Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was in March. It threw me off.  Easter is better in April.  I guess it was a month ago.  

We had a quiet day at home.  We had the kids look for their Easter baskets.  Here's a funny shot of Abbey as she is going through hers.  I had a chocolate bunny, a chocolate cross, some other little chocolate and some other stuff for them in their baskets.  She got princess jewelry among hers and him a new game for his Leapfrog, which he loved.

Of course, she went to decorating everything with her new Hello Kitty stickers and pulling out all her new little toys and putting them in her purse.  Adam was busy with his computer we had to pull him off it later.

Even though we weren't going anywhere or having anyone over, I still decided to dress them up.  My Mom sent her the dress and I really liked it.  Easter is a day I try to do portraits....usually I have daffodils in my yard, but it was too early and too cold.  Abbey wasn't quite in the mood to smile mostly and she would NOT put down her purse, but I decided not to pick that battle.

Come On Abbey, This Way.  That's exactly what he told her.  Love it.

Trying to pose them on the porch...of course, her hair bow wouldn't stay in.

I love this!  TAKE THE PICTURE MOM.

Love this more,

Awwww

They were getting cold...see you late Mom!

If her eyes were open, I'd LOVE this.

Pretty princess.

Later, attacking the bunny.  Adam just loved his chocolate bunny!  All that week, I'd wake up to find some chocolate missing here or there from his basket.

Todd took these with his phone.  We know I hate my photo taken but I love this.

Another Todd.

Abbey tried to put her bunny back together!

Todd got the A-team on Mommy's lap....can you see me??

YUMMY ears!

Another nibble earlier in the day.

Awww....my baby.  Even though I hate the way I look....I know my kids will appreciate having some an occasional photo of us.

We had ham later and just relaxed.   The last few holidays, we entertained.  This was a nice, too.

(Whine...just typing this made half my fingers go numb and tingle.  The neuropathy from this pregnancy is the worse yet.  And each time a little more stays with me.  Can I tell my kids how I sacrificed for them my whole life ala Livia Soprano? ")

Ethan's Fourth Birthday

On the day before Easter, Ethan Potter had his fourth birthday party.  He is the grandson of Todd's best friend Terry Potter, who passed away in November of 2011.  It was at a bowling alley in Pulaski, near where they live.  Abbey's stomach was off, but she did fine once we were there.  This first picture is one Abbey "took" she's totally into using my camera now!

The bowling alley was pretty empty and frozen in time from 1978.  Abbey was VERY excited.  Here's Ethan's dad Jason helping her try her first bowl.  She jumped up and down so excited when it went...even before it went down the lane!  SO cute!

A very unusual low bar....Abbey bellied right up to it :)

YEAH!!  I did it!  I mean she would even jump up and down.  Abbey has such a joie de vivre.

That's Adam hanging out with Ethan's grandma Debbie and Harlie, Ethan's cousin.

Ehtan's Mom Theresa staning with the kids in the background.

 Jason helping Harlie.  She was so excited, too!

Daddy holding Abbey back.  She did better than expected waiting her turn, but she wanted to keep going!  All the kids were really into for about 6 rounds then they were done. Kind of funny.

Adam's turn!

He loved it!  Love this big grin :)

This picture cracks me up.  The birthday boy and his Daddy checking out the ball.

LOVE this photo.  My A-Team keeping score.

Ethan's Scooby Doo cake.

You know Abbey couldn't wait!

And neither could Adam.

Ethan opening gifts.  It was a cute party.  Kids had a great day.

35 Weeks

I'm 35 weeks pregnant.

On Thursday, I went to my weekly appointment and my second non-stress test.  This is where they hook up baby to a heart monitor and check her movement and her heart rate.  They also did an ultrasound to determine size and position of the baby.  Right before I went there, she started really bearing down...I thought she was turning...it was really painful.

They did the ultrasound and I get a little freaked out when the tech told me there was a lot of fluid and too much "tissue" to get a good look.  The baby measured at six pound and thirteen ounces...give or take a pound.  That's over a pound of the average kid at this point.  The size didn't shock me, but the other things she said got me so worked up my blood pressure sky rocketed.  The nurse hooked me up to the machine to test the baby and promised she'd get the doctor in as soon as possible to talk to me.  He told me the amount of fluid was consistent with the size of the kid, which made me feel better.  With her size, I expressed concern about the possibility of a c-section.  He then told me that with my blood pressure issues, that they wouldn't let me get past my 39th week.  That was news to me.  I had asked the other doctor if they ever induce for size and he said no.  I guess in retrospect, I didn't ask about the blood pressure being a factor.

(And by the way, she is in position.  My first kid to do so in a timely matter.  Abbey didn't switch back until the day of!)

I had mixed feelings.  I do like that induction is easier to plan, but her size may mean a c-section.  They will be doing an ultrasound the 38th week to determine her size and see which direction to go.  I'm thinking ten pounds is the mark.  Also, she won't get a Memorial Day birthday :) or be born on Todd's father's birthday (the 29th).  This isn't a huge deal, but it's a little bit of a let down.  

So she passed the non-stress test with flying colors (with me poking her to get her moving...she is up all night but naps in the afternoon).  I  then got a shot for pertussis, which I had previously declined but the doctor told me it covered the baby post natal, so I did.  I left feeling better, but I had a lot to digest.

That night, my body showed some signs I was headed to labor, which freaked me out a little.  I wasn't ready!  Good thing I had gone out earlier that week and gotten most of what I need for her.  But mentally, it was little scary!

