Cashman has been a busy bee these days. Colt has had several days off this week, and the week before last, so we've gone on a bunch of really fun excursions!
This week we hit up Busch Gardens. We bought Fun Cards, and have been using them almost weekly. Cash loves to look at the animals, walk around the park, and push the stroller. His favorite BG activitiy is the kid's water play area in the Sesame Street section. He is a social butterfly. He loves to scout out the pretty little girls and swoop in and make his move. It's so funny to watch because he couldn't care less about playing with the boys. He's all about charming the ladies. This week, he made friends with an older woman...a 4 year old. She was really sweet and would hold his hand and take him around to different parts of the water fountains. We were walking along with them of course. I love it when he plays nicely with other kids. Our first few times out in public, or on playdates, he would hit or try to bite etc. Now, I can see that he is starting to learn to share, and hasn't tried to hit or bite any other kids in a while (not to say that he won't ever again).
Lately, it seems like he's gone through anoter personality explosion. He is learning new things seemingly everyday. His vocabulary has expanded drastically. He is saying or has said, "Mama", "Daddy" (instead of Da-Da), "Dog", "Moon", "Water", "Oh Wow!", "Bath", "Bible", "Diaper", "Moe", "Hot", "Bye-Bye", "Hi", "No", "Kiss", "Mop", "Nose", "Eyes", "Kiss", "Beck" (for Beckett) and tonight he said, "I love you". Of course, getting him to say these things in front of people is another story. He says about 8 of those words all the time.
I was just telling Colt how crazy it is that he understands everything now. I can ask him if he wants to play outside and he'll run to the patio door. I'll ask him if he wants to smell his stinky feet, and he'll pull off his shoes and smell his toes! Haha! There are not many things he can't understand anymore. He loves to grab the remote control and point it at the TV. The other day, he climbed up in the chair in our family room, got cozy, grabbed the remote control and started changing channels!!! He LOVES to dance. I mean LOVES to dance. A few days ago I was coming out of the shower, and Colt was in the living room with Cash, playing the new Paul Simon album. Cash was standing in the middle of the family room, in his diaper, shaking his little rear end all over the place. Not only was his rear end shaking, but he was doing this little dance with his shoulders and head too. His whole body was groovin'. He loves all different kids of music, and responds to it everywhere. We were in the mall the other day, and the janitor was passing by us. His cart with his cleaning supplies was going over the tiles making a, "Thump, thump, thump, thump," noise. Cash immediately noticed it, pointed to it, and started dancing. He hears music in everything. He loves to play the harmonica (if you haven't seen it, check out my video on our family youtube page--link at the bottom of this post), the piano, guitar, banjo, mandolin, kazoo, recorder, and any other instrument that he can get his hands on, which is a lot around our house. Of course, I'm not claiming that he can actually play them well, but he knows how to make a sound come out of all of the instruments. He even knows when Mama has had enough of listening to the instruments because he can put his adorable little pointer finger up to his mouth and say, "Shhh!"
His bedtime routine has become a dream. I nurse for a few minutes, he gives Daddy a kiss, we go in his room for prayers, I give him a kiss and nuzzle him for a few seconds next to his crib, I turn on his monkey crib soother thing, lay him down, and he rubs the top of his head, and drifts off to sleep. Even if he doesn't go to sleep right away, he lays there and looks around his room until he does. Its a far cry from where we were a few months ago. Naptime is a breeze too. Same sort of thing.
Eating is a whole other monster. He eats a good amount of food, but our problem is, he forgets what he likes and doesn't like, or perhaps sometimes he just isn't in the mood for some foods. There isn't a lot of things that he doesn't like, but on any given day he could just not be in the mood for it. For instance, a few mornings ago I made him 3 scrambled eggs. He ate almost all of them and kept saying "Mmmm," as he ate. Today, I tried to feed him a bite of my scrambled eggs, and he spit them out onto the floor. Needless to say, it can get really old making a nutritious lunch that I think he'll like, and he refuses to eat it. The one thing he'll always eat is a peanut butter sandwich. I TRY to stick to a nutritious diet. In the morning I give him carbs, which is usually Quaker Oatmeal, and he'll eat a full size bowl (two packets) of that with his Almond Milk. For lunch I try to give him a protein and fruit which is usually an organic peanut butter sandwich and an orange, apple or pear with Almond Milk or fruit juice. For dinner it just depends on where we are. I try to stick to a protein and vegetable. If the boy sees a french fry on anyone's plate...its all over. He will only want french fries, so Colt and I both have to be cautious about ordering them.
For playtime, Cash enjoys "cleaning". He has a toy dirt devil vacuum and a broom that he loves to drag around with him. He also loves to play outside, although the mosquitos have gotten so bad in our backyard that we have to bathe him in bug spray before going out there. He also loves pushing his wagon, and smart trike. Mostly, he just loves exploring. He doesn't need a toy to have fun, he'd just rather explore his surroundings.
Colt and I always seem to say to each other, "This is the best stage," and then he does something new, to which we say, "THIS is the best stage." Everyday with Cash gets better and better. We are so blessed to be his parents.
Our Family YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/CACFamily
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
And he will be called...
Seventeen weeks! How did that happen so fast! Time flies when you're running around like a headless chicken I suppose. I have a lot to update on, and serious lack of motivation considering all the other things I have on my to do list today. It'll be worth it when its finished!
So a few weeks ago we went for an ultrasound at Pregnancy Treasures. I'll start there! At 15 weeks, Colt and I decided that we would go to find out the gender of this baby. I have been dying to know ever since we found out I was pregnant. My friend from high school, Taylor was our ultrasound tech. We met my parents and sister, and Colt's parents at the u/s center. When I first got settled on the table, and the baby's little body appeared on the big screen, it was pretty surreal. This pregnancy has been different than the one with Cash, in that, after my few weeks of severe morning sickness, I haven't really had many overtly obvious symptoms. Its easy to forget you're pregnant when you're chasing after a toddler all day. You also have a lot less time to analyze every "symptom" when you're so busy. Anyway, it was so good to see the baby in there, happy and moving around. The first view that we got was overhead. We could see the top of the head looking down on the body. The baby was being very stubborn and wouldn't move from that position. After a few more minutes of looking at the baby from that view and a few more viewpoints, I leaned over to my friend, Taylor and said, "I don't see a penis, do you?" "Nope," she said! "Its a girl," I yelled over to the family watching the screen in the next room. For the next ten minutes, we looked at "her" body parts to make sure everything was in place. Just as we were about to pack it up, Taylor said she was going to call the other ultrasound tech in for a second opinion to confirm the gender. She instructed us not to tell the other technician what we thought it was so she could give an unbiased opinion. The second tech sat down in the chair and started moving the wand around on my belly. All of the sudden the baby started to move around. It started moving from the sitting position that it was in until his little rear end was right in front of the screen. As soon as I saw its little bottom, I knew! The technicians started whispering back and forth. "We have a difference of opinion". "You think its a boy?" I said. "I didn't say that," she said. "Well I know Taylor thought it was a girl, so I'm guessing you think it is a boy," I chuckled. As soon as we got that rear end angle in clear view, no one in the room was disputing the fact that he was all boy. "Nevermind! Its a BOY!" I yelled to the other room! I was so excited that Cash was going to get a little brother to pal around with. Not to mention, it was a big relief to Colt! Of course, one day we would love to have a girl, but upon getting the first results of a daughter, he said, "Yay, a girl," and sat down on the couch in silence. He said he hopes to have a girl one day, but after hearing the news, all he could think about was dating, boyfriends, modesty, and all the other issues that come with having a daughter. Hearing that he was going to have another son was a big relief! Maybe in a few years he'll be ready for a girl. Haha! We left the ultrasound center and headed to Chipotle for dinner with my family. We will confirm our newest little man's manhood in a few weeks at our 20 week ultrasound, but the tech said she was basically 100% sure.
