Band Camp 2006

This actually occurred on November 17 but it's totally blog-worthy so I'm going to go back in time a little.
Months ago David was able to get tickets for this concert, I thought it would be fun since I haven't been to a concert in ages and I used to love them. Even though I am 6 months pregnant I figured that since it was in a fairground setting I would be okay.

It was a cool night, beautiful for a concert actually. Mom came over until Heather could get here and David and I went to dinner first. The traffic was insane! So we arrived in the middle of the Hoobastank set, they were okay I suppose.
Then Hinder came on, David immediately though about the "Lips of an Angel" song and completely did not expect much from them. Thought maybe they were a ballad band or something.
We were so wrong! They were absolutely awesome! Tons of energy and quite a few kickin' songs. We both really enjoyed them. After that came Candlebox, bleh. they're old and haven't had a hit in years so I wasn't too thrilled.
Buckcherry was another great band, we were REALLY enjoying them but had to leave in the middle of their set because Heather had to leave our house at 9:30 PM to go somewhere with Sean. We so did not want to leave since we were having so much fun. David really wanted to hear Buckcherry do the "Crazy Bitch" song. Unfortunately we did get to hear only the beginning...from the parking lot across the street as we walked to the car.
Originally David was going to stay and go home with Walt so that he could see Shinedown but David wasn't so excited about seeing them ( I wouldn't have minded though) Besides David didn't like the idea of me wandering to my car alone in the dark, especially since we were parked so far out. once we got home ,turns out that Heather wasn't going anywhere since my bro had left for Fort Myers without her. Bummer. But apparently the concert didn't end until around midnight anyway so that would have been too late for us.
I did pretty well considering my pregnancy, I asked for the day off of work to rest in the morning and did hardly anything all day saving my energy for the concert. I guess it worked because I felt really good all evening. There were so many young people there, I felt a little old. I did feel a little bad for all the scantily clad young girls when it got cooler and cooler. I guess they should have read the weather report...
In any case I hope some more concerts and some cool bands come to town because it was so much fun. There is just something about the energy of seeing a band perform live that makes it such an wonderful experience.
I had to buy a Hinder CD, it's pretty good. :)

I'm glad Thanksgiving only comes once a year..

For a week preceding Thanksgiving it seemed that my family hadn't the slightest clue where or when to have the meal. Mom was going to have it on Monday after then it was Saturday after then Friday ,ugh then she just decided to do it the day of Thanksgiving. My grandmother intiially was goijng to have her meal at 1 PM on Thanksgiving, then somewhere it was changed to 2 PM. I had to work anyway so I told her I wouldn't be coming. Besides David wanted to cook a meal here at home. Which was fine with me so i wouldn't have to travel around town after work since I knew I'd be tired and achy anyway.
But when i told Mamaw that she gave me a horrible guilt trip about it, my dad did as well. And to top things off they changed the time of the meal to 5 PM so i would be able to eat.
SOOO I went over after work and David met me there with Seth. Of course, i was miserable as I expected. My back was hurting and I was very tired. Everyone was good about helping out with Seth while I rested on the couch, actually it was mostly Sean ( Who spun Seth around until Seth was dizzy and fell down in the driveway causing a scraped nose and a big bump on his forehead)
Once the food came things changed, everyone was busy eating and when Seth was finished, I guess I was too.
My dad helped him out of his chair before I had washed his hands and face and then i had to chase him around the house, mind you I was cranky and starving since I didn't get to finish my food.
Meanwhile everyone suggested, "Sean can watch him". Which I didn't think was fair since Sean was eating and watching him alot before the meal. So I finally said, " I'm sorry about the food, I am still hungry but obviously won't get a chance to eat so we are going home"
Oooooh was I feeling bitchy. Everybody made me feel so guilty about not wanting to come but then no one is willing to help me out so a hungry pregnant woman can eat a little? WTH?
I don't expect everyone to take care of Seth but don't make me feel crappy when i tell you I can't come to your dinner because I am anticipating feeling achy and tired after I worked all day and don't feel like running after a 2 year old at your non-baby-proofed house. Don't try to tell me " he'll be fine while you eat" when the only image in my head is of my son trying to climb up on your glass topped breakfast table and falling, or worse having it fall on him.
Don't tell me to have my 20 year-old brother watch him while he eats while i finish my meal, that's not fair to my brother.
Next time I don't expect to get any guilt trips about not coming to your dinner.

I was glad to come home and relax.

Damn, I am bitchy today....

24 week appt.

Everything is good, BP, heart rate, weight, urine neg. etc. etc. My Dr. told me that it was definitely okay to take the fibercon and I could even take Colace with it because Colace is so safe. She told me my dizziness last week was probably benign postural vertigo and that it's rather common. (Thank goodness it hasn't happened again)
I received a script to have my 1 hr. Glucose tolerance test done in three weeks along with a couple other blood tests. I'm not looking forward to that!

