A Little Pregnancy Story and Liam Updates!

Alright, I'm trying to write down as much as I can about my experience with this pregnancy, as it has flown by pretty much and I haven't been able to document like I did with Liam. By the time that Liam was one, I already had three scrapbooks filled with pictures with a good two thirds of the first one just pregnancy photo's. I haven't really taken photo's of my pregnancy week by week with this one, and now all of a sudden I'm 35 weeks and had my first real labor scare tonight!

Baby Number 2's Pregnancy Story!
Jon and I were not trying to conceive when this little guy decided it was time. In fact, Jon and I were going to wait until Christmas to discuss having another baby within that year. But July came around and all of a sudden I was feeling really sick. And I mean- really sick. I am not one to throw up. It's just not my body's way of dealing with anything. I will pass out, I will feel ill, but rarely do I ever throw up. Within one week, I managed to throw up at least three or four times every day; and when I didn't have any food to throw up, I was throwing up stomach acid. It got so bad one day that I was vomiting blood. I was at my parents house so that my mum could take care of Liam and I seriously sat in their giant tub all day long to help ease the nausea. My mum and I didn't know what was wrong with me and finally she asked if I could be pregnant. At that point in time I was grasping to anything to explain what was wrong, so she went and got me a pregnancy test. The end of June/beginning of July was my LMP and this was now the week of Jon's birthday (12th of July), I took the test and waited for the allotted time and it came back negative. So with that out of the way, we began looking at different illnesses that could cause that severe of a reaction in my body. We noticed that it was when I had eaten particularly greasy foods, so I started researching into that and saw that gall bladder problems could cause a person to become violently ill. So, my mum and I went to the store on one of my good days and we bought a whole bunch of new foods that are supposed to be good for people who get gall bladder attacks. Then about a week after we had changed my diet, I woke up and just instinctively knew that I needed to take that other test. I remember waking up and thinking, "you need to test today" and in my head I told myself: NO! But I got up and tested, and I didn't even have to wait for the two minutes it tells you to. It automatically brought up that second line.
Getting in to see my doctor was more tricky this time around, he had an accident and so I didn't get in to see an OB until I was 10 weeks, we got an ultrasound to date how far along I was and there was our newest little baby! He looked like a little praying mantis, but a cute one! Then, my doctor finally was back in the office and so I got to go see him then! Then, the saddest day happened: my doctor told me at 22 weeks that he was retiring at the end of the year. So then the search for a new doctor happened. At 22 weeks I had the Anatomy Scan and we found out that we are adding our second BOY to the family, we also discovered that my fluid was low again with this pregnancy and so I was sent up to McKay Dee to meet with the Perinatal Specialist. I met with them and had the ultrasound done to check the fluid, then was told to come back at 32 weeks to do a follow up. Between this and my 32 week follow up I met with my new OB: Dr. Johnson. He is really sweet and I am really grateful that I was able to get in to be one of his patients. He is always very open and makes me feel like I am the most important patient that he has. He was very open about the choices that I wanted for my birthing experience, and was willing to listen to my experience with Liam's birth. At the my 32 week follow up, the ultrasound tech turned on 4D "just for fun". It was amazing! We were able to see features on this little baby, it was phenomenal to see him. And we determined that my fluid was up to 17.5! At my last appointment it was at a 15 but I'm still in the ok zone!
Here I am at 35 weeks pregnant, and it's surreal to think that this little guy will be making his debut in about a month. Last night, I was having some real painful contractions, and not just the Braxton Hicks that I've been used to. These were not fun, after resting on the couch for a bit, I got up and I went up and took a shower and they subsided a bit. Jon brought me Tylenol PM and I was able to sleep. This morning I woke up and I was very sore, everywhere. It felt like I had done some intense workout all night long, and I was in some major pain! This little baby needs to stay put for at least another five weeks. It was good practice though.

