Friday, November 28, 2008

My New Best Friend

So, I have been having contractions off and on this past week. Monday was really bad and then I started having consistant ones again last night (Thanksgiving night) and I am still having them off and on today.

If I get too concerned, I have started timing them using a website I found.

www.contractionmaster.com

I wanted to share this for all of the other ladies expecting just in case you want to use it too. All you have to do is hit the space bar everytime a contraction starts and stops and it will time them, let you know the duration of each contraction, etc. Pretty cool if you need it.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

A Slight Scare....

So, yesterday (Monday) I woke up about 5:45am and thought I just had to pee REALLY bad. Well, I am pretty stubborn to get up out of my great sleep to go to the potty, so I laid there and tried to go back to sleep (yeah right). Anyway, as I was still laying there, I had a contraction....no big deal, I have been having random Braxton Hicks contractions for a while now.

Fast forward, I finally got up and went to the restroom and started getting ready. Tatum woke up soon after I got done getting ready and I started getting her ready for school. I noticed I was having contractinos still, but still didn't think much about it. I got her loaded in the car and off we went. I realized in the car that they were still coming, so I started watching the clock. Tatum was in school, in her classroom, and I was back in the car about 6:50am and I started writing down the contraction times cause I was curious. I was scheduled to go to Physical Therapy at 8am, so I ran to Perkins to get a muffin (my latest favorite breakfast). I got it and decided to just eat it in the parking lot while I waited for my PT place to open. For the next hour, my contractions were coming anywhere from 2 minutes to 5 minutes apart. I then called Antonio to let him know I was freaking out a bit. I decided at about 7:45am that while I probably COULD go to PT, I didn't really feel much like going cause the exercises would not be fun and I wanted to continue to time these things....(PLUS, I realized it had been a while since my legs had been shaved so if I was going to have to go to the hospital, i needed to go home and shave them). So, I called PT and cancelled my appt.

I went home and took a bath, layed on the couch, took tylenol, drank water, etc and nothing was making them stop. However, I REFUSED to go back to L&D at the hospital if it wasn't TIME to go cause I didn't want to be stuck there for 5 hours. So, I stayed home. Around 9:30am they started spacing out more...about every 6-8 minutes. Since the contractions were getting further apart, I was pretty sure that this wasn't IT, so I chilled out a little more. The contractions were still regular til about 11am. I got tired of timing them then and I FINALLY took a nap around noon.

After all of this craziness going on yesterday, I realized HOW MUCH we have to do before this baby can come. Here is a small list of things....

-Pack my bag
-Pack baby's bag
-Come up with a name (we tried again last night, but no luck)
-Get the nursery together
-Clean the house
-Pack a bag for Tatum just in case she has to go somewhere
-Wash clothes
-Buy a few last minute things
-Get Antonio to download new music on my ipod
-Charge camera
-Be sure my cell phone is always charged

I think that's pretty much it for now. I made a list of things that need to go in my bag, baby's bag, and Tatum's bag, so it is just a matter of getting it all together. Nursery isn't as pressing, but I would like for it to be done. I am washing clothes today (I HATE DOING THIS!!!!). My camera is charged and my phone too.

I must admit that I was freaking out a bit yesterday. Not because the baby was coming, but because I couldn't imagine the baby coming when I still had so much to do. I think this was God's way of telling me to get my STUFF together cause this baby could be here anytime now.

I go back to the dr on Monday, so hopefully we will see if I have progressed any and that should give us a better idea of where things stand.

I guess that's all for now. I just wanted to document my exciting day yesterday.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Our Weekend....

We didn't do much this weekend. We played and played with Tatum. I did a little Christmas shopping (very little), and that was about it.

Here are a few pictures that we took this weekend.

These first pictures were taken Saturday while I was out shopping. Antonio and Tatum had a fun time playing inside and outside.

This is Tatum's new thing to do....give the thumbs up! I even got it last night. She approved the dinner I cooked with 2 thumbs up.





These next pictures are from Sunday. They are out of order, but you get the idea. Tatum and I got up early (6am) and played for a bit and then Antonio got up and played with her and let me nap since I wasn't feeling well. Antonio fed Tatum lunch and before it was over, this is what she looked like....

Tatum also enjoyed playing in the box that I cleaned out on Friday. She puts all of her toys in and then jumps in with them...


Finally, Antonio set up the tent for Tatum to play in while I cooked dinner and he did some laundry. She loved it!




As you can see, we stayed in our PJs all day on Sunday. We have started going to church on Saturday night and that allows us to have a family day on Sunday. We had planned to go take some possible Christmas pictures outside of Tatum, but the weather was overcast, so that never happened. Anyway, we had a great, uneventful weekend and loved every minute of it.