Now, at 17 weeks, I am in the fun part of pregnancy. I started to feel that "rolling" movement (feels like the baby is doing somersaults in the womb) around 13 weeks, but it wasn't until 16 1/2 weeks that I was SURE I was feeling kicks. Now I feel him kick everyday. He loves to kick Cash when he is nursing at night before bedtime. Brothers...already fighting for Mama's attention! I think I have gained about 6 pounds by now, although I'm not sure! The only scale I trust is my doctor's scale. I have my next appointment on Monday, so I'll know for sure by then. Now, onto the name. Colt and I have gone back and forth about what to name this boy. I had a list of names that I liked, and Colt shot them down one by one. With Cash, I knew what I wanted to name him before I got pregnant, and we agreed on it pretty easily. This time, it took many hours of scouring the internet for the perfect name. I wanted something that sounded kind of country, like Cash. Just a tip, if you type in "western baby names", "country baby names", "cowboy baby names" or the like, you'll pretty much get the same list over and over again. After long deliberation, we have decided to name our second son, Beckett Jameson Clark. Jameson is after my father and brother, both named Brian James Perconti. I also like it because Cash's middle name is Anderson, so we'll have Cash Anderson and Beckett Jameson. Anderson is a family name on Colt's side, and Jameson is a family name on mine. Beckett was just a name I came across in my quest for the perfect baby name. So we'll have two C's (Colt & Cash), an A an a B. Sounds like an average report card. Haha!
So there it is! I will update more as there is more to update. Thanks so much for reading!
So a few weeks ago we went for an ultrasound at Pregnancy Treasures. I'll start there! At 15 weeks, Colt and I decided that we would go to find out the gender of this baby. I have been dying to know ever since we found out I was pregnant. My friend from high school, Taylor was our ultrasound tech. We met my parents and sister, and Colt's parents at the u/s center. When I first got settled on the table, and the baby's little body appeared on the big screen, it was pretty surreal. This pregnancy has been different than the one with Cash, in that, after my few weeks of severe morning sickness, I haven't really had many overtly obvious symptoms. Its easy to forget you're pregnant when you're chasing after a toddler all day. You also have a lot less time to analyze every "symptom" when you're so busy. Anyway, it was so good to see the baby in there, happy and moving around. The first view that we got was overhead. We could see the top of the head looking down on the body. The baby was being very stubborn and wouldn't move from that position. After a few more minutes of looking at the baby from that view and a few more viewpoints, I leaned over to my friend, Taylor and said, "I don't see a penis, do you?" "Nope," she said! "Its a girl," I yelled over to the family watching the screen in the next room. For the next ten minutes, we looked at "her" body parts to make sure everything was in place. Just as we were about to pack it up, Taylor said she was going to call the other ultrasound tech in for a second opinion to confirm the gender. She instructed us not to tell the other technician what we thought it was so she could give an unbiased opinion. The second tech sat down in the chair and started moving the wand around on my belly. All of the sudden the baby started to move around. It started moving from the sitting position that it was in until his little rear end was right in front of the screen. As soon as I saw its little bottom, I knew! The technicians started whispering back and forth. "We have a difference of opinion". "You think its a boy?" I said. "I didn't say that," she said. "Well I know Taylor thought it was a girl, so I'm guessing you think it is a boy," I chuckled. As soon as we got that rear end angle in clear view, no one in the room was disputing the fact that he was all boy. "Nevermind! Its a BOY!" I yelled to the other room! I was so excited that Cash was going to get a little brother to pal around with. Not to mention, it was a big relief to Colt! Of course, one day we would love to have a girl, but upon getting the first results of a daughter, he said, "Yay, a girl," and sat down on the couch in silence. He said he hopes to have a girl one day, but after hearing the news, all he could think about was dating, boyfriends, modesty, and all the other issues that come with having a daughter. Hearing that he was going to have another son was a big relief! Maybe in a few years he'll be ready for a girl. Haha! We left the ultrasound center and headed to Chipotle for dinner with my family. We will confirm our newest little man's manhood in a few weeks at our 20 week ultrasound, but the tech said she was basically 100% sure.
Now, at 17 weeks, I am in the fun part of pregnancy. I started to feel that "rolling" movement (feels like the baby is doing somersaults in the womb) around 13 weeks, but it wasn't until 16 1/2 weeks that I was SURE I was feeling kicks. Now I feel him kick everyday. He loves to kick Cash when he is nursing at night before bedtime. Brothers...already fighting for Mama's attention! I think I have gained about 6 pounds by now, although I'm not sure! The only scale I trust is my doctor's scale. I have my next appointment on Monday, so I'll know for sure by then. Now, onto the name. Colt and I have gone back and forth about what to name this boy. I had a list of names that I liked, and Colt shot them down one by one. With Cash, I knew what I wanted to name him before I got pregnant, and we agreed on it pretty easily. This time, it took many hours of scouring the internet for the perfect name. I wanted something that sounded kind of country, like Cash. Just a tip, if you type in "western baby names", "country baby names", "cowboy baby names" or the like, you'll pretty much get the same list over and over again. After long deliberation, we have decided to name our second son, Beckett Jameson Clark. Jameson is after my father and brother, both named Brian James Perconti. I also like it because Cash's middle name is Anderson, so we'll have Cash Anderson and Beckett Jameson. Anderson is a family name on Colt's side, and Jameson is a family name on mine. Beckett was just a name I came across in my quest for the perfect baby name. So we'll have two C's (Colt & Cash), an A an a B. Sounds like an average report card. Haha!
So there it is! I will update more as there is more to update. Thanks so much for reading!
Monday, March 28, 2011
My Big Boy
Tonight we bought Cash a lamp. Its a very special lamp. Not only was it on sale for $4.25, but it is the first piece of decor that we have purchased for his new "big boy" room. When we got home, for lack of a better place to put it at the moment, I sat it down on an end table. Throughout the night, I have peered over at it in emotional turmoil. Happy, because its a cute lamp that will match the bedspread I have picked out for his new "big boy bed" perfectly, and it was less than five dollars. Saddened, because it represents my baby growing up. He will be leaving behind his safari themed nursery. He'll leave behind the crib that has slept him so soundly (most nights). He'll leave behind the rocking chair that I was rocked in as a baby. All of these things will go to his brother. He moves on. I guess that's the name of the game. Mama warned me about this happening one day. Not long ago we talked about this very thing. She said, as you watch your kids age and welcome new phases of life, the phases become increasingly more difficult for the parents to reconcile. It wasn't that long ago that the task of moving Cash into his bedroom was so daunting to me. I had slept, literally nose to nose with that little baby from birth until he was nine months old. If it hadn't become so uncomfortable for him and I both, I think he would still be sleeping next to me to this day. I loved those nights of being able to cuddle, and nuzzle him to sleep. I hated, HATED the thought of him sleeping all the way across the house. Slumbering in his little room that I had spent months decorating. He would be in the dark. All alone. Eventually, after realizing that it was what was best for him, we made the transition. It turned out to be very easy for him. Easy FOR HIM. I still pray everynight that Cash will be safe sleeping in his room, "all the way across the house". Verbatim. It wasn't too long ago that we crossed that bridge. Now we are getting ready to move him once again. Its a bigger room, for a bigger boy. It won't be a nursery. There won't be a changing table. There will be a full size bed, and bookcases to store his big boy toys, leaving room in the toy chest for his brother's baby toys, which once belonged to him. It occurs to me more and more as Cash grows how much of a privilege raising children is. There are so many emotions that surface, some you never even knew you had, when you have a child. There have been many times over these last 14 1/2 months that I have thought to myself, "Wow, now I know what my mother meant," or "I wonder how my mother felt when she was going through that,". One of the great things about being a mother, is being able to see things through her eyes. The same thing goes for my mother-in-law. I couldn't have been more blessed when it comes to my mother, or mother-in-law. I would love for Cash and I to have the relationship that Colt and his mother have. Of course, I'd prefer it if Cash never marries, and lives in his big boy room, unchanged, forever. Kidding of course. Yeah...pretty sure I'm kidding. I'm sure glad Sharon didn't keep Colt all to herself, or I wouldn't have met my perfect match. I would have been matchless. I'm sure they'll come a day where I have to give Cash wings to fly out on his own. Today, I'm having a hard enough time giving him the guest room. All in good time I suppose. This wasn't intended to be a sappy post when I began. This blog is very therapeutic to me sometimes. Sometimes, its a chore, although a chore I'm happy for when I look back on my weekly posts from my pregnancy with Cash. Today, it was therapeutic. Wish me luck readers. I will post some pictures of the new room when its completed. As for a quick update on Cashman... New obsessions: Trying to gross me out by putting his feet in his mouth, as I say "SHOOOEY!" Biting everything. Throwing temper tantrums occasionally. STILL loves the dog bowls. He loves to dance, and shake his head "yes" and "no" when you ask him a question. Eating Habits: He has become a very picky eater. He eats oatmeal for breakfast every morning and refuses anything other than a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. Dinner can vary, but he'd prefer some sauteed zucchini and long grain wild rice. He won't eat meat unless I find some way to hide it in his other food. He is still drinking Almond Milk, which I recently found out has double the calcium per cup than a cup of cow's milk has! Sleeping Habits: Just in the last few weeks, I have been able to nurse him before bed, have Colt and I say a prayer with him, walk him in his bedroom, turn on his sound machine, lay him down, and he goes right to sleep. SUBLIME! Its the same for naptime except I don't do the nursing or prayers. He goes down at night between 9 and 11pm, usually averaging out at 10, and wakes up between 8:30 and 10:30am. Thanks for reading everyone! More pregnancy updates to follow!