Liam is so stinkin adorable! I love my little man so much, that's one thing that I'm terrified for for when I have this new baby, is the time alone that I have with Liam right now. Right now, we are able to do so much together, and I hope that he doesn't grow up to resent not having me 100%. I want to do the absolute best that I can, and I am having serious fears about not being a good mom to two children. I've heard so many people say that your love never diminishes for your previous children, but I really am terrified about how to split up my attention so that Liam and Baby 2 will have more than they need. I honestly don't know how mothers who have more than one or two children do it! I feel so guilty already and Baby 2 isn't even here yet.
Liam loves to sit up on the counter with me while I bake! I've been in lots of baking moods lately, and so he will sit up at the counter and help me pour in sugar or flour, and I will give him his own little bowl and spoon so that he can stir. He really loves it! The other day, I was baking cookies, and I realised that I did not have chips to put into the cookies, so Jon ran off to the store; when he got back I put the chips into the batter and then gave Liam a couple to eat. Well, Jon took some out of the bag and put them on the table and closed up the bag and told Liam that these were theirs to share. Liam saw Jon ate one, and then realized that there were not going to be more after they were gone, so he took one chip and put it behind him and then ate a chip. Then he did it again, and Jon and I noticed and Jon said, "are you stock-piling?" We thought that was pretty funny of him to notice that there weren't going to be more and so he put them in his own little pile. Then the other day, I was making apple cake, and I had to check the cake in the oven. Well, I told Liam that he needed to stay out of the kitchen so that I could open the oven and check the cake. He was not ok with this and so I put him out of the kitchen and he threw one of his tantrums and then made sure that he put at least one foot over the threshold to the kitchen. He's such a stinker! He definitely loves to push boundaries and to see how far he's actually allowed to go.

Making sure his foot was over the line!

He loves to sit and to read his books!

Liam also has had a huge change in his life! I was trimming his hair one night and he moved right as I snipped the scissors-which left a huge gap of hair. So, much to Jon's happiness, I knew that I couldn't just leave it like that, so we got out the clippers and cut off quite a bit of Liam's hair. He didn't like the sound of the clippers at first so I had to let him hold it and put the guard on his hand to show him that it wouldn't hurt, and then finally he allowed me to cut his hair. It was such a hard moment for me, to see all of his gorgeous locks of hair falling to the ground. It was a lot shorter than I originally had anticipated, but he looks adorable, and he most definitely is my little toddler now. I was holding onto his infancy with his hair, but he's not a baby anymore, that is for sure!

His pretty, long hair...

His new hair: Cut and Styled!

Wow... What a difference! He looks even older now than when his hair was long.

That's our latest updates as of right now. We are doing really well, and I am getting anxious for this next month when our world/life will be changed again!

First Diploma! Many more to come!

There is an old movie that my family watches called "What's Up Doc?" in this movie there is a really funny couple of lines that my family will always quote- those couple of lines are:

"I'll try to be the same"
"The same as what?"
"The same as those people who are not different"

The saying that we are our own worst critic is so completely true! I know that I am my own worst critic, at all times. Right now, my upstairs is looking amazing! I'm doing really good at keeping it clean (except my room.... that's a whole new story), unfortunately the basement has become the latest disaster area. I try really hard to clean it at least once a week, but I've learned that keeping areas clean with an active toddler is like cleaning up splatter from an open, running blender. I am proud of myself for keeping upstairs clean, but then the overpowering negative thoughts blare through and I feel pretty crappy about not keeping the basement clean. When I was going through the postpartum depression, I wouldn't have even given the clean upstairs a second thought (probably because it wasn't ever clean...) and all that would be on my mind would be the nagging feeling that I wasn't being a good housewife because I wasn't keeping a clean house. Now that I'm over the PPD, I give myself credit for what I have done, and I remind myself that while the basement is a mess, I have worked really hard to keep the upstairs clean. I have reached a whole new milestone as well in my life: I asked my mother for help. For those of you who know me, you'll know that that really is quite a big deal! I am a very proud person, and I don't like to ask for help, because I feel like I should be able to do things by myself. This was one thing that when I was going through the PPD that was extremely difficult for me. I remember feeling so stressed with Liam even though I did have help from Jon and my mother, and then I would feel guilty for feeling so stressed because there are women out there who are single mothers who are wonderful parents and can do it all without the amount of support or help that I had/have. But the other day, I texted my mom and I asked her if she could come and vacuum corners for me because I have officially gotten to the point that bending over is a struggle. We had a wonderful time! She came over and she vacuumed corners for me, and then she helped me clean Liam's room by bending over and picking up his toys and books that he takes out to play with when he doesn't want to go to bed right away. It was actually really fun to work along side her.

