so cool.

Yesterday I had my 20 week ultrasound. The BIG ultrasound as it is so often referred to, because although it is really to check for a healthy baby, you have the BIG chance on finding out the gender. The gender will be a surprise for this little one, but the baby is healthy as can be.

However, they also give you a bunch of pics. I just wanted to share this little ones profile picture and lacey's profile picture. It is ABSOLUTELY unbelievable how much they look alike. Its so weird. But see for yourself....

Here is baby #2....



And this is Lacey....

the sad state of our economy...

...kept me up last night for a while!

Oh, alright, it was probably 'pregnancy insomnia' coupled with the fact that mike made loaves and loaves of banana bread (that is what we do with Jamba Juice's going bad bananas) so our house was extra warm and since I threw on the flannel sheets the other day and the 'winter' duvet cover, I was roasting.

Whatever the fact, thinking about the bills I have to pay (car insurance is due this month...), the amazingly, ridiculous, price of groceries, and the stuff we need for the new baby (don't even get me started on 'if this is a boy'...) really, really, adds up.

So this morning I put my financial management class to work for me (actually one of the most fantastic, kick you in the butt classes I have ever had to take...but I got an 'A'). I made a budget. Mike and I really are good with our money (we are forced to be so that I can stay home for a bit), but there is always the little things you can cut.

So it may not be the most elaborate holiday season we have ever had, but this is how it is. Once I am willing and able to go back to work things will loosen up a bit. But for now I am counting my financial blessings. We don't have credit card debt, mike has AMAZING medical insurance so we will only have to pay $175 co-pay for this little one, we have a solid savings account, and we get free Jamba Juice (which means we don't have to buy OJ or much fruit because we get a lot from that)...haha!

4 things you should know about me before you invite me over...

1) I hate debates/political discussions. There are 3 things you never discuss at work: Religion; Politics; Money. Goes for the dinner table as well.

2) I kinda need dessert after a meal. I just don't feel done until I've had something sweet. If you have decaf coffee to go along with it, that's even better.

3) If it is getting close to Lacey's bedtime then I will probably be thinking about needing to put her to bed, as opposed to what you are saying to me. Oh, and no, I can't just put her down at your house.

4) I prefer to talk as one big group rather than split up in groups of men and women. So if you see it headed that way. Intervene!!

Your Turn!

Is something wrong with me...or this town?

Okay, there is a thrift store in Redmond, Value Village. Gross name I know. But everyone here talks about it and how great it is. Redmond is NOT a poor suburb. Everyone here works for Microsoft, AT&T, Nintendo etc. People in Redmond have loads of money. So I should trust them right? Here are some comments friends have told me recently:

"I know a couple that furnished their whole house from Value Village. They have such nice stuff!"
"I got these Gap jeans at Value Village for $2"
"I found a practically brand new J.Crew. sweater at Value Village for $3"
"Value Village has 1/2 price Tuesdays and you can get tons of stuff for soooo cheap!"

Okay, so I needed a lamp for my Living Room. Apparently Value Village has "such nice stuff" I thought I would try to be practical and get one for a steal.

Maybe I should have thought first about the fact that I don't think I have ever found something at a thrift store. But I didn't.

I pull into the parking lot. It is packed. I have to circle twice to try to find a spot and end up parking a block away. So then I make a last minute decision to leave the stroller in the car. I'll just put lacey in one of the (germy) carts. Mistake #1. They are out of carts. I'm walking up to the door and swarms of people are walking out with bags of things. Bread machines, shoes, Halloween costumes, coffee makers, lamps, clothes, bedding. I find a cart that is being unused and I am ready for my mission. I head in with excitement.

EVERYTHING.IS.NASTY.

Now, I am not a wealthy person who thinks they are too good for a 2nd hand store. But come on. I cannot buy a brass plated lamp for my living room, or a mauve ceramic one. I don't want a lime green couch, a teal easy-chair, or a blender from 1972 (for $9.99). I don't feel comfortable buying lacey pajamas that are piling or diapers in plastic bags. I can't buy her shoes with dried mud on the bottom. I just can't.

We went to "Mom's Club" (a.k.a. Target) and I bought a very nice Oil Rubbed Bronzed 3 way lamp for 50% off. It was the very last one in the store.

Eat that Value Village.

baby, oh baby.

I'm feeling lots and lots of baby kicks!

AND I LOVE IT!

Its the one thing I miss about pregnancy when I am not pregnant and I am happy to have it back.