Monday, March 7, 2011
The First Trimester & a Cashman Update
January 15th: 6 weeks, 2 days
I am so mad right now! I have been taking daily notes of how I'm feeling each day and I must've accidentally pressed a button, because before I even knew what happened, I had highlighted all the text and deleted it, never to be recovered. Well I'll try to remember what I wrote. The main jist of it was that I have been having one episode of nausea per day for the last few days, but nothing that has lasted more than 3o minutes and nothing that has been to terrible. I got sick on Sunday (the 9th) after lunch, but I think it had more to do with the food than the hormones...who knows! I'm 6 weeks 2 days now (unofficially since I haven't seen the doctor yet), but I have been feeling pretty good. By this time during my last pregnancy, I was having serious nausea episodes and some throwing up. By 7 weeks last time, I was a mess. The only thing that I have noticed this time is that I'm very tired most of the time. Whether I've had 5 hours of sleep or 8 hours of sleep, I'm pretty fatigued. I started noticing yesterday that my pants aren't fitting the same! Everyone says that you start bloating/showing earlier with your second, but I didn't think I'd have to start thinking about maternity clothes this early. I'm still in my regular clothes for now, but they are starting to get a little bit more snug in the waist than they were last week. I started showing earlier than most people last time, so I can't imagine how big I'm going to get this time! Also, right after I found out I was pregnant last time, my face was broken out really bad, and continued to be for a few weeks. This time my skin has been very clear. I remember craving lots of vinegar and salt last time, and so far, I've been craving sweet things and carbs. Every pregnancy is different, right! Anyway, so far so good. I can't complain! Hopefully I won't delete this post in the future.
January 17th: 6 weeks, 4 days
I am writing this at 12:46am, so technically its Monday the 17th, but this post is about Sunday. I remember that Sundays were always my "most sick days" with Cash because of the lack of sleep I always got the night before. Colt and I stay up late, and even with attempts to go to bed early on Saturday nights, my body clock was off and I couldn't sleep. I would get very little sleep, and be very nauseated the next day. Today, I woke up thinking that now that I'm 6 weeks, and it was a Sunday, I would probably be nauseated. I armed myself with a bag full of peppermints and preggie pops. Thankfully I didn't need them, other than a peppermint to freshen my coffee breath! :) I'm still not feeling sick. Like I said before, I have tiny little episodes that last no more than a half hour, and then I'm fine, but its NOTHING like last time. Tonight (Sunday night), I have been CRAVING carbs. Well actually, I've been craving carbs for several days now. In the last few days, I have eaten about 3/4 of a box of whole grain bowtie pasta. I am justifying it by reminding myself that it is whole grain. Whatever, I don't care. I am eating for three since I am still nursing Cash 3-5 times a day. Anyway, I'm still feeling good! Also, I seem to be smelling everything during this pregnancy. Way more than I did with Cash. Everyone said your sense of smell is heightened during pregnancy but I never noticed when I was pregnant with Cash. This time, I can tell a difference. I loved the title of a post from one of the girl's on my pregnancy website that was entitled, "The Whole World Smells Like Dog Poop". While I don't share that opinion, I still found it amusing. I can't wait for Tuesday's ultrasound!
January 24: 6 weeks, 4 days (to be explained)
Tuesday of this week, what I thought was 6 weeks, 5 days, was a crazy day. I begged my mom to schedule an appointment with the ultrasound tech at her office so we could see the heartbeat. She was hesitant, because we didn't really know how far along I was, and she didn't want to schedule us to early, in case we couldn't see anything, and that would freak us out. I drove her crazy until she finally agreed. With Cash, I was able to see him and the heartbeat by 6 weeks 6 days, so I thought we'd be ok this time too. The ultrasound tech was not the same woman that gave us ultrasounds with Cash. This girl was so sweet, but had never done an OB ultrasound before. She specialized in cardiac and vein ultrasounds but she said she'd try her best. We came in on Tuesday, and I laid on the table,excited to see that little grain of rice! We looked and looked for about 20 minutes but we couldn't see anything or hear anything. Of course, after we left, we were a little bit freaked out. I called my doctor and left a message with the OB nurse as soon as we left. It was about 2:30pm, so I thought I'd hear back by the end of the day, but no such luck. I woke up around 9 the following day and tried to call again. "You've reached The Women's Group answering service..." WHAT!?! Of course, the one day I actually need them to be open, they are closed all day for meetings. That was a long day. Finally I got a call back the next morning and they scheduled me for an ultrasound on Friday. I was really nervous Friday morning getting ready. Finally we got there and I hopped up on the table. Even with all the drama, I knew everything would be ok. I wasn't even THAT worried. I just had a feeling everything was alright. Sure enough, she did the ultrasound and we were able to see the baby, and the heartbeat. It was 120 beats per minute. She measured the baby, and I was actually only 6 weeks, 1 day! That was exactly a week behind what I thought. That means we found out that we were pregnant at about 3 weeks and a few days! Same with Cash. That's great because it probably means I have really good hormone levels, but those hormones sure do make you sick sometimes! I got sick twice today. I hope this is not a pattern that's going to form. Although, I was pretty sick with Cashman, and it was beyond worth it! Anyway, it is now Sunday night (Monday morning) at 1am, and I am 6 weeks 4 days (if you count it as Monday). I'll update more later!
February 4th : 8 weeks, 1 day
OOPS! I didn't realize I have completely skipped over week 7. Well I think it could be summed up as "starting to get sick". I spent a lot of week 7 feeling very queasy, althought not as bad as how sick I was with Cash. This seems to be manageable most of the time. I have been eating Preggie Pops like candy...well they kind of are. Those seem to help. Peppermints were the only thing I could stomach when I was pregnant with Cash to keep the nausea at bay, but now thinking of a peppermint makes me sick. So yes, week 7...sick!
The beginning of this week (8 weeks as of yesterday) feels a lot like week 7. I have been feeling pretty good most of the time, but I have my moments of "UGH!". For instance, today I asked Colt to get me some french fries at Burger King, (which is completely evil of me to begin with since he has been doing so good with eating really healthy), and I scarfed them down when he brought them home. We met again about 30 minutes later when I violently threw them up. I seem to be ok if I can eat every few hours. If I haven't eaten in a while, and I'm starting to get hungry, I get really sick. With Cash, I was sick pretty much all the time, no matter what I did, so this is leaps and bounds better. One of the main problems is that nothing really sounds good to me. When something does sound good to me, I have to eat it, whatever it is, for the calories. As I've mentioned, I'm still breastfeeding Cash, so I need calories for him, calories for me and calories for this baby. That's a lot of calories! Hopefully the nausea will ease up over the next few weeks and I'll be able to eat more healthily. Although Cash was built on diet coke and pizza and he's the picture of health! :) I'll update more after my doctor's appointment on Monday. Talk to you soon!
February 14th: 9 weeks, 4 days
Well the end of my 8th week came and went, with a lot of drama. At 8 1/2 weeks the nausea hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn't eat anything, and I would have been throwing up constantly if it weren't for me sitting still, basically willing myself not to vomit. This lasted for several days before I called my doctor and asked for some medicine. She prescribed me Phenergan. I would only allow myself to take it if I REALLY needed it because I don't like the idea of taking medication in the first trimester if its not necessary. It became necessary. I tried it one day, and it made me feel like I was moving in slow motion. It did help with the nausea but it made me very tired. At my appointment on Monday the 7th, I explained that to my doctor and she prescribed me generic Zofran. It is a miracle drug! I felt 100% better after taking it, and the effects last for 8 hours. It is AMAZING! I have taken it a few times when necessary, and it has helped so much. The best part is, it is really safe!