Now getting to the original part of being the same as those who are not different. The other day, I was reading blogs of other friends of mine, and one in particular mentioned having the same type of feelings that I do about keeping a clean house, and basically with goals in general. It was a huge wake up call to me because it made me realize that I really am not alone, and I am really not all that different. There are so many friends of mine that get on Pinterest all the time and I know that if I were to get onto Pinterest I would be super addicted, I also am not a fan of those type of websites because for me, it's hard to see all of the "perfect" things that people do. Most people don't put down the difficult things or hard things for them, they like to show off all of the wonderful things that they do. Which there is nothing wrong with, at all! But for me, I immediately think to myself, "why can't I do something that awesome?!" so it's just a lot better for me to not have the temptation there. I am really grateful that I came to the realisation that I am not alone in the world though, and that I am not alone in my strife for a clean home!

Things are going really well for us! Liam is quite the rambunctious child and he is definitely a toddler, because he wants to get into absolutely everything! His latest fascination is the bathroom. I don't know what it is about the bathroom, but he loves coming into the bathroom with me whenever I do anything. He makes me want to laugh and pull my hair out all at the same time! I get done doing my hair and makeup and then it's time to leave the bathroom and he throws a full on tantrum because we are getting out of the bathroom. It's ridiculous! Last night, Liam managed to get out of his room by pushing down the baby gate and he went into our bathroom and decided that it was in need of a cleaning. He had taken all of the toilet paper off of the roll, and he took the toilet brush and decided that not only did the toilet need a cleaning, but the walls... and the shower... and the counter... and himself... The worst part about this is the fact that Jon and I were both downstairs at the time and so we had absolutely no idea that any of this was happening. I had to go upstairs to get more water and saw that his gate was down, let me tell you that nothing strikes more fear in your heart in knowing that your child is not where they should be and that you really don't know where they are. But Liam came and found me and took me into the bathroom and showed me, quite happily, all the "cleaning" he had done. He was clapping for himself and smiling, and it was so cute to see him so proud of himself. So we had a little chat about how cleaning the bathroom is something he has to wait for mommy to help with, Jon came upstairs and took him to clean him up while I cleaned up the bathroom.

The other exciting news that we have is that Jon's diploma from SLCC came in the mail today! He officially has an Associates of Science! We are so excited! It is the first of many diploma's to come and I could not be more proud of him and of all the hard work that he is doing to provide for our family! The other day, he was sent an email stating that he was the recipient of two scholarships! I love that he is working so hard, and I love that he is being recognized for all of his hard work. There are days that are really difficult for me, because even though he is home, I still don't really get to see him because he is in his office working on his homework. I have to remind myself that he is working so hard for us, and that there will come a time that I will see him whenever I want, but for now, he has to lock himself away in his office to finish his homework! It WILL be worth it in the end! I just have to remind myself of that now.

Fluid is Up!

Um... where has half of February gone to? So much has happened that I don't even know where to start!

I'll separate everything into sections! That seems much easier!