I love him thiiiiiiiiiiis much.

My son that is. I swear every day he is a little cuter. Today he said "helcop-ter" yay! For the longest time it was only helicop. He also said " motorcycle" the other day.
These might be normal things for a 2 two year old but I am constantly impressed at how easily he picks things up and repeats them. I was listening to The Killers CD yesterday in the car and he starts repeating the words to the songs. Thank goodness they don't use foul language in their music ( not that I really noticed anyway) so I can still enjoy them in the car without him picking up some bad stuff.
I guess I'll have to save Korn for when he's not in the car though, ha ha.
He climbing everywhere and running all over the place. And to think I was worried that he might never walk at one time..HA! far from it. I wish he'd slow down!
He is going to bed quite easily, he really likes his fire engine bed that we got him, he sleeps all night until about 8-8:30AM , not bad. I've heard of kids that get up much earlier. He stays in bed once we put him there but he's is obviously exhausted as well by that time. Since he refuses to nap anymore....
He knows his colors pretty well, the basics at least. And he only likes to count 1,2,3 after that he just starts over again 1,2,3,1,2,3, I guess that isn't horrible for a 2 year old. :)
He enjoys dancing and singing...what can I say, he's a daddy's boy. Our appreciation for music must run in our veins.

As far as baby #2? Well, it seems to move around alot, not as much kicking ( which it does do plenty of) but just pressing outward. It's quite an uncomfortable feeling. All of the sudden i feel like the child is trying to get out of me like in the movie " Alien" . I have to rub, rub, rub my belly utnil it goes back to it's previous position. Maybe it's stretching? I frequently feel a heaviness in my lower abdomen which is odd beacause other times I feel like the kid is all the way up to my rib cage already. Maybe I just have a small abdomen, the babe is a little over a pound and according to things i read about 24 weekers it's about a foot long so i guess it is quite squished in there.
Part of me is getting more and more excited about meeting my new baby and the other part of me is dreading the sleepless night and crying jags ( Um, that's me AND the baby...) I really want to get those first couple months over with! I am hoping this baby isn't as difficult as Seth was. I think I had PPD on top of a cranky baby and together i was the most miserable person on the planet.
I'm hoping things go better this time.

So how am I feeling?

Thanks for asking... I am feeling pretty good most days. No more dizziness since last Monday. I get achiness in my back and hips occasionally throughout the day but for the most part I am my best in the morning. I certainly have poor endurance, toward the end of my work day i feel myself moving slower and slower. And it is just going to get worse before it gets better.
I feel alot of movement, sometimes it hurts and I have to rub my belly to get the baby to move to a postion that is more comfy for me. I like to feel the movement though.
In the last week people have actually been asking me if i am pregnant. I am certain that i have looked pregnant for awhile now but maybe it's so obvious now that people feel okay asking.
I certainly can't hide it any longer!
4 more months and there is so much to do. I need a crib and to clean out the garage so i can clear out the room for the baby. David just drags his feet with everything. I have to keep nagging. He always has an excuse, granted he has good excuses but I want to get the nursery set up now!

Seth is a happy guy...

Seth is always happy. He's unbelievable pleasant and pretty well adjusted. He loves people, especially other little kids. I worry since he doesn't have much opportunity to be around other little kids but when he is he's very comfortable. He can't hold actual conversations but he does try. He's kind and decent and never is rude or inappropriate.
Now i haven't ever been a social butterfly or a very saintly person and I don't think David is either so we aren't sure where he gets his extremely pleasant personality. I just keep reminding myself that kids learn from their parents how to behave so i really make an effort to be a more decent person for him. After all, little kids all start out as good people. It's others that influence them to be not so good.
I want Seth to know right and wrong and what is good and what is bad. Even when we play with his toys I always make the toys happy and friendly, they always say hi and give each other kisses as opposed to fighting with each other.
Maybe when he's a little older I'll stop sugar coating things. But for right now, where is the harm in taeching him to be good to all people. I wish he didn't have to learn one day that there are cruel and sick people in the world that he will have to be careful of.

I feel crappy.

Since last night I have been lightheaded with a pinch of dizziness thrown in. I called out sick but can't get the Dr. to return my calls. Yuck.
Last night around three AM I awoke to pee, en route to the bathroom i felt extremely dizzy, I could barely walk and then i wanted to puke while sitting on the pot. Actually i thought I might fall off the toilet since i was so dizzy. My nausea persisted for an hour afterwards. My BP is absolutely fine. I just wanna know what i can do to make it go away so I can feel normal again.
I'm so tired of this feeling. My mom and husband both seem to think it's how the baby is positioned that is causing this. Maybe it's on a nerve or a blood vessel or something. Driving me nuts whatever it is.