My doctor's appointment was really uneventful. They did the normal tests, but the doctor said it was too early to try and use the doppler (I was 8 1/2 weeks). Basically they did the normal tests and told me to come back in 4 weeks.
Around the beginning of the 9th week, my nausea almost completely subsided. I had been praying and praying and praying that it would. I promised myself I would not worry about the sudden lack of nausea if it quickly went away, just as long as it went away. Now I am trying to live up to that. I still have many other pregnancy symptoms, like fatigue (not as bad as it was but still there), having to go #1 way more often, and all of the glorious tummy issues that go with pregnancy. I'm just glad I'm not so sick anymore.
I have been craving Mexican food a lot lately. I am still having aversions to coffee and meat which are normally two of my favorite things. Tonight, I had a really strong craving for my Pam Pam's hot blackberry cobbler with ice cream. Mmmmm! Currently, I am sitting on the couch, eating Gobstoppers that I made Colt stop and get for me, and waiting for Colt to start the Bachelor. :) Better run!
February 17th: 10 weeks
Today was a great day. Although I promised myself I wouldn't worry myself if the morning sickness went away (which I prayed and prayed and prayed for), once it went away, I did begin to start worrying a little bit. I was worried that my "sudden loss of morning sickness" could be an indicator of miscarriage, although there were no other signs of one. We had purchase our Baby Sounds fetal doppler off of Ebay around the end of my 8th week (I think), but I hadn't been able to pick up the heartbeat since we bought it. Of course, that only added to the worry. Tonight, I decided to try it again on a whim. I laid down on my bed, put the headphones on, and started moving the doppler over my belly. It took about 20 minutes, but there it was! It was ranging from the 130s to the 150s. I am so relieved I found a good, strong heartbeat, but I have to say, the best thing is I'M NOT SICK! I have a healthy baby, and I'm not sick! This was something I never experienced in my first trimester with Cash. I was sick as a dog until 12 weeks. God really answered my prayers and relieved me from the misery that is morning sickness! I really don't know how much longer I could have gone on with the constant nausea without having a major breakdown.
Another fun/silly thing I did today was take the Intelligender test. Yet another Ebay purchase. If you don't know what Intelligender is, I will try to give you a Reader's Digest description. It is a little test that can be purchased at Walgreens, CVS etc. It comes with a cup to collect your first morning urine, a syringe to extract the urine from the cup, and a jar with the company logo etc. The jar has some tiny, clear crystals at the bottom, with a sandy texture. One one side of the jar is a dark green sticker that says BOY and on the other side is a salmon pink sticker that says GIRL. Supposedly, by collecting your first morning urine, extracting it from the cup with the syringe, putting a urine sample in the jar with the stickers, and swirling the jar for ten seconds, the test can tell you within 80-90% certainty what the gender of your baby is, by 10 weeks into your pregnancy. Today was the beginning of my 10th week, so of course I had to try it. :) If your urine, mixed with the crystals in the jar turns green, its a boy. If it turns salmon pink, its a girl. Well ladies and...well hopefully only ladies on this post, my jar turned green. Which means, according to Intelligender, we're having another BOY! Of course, we aren't banking on this as we only really did it for fun. I have a friend that tried it with both of her kids. For her oldest daughter, it said she was going to have a girl and it was right. She is now pregnant again, and it said she was having a boy, but ultrasound confirmed that she is having another girl. Supposedly, if the test says you are having a girl, you most likely are, but if it says you are having a boy, there is still a chance you are having a girl. Who really knows though! All that being said, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have another boy. I would love to have a whole house full of boys. I was telling my friend earlier today, I love the idea of having a bunch of wild boys, terrorizing the neighborhood, one baseball through an upstairs window at a time! :) On the other hand, I would love to have a girl and watch Colt with a daughter. Its a win win for me! Just as long as he/she is not a democrat. ;)
More later!
March 7th: 13 weeks, 3 days
You may be wondering what happened to weeks 11 and 12. Well I have been super busy running around with Cash, and have had a ton of photo shoots lately! Business is booming! :) Not to mention, our laptop crashed last week. We got a new one today, and a pretty sweet wireless printer! Also, I was a little bit confused about my due date to begin with. My original due date was September 9th, but after our ultrasound at 6 weeks, I found out I was measuring about 6 days behind what I thought, so I started going by the ultrasound due date. At my last appointment, I asked the doctor about it, and she said to go by my original due date because ultrasounds aren't super reliable, and if its less than a week and a half difference, they go by the orignial due date. I wanted to ask why no one changed my due date when I was pregnant with Cash, and measuring 3 weeks ahead of schedule every time, but at this point it doesn't matter. Haha! I have my next appointment tomorrow. I don't think it will be very eventful. We opted not to get the down syndrome screening, so they won't be doing an ultrasound. I think they'll just listen to the heartbeat on the fetal doppler (which we have been doing at home with our own fetal doppler that we bought on ebay), and measure fundal height. BOOORING! Anyway, that's what's up. I'm going to make an appointment at Pregnancy Treasures for the 24th of March (if available), to find out the gender of the baby! We're really excited about that. Its amazing how many times a day I forget that I'm pregnant, and how much faster this pregnancy has flown by! I guess that's what happens when you're chasing a toddler all day! Speaking of my little sweetieface, I think I am going to start incorporating my posts about him into these pregnancy update posts to save me some time. He is moving a mile a minute now, and doing so many new things that keeping up with a blog soley about him would be a full time job.
Cashy boy is doing just great. I have been taking him to parks a lot, and letting him walk around. He is a great walker now, and enjoys performing his newly discovered skill. I would say he mastered walking by 13 months. They say the longer it takes a baby to walk, the more coordination they'll have because it takes more coordination to crawl than it does to walk. Who knows! I walked at 10 months and have very little coordination. He is still waving hi and by, and loves to blow kisses when people leave now. He is really attached to his Aunt Em. I think he has a crush on her. Haha! He loves to play outside every morning. He has a ton of trucks, wagons, and other fun toys on the porch, but he'd rather venture outside and just walk or crawl around in the dirt. We have a swing in our oak tree that he loves to go in, but Moe has taken to trying to attack his legs when he's swinging in it. Playfully of course. He is learning a lot about the trees and flowers and points at them all the time.He is OBSESSED with lights and loves to point at them. He loves to point at everything actually. That is his way of not having to say the word. Whenever he points, I say the word of whatever he's pointing at so he knows. I can see the wheels turning as he watches my mouth sound out the word. When I Was teaching him how to say "bath", I would say BA-TH. He has the "ba" part down, but when I Would sound out the "th" sound, I would stick my tounge out (sound out "th" and you'll see what I mean). He started saying, "ba" and then just sticking his tounge out. HAHA! He's the most entertaining person I've ever met. He loves to turn on and off light switches, and he has learned to climb up on the couch. Cashman has become quite the daredevil as he likes to stand on the back of the couch and bang on the french doors (very dangerous if you knew how the furniture was positioned). He gets a swat for that. I like him to let him explore though and try not to shelter him or prevent him from doing much. When he was first learning to climb off of our bed, I knew he would fall off eventually because he wasn't very good at it, but he wanted to try it. I let him try as I spotted him without touching him. I wanted him to get the feeling of falling, but not actually hurt himself. It seems to have worked because he is very careful now when he climbs off the bed. He has become a better listener in the past few weeks. He knows there are certain things which are off limits like the cable box and the cleaning cabinet. We don't have any baby proofing stuff around the house other than the outlet plugs. I want him to stay out of the cabinets because he knows he's not allowed in them, not because he can't open them. Now when he goes over to the cable box, he'll bend down, and look at it very closely, then look at me, and shake his head no. He's learning! I can't describe what a thrill it is to watch him learn new things everyday. He is really attached to his Daddy still and squeals with joy when Colt comes home. He stopped saying, "Mama" for a while, and I started to worry that he forgot how to say it. The morning that I really started thinking about that, is the morning he started saying it all the time again. I never tire of hearing him say it. He is the sweetest boy in the whole world and I love, LOVE being his Mama. I will try to update about him more often, but I would rather smooch on him than blog about him. :) Thanks for reading, guys!
