SPRING!!!

Friday morning when she woke up Sammy asked Daddy if we could go to the park after work. We didn't make it Friday night but Saturday morning it was beautiful so after Daddy got back from his flight lesson we went to the park. Sammy was a little anxious at first but then she realized she could do it on her own this year. She ran around--up the stairs and over the bridge and down the slide--about 100 times before we finally got her to leave.

Giving Daddy a High Five on her way by. She even went up the rope ladder by herself!

Spinning with Mommy.

Sammy tried her Barbie Jeep for the first time and it actually scarred her. First she said.. wow Cool.. this is awesome.. but then she didn't like making it go. She is definitely my cautious first child!

Sammy also FINALLY peddled all by herself on her little bike! She was so excited she did it!

Sammy wanted Daddy in her house with her so Andy got in. She definitely knows she has Daddy wrapped around that little finger.

This weekend Sammy's new phrase was saying things aren't cooperating with her--her sunglasses, her pillow, and even her stuffed dogs... the things they pick up.

Update on Baby Girl #2

Last week I had an ultrasound for my low-lying placenta on Tuesday, appointment with the dietitian on Wed and my regular check-up on Thursday.

I never had to have an ultrasound this late in the pregnancy with Samantha so it was really neat to see the facial features so obvious and the movements so "real". Her profile came up on the screen and Andy said oh boy I think she has an Anderson nose... It was definitely prominent and very pointy but I can't blame that all on the Anderson side. I haven't scanned the pictures in yet so I can't post it yet.
The ultrasound showed that I have 5cm of space between my placenta and my cervix. I am not sure what that really means but my doctor said that is plenty of space...

The diabetes is frustrating at times but I think an overall blessing. I have lost 4.5 pounds in about a week and half and my legs haven't hurt as much. I am testing my blood 4 times a day but things have been ok. The dietitian actually told me I need to be eating a little more than what I have been and make sure I get some more protein and fats actually. That was weird for me and being so used to my diet on Weight Watchers all these years.

My doctors appointment went good and she was happy with my numbers so far on my diabetes testing.

Since last weekend I have had a bit of tightening and weird pains but I am assuming it is just part of the territory. I have been a little stressed again over things at work and trying to get our house back together after our siding, roof, and door projects and getting Sammy's big girl room figured out... A lot to get done in 9 weeks... it is going to be here before we know it! We finally found a dresser and some shelves for Sammy but now we have to pick out paint and get all my stuff cleaned out of the guest room...

We still haven't agreed on a name at all. We keep trying to talk about it but it is hard to take the time to do that these days. #2 is so different than planning for #1.

Mommy Daughter Day

I had to work from home on a Friday about a week ago and I had to snap a few photos of my Princess Ballerina while she danced and watched her beloved Princesses.

She had a pajama day and I let her have the Cheetos the Easter Bunny brought her for snack.

Sammy looks a little possessed in this picture but she didn't know what to do with all the cheesy mess on her hands.

Easter

You gotta love the great flannel nightgown and the bad morning hair!
My peanut had a great time today for Easter!


Today's weather did not cooperate with wearing fun spring dresses so we opted for the warmer pretty dress. She looked like such a doll! Ms. Jill even told her that she looked like Belle when we were at church. Sammy loved that!

Her new phrase--as you can see-- is OH PICKLES...



The Easter Bunny is a girl according to Sammy and Sammy was so excited that the Bunny ate the carrot she left out for her.

Sammy got a balsa wood airplane in her basket and Daddy and Sammy took it outside to fly it.



Sammy really got good at flying it!

Easter Dinner at Nana's. I had to be careful with what I ate. Sammy only ate Mashed potatoes and 2 little pieces of ham... and of course chocolate, cake and jell-o.
She is also figuring out that I have to watch what I eat and why and now asks me if we can save the candy or any sweets until Miss Lady (her baby sister) comes out of My belly so I can eat it then. She is so cute... I know I am biased.

This is not the prettiest pciture of me but I thought Andy and Sammy looked good.

Continuous Pregnancy fun! & other stories 3/8-3/23

It is so crazy how your body can react so differently to the second pregnancy.
So after the blood clot ordeal last week I was hoping for a few weeks of normalcy... So Monday I was scheduled for my standard glucose test so I went to the lab and drank the oh so yummy fruit punch flavored glucose syrup and sat for the hour and then they took my blood with no problem. Sometimes my veins don't cooperate but this time it was fine... good. I thought OK check that off the list.

Tuesday came and the doctors office called and told me that I had failed the test... All I could think was now what? That day too I think the baby turned head down and I was so excited at how much she was moving... I think she may be my gymnast... at times my belly seems to actually shake. Sammy took ice cream, party favors and princess crowns to her friends at daycare and had so much fun for her birthday celebration!

Wed. was Sammy's actual birthday so she got to open her presents from Mommy and Daddy and was so cute. She saw the pile and said "wow all this"! And she would open a gift and say wow Awesome. She is such a big girl! And my Lttle Mermaid and Flounder Fan.

So anyway--after much confusion on Thursday and having to fast for almost 14 hours I ended up at Quest Labs yet again on Friday morning for the 3 hour glucose test. At least this time they had the orange flavored stuff! And even having to be stuck 5 times didn't seem that bad.