My baby is normal!

Fonda and I drove to Sarasota today for the appt. with the perinatologist and the Level II u/s, not a bad drive but I had this horrible feeling in the pit of my belly and my stomach felt mildy upset. When i got into the U/S room the tech took one look at the baby's kidneys and said how normal everything looked. She even checked many other parts of the baby and didn't find anything at all that might be abnormal. I am absolutely relieved. All is good with the world.

Husband rant

David doesn't work on Monday. He thought it wouldn't be wise for us to go to the appt. in Sarasota together in case there is bad news. The both of us are a little stressed out and it probably wouldn't be good.
I suggested that he watch Seth for part of the time so my mom wouldn't have to be here so long and he wasn't happy about that.
"I'm in agony and I thought I would be able to take a day off!" WTF? a day off? Hello? I'm very achy and tired,d o I ask for a "day off" I think I deserve one as well if he does.
many days he was off work in the week and I still had my mom come watch Seth so he could do stuff around the house. He gets upset when I question him about sitting around playing video games. I've let him have it way too easy for too long. He goes to band practice twice a week and stops at the pub a couple times a week after work. Since when do I go out anywhere after work to " relax"?
When do I get any time to "relax" Especially when many times he's out all day and doesn't get home until 1 hour before Seth goes to bed then he whines about wanting some nookie? Well, I had a busy day and once Seth is in bed I want some alone time. What has he done for ME lately????

End of rant.Thank you very much.

I have scheduled my appointment!

For Monday october 30 at 2:30. It's going to be an hour and a half, ick. My sister is going to try to find a sitter for Amber so she can go along with me. David will be working and my mom will be watching Seth. I hope she can go, I don't want to be alone. Especially if i get bad news.
Today's weather was lovely! High in the mid-70s! Seth and I went to get the stroller and then we went to the playground and the grocery store THEN we went to the mall with Fonda and Amber so we have been very busy. But it was fun. :)

Prenatal Hydronephrosis

From the research I have done and the very limited information I received from the Dr. office I think this may be the issue. Apparently it's the most common problem found on prenatal scans with about 42,000 each year. Half of those turn out to be nothing but the other half has a variety of diagnoses, most likely an obstruction or a kink in the collecting tube in the kidney( I really wish the Dr. office would have given me proper names for things! I may not know much but I am quite familiar with anatomy and physiology of the human body)
Since my baby's tube is even so slightly enlarged I am guessing that maybe it isn't completely obstructed? I hope it's nothing.
The perinatologist office hasn't called yet to set up and appt. I really wish they'd hurry up because I am stressed out! Anytime I talk to anyone about this kidney thing I start to cry. Even if i start to think too hard about it I cry. I wanna get past this so I can be normal again!!!!
Logically, I tell myself that it's probably nothing and it's extremely minor AND I am going to a very capable Dr. who will be able to give me advise. But the mom in me just worries and feels so sad because there's is something inperfect about my baby. David even said "How are we going to financially manage caring for a child with special medical needs?"
Hopefully we won't have to.

Fortunately my sister went to the same perinatologist during her pregnancy ( because her quad screen showed high probability for Down's syndrome) and she says he is excellent and the staff was knowledgable, besides it's in a very neat facility in Sarasota. At least she''ll be able to tell me where to go.

20 weeks 4 days appt. update.

Heart rate is excellent at around 160 and i measure properly. My BP is 100/60 and my weight is a whopping 134lbs. ( Whopping for me ,at least) I have gained 17 pounds!!! Yikes!
My U/S showed that one of the tubes in one of the kidneys is a little enlarged so i am being sent to a Dr. in Sarasota for a Level II U/S to get a better look. Apparently much of the time it turns out to be nothing. I didn't feel so upset at the time but now..I can't get it out of my head! I feel so weepy and irrational today.
Hopefully it'll pass, I don't like feeling this way.

I don't wanna know how much I weigh!

I put on some new jeans this morning and turned around to see how they looked in the mirror. WOW! My butt is huge! I want to know but at the same time I am scared to know how much I weigh. Last time I checked I weighed about 132 or so. It doesn't sound like alot..considering I am 5 months pregnant ,but it seems to look horrible on me! Maybe it's my warped body image? I've been under weight all of my life( just by 5-10 lbs, not alot) so being proper weight is difficult for me to accept? Many people might feel like I am an idiot because there are plenty of people out there with legitimate weight issues and here I am worrying about pregnancy weight.
But honestly I finding gaining weight very difficult to accept! I am so afraid of being " fat" that I can't stand to gain a pound.
I can't stand to have any extra flab or jiggle anywhere. After Seth I had a difficult time dealing with the extra belly skin after pregnancy. It's not like my body was ever perfect. David has always loved my body, noone in my life has evr made fun of it..exept for being to thin in elementary school ( that was way before I had body image issues..that was simply genetics and high metabolism)

I still look in the mirror, pregnant or not, and all I see is a fat girl. :(

I need another U/S

Yesterday I called the place that did my U/S and complained about the tech giving away the gender. They apologized profusely and said they would take care of it. Later that day the tech calls me at work telling me that she needs more pics of the face for the Dr. I told her I didn't want her to do my U/S and that I would like to schedule it elsewhere. So I am going to the hospital to have it done on Monday at 4.
My mom is going with me this time. You know, last time I had to have my 20 week U/S done twice due to some heart pics being omitted. This is annoying.
Now I am scared there is something wrong with my baby's face. I just hate having tests done!