I am so mad right now! I have been taking daily notes of how I'm feeling each day and I must've accidentally pressed a button, because before I even knew what happened, I had highlighted all the text and deleted it, never to be recovered. Well I'll try to remember what I wrote. The main jist of it was that I have been having one episode of nausea per day for the last few days, but nothing that has lasted more than 3o minutes and nothing that has been to terrible. I got sick on Sunday (the 9th) after lunch, but I think it had more to do with the food than the hormones...who knows! I'm 6 weeks 2 days now (unofficially since I haven't seen the doctor yet), but I have been feeling pretty good. By this time during my last pregnancy, I was having serious nausea episodes and some throwing up. By 7 weeks last time, I was a mess. The only thing that I have noticed this time is that I'm very tired most of the time. Whether I've had 5 hours of sleep or 8 hours of sleep, I'm pretty fatigued. I started noticing yesterday that my pants aren't fitting the same! Everyone says that you start bloating/showing earlier with your second, but I didn't think I'd have to start thinking about maternity clothes this early. I'm still in my regular clothes for now, but they are starting to get a little bit more snug in the waist than they were last week. I started showing earlier than most people last time, so I can't imagine how big I'm going to get this time! Also, right after I found out I was pregnant last time, my face was broken out really bad, and continued to be for a few weeks. This time my skin has been very clear. I remember craving lots of vinegar and salt last time, and so far, I've been craving sweet things and carbs. Every pregnancy is different, right! Anyway, so far so good. I can't complain! Hopefully I won't delete this post in the future.
January 17th: 6 weeks, 4 days
I am writing this at 12:46am, so technically its Monday the 17th, but this post is about Sunday. I remember that Sundays were always my "most sick days" with Cash because of the lack of sleep I always got the night before. Colt and I stay up late, and even with attempts to go to bed early on Saturday nights, my body clock was off and I couldn't sleep. I would get very little sleep, and be very nauseated the next day. Today, I woke up thinking that now that I'm 6 weeks, and it was a Sunday, I would probably be nauseated. I armed myself with a bag full of peppermints and preggie pops. Thankfully I didn't need them, other than a peppermint to freshen my coffee breath! :) I'm still not feeling sick. Like I said before, I have tiny little episodes that last no more than a half hour, and then I'm fine, but its NOTHING like last time. Tonight (Sunday night), I have been CRAVING carbs. Well actually, I've been craving carbs for several days now. In the last few days, I have eaten about 3/4 of a box of whole grain bowtie pasta. I am justifying it by reminding myself that it is whole grain. Whatever, I don't care. I am eating for three since I am still nursing Cash 3-5 times a day. Anyway, I'm still feeling good! Also, I seem to be smelling everything during this pregnancy. Way more than I did with Cash. Everyone said your sense of smell is heightened during pregnancy but I never noticed when I was pregnant with Cash. This time, I can tell a difference. I loved the title of a post from one of the girl's on my pregnancy website that was entitled, "The Whole World Smells Like Dog Poop". While I don't share that opinion, I still found it amusing. I can't wait for Tuesday's ultrasound!
January 24: 6 weeks, 4 days (to be explained)
Tuesday of this week, what I thought was 6 weeks, 5 days, was a crazy day. I begged my mom to schedule an appointment with the ultrasound tech at her office so we could see the heartbeat. She was hesitant, because we didn't really know how far along I was, and she didn't want to schedule us to early, in case we couldn't see anything, and that would freak us out. I drove her crazy until she finally agreed. With Cash, I was able to see him and the heartbeat by 6 weeks 6 days, so I thought we'd be ok this time too. The ultrasound tech was not the same woman that gave us ultrasounds with Cash. This girl was so sweet, but had never done an OB ultrasound before. She specialized in cardiac and vein ultrasounds but she said she'd try her best. We came in on Tuesday, and I laid on the table,excited to see that little grain of rice! We looked and looked for about 20 minutes but we couldn't see anything or hear anything. Of course, after we left, we were a little bit freaked out. I called my doctor and left a message with the OB nurse as soon as we left. It was about 2:30pm, so I thought I'd hear back by the end of the day, but no such luck. I woke up around 9 the following day and tried to call again. "You've reached The Women's Group answering service..." WHAT!?! Of course, the one day I actually need them to be open, they are closed all day for meetings. That was a long day. Finally I got a call back the next morning and they scheduled me for an ultrasound on Friday. I was really nervous Friday morning getting ready. Finally we got there and I hopped up on the table. Even with all the drama, I knew everything would be ok. I wasn't even THAT worried. I just had a feeling everything was alright. Sure enough, she did the ultrasound and we were able to see the baby, and the heartbeat. It was 120 beats per minute. She measured the baby, and I was actually only 6 weeks, 1 day! That was exactly a week behind what I thought. That means we found out that we were pregnant at about 3 weeks and a few days! Same with Cash. That's great because it probably means I have really good hormone levels, but those hormones sure do make you sick sometimes! I got sick twice today. I hope this is not a pattern that's going to form. Although, I was pretty sick with Cashman, and it was beyond worth it! Anyway, it is now Sunday night (Monday morning) at 1am, and I am 6 weeks 4 days (if you count it as Monday). I'll update more later!
February 4th : 8 weeks, 1 day
OOPS! I didn't realize I have completely skipped over week 7. Well I think it could be summed up as "starting to get sick". I spent a lot of week 7 feeling very queasy, althought not as bad as how sick I was with Cash. This seems to be manageable most of the time. I have been eating Preggie Pops like candy...well they kind of are. Those seem to help. Peppermints were the only thing I could stomach when I was pregnant with Cash to keep the nausea at bay, but now thinking of a peppermint makes me sick. So yes, week 7...sick!
The beginning of this week (8 weeks as of yesterday) feels a lot like week 7. I have been feeling pretty good most of the time, but I have my moments of "UGH!". For instance, today I asked Colt to get me some french fries at Burger King, (which is completely evil of me to begin with since he has been doing so good with eating really healthy), and I scarfed them down when he brought them home. We met again about 30 minutes later when I violently threw them up. I seem to be ok if I can eat every few hours. If I haven't eaten in a while, and I'm starting to get hungry, I get really sick. With Cash, I was sick pretty much all the time, no matter what I did, so this is leaps and bounds better. One of the main problems is that nothing really sounds good to me. When something does sound good to me, I have to eat it, whatever it is, for the calories. As I've mentioned, I'm still breastfeeding Cash, so I need calories for him, calories for me and calories for this baby. That's a lot of calories! Hopefully the nausea will ease up over the next few weeks and I'll be able to eat more healthily. Although Cash was built on diet coke and pizza and he's the picture of health! :) I'll update more after my doctor's appointment on Monday. Talk to you soon!
February 14th: 9 weeks, 4 days
Well the end of my 8th week came and went, with a lot of drama. At 8 1/2 weeks the nausea hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn't eat anything, and I would have been throwing up constantly if it weren't for me sitting still, basically willing myself not to vomit. This lasted for several days before I called my doctor and asked for some medicine. She prescribed me Phenergan. I would only allow myself to take it if I REALLY needed it because I don't like the idea of taking medication in the first trimester if its not necessary. It became necessary. I tried it one day, and it made me feel like I was moving in slow motion. It did help with the nausea but it made me very tired. At my appointment on Monday the 7th, I explained that to my doctor and she prescribed me generic Zofran. It is a miracle drug! I felt 100% better after taking it, and the effects last for 8 hours. It is AMAZING! I have taken it a few times when necessary, and it has helped so much. The best part is, it is really safe!
My doctor's appointment was really uneventful. They did the normal tests, but the doctor said it was too early to try and use the doppler (I was 8 1/2 weeks). Basically they did the normal tests and told me to come back in 4 weeks.
Around the beginning of the 9th week, my nausea almost completely subsided. I had been praying and praying and praying that it would. I promised myself I would not worry about the sudden lack of nausea if it quickly went away, just as long as it went away. Now I am trying to live up to that. I still have many other pregnancy symptoms, like fatigue (not as bad as it was but still there), having to go #1 way more often, and all of the glorious tummy issues that go with pregnancy. I'm just glad I'm not so sick anymore.
