39 week belly.

This is my belly a day before I am 39 weeks. Wow! I had to show some skin and show it in all it's glory, Sorry :)

 I guess now I know what I would look like if I was having twins!

Haws wanted me to do a poll to see how much people think Davis will weigh. I am guessing around 8lbs. There is a lot of fluid in there, but he is a strong baby, who likes to hang out in my ribs and punch me in the bladder at the same time, so I am expecting him to be a good size. 

 Had to show both sides to get the full effect.

So what is your guess? How much do you think Davis will weigh??

Having a baby tomorrow!

It is a weird feeling to know you are having a baby tomorrow. People ask... "Are you nervous? Anxious? Ready?" and I would have to say no, no and not really. Sure there are things I am anxious or nervous about. Things I feel like I am ready for and things I am not ready for... but those are feelings I would be having even if I didn't know the baby was coming tomorrow! I did wake up this morning and began my to do list for the day. There are a few things I forgot about and a few last minute things that needed to get done. Overall I feel very calm and pretty tired :)

I am ready this time around to not be pregnant. I do love being pregnant. It is a special time and I love hearing people's reactions or comments when you are pregnant. My favorite place to be when I am super prego, is the gym. I can't tell you how many people have come up to me in the last month saying they were expecting me not to be there anymore. Two older men were better on when I was due. A few thought I was having twins. I am rather large this go around, so I am not surprised that people don't expect to see me at the gym. I feel good at the gym though. I have been doing shorter work outs, but it gets the blood flowing and makes me feel less achy. I am thankful everyday that I am not on bed rest. 

But this belly is making life rough these days. I dread bending over to pick something up or picking up my socks. Even putting on underwear is a challenge. I can feel my muscles pulling in resistance to my enormous uterus (now measuring 45 weeks I am sure). Luckily... my skin has been good to me and I have no stretch marks... phew! Lets hope it has good elasticity as well :)

I am excited to meet Davis. To see what he looks like and stare into his sweet face. I can't wait for James to meet him and see how he reacts to this whole thing. I know they will be buddies once Davis is older, but I hope James loves having a baby brother around now. I pray for Davis to be healthy, for the csection to go well. I am curious to find out what it is like with all that water in there! I keep having dreams about it spilling out and getting everywhere. I am excited to see how Haws is with another one of our sons. Will it be love at first sight? He loves James so much it will be neat to see his reaction to another baby. I already feel connected to Davis, but I am curious about how I will feel when I first see him. I still remember when I first saw James and that was love at first sight... I am expecting something the same.

I feel like we are so blessed to have the opportunity to raise another one of our Heavenly Fathers children. Through all the aches, pains and sacrifice the outcome could not be more spectacular! I guess that is how our Heavenly Father must feel about us too :)

20 months

My baby is 20 months old! This has been a big month for James. He said goodbye to his crib and moved into his "big boy bed" which is the bottom bunk of the bunk beds we bought. I had some anxiety about making this move, but it has been going surprisingly well! I am crossing my fingers that it will last. He is actually going down and taking better naps than he did in his crib! The only downside is he has been waking up an hour earlier. We are hoping the time change coming up in a couple of weeks will help get him back to his 7am wake time. 

James loves all of his cousins, but I think he has a special bond with Caroline. Maybe it is because she is the closest to him in age, or maybe he just loves having a feisty little girl cousin. We took a trip over to the Davis' house and Aunt Brooke gave him another hair cut. I think he looks so cute with his short hair. Check out him and Caroline... aren't they a cute pair?

James got his first taste of licking the spoon while mom makes cookies. He really loved it and I think he liked having the chocolate all over his face. When I went to wipe his face he was not too happy about it.

 James also loves to crawl inside his clothes hamper. He looks so funny when he presses his nose up against the mesh.

He has also become a fan of eating peanut butter from the jar. I have no idea who he learned that from :)

James is starting to say more words. His recent favorites are bike, baby, ba-bye, big truck, bus, dip, no and he is constantly signing "more". When we say prayers, he wants to say them over and over. He is a love bug too and does a lot of blowing kisses and giving kisses. On the flip side, he can throw a good tantrum, especially when I am trying to put him in the car seat or stroller when he doesn't want to. 

I think he has grown a little because now he can reach up and put things on our kitchen counters. He is my little helper and likes to help me with the laundry. He will put clothes into the dryer with me and even attempt to help me fold them. He pulls out the clothes and shakes them around for me so I can fold them. James has gotten a little possessive lately and I try to work on him sharing, but I know toddlers really have no concept of sharing... they all think the world revolves around them and everything belongs to them. Once the baby gets here, he will be forced to share somethings... so we will see how that goes.

43 weeks???

Well not really, but that is what I am measuring at thanks to my abundance of amniotic fluid. I am 37 weeks here. Now considered full term, but still hoping to make it another 2 weeks to my scheduled c-section.