Here's a pic...

Ultrasound today..

Apparently everything looks good. I am measuring one day ahead so that would make my due date March 1 but I won't change anything, might as well stick with march 2. I saw legs , arms, hands, head, eyes, heart ,you know. Everything was there. I'll find out for sure from the Dr. next week.
We told the lady that we didn't want to know the gender but she immediately said " I accidentally saw the gender" and referred to the baby as "he " throughout the entire scan. Whe I complained ( after correcting her several times) she said that she calls every baby "he". Somehow I don't quite believe it. We got a pic that seems to show the genitals in full glory. Why the hell would she do that???
Tomorrow I am bringing the pic back and will ask someone there what exactly i see in the pic. If they say it's what i think i am going to complain. This is my last baby and David and I really wanted a surprise!! Now we know it's a boy.

Am I upset because I was secretly hoping for a girl and I am disappointed? I don't know. I actually DO feel a little sad even though i told everyone I really wanted a boy. Now I will never have a daughter. I feel like I should just be happy that it's growing and healthy. Pretty shallow,I know.

Seth's Two!

One...Two...three... that's about as high as he can count these days. He will count just about anything but if you ask him how old he is he doesn't know. Eh, He'll catch on eventually.
We had an awesome party and my mom's house. Mom and Jack, David, Fonda, Jason, Amber, Mamaw, Dad, Sean and Heather were all there. Dad had forgotten but I called to remind him and he came right over. Sean and Heather got there late as well but the important thing was they were there.
Seth got alot of neat stuff, a couple trucks, some clothes, some art stuff and coloring books, a tricycle from David and I. So far he's been having a blast with everything. Oh, and we had tons of food. It was great! Seth ate alot more than he usually does for lunch and he really enjoyed the cake. It was a Publix cake with the "Cars" theme ( "Cars" is Seth's new obsession..the movie not neccisarily ANY car) Seth immediately stuck his fingers in the frosting. We all sang "Happy Birthday" and Seth just beamed! He was absolutely thrilled when evryone was singing! When we clapped he clapped also. We've been trying to teach him the birthday song for a month now so he was quite familiar with it but I didn't expect him to be sooo excited when we sang it.
Then we all hang out in Mom's back yard while Seth ran around getting good and dirty. We all had a good time but when we got home I could tell Seth was exhausted..and so was I.
I can't believe I am the mom of a two year old. And I wouldn't want it any other way..

chicken tenders, deviled eggs, cookies..

assorted veggies with ranch dip and fruit. Oh, and of course, cake. That is the menu for Seth's birthday party. Yum yum. Now I just have to get a birthday present for him. Probably Friday when David gets paid...godness knows, there isn't much $ left after buying all the groceries! I can't believe what we've spent! A lot less than other people, I'm sure, but a 2nd birthday only comes around once and everyone loves an excuse for family to get together and EAT! At least my family..oddly enough we are a thin bunch but we sure like food! Saturday should be loads of fun.

Seth loves halloween decorations.

Maybe because he was born in the month of Halloween, maybe because his Dad loves halloween so much, in any case: let me tell a cute story.
We have a plastic light-up jack-o-lantern and a rubbery light-up skull we set on the table in front of the front window at Halloween. Seth calls the skull " Scary guy" and the pumpkin " scary pumpkin". So he is fascinated by the two objects. He turns the skull to the pumpkin and says " hi scary pumpkin" then turns the pumpkin to the skull ans says " hi scary guy". This conversation goes on and on without much variation. I think it's pretty cute.
Every time we are at the store and he sees a ghoulish Halloween decoration it's always " Scary guy" But he isn't scared really. More fascinated.
This halloween will be loads of fun, I can tell.

Seth's birthday is getting closer..

I ordered a cool cake from Publix and invited all kinds of family, we got party plates and cups. I just need to get birthday presents. I can't believe my boy will be 2, time is going so fast!
I can't believe that my boy has gone from the crankiest non sleeping little baby to the happiest, most pleasant, excellent sleeping boy. I keep wondering when the terrible twos kick in because right now he is super cute. He didn't get any of our moodiness, thank God!