I have been craving Mexican food a lot lately. I am still having aversions to coffee and meat which are normally two of my favorite things. Tonight, I had a really strong craving for my Pam Pam's hot blackberry cobbler with ice cream. Mmmmm! Currently, I am sitting on the couch, eating Gobstoppers that I made Colt stop and get for me, and waiting for Colt to start the Bachelor. :) Better run!
February 17th: 10 weeks
Today was a great day. Although I promised myself I wouldn't worry myself if the morning sickness went away (which I prayed and prayed and prayed for), once it went away, I did begin to start worrying a little bit. I was worried that my "sudden loss of morning sickness" could be an indicator of miscarriage, although there were no other signs of one. We had purchase our Baby Sounds fetal doppler off of Ebay around the end of my 8th week (I think), but I hadn't been able to pick up the heartbeat since we bought it. Of course, that only added to the worry. Tonight, I decided to try it again on a whim. I laid down on my bed, put the headphones on, and started moving the doppler over my belly. It took about 20 minutes, but there it was! It was ranging from the 130s to the 150s. I am so relieved I found a good, strong heartbeat, but I have to say, the best thing is I'M NOT SICK! I have a healthy baby, and I'm not sick! This was something I never experienced in my first trimester with Cash. I was sick as a dog until 12 weeks. God really answered my prayers and relieved me from the misery that is morning sickness! I really don't know how much longer I could have gone on with the constant nausea without having a major breakdown.
Another fun/silly thing I did today was take the Intelligender test. Yet another Ebay purchase. If you don't know what Intelligender is, I will try to give you a Reader's Digest description. It is a little test that can be purchased at Walgreens, CVS etc. It comes with a cup to collect your first morning urine, a syringe to extract the urine from the cup, and a jar with the company logo etc. The jar has some tiny, clear crystals at the bottom, with a sandy texture. One one side of the jar is a dark green sticker that says BOY and on the other side is a salmon pink sticker that says GIRL. Supposedly, by collecting your first morning urine, extracting it from the cup with the syringe, putting a urine sample in the jar with the stickers, and swirling the jar for ten seconds, the test can tell you within 80-90% certainty what the gender of your baby is, by 10 weeks into your pregnancy. Today was the beginning of my 10th week, so of course I had to try it. :) If your urine, mixed with the crystals in the jar turns green, its a boy. If it turns salmon pink, its a girl. Well ladies and...well hopefully only ladies on this post, my jar turned green. Which means, according to Intelligender, we're having another BOY! Of course, we aren't banking on this as we only really did it for fun. I have a friend that tried it with both of her kids. For her oldest daughter, it said she was going to have a girl and it was right. She is now pregnant again, and it said she was having a boy, but ultrasound confirmed that she is having another girl. Supposedly, if the test says you are having a girl, you most likely are, but if it says you are having a boy, there is still a chance you are having a girl. Who really knows though! All that being said, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have another boy. I would love to have a whole house full of boys. I was telling my friend earlier today, I love the idea of having a bunch of wild boys, terrorizing the neighborhood, one baseball through an upstairs window at a time! :) On the other hand, I would love to have a girl and watch Colt with a daughter. Its a win win for me! Just as long as he/she is not a democrat. ;)
More later!
March 7th: 13 weeks, 3 days
You may be wondering what happened to weeks 11 and 12. Well I have been super busy running around with Cash, and have had a ton of photo shoots lately! Business is booming! :) Not to mention, our laptop crashed last week. We got a new one today, and a pretty sweet wireless printer! Also, I was a little bit confused about my due date to begin with. My original due date was September 9th, but after our ultrasound at 6 weeks, I found out I was measuring about 6 days behind what I thought, so I started going by the ultrasound due date. At my last appointment, I asked the doctor about it, and she said to go by my original due date because ultrasounds aren't super reliable, and if its less than a week and a half difference, they go by the orignial due date. I wanted to ask why no one changed my due date when I was pregnant with Cash, and measuring 3 weeks ahead of schedule every time, but at this point it doesn't matter. Haha! I have my next appointment tomorrow. I don't think it will be very eventful. We opted not to get the down syndrome screening, so they won't be doing an ultrasound. I think they'll just listen to the heartbeat on the fetal doppler (which we have been doing at home with our own fetal doppler that we bought on ebay), and measure fundal height. BOOORING! Anyway, that's what's up. I'm going to make an appointment at Pregnancy Treasures for the 24th of March (if available), to find out the gender of the baby! We're really excited about that. Its amazing how many times a day I forget that I'm pregnant, and how much faster this pregnancy has flown by! I guess that's what happens when you're chasing a toddler all day! Speaking of my little sweetieface, I think I am going to start incorporating my posts about him into these pregnancy update posts to save me some time. He is moving a mile a minute now, and doing so many new things that keeping up with a blog soley about him would be a full time job.
Cashy boy is doing just great. I have been taking him to parks a lot, and letting him walk around. He is a great walker now, and enjoys performing his newly discovered skill. I would say he mastered walking by 13 months. They say the longer it takes a baby to walk, the more coordination they'll have because it takes more coordination to crawl than it does to walk. Who knows! I walked at 10 months and have very little coordination. He is still waving hi and by, and loves to blow kisses when people leave now. He is really attached to his Aunt Em. I think he has a crush on her. Haha! He loves to play outside every morning. He has a ton of trucks, wagons, and other fun toys on the porch, but he'd rather venture outside and just walk or crawl around in the dirt. We have a swing in our oak tree that he loves to go in, but Moe has taken to trying to attack his legs when he's swinging in it. Playfully of course. He is learning a lot about the trees and flowers and points at them all the time.He is OBSESSED with lights and loves to point at them. He loves to point at everything actually. That is his way of not having to say the word. Whenever he points, I say the word of whatever he's pointing at so he knows. I can see the wheels turning as he watches my mouth sound out the word. When I Was teaching him how to say "bath", I would say BA-TH. He has the "ba" part down, but when I Would sound out the "th" sound, I would stick my tounge out (sound out "th" and you'll see what I mean). He started saying, "ba" and then just sticking his tounge out. HAHA! He's the most entertaining person I've ever met. He loves to turn on and off light switches, and he has learned to climb up on the couch. Cashman has become quite the daredevil as he likes to stand on the back of the couch and bang on the french doors (very dangerous if you knew how the furniture was positioned). He gets a swat for that. I like him to let him explore though and try not to shelter him or prevent him from doing much. When he was first learning to climb off of our bed, I knew he would fall off eventually because he wasn't very good at it, but he wanted to try it. I let him try as I spotted him without touching him. I wanted him to get the feeling of falling, but not actually hurt himself. It seems to have worked because he is very careful now when he climbs off the bed. He has become a better listener in the past few weeks. He knows there are certain things which are off limits like the cable box and the cleaning cabinet. We don't have any baby proofing stuff around the house other than the outlet plugs. I want him to stay out of the cabinets because he knows he's not allowed in them, not because he can't open them. Now when he goes over to the cable box, he'll bend down, and look at it very closely, then look at me, and shake his head no. He's learning! I can't describe what a thrill it is to watch him learn new things everyday. He is really attached to his Daddy still and squeals with joy when Colt comes home. He stopped saying, "Mama" for a while, and I started to worry that he forgot how to say it. The morning that I really started thinking about that, is the morning he started saying it all the time again. I never tire of hearing him say it. He is the sweetest boy in the whole world and I love, LOVE being his Mama. I will try to update about him more often, but I would rather smooch on him than blog about him. :) Thanks for reading, guys!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
3 1/2 Clarks
So...here we are again. :)
January 2nd: After several days of taking pregnancy tests in the morning, all of which were negative, I thought for sure I was not pregnant this month. That morning, like the others before it that week, I woke up and took a pregnancy test. I waited the specified time, and it appeared that there was a very faint second line on the test. By very faint, I mean VERY faint! I thought I was psyching myself out, wanting it to be positive, and wishfully seeing a second line. I retested later that day, it it appeared to be negative. Threw tests away. I had taken a few of these cheap, internet purchased pregnancy tests in the days previous and they were all negative, but left a suspicious faint line after the 5 minute waiting period.