18 weeks.

18 Weeks with my FIRST pregnancy:



18 Weeks with my SECOND pregnancy:



Still holding it all in, nice and tight and just how it should be : )

Foods to Avoid that first year...

Strawberries- oops, we've had them since about 8 months when I realized she was drinking a jamba juice with strawberries. I was just so excited she was using the straw...

Honey- we are holding out on this one still.

Citris- ummm....her father works for jamba juice, mama's been cravin' OJ, she loves drinking out of a straw....get the picture?

Egg Whites- I'm more than certain she has had these since they are baked into everything, but I've never intentionally given her eggs, although I've been tempted.

Shellfish- I don't think I"VE ever had shellfish....

Cow's Milk- Yep, but only as of a few days ago. No problems.

Peanuts/Peanut Butter- I definitely have not given this to her, but I did fish a peanut out of her mouth about a week ago. Dad dropped it while eating trail mix...I'm assuming she is not allergic since she was sucking on it.

We're not doing so well with this...

We bought this...

After much stroller debate we have decided to go with a double umbrella and a double jogger. So can I just say how I love Craigslist? A lady bought this stroller took it out of the box and put it together and then decided she wanted a double jogger instead because they are moving to TX and she figures that the weather will be nice enough to run year-round. Why she didn't return it to Babies R Us is beyond me. It retails for $319.99 plus tax and shipping. She sold it to us for $180!!! She never even took it outside....

This is from Baby Planet. Its a fairly new company. The stroller is comparable to the Maclaren Twin Techno. One thing that the company does is it will pay for you to send your used stroller back to them and they will either donate it to charity or recycle the good parts and then get rid of the rest for you. I think that's better than seeing a 5 year old stroller on craigslist that someone is trying to get an arm and a leg for (which brings me to my biggest annoyance on c-list...does anyone else get angry at all the expired carseats on there???? I saw one the other day and she said "this was manufactured in 2004 so you still have YEARS of use out of it...ummm...no you don't....I digress).

Anyway we really like it and you can steer it one handed and lacey is very happy riding around in it.

pregnancy gods.

My sister-in-law, who also has tough pregnancies, informed me last time of pregnancy gods. Here is how it goes. Tough pregnancy with bad morning sickness, terrible heartburn, swelling, back pain, carpel tunnel, or anything along those lines. Then you will have an easy labor/delivery/recovery and first few weeks at home.

BUT, for those who just glide through pregnancy, never get sick, feel great (other than the occasional ache and pain...that does not count), etc. Then unfortunately you may be more likely to have that tough delivery or a rough road to recovery, or those first few weeks at home may be a complete blur because you CANNOT get your bearings.

Well, this was true for me. My pregnancy sucked, but labor was a BREEZE. Recovery was a BREEZE. I lost all the weight in like 5 days, my body felt completely normal 2 weeks later so I went running. Lacey slept 3-4 hour stretches from the day she was born. It was fabulous.

I keep reminding myself of this because when you are STILL THROWING UP at almost 18 weeks it gets a bit depressing.

However, I also know people who had it easy both ways...lucky.

What do you think? Was this true for you?

This time vs. Last time

So, comparing the first 17 weeks of pregnancy.

Last time: I craved OJ, Gummy Candy, Fruit. Tacos for about 2 days, lemonade, white tea. Loved veggies after about 15 weeks, but hated them before that, couldn't take prenatals until 36 weeks when I found out my iron was low, nauseous from 6-18 weeks, threw up weeks 9-16. Hated garlic, onions, and any sort of asian/indian food. Couldn't walk through the produce section at the grocery store. Heartbeat was always 160 or above.

This time: SAME AS ABOVE, except I was nauseous from 7 weeks til now (so a week later) and threw up from 8 weeks until 17 weeks (so an extra week on both ends). They never tell me the heartbeat, but finally did yesterday...it was 146. Boy?

11 Months

In one month we say good by to baby-hood and hello to toddler-hood. I am really excited.

Lacey's growing independence has shocked me in the past month. It is like she finally not only realized she can move, but that she can go places without me. There is no danger in her world. Last month she followed me from room to room. Now, I follow her.

Last week we took her in to the doctor and she was 20 pounds 8 ounces.