Friday, November 21, 2008

34 weeks 2 days....

I haven't posted any belly pictures in about a month or more, so I thought I would do that today. I took these pictures earlier this week. As you can see, I am REALLY growing these days.




The New, NEW Me....

So, I got my hair darker a few weeks ago and it was OK, but I felt like it either needed to be DARKER or LIGHTER, but not what it was. Well, long story short, I went back and had it done AGAIN.

Here it is....


Yes, I took pics of myself. They are kind of from the side so you can see the color(s).
Tell me, what do you think NOW????? love it? hate it? leave me a comment and let me know.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Baby Boy Simpson Update...

I just got done with my OB appt today. I got some good news and some bad news...

First, the bad news....

* I have gained 6 pounds since my last appt. ummm, that was TWO WEEKS AGO!!! EEEKKK! My appt WAS at 1:30 (right after lunch) and I didn't take off my coat or shoes, but all that probably amounts to no more than a pound. SO, that puts me at (COUGH, COUGH) 28 pounds total gained so far. I wanted to stay FAR away from my 40 pounds of weight that I gained with Tatum, but it seems like I am right on track for that. Sigh, I guess things could be worse. I just want this baby to be healthy and the rest will fall into place.

Now, the good news...

* Dr. B didn't 'check' me or anything, but I got her to talk about an induction date with me anyway. We set it for 12/29 which I am happy with. Dr. B still thinks there is a good chance that Baby Boy Simpson will come early on his own, but we set the date up 'just in case'. I am not sure why she thinks he will come early, but that's what she said.

Physical Therapy is going well. I am enjoying getting out and getting some relief for my back pain 3 times a week. It is also great to get that massage at the end of my appt too!

Although Antonio and I said Saturday was THE DAY to decide on a baby name for sure, we never did agree on anything. Long story, short....he hates my names, and I hate his. This baby is either going to end up with NO middle name, 2 middle names, or a middle name that one of us hates.....sigh.

Being off work is going pretty well. I have been trying to do some things around the house. Some days, I seem to accomplish lots of things, but other days, I don't feel like doing anything. There is still LOTS to be done before the baby comes. I NEED this nesting thing to kick in soon, so we can get the house in order. The nursery is coming together. We bought our bedding and it is in the crib, but I still need to take down the pink curtains and other pink stuff in the nursery and put up some blue stuff for the baby.

Antonio and I also did some shopping this weekend (mostly for Antonio's birthday), but we did get the baby something to wear home from the hospital.

I guess that is it for now. I plan to take a belly pic sometime this week and post it since I haven't done that in a while, so stay tuned....

Sunday, November 16, 2008

AWESOME DEAL!!!!

*****You know what they say.....when something SEEMS too good to be true, it probably is.

I just received this email....

Greetings from Target.com.

Due to an unexpected error, the following item(s) you have ordered were incorrectly priced at the time of your order. Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seat $45; Granite

We're sorry, but we are unable to offer this item for the incorrect price. The correct price is $279.99. We have canceled your order for this item. If you would like to order this item at the correct price,please visit Target.com to check for availability.

Despite our best efforts, a small number of items on our site are occasionally mis-priced. We do, however, verify prices as part of our shipping procedures. If we discover that an item's correct price is higher than our stated price, we will either contact you for instructions before shipping or cancel your order and notify you of the cancellation. This pricing policy is posted in the Help sectionon Target.com.

Again, we're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Thank you for being our valued guest.

Sincerely,
Guest Service Department
Target.com
http://www.target.com

I just read about an AWESOME deal on a carseat at Target. It is for the Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seat. Target is having an online sale on this carseat which normally costs $279.00 and its on sale for $42.99 with FREE shipping. It goes up to 65 pounds too. It is just a plain granite color, but I know you can buy a cover for it if you want to dress it up. Anyway, I thought this deal was too great to keep to myself. I think the sale goes on until the 20th.

Here is the link...

http://www.target.com/Britax-Marathon-Convertible-Car-Seat/dp/B000YSNMG2/qid=1226887014/ref=br_1_14/183-7855135-7473663?ie=UTF8&node=13552231&frombrowse=1&pricerange=&index=tgt-mf-mv&field-browse=13552231&rank=pmrank&rh=&page=2

Also, leave me a comment and let me know if you order one!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Potty Time!!!

Quick update on Potty progress with Tatum....

Tatum POOPED in the potty at school today for the first time!!! YAY!

On top of THAT she peepeed in the potty FOUR times today at school!!!

