I think that is a project for a different time). I'm sure as her party approaches I'm going to regret our decision, especially trying to clean my entire house with a newborn! :)

Ahhhh! I feel like my list of things to do GROWS more and more each day rather than gets smaller, even as I get more and more done!!!


Oh, and Jacki reminded me the other day that I can now say that "I'm due next month!!!!"!! :) Very exciting!