January 3rd, 11:24am: Yes, we slept in that morning. I woke up, and quickly ran to the bathroom. I took another one of those cheap internet pregnancy tests, and this time I saw a very VERY faint line appear within the 5 minute waiting time. I told Colt we should probably get some Clear Blue Digital tests. You know, the ones that say "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant" so there would be no confusion. At this point, I was still thinking that it was negative since I had seen so many suspicious second lines on the other tests that had all turned out to be negative. That morning was busy for us. Colt left to make a CVS run for the pregnancy tests, and then made a stop at the bank. We had a TV repair man on the way to our house that was supposed to give us a 30 minute warning, but ended up calling to say he was coming down the street to our house. Colt returned just in time to help me frantically pick up Cash's toys that were scattered all over the living room floor. He laid the CVS bag down on the counter, and I sneakily picked it up, and walked into the bathroom. With Cash on one hip, I dipped the pregnancy test in the same "sample" I had used that morning. The little hourglass popped up and started blinking, blinking, blinking. I tried to play it cool, so I left it on the counter, and helped Colt pick up some more around the house. A few seconds later I returned to the bathroom, and there it was. PREGNANT!
Here we go again!
I was so excited to be expecting again, but still rushing around the house to prepare for the TV repair man's arrival. I walked out of the bathroom with the test, and smiled at Colt. "Its positive?" "YEP!" "ALRIIIGHT!!!!" *Smooch*. SO EXCITED!
We always knew we wanted kids (in the plural), and are really happy that Cash and his little brother or sister will be close in age.
So, stay tuned for more Clark Family Updates as we expand (or as I expand)!
January 2nd: After several days of taking pregnancy tests in the morning, all of which were negative, I thought for sure I was not pregnant this month. That morning, like the others before it that week, I woke up and took a pregnancy test. I waited the specified time, and it appeared that there was a very faint second line on the test. By very faint, I mean VERY faint! I thought I was psyching myself out, wanting it to be positive, and wishfully seeing a second line. I retested later that day, it it appeared to be negative. Threw tests away. I had taken a few of these cheap, internet purchased pregnancy tests in the days previous and they were all negative, but left a suspicious faint line after the 5 minute waiting period.
January 3rd, 11:24am: Yes, we slept in that morning. I woke up, and quickly ran to the bathroom. I took another one of those cheap internet pregnancy tests, and this time I saw a very VERY faint line appear within the 5 minute waiting time. I told Colt we should probably get some Clear Blue Digital tests. You know, the ones that say "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant" so there would be no confusion. At this point, I was still thinking that it was negative since I had seen so many suspicious second lines on the other tests that had all turned out to be negative. That morning was busy for us. Colt left to make a CVS run for the pregnancy tests, and then made a stop at the bank. We had a TV repair man on the way to our house that was supposed to give us a 30 minute warning, but ended up calling to say he was coming down the street to our house. Colt returned just in time to help me frantically pick up Cash's toys that were scattered all over the living room floor. He laid the CVS bag down on the counter, and I sneakily picked it up, and walked into the bathroom. With Cash on one hip, I dipped the pregnancy test in the same "sample" I had used that morning. The little hourglass popped up and started blinking, blinking, blinking. I tried to play it cool, so I left it on the counter, and helped Colt pick up some more around the house. A few seconds later I returned to the bathroom, and there it was. PREGNANT!
Here we go again!
I was so excited to be expecting again, but still rushing around the house to prepare for the TV repair man's arrival. I walked out of the bathroom with the test, and smiled at Colt. "Its positive?" "YEP!" "ALRIIIGHT!!!!" *Smooch*. SO EXCITED!
We always knew we wanted kids (in the plural), and are really happy that Cash and his little brother or sister will be close in age.
So, stay tuned for more Clark Family Updates as we expand (or as I expand)!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
My Big Birthday Boy
I have been putting off posting for a long time. Seemingly every day that I put it off, there is something else I have to remember to report! Today is Cash's first birthday. I meet today with mixed emotions. Of course I am grateful for a year of milestones, health and happiness but it is definitely bittersweet. Having Cash has totally rocked my world, as I'm sure having a baby does to everyone. I know my feelings aren't unique or special in some way from the way other mother's feel about their baby, but I think every mother feels like their relationship with their baby is unique and special. In a way, it is. No one in this world has loved, or will love your baby quite like you. Watching him grow from a ball of cells...
to a baby...
to a toddler...
Cash is 1 today. Its funny to think back on his milestones, and how excited we were when he started a new one. When he first started rolling over, I could have sat there for hours and watched him roll back and forth. Now his "tricks" are a little more entertaining. :)
Currently, Cash's new obsession is clapping. He loves it. We were watching Jeopardy (his all-time fav), and when the audience would clap, he would clap. He is walking very fast with his walker. He can stand for long periods of time if he wants to, but he usually doesn't want to. Lazy boy! On January 11th, Cash took his first step. He did it three times that day in fact. He is still eating baby food about 4 times a day, and breastfeeding 3 to 5 times. We started him on almond milk because he is allergic to cow's milk, and he likes it but its really low in calories. Cash went from being 75th percentile in weight, to 25th or just slightly below. The pediatrician said it was due to the lack of dairy in his diet. I have been trying to "fatten him up" with avocado and a little bit of olive oil mixed in with his food. He loves to eat cut up food off of my plate at restaurants, but doesn't like to eat it at home. He's becoming very picky. :) I'm trying to teach him to say "all done" or at least a hand gesture, because his way of letting me know he's done now is just simply spitting. Its lovely. He has also began to test his limits with us recently. Screaming, growling, throwing tantrums etc. Lots of fun! Sometimes its hard not to laugh when he growls at the waitress for taking away the loaf of bread that he apparently had plans to eat. Don't worry, we are disciplining him.
He can say, "Dada" which sometimes is shortened to "Dad", "Mama", "Dog" and a new one..."Bible" although it sounds like "Babu". Yes, he's very Godly. :) He is also starting to say, "No" and "Bath". He loves to play with Moe, and pull his ears. I don't know if this comes from his love for Moe, or just his love for the taste, but Cash loves to eat dog food. He will try to sneak over to Moe's bowl and grab a handful without me noticing, which always ends up with me spotting him, chasing him across the kitchen floor as he tries to escape an impending swat, and me scraping the food out of his mouth, and delivering that swat. He is so strong willed that he usually yells at me, and tries to make another run for the bowl, which ends in another few swats. We repeat this cycle until he gets the picture. He loves to clap and give high fives, which provides endless hours of entertainment for Colt and I and our families. He likes to click his tongue to hear the sound it makes, and he also imitates what you're doing with your mouth (especially when someone is chewing gum). His favorite game is "sneak up" where we will quietly creep up on a seemingly unsuspecting family member. Recently he has become a pro at climbing up and down the stairs to the podium at church. We don't have any stairs at our house, so you can imagine my surprise when he climbed right up them at church!
He is such a sweet boy, and loves to cuddle. He is a sucker for butterfly kisses, and is starting to get the hang of Eskimo kisses too. He is in a size 18 months for most clothes, and a size 4 shoe. We have been stocking up on size 4 and 5 shoes, just in case he decides to start walking anytime soon. Fingers crossed!
This year with Cash has been amazing. Its cliche to say (that rhymes), but its hard to imagine him not being in our lives now. He is such a source of joy and laughter for us. Watching him do something (usually when its a naughty thing) and hear Colt say, "That is SO you," is so surreal but cool. Its hard to imagine he is the same little baby that kept me awake when I was 22 weeks pregnant in Vero Beach with all of his late night kicking. I have a lot of nicknames for him. They are the type that aren't thought out ahead of time, but somehow just come about. One of my nicknames for him is, "heart and soul boy" because that's what he is. My heart and soul.
This entire post I have been trying to find words to express how much we love Cash, and how enamoured with him we are, but there are no words. If you are a parent, you know just what I am talking about. I just love him. Love love love love love him. Thank you for a wonderful year, Cashy boy!
to a baby...
to a toddler...