Games- She plays a lot of games now:

This month she started hiding things, under the couch, under her crib, behind the chair etc. She is very familiar with what things are. If we are in the Living Room we can hide her stuffed bunny or baby doll under her crib and then ask her to find it. She will crawl around the living room for a bit and then crawl into her room and find it for us. It is a fun game! Her favorite objects to hide are: pens, pacifiers (they've always been a better toy than their actual use in our house), bunny, baby, books, and her blanket.

Another fun game is taking every toy out of the little tub (she uses the small inflatable tub), putting them in the big tub, and then taking them out of the big tub and putting them back in her little tub. Over and over.

Along those lines is taking toys and placing them on top of the end tables. Then taking them back down. She gets a lot of satisfaction from this and gets frustrated when her toy won't stay put.

Finally, she likes taking toys and stacking them in a pile in the room. Then separating them and stacking them again. I love watching her brain work.

Lacey- "helps" me load and unload the dishwasher, loves standing by the oven watching things bake, and crawling into the fridge and looking at the fruits and vegetables in the crisper drawers.

She loves standing by the toilet and knows how to flush it. She also knows that toilet paper can be great fun.

She is getting less and less "portable"- we used to be able to go to Starbucks and she would sit in the highchair and play with an empty cup. Now that she wants to move we take our coffee elsewhere! It is more fun that way anyway!

She still wears size 3 7th Generation disposable diapers and has for months now. They fit with ease. During the day we are using the bumgenius diapers on the medium setting with ease as well.

Lacey has tiny feet. She can still wear 3-6 month shoes! (maybe her feet need to grow so she has more balance! I have small feet too so I am not surprised).

Teeth- we have ONE!! Bottom left (okay, well it hasn't popped through yet but I am counting it anyway because I can see it and feel it and I really want her to get teeth!).

Walking- Nope. She isn't standing alone either. Up until yesterday she didn't like walking with us much either. But then when we were at church she suddenly didn't mind holding onto my hand and walking around. A lady at church said she will be walking anyday, but I personally don't think it will be before her first birthday. I am guessing a couple of weeks after that.

Sleep- We have had some redemption here! Now that it gets dark out by her bedtime her room is cool and she goes to bed without a fuss. Sleeps about 11.5 hours at night and takes two 90 minute naps a day in her crib with no fuss.

Bottles- We are trying to get rid of these. This month we will start phasing in cow's milk slowly. Up until her bout with Roseola last week she was taking sippy cups fine. Then 3 days of nothing but bottles and cuddling during her bottles made her disregard the sippy cup. Now she will only take a sip or two before she is done with it. We are working on this.

Words- I've lost count on what she will say, but its a lot. She understands even more and can understand simple sentences.

Food- She eats whatever we eat. We know when she has had enough because she starts throwing it on the floor...

I love her to bits and pieces and it seems that every month as she grows and changes she becomes more and more fun to be around and interact with.

HIGHLY Recommend.

I heard this was good for getting the "stink" out of microfiber inserts.

Yes, this delivered. Big time. Not only are our diapers stink-free, they are super absorbant once again. In fact, why should I stop with the diapers.

The bathroom rugs got disinfected....

and

All our bedding is fresh and clean....

and

Towels are fluffy and smell like limes.

I haven't been this motivated in months.

Do you want to know what my favorite thing about this product is? Its the "In case of accidental swallowing" warning.

"In case of ingestion, do not induce vomiting; drink plenty of water to dilute" Try putting that on a container of bleach.

Not.Happening.

Because I am so behind...

Here is our rashy baby. Probably not the greatest pictures but I hope you can see it. It can last anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Her's lasted about a day. Mostly on her face, spread a bit to her neck and back. Overall not too bad.


Lacey used to sit and eat at her highchair. But when she got sick last week out went the solids. Now I can't seem to bring them back (??). She is getting a tooth on bottom so I am hoping this is why. I can't even get her to eat cheerios.


Lacey loves pens. They were a good play toy until she figured out how to click them. Now it's open/close/open/close all day. But I am not willing to have pen everywhere so this won't be a toy much longer...



Here is our Lacey when she is tired.


Here is Mike and Lacey at her first Twins game. We thought we would be in MN, so figured we would be going to many of these games. Notsomuch. Well, we figured we would get her in this outfit at least once and were praying it would fit (its 6-9 months...) It did. We had a good time but she got fussy so I only took a couple of pictures and none with me. It will be nice when she is older and can enjoy this more. Overall we had fun.



This was actually our reason for going on the Ferry, Mike ran a race on the other side of the sound. Just a 5K, he took 10th place and was dissapointed because his time was 18 minutes even and its been a LONG time since he hasn't been under 18 minutes. Umm, 18 minutes is fast, I don't feel too sorry for him either!