Her paper said that she only had one wet diaper today! Now she has not been great about going at home at all....in fact I think she has taken a step backwards and I was a little worried, but her teacher at school told me to keep taking her often and she would "get" it eventually. I am not sure when she will OFFICIALLY be potty trained...I would guess not for another 3-6 months(?...we aren't pushing it), but Antonio and I are VERY proud of her today!!!

Random Pictures of Tatum

I have several random pictures of Tatum that I thought I would post.

This first one was from Oct 25th, in the morning before her birthday party started...

This next one was one day after school. She made a little hat that had squirrel ears and a tail on the back. She did not want to put it on her head to take a picture, but we managed to get one of her smiling...
Tatum's grandmommy (my mom) got this little bike for Tatum, so we decided to try it out one day this week. We brought it inside since it was raining. (side note, please ignore all of the diaper boxes in the background) I am doing some cleaning and rearranging and don't want to throw out the boxes just in case I might need them...

Another night, Tatum started playing with one of Antonio's motorcycle helmets after she got done with bathtime. She thought it was so funny that the face plate (is that what it's called) would go up and down....



Finally, that same night Tatum decided she wanted to help me clean up a little bit. She was taking a break in the picture below to watch some Elmo...

Tatum says she only charges $50 an hour, so she can come do your house too! It might not be clean when she leaves, but you will have some entertainment for a while.
That's it for now. Check out all of the new blogs below.....there are several.

Happy Birthday Antonio!

Tuesday was Antonio's birthday and since I am not working, I decided to try to make him a cake. We had plans to go to Antonio's parent's house for dinner, so I was a little nervous that it wouldn't turn out great and I would have to leave it at home or else be embarrassed. Anyway, I decided to take step by step pics of how the cake progressed to either laugh at or be proud of later. You can be the judge as to which one I should do...

I wanted to make a layer cake, so first I just cooked a regular cake and as soon as it was done, I turned it over and got it out of the pan. As you can see, the bottom half stuck to the pan, so I had to scrape it off and replace it.....Let me just say now, if you hadn't already figured it out, that I am NOT BETTY CROCKER! lol

I let it cool for a while and then cut the cake in half and placed the bottom half in the pan first...as you can see, this cake is crumbling apart and at this point I was not very hopeful...
Next I added a layer of chocolate pudding....
Then a layer of whipped cream along with crumbled up Butterfinger candy bars.
Then the other half of the cake...
pudding....
more whipped cream....

and finally more crumbled up Butterfinger candy bars...
Don't think I am a crazy, pregnant woman who just randomly came up with the idea for this cake. One of my caters I use for work actually does a cake similar to this and it is MY FAVORITE. However, she won't give me her recipe, so I guessed this is how she did it.
Anyway, I figured the cake was good enough to take to my inlaw's house.
Here it is with the candles...
And here is Antonio about to blow out the candles. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the best picture because Caiden was between us.
The cake was a HIT! Everyone loved it and I was very proud that they did. We ate over half of it and I sent the rest home with Antonio's sister so she could take it to work with her the next day. It was kind of hard to watch it go out the door with her, but I knew if it was in the house, I would eat it all and that would not be good.
After dinner, we hung out and played. Of course, Tatum played with her FAVORITE person....Uncle Chris...
Chris and Eliana (aka Aunt E. E.)
Tatum wanted to jump in the picture too....
We really didn't do much to celebrate Antonio's birthday yet, but we are going to dinner and a movie Friday night and then going shopping Saturday for some things. Thanks to Chris and Eliana for keeping Tatum so that we can go out on a little date.

Saturday Birthday Celebration

Saturday, Antonio, Tatum, Laurie, Mckayla, Mya, my dad, my mom, and I all went to my grandmother's house to celebrate my mom's birthday. We hung out and visited at my grandmother's house and then headed to lunch.

Here is a picture of Tatum and Mya.
My dad, Tatum, Mya, and Laurie
Tatum giving Mya a hug...
Tatum and Mya were cheering for Mckayla while she did some cartwheels for everyone.

The birthday cake....my mom's birthday was on 11/7 and Antonio's was 11/11 so we kind of celebrated them both at the same time.
My mom with her new camera.

Gran with her great grandchildren...Mya and Tatum
We went to eat at the Old Country Store. After we finished eating the girls decided to get up on stage and play. Mckayla would sing and Tatum and Mya were supposed to cheer.
Now they are cheering....
My pictures are out of order, but here is my dad helping my mom open her present...the camera.
Gran and my dad...
It was so nice to relax and visit for a while. My grandmother also spoiled me a bit. For some reason, I have been wanting some HOMEMADE applesauce....I know, weird. Anyway, my grandmother made some for me and it was perfect! She didn't even offer it to anyone else! I got to take it all home with me...YUMMY!