I don't like a c-section for a couple of reasons.  The epidural I had for Adam didn't work.  And it's the same kind of medication.  I am also freaked out at the thought of not being able to feel my body at all.  And recovering from surgery is harder than from labor.

I am uncomfortable most of the time.  Can't sit too long.  Can't walk too long.  Can't stand too long and of course, I can't really lie down.  I pee all the time.  And she bears down sometimes and it hurts, something I didn't have with the other kids.  My back is an acne/itchy hive nightmare and my hands go numb constantly...making it hard to type.  My lungs are compressed and when she pushed them, it's hard to catch a breathe.

After I had Abbey, I said I couldn't imagine never being pregnant again.  I'm OK with that now!  I am starting to get a little scared of the labor part.  But it is still cool when she's moving and my stomach looks like an alien :)

Adam calls her Ellie.  Ellie in my Belly.  He named her a few weeks ago, out of the blue.

Main Board Fry

Sitting at the table listening to Adam be weird in the bathtub...which is hard to get him out of even though I have to threaten him to get him in there.  Abbey is flipping between sitting next to me and watching "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" which she has been asking for for three days.

Do you know that this post, started a few days ago and I was going to talk about how it's been hard to focus on writing?

Now it's 11:30pm on a Wednesday night.  I have a cold.  Adam has it.  Todd got slammed by it and feel asleep around 8pm.  He was going to drink coffee to stay awake and spend time with me and I told him to sleep and get better.  My sleeping has been even worse than usual, even struggling to fall asleep at night.  When you have insomnia and wake up all night, sometimes the thought of going to sleep and spending hours not sleeping well sounds worse than going to sleep.  My back hurts.  My hip hurts.  I'm just huge.  To the point that most interactions with people now start off talking about when I'm going to give birth.  And plenty of jokes about twins.

She sometimes keeps me up with violent kicks.

Monday, our wonderful television broke. My first anniversary gift.  Only two and a half years old.  I checked everything and Todd looked at it when he got home.  Let's be honest, we were both upset.  We love that TV.  Todd carried out an old one that was in our bedroom but not hooked up.  It's a small old TV...and it's not the same lol

We called Palmer's TV repair and they came and got it.  The verdict today?  Main digital board fried.   That's what he said.  Not cheap to fix, but a lot cheaper than buying a new one.

I have been on a mad dash to be prepared as she is pushing to get out.  Literally.  First time that has happened to me.  I am so tired.  And bending over is getting harder and harder....

Abbey Turns Three!

On Sunday, February 24, Abbey turned three.  Seems she just was born...seems like she was just a baby.  And now she doesn't even hardly look like a toddler anymore...all grown up!  We decided to head out to breakfast.  We decided to drive up to Denny's as Abbey just loves riding in the car and we didn't think she'd appreciate stopping just a few blocks later.  But both Denny's looked packed... the IHOP had a huge late so we ended up at Friendly's on Erie Boulevard a little after 11:30.  There's Miss Abbey giving her Daddy a hard time while we waited.  The food wasn't bad.  We were happy Abbey took a little cat nap on the way home...she had a big day ahead of her.

Don't you love her little tutu and Hello Kitty outfit?  She looks so serious opening a couple gifts we got her!  Then it was off to her party at 5pm at the Kidz Club in Phoenix.  

Jackie made an AWESOME pin the tail on the Grinch.  She's really good at drawing.  I loved it, the kids loved it and thought I couldn't get Abbey to do it at the party she brought it home and hung it up and kissed it :)

More cake details.  Loved the Lorax.  Adam was pretty fascinated by this.

GRINCH!  She loved this.  I mean, she kept kissing it when she saw it!  I JUST threw this sucker out it was pretty gross in the fridge.

Kids love the Kidz Club.  Part of the party package was face painting or balloon animals.  We originally picked face painting, but the kids weren't really that interested so they switched to balloon animals for us.  Adam got a sword and he couldn't have been happier.

OK, I love this shot of Jackie eating her daughter's cupcake rear :)

Swords with Uncle Bobby.

We had pizza, though it was kind of gross. That's according to Adam, the pizza king.  Downside of using the Kidz Club...HAVE to use their food.

Abbey is so cute...she loved this car.

Cake time :)  She wouldn't let go of her balloon, so it was a little complicated when the candles were lit.

Waiting to get served.  That's Q in the back.

Abbey showing Kari, the cake maker her Grinch.  She was in love.  She wouldn't eat her piece at first because she didn't want to wreck the Grinch.  The opposite of what I had pictured...thought she'd destroy him!  I forget my babies aren't...babies anymore.

Present time!  Abbey was into it for the first time this year.  She was pulling things out and looking.  She was SO tired!  But she was having so much fun.

Big girl doesn't need help!

Adam did VERY well understanding this was Abbey's day.

Love this photo of Tammy's niece McKenzie hugging Abbey girl.  She is such a good girl and very good with little kids.

Everyone had a lot of fun.  Hard to believe how time flies.  We love making a big deal out of birthdays.  Holidays are for everyone and I like celebrating them, but it's hard to make every detail of those events BIG.  I LOVE making their birthdays THEIR day.  Lucky to have my Abbey for three years.  This is what I posted about her.

Happy Birthday to our Abbey, who turns 3 today! Strong willed, fearless, adorable and independent, Abbey knows what she likes! Loyal and fiercely protective of her brother, Abbey will fight light sabers and win wearing heals and a purse :). She adores the Grinch and loves to fill her purses with 'collections'. She gives the most amazing hugs when we walk through the door and wants to make every dog her friend. Athletic and graceful, she loves to dance and climb. Her spirit is as wild as her hair and her heart as warm as her smile. So lucky to have her as my daughter!