Sea Bands

Let me start off by saying how excited I am to be pregnant again. Everything about my pregnancy with Liv was wonderful (except for the occasional gagging during my morning showers). But seriously, I'm pretty sure I had an easy pregnancy with her. I basically felt great throughout the whole 9 months. We even joked the night I was going in to be induced, I still felt like I could walk a marathon and be completely fine.

August 4, 2010

So I sort of figured all of my pregnancies would be the same way...

Wrongo!!!

This one has been drastically different. I had some very strong symptoms before I even knew I was pregnant, and I found out really early... At 3.5 weeks! I should've known right away!

So let's discuss this whole "morning" sickness thing... Big fat lie! Some people say it strikes them at different times, but mine doesn't strike. It just never goes away. Thankfully, I just felt like I was going to be sick all the time, and I wasn't one of those who actually had to run to the toilet around the clock...

Until last weekend. I finally hit the 2nd trimester, the "safe zone", so I thought surely I'll begin to feel better, but it just got worse. On Saturday, literally all I did was sleep and throw up. I was miserable and not much better on Sunday. Then Monday came and I still felt terrible! 

I thought to myself, We have waited so long for this, and now I'm so sick I can't even enjoy it! What if it doesn't go away? What if I'm this sick until February? Poor Livy, she doesn't even understand why Mommy hasn't felt like playing with her in days! I'll just say its really difficult to be thankful for your own misery... even when you know how sweet and precious the instigator is! Ha!

By Monday evening I was willing to try anything! I had heard of Sea Bands from Michelle Duggar, of all people!? But I thought surely after 19 kids, those things must work so I went on the hunt! Our Walmart doesn't sell them, Walgreens does but they were out. Drew was sweet enough to bring some home from the El Dorado Walgreens. I put them on right away and I could immediately tell a difference. 

I wasn't sure if they were actually working or if it was all in my head. But I'm on day #3 now and I feel so much better! Don't get me wrong, there's still times when I don't feel exactly wonderful but that's to be expected. These bands have made my pregnancy so much more enjoyable.

They're not the most fashionable. I sort of feel like I'm geared up for my next game in the WNBA. But as long as I can go all day without getting sick, I'll wear them 'til the cows come home... Or until the baby comes. I'm sure we'll have the baby before we have any cows. :)

 

Oh Goofy

The other day, we were watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Goofy said, "Garsh! Are you thinkin what I'm thinkin?" And ever so seriously, Livy said,

"No..."

It wasn't a playful no or a joking no... It was a how dare you even assume that I would be thinking what you're thinking, no!?

I could barely contain my laughter!

A Brand New Car!

Yep, there's a brand new vehicle in the family! And no, it's not me. Sadly, the day I dream of getting a new vehicle will probably never come, but that's ok... I'm perfectly content!

The new car belongs to Livy! Or, it will in a few days. Can't believe our Livy Lou is turning 3!!!

It's a red Dodge Viper with opening doors, working headlights, FM radio with a MP3 hookup, lots of really cool car noises, and the best part... it was on SALE! It also says "ages 3-7"... and if that's going by an average 7 year old's size, that means Livy will be able to drive this to high school! We won't have to buy her a car when she turns 16 because she'll still fit in this! It's a win win!

Livy fell asleep super early tonight (I'm sure she'll wake up by the time Drew and I are ready for bed), anyway... we decided to test it out... ya know, just to make sure it worked...

 

 

I just hope she'll love it at least half as much as her daddy does!  


 

Daddy's Girl

 

 

I think every little girl reaches the age when she figures out how to make her daddy do exactly what she wants... and Olivia has definitely figured it out! Not to take any of the credit away from her, but Drew has been wrapped around her finger since day one, so when she starts turning on the charm, he's a goner! When she tilts her head up at him, blinks those long eyelashes, and calls him Daddy, I know there's no hope for him standing his ground!

For example, the other night, she woke up in the middle of the night and crawled in our bed. I must have taken her back to her bed (it couldn't have been Drew, he lets her stay in our bed). Anyway, somehow she ended up back in her bed calling for her daddy. Drew went back there to check on her and in the most pitiful voice she said,

"Muggle with me, Daddy."

So, of course, Drew laid down with her for a little while. When he thought it was safe, he tried to sneak out but she caught him and asked for chocolate milk. (She knows I'll say no!) Drew got her a cup of milk and told her it was time to go back to sleep. He also told her that he was going back to his bed and she would have to be a big girl and sleep by herself. He was almost out the door when she said ever so sweetly,

"I like your hair cut Daddy. You're so pretty!"
 