I saw my doc today and she assured me that it is possible for me to make it 2 more weeks! At the same time, this baby can really come anytime. In the last week I have felt there is no way I can last until the 15th, but after today I want to do as much as I can to try to make it. I will be huge and super uncomfortable, but it is worth it to let Davis cook a little longer. I am not on bed rest, but have been told to take it easy as much as I can. My doc knows I have a 20 month old and laying on the couch all day really is not an option nor is it necessary at this point. I have been having more frequent and stronger contractions, but nothing consistent. It is funny because with James I barely even noticed the Braxton Hicks contractions. The ones I am having now will sometimes wake me up at night. But again... nothing to make me think I am in labor. I am still doing fetal monitoring 2 times a week which is nice because I can see what is going on with my contractions, his heart rate and I get to see him in an ultrasound every week. I am so grateful that there is nothing wrong with him and that this fluid is just a fluke. My doc said he is probably going to come out all buff from being able to move around so much. He is getting a lot of exercise in there. I can feel him pushing his feet up into my ribs while using my bladder as a punching bag at the same time. The funny thing is, I will miss this a little once I am no longer pregnant. Feeling a baby mysteriously moving around inside of you is the most amazing thing. But even more amazing will be meeting this little guy who I already love so much. Hopefully it will be in 2 weeks :)

Help my friend find a baby

I lived with Sina my freshman year of college. I love her. She is still a very dear friend to me and I wanted to help her out by sharing her and her husbands story. Adoption is an amazing way to bring families together. If you know of anyone who is looking for a family to give their baby up for adoption to, please consider sharing their story. You can read all about Sina and Nate here.
http://nateandsinaadopt.com/

Good luck you guys! I love you.

34-35 weeks

This is me at 34 weeks

And this is 35 weeks. I swear I have grown in the last week and now I am getting to that very uncomfortable stage. I was looking back at pictures from when I was pregnant with James and I think I was about this big at 40 weeks with him!

At my 34 week appointment, I was measuring at 37 weeks. I have been diagnosed with Polyhydramnios, which is too much amniotic fluid. My doc caught it during the 32 week ultra sound and it was just borderline high at that time. It measured 22cm and so she had me start fetal monitoring. I was suppose to just go a couple of times, but it turns out my levels are going up, so now I go twice a week. The measure Davis' heart rate and then do an ultrasound to measure the fluids. When I was measuring at 37 weeks, my fluid was measuring around 29cm. The doc then sent me to a place that does high intensity ultrasounds to get a more accurate reading. When I went in yesterday, my fluid was measuring 33cm. The nice thing is they double checked Davis and he is just perfect. There is nothing wrong with him that would be causing the fluid to be high. The specialist said that many times high fluid is unexplained and there is really nothing I can do at this point. She said to continue with what I am doing, keeping my blood sugar in check and still exercising. I am just going to be more uncomfortable with this pregnancy. I see my doctor in a week and I will see what she says. I know there is a chance that my water will break early, but I am hoping since my c-section is scheduled a week early that I can at least make it to that date. If not... I am praying to make it to 38 weeks. I just want him to "cook" as long as possible. He is measuring about 5lbs 20 oz right now and his growth looks right on for where I am at in the pregnancy. Between the monitoring, the regular doc appts, the diabetes classes and a few other ailments... I feel like doctor appts fill up a large part of my week! The monitoring is nice because I know they are keeping a good eye on everything and I get to see him on a weekly basis :) Luckily I am pretty much done teaching at this point. I am so grateful to family and friends who have helped me with child care with James while I go to these appts. There is no way I could do it with out help! 

That is the update for now. We have a lot to do before this little guy joins our family. I hope I can get it all done in the next couple of weeks so I can feel ready!

19 Months

This handsome little man is getting so big! It is amazing to watch him grow and how his little mind works. In the past few weeks he has been picking up on new words every day! He doesn't always use the words over and over, but he will repeat a lot of the things that we say. I thought his speech was delayed... but the pediatrician says he is right on. 

He has gotten 4 molars in the last month and a half and that has been fun for all of us! At least we figured out why he has been cranky. I went to Vegas for work and was gone 4 days. Since I got back I have noticed a major increase in tantrums! I don't know if he was mad I was gone so long, if it is the teeth thing, if he is sensing his life is about to get rocked by a new baby or if it is just the age. But it really is not fun trying to pin a screaming toddler into his car seat while you are 8 months prego, or carrying him out screaming from a place he doesn't want to leave. But I guess it is easier now than it will be when I am carrying an infant around too!

On the upside... he has really started to love to help mommy. He helped me "fold" the laundry today, clean the floor and loves throwing things away. 

He has been doing awesome at his swim lessons! He loves going and the instructors always say that they have never seen a kid so happy to be in the water. It wasn't always this way. About lessons 4-7 he screamed every time they tried to get him to float on his back. Now he floats and then swims to the side or the instructor. It is so fun to watch him accomplish the goals they set for him. While I was in Vegas, he spent a day at Nana and Bop's and went swimming with Bop and cousin Tanner. I guess he randomly just started floating on his back like they have taught him! My parents said he floated like that for over 2 minutes! Good to know those lessons are working for when he is not with an instructor.

Everyday is an adventure with this kid. He brings Haws and I so much joy, even on the hard days, he does something to remind us just how lucky we are to have him.