Cash is 1 today. Its funny to think back on his milestones, and how excited we were when he started a new one. When he first started rolling over, I could have sat there for hours and watched him roll back and forth. Now his "tricks" are a little more entertaining. :)
Currently, Cash's new obsession is clapping. He loves it. We were watching Jeopardy (his all-time fav), and when the audience would clap, he would clap. He is walking very fast with his walker. He can stand for long periods of time if he wants to, but he usually doesn't want to. Lazy boy! On January 11th, Cash took his first step. He did it three times that day in fact. He is still eating baby food about 4 times a day, and breastfeeding 3 to 5 times. We started him on almond milk because he is allergic to cow's milk, and he likes it but its really low in calories. Cash went from being 75th percentile in weight, to 25th or just slightly below. The pediatrician said it was due to the lack of dairy in his diet. I have been trying to "fatten him up" with avocado and a little bit of olive oil mixed in with his food. He loves to eat cut up food off of my plate at restaurants, but doesn't like to eat it at home. He's becoming very picky. :) I'm trying to teach him to say "all done" or at least a hand gesture, because his way of letting me know he's done now is just simply spitting. Its lovely. He has also began to test his limits with us recently. Screaming, growling, throwing tantrums etc. Lots of fun! Sometimes its hard not to laugh when he growls at the waitress for taking away the loaf of bread that he apparently had plans to eat. Don't worry, we are disciplining him.
He can say, "Dada" which sometimes is shortened to "Dad", "Mama", "Dog" and a new one..."Bible" although it sounds like "Babu". Yes, he's very Godly. :) He is also starting to say, "No" and "Bath". He loves to play with Moe, and pull his ears. I don't know if this comes from his love for Moe, or just his love for the taste, but Cash loves to eat dog food. He will try to sneak over to Moe's bowl and grab a handful without me noticing, which always ends up with me spotting him, chasing him across the kitchen floor as he tries to escape an impending swat, and me scraping the food out of his mouth, and delivering that swat. He is so strong willed that he usually yells at me, and tries to make another run for the bowl, which ends in another few swats. We repeat this cycle until he gets the picture. He loves to clap and give high fives, which provides endless hours of entertainment for Colt and I and our families. He likes to click his tongue to hear the sound it makes, and he also imitates what you're doing with your mouth (especially when someone is chewing gum). His favorite game is "sneak up" where we will quietly creep up on a seemingly unsuspecting family member. Recently he has become a pro at climbing up and down the stairs to the podium at church. We don't have any stairs at our house, so you can imagine my surprise when he climbed right up them at church!
He is such a sweet boy, and loves to cuddle. He is a sucker for butterfly kisses, and is starting to get the hang of Eskimo kisses too. He is in a size 18 months for most clothes, and a size 4 shoe. We have been stocking up on size 4 and 5 shoes, just in case he decides to start walking anytime soon. Fingers crossed!
This year with Cash has been amazing. Its cliche to say (that rhymes), but its hard to imagine him not being in our lives now. He is such a source of joy and laughter for us. Watching him do something (usually when its a naughty thing) and hear Colt say, "That is SO you," is so surreal but cool. Its hard to imagine he is the same little baby that kept me awake when I was 22 weeks pregnant in Vero Beach with all of his late night kicking. I have a lot of nicknames for him. They are the type that aren't thought out ahead of time, but somehow just come about. One of my nicknames for him is, "heart and soul boy" because that's what he is. My heart and soul.
This entire post I have been trying to find words to express how much we love Cash, and how enamoured with him we are, but there are no words. If you are a parent, you know just what I am talking about. I just love him. Love love love love love him. Thank you for a wonderful year, Cashy boy!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Cashman: 9 1/2-10 Months
HORRIBLE! I'm horrible at this. In order to catch everyone up on the last several weeks, I should put everything in bullet points. I hope to start updating little by little. That way it won't be too overwhelming for me, or you for that matter!
- Halloween! It was great. Cash wasn't into trick-or-treating, as it was a Sunday night, and Cash always has a hard day on Sundays. He fell asleep sitting up in his wagon! He spent most of the walk in his Grandma's arms. Even though his time as Yoda was very limited, he rocked it.
- What new milestones has Cash reached in the last few weeks, you ask?!? He has quite a few new tricks up his sleeves! One of my favorites is his new trick of waving hello and goodbye. It is ADORABLE! Of course, sometimes we beg and beg for him to show this trick off, and he won't, but then we'll be standing in a checkout line at the grocery store, and he'll wave to the cashier. Last night he waved to Colt across Target which made Daddy swell with pride.
- Cash also loves to DANCE now! He has a music table that we purchased from the Jumpin' Jeans consignment sale. Thanks for the tip, Amanda Olsen! Cash loves it. All of the buttons on the top of the table make some sort of noise or play a song. Cash loves to stick his little booty out and jam out. Sometimes we turn on the music channels on our TV just to watch him dance to the oldies.
- This next trick we are especially proud of...Cash can say 3 words now!!! For the longest time it has just been Mama and Daddy. Over the weekend, his Mammy taught him how to say, "Dog". At first I thought he was just saying "Dada", but there is definitely a distinct difference. Daddy, or "Dada" ends with an "a" (as in apple) sound. Dog sounds just like dog without the "g" sound, and he says it with much enthusiasm. This got me thinking about what other words he can say if I really tried to teach him. Today we worked on "Pass" which is what we call his pacifier. He got the "s" sound, but couldn't, or wouldn't make the "pa" sound. Anyway, I think we're on the verge of a verbal explosion. My mom always said I was very verbal from an early age. Of course. ;)
- Cash is an expert crawler, and quite fast might I add. He loves walking around the edge of the couch and has become pretty good at standing, holding on with one hand, or even using just his back or belly for support. He can walk with his walker. I think with a little bit more confidence, he'll be walking soon.
- Lately he has developed the bad habit of throwing temper tantrums. They are always when he's really tired, BUT that is no excuse. He still gets corrected. I think he has my fiery personality. Haha!
- Sometimes when he's throwing these temper tantrums, I'll correct him, and I give him this look where I drop my head down and look at him intensely with my eyes. Colt has always teased me about this look because apparently I always give it to people when they are doing something I don't agree with. Cash has caught on to this, and now gives me the same look back after I do it to him. It is HILARIOUS, and so hard to continue looking sternly at him when he does it. Its very obvious because he drops his head down very low, and very abruptly. Now he does it back and forth with people for fun. I guess I'm going to have to come up with a different "scary, stern look".
- Cash ate his first Gerber toddler meal last night. It was the second attempt at giving him one of these meals, and the first time he wanted nothing to do with it. Last night he enjoyed the chunks of chicken, pasta wheels, and peas. He didn't eat the whole thing, but he ate a lot more than I thought he would. I suppose when the first toddler meal is prefaced the day before by homemade pot roast at Mammy's house that was cut up for him, it makes the transition easier. He sure did love that pot roast. Its so strange to see him eating real bites of food. He is really into wanting to hold the spoon now, so I let him with my guidance.
- I'm starting to think about weaning him from breastfeeding. First I have to find out how many times a day I'm nursing him! I'm kind of a feed on demand mom so I don't really know how much I feed him. We don't have set feeding times. When he's hungry, I know, and I feed him. Usually I feed him before he actually gets hungry. I know its "bad" but I also comfort nurse before nap time, bedtime, if he's fussy etc. This doesn't bother me though. Everyone said that I would have problems with various parenting choices that we've made (IE. letting him sleep in our bed so long, letting him stay up late with us, feeding him solids to early, letting him have a pacifier right after he was born etc. etc. etc.). We chose to do our own thing, and so far, thankfully, it has worked out for us. Plus, I like breastfeeding! It doesn't bother me one bit. My mom let all of us wean ourselves. I was done at 18 months, my sister at 12, and I think my brother was between 12 and 18. I ain't worried. :)
- I guess I'm really into "quotations" for this post.
- I suppose I should go. Thanksgiving is tomorrow and there is much to do before then. I have to clean up my house, as we are having family over for dessert tomorrow evening. I'm going to attempt to make a peach pie! Such a daunting task. I am BEYOND, BEYOND, BEYOND excited for Cash to experience the holiday season. Oh the pictures I will take! These next few weeks will be super busy for us. Thanksgiving tomorrow, my birthday is November 30th (the big 25!), Buddy's birthday is the 9th of December, my parents' anniversary on the 19th, Daddy's birthday on the 21st, Christmas Eve, and Christmas, Grandma Dee's birthday on Christmas Day, Sharon's birthday on the 30th, New Year's Eve, Cash's first birthday on January 13th, my sister's birthday on the 14th, and my mom's birthday on the 23rd of February. Busy, busy, busy!
Like I said, I will try to update more often. Thanks for reading! "Bye". ;)
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