SJHS:
We started second semester at the school, which meant that we were starting Musical Theatre and the audition process for Aladdin. We started working on the audition song the first day of class and then the next class period Kallee taught them the dance. We did the solo auditions after school that day, and there were some kids that truly surprised us. I love it when kids truly shine! We had callbacks and then we cast the show. I am really happy with how our cast turned out. We have had a slight drawback because our Jafar's father got a new job in a different state and so he is going to be moving about three weeks before the show opens. So we've had to switch some kids around, but part of being in theatre is being able to improvise and create something magical and that's just what we are doing.
Alyn, Jon and I took a road trip to Orem to pick up the Cave of Wonders set piece. We had a blast! Stopped at the Maverik and drove to Orem, got the set loaded into the truck and tied down and then while driving back had to stop to re tie the set down because coming back around the Point of the Mountain was extremely windy! But the set looks awesome and I am so excited!

Jon:
Jon is doing really well! He got another perfect score in his Calculus Exam! He is working really hard and I am so proud of him!

Liam:
Liam has a mouth full of teeth now! After fretting a little bit about his teeth not coming in, they all came very fast!! He is also starting to talk, which is amazing to me, his little voice is adorable. Lately, he'll point at everything and say, "what's that?" and then when we answer he'll say, "ooh" with a little lilt. So cute. He is sleeping really well in his twin bed and he sleeps all night long. He has started doing something that I'm not too thrilled about, and that is throwing tantrums and pushing his limits. Every time I tell him no or ask him not to do something he will immediately burst into tears and throw a fit, he is so dramatic! My brother so kindly let me know that that was my fault, ha, which he is probably right. Liam is also into pushing his limits. The other day he taught me quite a lesson: he was playing with the humidifier and I asked him not to play with it anymore, he proceeded to shout at me and got a little more resilient. I, again, told him no and he then pushed the humidifier off of the table it was on and it broke and water went all over the carpet. I lost my temper and yelled at him and spanked him then put him in his room. He went to sleep almost as soon as I put him in his bed. I then went into my room and I began to just cry; He's only 19 months old and his behaviour really is a phase that he's going through. I just seemed to forget about that at the moment. When he woke up about an hour later I heard him get up and play in his room for a little bit. So I went to his door and knocked on it, and he came and opened his door for me and as soon as he saw me he threw open his door and wrapped his little arms around my legs and patted me as if to say that everything was ok. This little act pushed me to tears again because it's amazing to see how the smallest member of my household teaches me the greatest lessons. That night I prayed so hard that God would grant me more patience, and I feel like I've been blessed greatly just in the past week.

Me:
February 3, I had a follow up appointment at McKay Dee Hospital to check my amniotic fluid. I showed up and the tech took me in and started the Ultrasound. She was going through the body parts of his that we could see and then she turned on 4D "just for fun". It was AMAZING! Ultrasounds themselves are pretty amazing but to see the little face of the baby growing inside of me with such clarity was phenomenal! He looks identical to Liam! It's pretty cool to have an idea of what he will look like! She checked my fluid and it's gone up to a 17.5! Which is right in the middle of where they want it to be. I was so excited. The baby is also measuring two days ahead and he is weighing about 4 pounds. Of course those are just estimates because he'll come when he is ready and weight measurements can be up to a pound or two off in either direction. Either way, everything is looking really good with him and me and we are having a really healthy pregnancy. We have about seven weeks left until he is estimated to make his arrival, and even though it's just that, an estimate, it's still coming up pretty fast! I can't believe that we are going to be having our second son in two months! I went to the mall today to go to Motherhood Maternity to look at nursing bras. They have a sale going on to buy 3 get the 4th free; I was fully ready to spend the money on good quality nursing bras until the sales associate got bratty with me. I had some questions and she acted as though it was such a burden to answer my questions, so then at the end when she asked which ones I wanted I just told her that I wasn't prepared to buy anything today and that I just wanted to see their selection. She seemed even more upset that she had "wasted" her time on someone who wouldn't be purchasing anything, but I was really annoyed by her attitude! After that I went to JC Penney, and even though Baby 2 will be using all of Liam's clothing I saw an adorable outfit that was only $11 so I bought it as this baby's coming home outfit. I am starting to get really excited about having a new baby. I'm excited to complete our family!