So guess what he did? Crawled back in bed with her! I'm telling you... she's got this charm stuff figured out!

The next day while Drew was telling me about all of this, Livy chimed in and said,
"I really do like your hair cut, Daddy. And I like your eyebrows... They're so black and brown!"

Hilarious!!!

No More Shrimp!!!

Wednesday, July 10th, was a girls' day at the lake. Gran had come up to stay a few nights with Livy and I in our camper, and Annie had a couple ladies come stay with her too. The thunder and lightning had kept us from swimming that afternoon, so we spent the day in the camper playing cards, laughing, and watching Livy dance.

That night we went to Fisherman's Wharf for supper. I ordered popcorn shrimp and shared my plate with Livy. She ate almost everything I gave her. She was hungry that night and the food was so good! Before we even left the restaurant, she had started itching but I figured it was just dry skin from being in the sun or maybe it was from having a couple days worth of sunscreen on. Either way, I didn't think much about it.

Then on our way home she started complaining that her stomach hurt. We got caught in a downpour with thunder and lightning, and it took us almost an hour to get back to the campsites. About 11pm, she vomited. Then I started getting a little worried because the only other time she had eaten shrimp was at the beach and she got sick then too! At the time, I had just thought it was the combination of greasy food and too much sun. But what are the odds of her throwing up both times she's eaten shrimp??

She vomited 2 more times and by about 2am, Gran and I were considering going back into town to get her some medicine. I had looked up allergic reaction symptoms on my phone, and Livy had several in common. I wasn't too concerned until I started listening to the way she was talking. She just didn't sound like herself... like she had cotton in her mouth or something? So when I peeked at her throat with a flashlight, I panicked a little. It was super swollen. After calling Drew (who was still at home and really hating that he was so far away while she was sick) and talking it over with Gran, we all decided we'd rather be safe than sorry, so we took her to the ER.

We were the only people there, so they took us back right away. The doctor said she did have an allergic reaction and that the reactions will continue to get worse. No more shrimp or shellfish. They gave her some medicine and some steroids and sent us on our way. Livy was a doll! She was the perfect little patient!

We got back to our camper at 4:30am, I slept a total of 2 hours, then got up and drove 3 hours to my prenatal appointment with Dr. Watson in El Dorado. Looking back, I'm not sure how I made it?! I probably should've called them and asked to reschedule due to the circumstances, but I had waited for that appointment for so long, I wasn't going to let anything stop me! We had also been waiting on that appointment so that we could finally share the good news with everyone!

As soon as Dr. Watson placed the Doppler on my stomach, we heard the sweet little ...thump, thump, thump... of our baby. Drew says it sounds like a car going down the interstate. Haha!

Talkin Bout Jesus

While we were at the lake, we were all floating around just chatting when Livy interrupted and said,
"Hey! When can I talk?"
We finished our conversation, and I asked her what she wanted to talk about.
"I want to talk about Jesus!"
"Well, that's a good thing to talk about. What about Him?"
"We love God and Jesus, and Jesus just hit my head on the clouds, and then Pappy and Annie will make it all better."

I wish I knew where her thoughts came from sometimes! She is the most random child!

Big Announcement

We kept it a secret for what felt like an eternity! So when we finally spilled the beans on Facebook, it was a little weird! But now I'm so glad the news is out because I just love being able to talk about my new sweet precious little baby! I guess I'm kind of baby crazy right now... I have a ton of pregnancy apps on my phone and I'm constantly looking up more information about how the baby is developing. The miracle of how babies are formed just blows my mind!

I'm currently 12 weeks along, and I'm due on February 3rd! The morning anytime sickness has lingered pretty constantly but I'm hopeful that will subside in the upcoming weeks... fingers crossed! So far, this pregnancy has been the complete opposite of my experience with Olivia, so I'm a little anxious to see how the next several months will be... but I am so excited, thankful, happy, and overjoyed to have this opportunity to raise and love another little blessing!

A Bad Punzel

This morning, I had been trying to catch up on laundry when I noticed Zoe rolling all over a pile of freshly folded towels. I told her to quit, and then Little Miss Helper chimed in...
"Zoe! Don't knock Mama's towels over! And when I promise something, I never ever break that promise! ...I say that to Zoe because she's scared of me and I'm a bad Punzel."

"A bad Punzel? No you're not!"

"Yes, I do!"

Backity Back

When Livy gets tired she always wants to "muggle." Usually, she'll curl right up next to me and we'll hug and giggle while we muggle. The other night, when she asked to muggle I assumed the position and held my arms out for her. She said,
"No, not like that. Like this... backity back."
And she curled up against my back. Back-to-back. Or backity back.