Life Extraordinary: January 2011

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Final baby blog before he/she gets his/her own:)

I decided to write one final blog about the baby on my blog before giving him/her his/her own blog after we find out if it's a he/she. Friday is the day! We go to see Dr. Hall, one of the OB/Gyns at Swedish Hospital (one of the backups should something go wrong-we hope to never see him again) that did our ultrasound with Peyton, on Friday afternoon. I am hopeful to see a healthy baby and get an answer to the burning question boy or girl.

Lately I have been a lot happier to be pregnant. I'm getting the high that you usually experience around the 5th month of more energy and feeling overall happy about the new baby. I felt it move (we'll refer to he/she as it for the rest of this blog, even though I hate to do it so I don't have to write male/female every time) for the first time at 16 weeks, a full 4 weeks before I ever felt Peyton. Last week Zack was able to feel it move with his hand on my stomach, that's how much and how strong the kicks are already. Some days it moves constantly, others, I'm lucky if I feel one, but those days are getting less and less. I read "Birthing From Within" that really finally gave me that excitement about my pregnancy that I'd been lacking. It reminded me that I am a strong, vibrant woman and that my body is doing something incredible. It got me excited about labor and delivery (yes, I like giving birth and have never been afraid of it) and bonding with our new baby.

I had another midwife appointment last week and all was as it should be. I'm still small for being almost 5 months pregnant with my second baby, but I'm not complaining. As long as everything is OK, I'm good with being small (small heads are even better). I've gained 8.5 pounds so far, right on target. The baby's heart rate was 150 beats per minute, same as the last time. Peyton's was always 165...is that a sign of the sex? Who knows. I met a couple in the waiting room at the appointment that were there for their 24 hour newborn visit and had a son that was only 1 month younger than Peyton will be when the new baby is born. The baby was a girl and the mother's name was Sierra, one of the names we've been tossing around for a girl. Is it a sign? Everyone has an opinion.

So, after we find out the sex of the baby and make that tough decision on a name, baby #2 will have a blog site all its own. I'll send out the request to join it when the time comes. We're planning on doing the same thing we did with Peyton, having my sister or someone update the blog throughout the labor and delivery. I'll also keep the readers posted on pregnancy progress until the time comes. I'm so glad this pregnancy is almost halfway over. I can't wait to meet our new little peanut (who's apparently the size of a bell pepper now).

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

2010 was a year of change for me and my family. It was a year of loss and a year of gains. As Peyton gets older we continue to adapt and change how we live our lives. I started working more while Peyton started childcare and on October 16th we found out that our lives will be turned upside down yet again come June when a new edition to the family arrives. Overall I would rank it as a good year. Nothing too terrible happened, nothing overly exciting. We took a few vacations to Lafayette for Mardi Gras in February, Moab in April and Longboat Key in the summer, but mostly stayed close to home and enjoyed being a family and getting to know each other better as best we could with keeping alternate working schedules that have Zack and I only off together one day a week.

Some of the things I was striving for in 2010 didn't happen. I attempted to take a photo a day, but that didn't last long as the fatigue of being a working and stay at home parent began to kick in. I had many New Year's resolutions and as usual and none of them were seen completely through, although at least most of them were worked towards. In 2010 we also said goodbye to Zack's Uncle Fred, who passed away from cancer, my Grandpap, who was a whopping 94 years old, and my first baby, Kodi, who we had to put to sleep due to increasingly bad arthritis, territorialness and a minor bite at Peyton. RIP.

I am looking forward to 2011, but am also nervous about the new changes. Zack finished up his MBA in December so we are looking forward to what opportunities it will bring. The baby is due June 23rd and we have an ultrasound scheduled to hopefully find out the sex on Feb 4th. As for what will happen after baby, that will just have to work itself out. There will probably be a lot of working up until that point to try and save as much as possible for maternity leave, but after that, who knows. I'm not making any resolutions except to try to continue to be the best mom and wife I can be (while not losing my mind) and set things in motion for what will hopefully be a career move somewhere down the road.

Here's a few pics of some events from 2010 (maybe in 2011 I'll get a better camera so I can explore my photographic side even more). And maybe in 2011 I will finally figure out how to get pictures where I want them on my blog! So frustrated, they'll just have to be out of order.