We then had a great weekend celebrating St. Patrick's Day at Aunt Janet's and seeing Dave and Liz for their shower.

On Monday I called the doctor's office and all they could tell me was that my results were abnormal.... what does that mean? They said just come in on Thursday for your already scheduled check up appointment and you can go over the results then... Well I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do but Andy and I both researched a little on the Internet but still had no idea what to expect. Of course I then took it upon myself to act as if it was my last week of being able to eat sweets and bread! We even went to Cold Stone on Wed.

Also on Monday I went to Dinner by Design with a few friends and had a great time! ..and the food so far has been good..

So this post is getting so long but the end result is that yes on Thursday at my appointment the doctor told me I have gestational diabetes.... My results were terrible from the 3 hour test. She gave me the little testing device and explained I have to test my blood 4 times a day. So far I have actually done pretty good. It is like being on weight watchers again but with no NutraSweet and no watermelon.. I have loved watermelon this pregnancy. I meet with the nutritionist in a week and hopefully I will be able to control it with my diet and not have to have insulin. Everything else was great at my appointment and I am actually measuring a cm behind and the baby doesn't seem to be too big yet from the diabetes. I will have an ultraound in a few weeks for my earlier low lying placenta issue and then starting at 34 weeks I will have to go for stress testing due to the diabetes. Maybe this is actually a good thing for my body and controlling my weight gain! : )

Sammy's 3rd Birthday

Samantha had decided a few months ago that she wanted a Princess Cake like the one we see at the grocery store every week. So this chose the theme for this year's birthday gathering! Samantha loves the Little Mermaid but I didn't think she was old enough to be wearing shells so I "convinced' her that she wanted to dress up like Belle for her party! And Belle has brown hair so I have always favored her a bit.

My Mom started the adventure about 2 weeks ago of creating the perfect Belle dress for Samantha.

I decided I could handle the cake. 2 years ago I had made a small princess cake for my niece Brooke for her birthday so I thought I can handle the bigger version. I had always heard you could make it in the Pampered Chef Large Batter Bowl. Andy helped me mix the cake and Amy and I watched it bubble over in the oven--Cause Andy and I decided one cake mix didn't look like enough....

Then I had the task of decorating the Princess Cake.

It ended up pretty good but there is a lot of frosting holding that skirt together! As I realized the doll was much taller then the cake I tried putting her in at an angle...and the cake started to split. Sammy loved it and that is all that matters.

We decided to have just a small family gathering and Cousin Brooke and 'cousin' Charlotte joined Sammy dressing up as Princesses.

We made a craft....

And the girls danced to Princess Songs....

Cake time!

Opened presents...

She loves flounder!

And Sammy has already been outside playing in her new playhouse. Yes Andy built it already and let her go out in the 20 degree weather to play in it.

Samantha was practicing being a big sister trying to get Garrett not to cry by rocking him. I realized also that she was trying to feed him the pretend cake from her new my little pony..

Pregnancy Fun...

I had been a little worn out this week with Andy traveling for work. Sammy was a pretty good for me until Wednesday when she had a complete meltdown at Subway while I was trying to order food for her birthday party. This was quiet difficult for me when I really am not supposed to be carrying her all that much. It was a classic kicking and screaming throwing herself on the ground and giving Mommy the hand. She finally calmed down in the car ride home but I made sure she told Daddy what she had done when we got home and poor Andy had just gotten home from his trip... she looked at me and said I just want to say sorry for fits... I wouldn't budge and I made her tell Andy. She put her head down and told him. It was hard--I was so tired and cranky.

Anyway Friday morning Andy had to travel again so when I got up he was already gone and I felt horrible. I knew I had to go to work but Sammy had been running a slight fever Thursday afternoon and I just wanted to stay home. My left leg was really swollen and hurting me pretty bad. I have had swelling on and off for a while and I thought maybe I just needed some water. That didn't help. When I got to work the pain wouldn't stop and I decided to call the doctor. I got an appointment that afternoon. I went home from work about 1 and tried to elevate my leg while I worked from home. I got to the doctor and she was surprised to see me and when I started telling her my symptoms she was very concerned about blood clots so she immediately tried getting me in at the hospital for a leg scan. After 3 Adventist hospitals couldn't take me I finally got a 9 PM appointment at the Edwards Hospital Outpatient facility in Plainfield. She thought it was possibly just my varicose veins irritating me but especially with me being pregnant she had to rule out clots. So the rest of the evening was a little emotional. I had had such a bad week at work and was single parenting it pretty much all week that I was so emotional.. I broke down crying about 5 times on Friday--even once at work.
Well the facility in Plainfield is amazing. It was very nice and the people were great. When the ultrasound leg scan started it made a loud sound and the baby kicked me so hard! They did not find a clot so now we are going with just varicose vein issues. I am so thrilled by the fact that I will have to wear those torture champer compression hose. My doctor was saying that the problems may get worse as I progress in my pregnancy...and that I had some time to go...Another chapter in the I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect pregnancy story...
And on top of it all I had no time all week to do anything really for Sam's party so I over did it on Saturday and was so sore last night and I think I am coming down with a cold.....
On a good note we had a great party for Sammy --I will post that later today.
Also the baby has been MOVING so much! We watched my whole belly move today!