Here we are on our first Ferry Ride. It was pretty uneventful but considering it was around 75 degress outside it was absolutely FREEZING on the ferry. Lacey loved watching the Seagulls right above our heads.

I lied.

It is Roseola.

We have a rashy baby : )

Pics will come.

Update

Well the news is good news.

Its not Roseola and its not a UTI!!!

I only gave her motrin once yesterday...at 5:00 in the morning. Her fever stayed down pretty much all day, it was lingering around 100 at bedtime so she got a second dose to make it through the night.

This morning when she woke up she was completely fever-free! I think it was 94.6 or something really low. She wasn't sweating and wasn't lethargic.

Now I have my baby back (which also means she doesn't want to sleep without her sack anymore either...grrr).

Waiting for a Diagnosis

Lacey has been running a fever going on 3 days now. Monday morning it was 99.3, I figured it was teething since it wasn't too high. Monday night it was 99.6.

Tuesday morning we woke up to a fever of 101.2, gave her some Motrin and started to wonder if it was something else. I read online that often fevers and teething go hand in hand but unless it was over 102.0 it probably wasn't an ear infection. Last night before bed it was only 99.7 and she hadn't had Motrin in 12 hours.

Today she woke up screaming around 5:00. Mike was already gone to work so I figured I would just bring her in to our bed and let her sleep there. She screamed and screamed and screamed. Poor thing. She was HOT. I fed her a bottle, which helped and then went to change her diaper. I took her temp and it was 103.3 so I knew in a couple of hours we would be visiting the doctor.

She drank some more formula and then she fell asleep next to me in my bed. It was probably about 6:30 at the time and she slept until around 9:00. I called the doctor right away when we woke up and they could get us in at 9:30. This is the major benefit of living 3 blocks from the doctors office. Her ears are fine, but teething does not cause fevers of 103 so we have 2 possible diagnosis.

1)Roseola
2) UTI

I am just pushing fluids since she has zero interest in anything else.

If the fever doesn't break by Friday we have to bring her in and get a cath on her...something I really hope to avoid. The ped said not to chance it and to be overly cautious...as in if you think it is starting to come down, still call and come in. So now we just wait. I just want my normal baby back!

*I must say at least she is still sleeping and napping pretty well.

Did you know?

Final clearance prices at the Gap always end in a 7.

So if the price is $5.99 it will be discounted at least once more. If the price is $3.97 then that is their final offer.

Success

Lots of things are happening around here.

First, Lacey slept without her sack on last night. It took her a while to fall asleep but she didn't fuss too much.

Secondly, I probably chose the worst time to take it away because she is also cutting her very first teeth! They are so close to coming through, but that means fussiness and whimpering and fevers. Poor baby.

Here is a rundown of last night.

8:15 We put her in her crib. No pekemoe sack on. She fussed for a bit, but nothing out of her normal "routine." She was asleep by 8:30.

2:00 a.m. I wake up to go to the bathroom. Realize that the house is FREEZING. I figure Lacey is also freezing so I go to cover her up but she is squirming in her crib so I don't want to disturb her. I go to bed but can't sleep because she is probably cold. I venture in there and cover her up, she doesn't see or hear me. We are safe.

2:35 a.m. I can't fall asleep but don't feel good. Get up, close all the doors and went to the bathroom and threw up. Blech! Not fun.

3:00 a.m. Lacey wakes up crying. I go into her room and rub her back. She falls right back asleep. Amazing. I go to bed she wakes up crying.

3:05 a.m. Realize she is HOT and sweaty. Move her to the center of the crib. Roll her onto her stomach and pat her back until she falls asleep...takes about 10 minutes. Remind myself to scratch that method of putting her back to sleep off my list because you know it only works once.

4:45 a.m. Hear her crying, sort of. She will cry, then stop, then cry etc. I don't do anything because I literally couldn't piece together what was going on. It was weird but I guess I was tired. She stopped though and fell asleep shortly.

7:30 a.m. She was up and FUSSY and running a fever (this is her first fever she has ever had...it was 99.3 rectally), so I gave her some Motrin with breakfast. When I pulled up her shade she started screaming/crying. It was the weirdest thing. Now all she wants to do is sit on my lap. Poor baby. She screamed going down for her nap, but calmed down quickly. Thankfully she fell asleep because I am sure she is tired.

I hope this passes quickly.