27 weeks - Third Trimester

I cannot believe it, I am at the third trimester! This pregnancy has absolutely FLOWN by. My weeks are passing me by at an alarming rate. I just cannot seem to keep up with them. I am glad though that it has passed by so quickly. I feel the best I have ever felt, which they say ends sometime in the third trimester. Right now I am enjoying the energy and feel good I have.

It has gotten cold here, so I have been walking on my treadmill, not walking the neighborhood. Now, when I say cold, I mean the low sixties. I know that is not as cold as it has been elsewhere. I am in luck though, there is a nice warm front moving through. Today it was in the seventies and it will get up in the 80's this weekend. Good old Florida weather, it is not long before you put your flip flops back on. :)

I have been working hard on the cross stitch birth announcement for Shayla. I am on the last picture, a butterfly. It is so pretty. I will put up pics as soon as it is finished. I am going to have it framed. I will immediately begin on the afghan when this is finished. I was able to do both of those while I was pregnant with Alysha, but I am running out of time. Oh well.

Today is the day before Baby Girl Number 1's Birthday!!! My alysha will be 12 tomorrow!!! I still cannot believe it. I have been thinking alot about what a sweet little one she was. Man, I cannot believe she is grown up. I wish I could hold her again like I did when she was a toddler. She used to come up to me and say "mommy, you have not holded me today". She loved to be loved on. Today was a great day for her. She started the day at her friends house, where she got a birthday day gift. Then, she had a GLOW (christian girl scout) meeting today and then we went straight to the Bowling alley for her homeschool bowling league. She got another birthday present while she was there from her other good friend. We got home this afternoon and she got two cards in the mail with money in them. I would say she has gotten her birthday weekend off to a great start!

This week, out of boredom, Alysha and I decided to do some puzzles together. I go in my closet and find a really cool one with cats and dogs on it and we did that one first. (I buy them cheap at garage sales). The next one I found in my closet made me hoot and holla! Hila and Kristin will love this.......






That's right, New kids on the block!!!!! It doesn't get better than this. What a blast from the past. I love it. I think I bought this one thinking Hila and I would do it together, but I forgot about it while she was here. This puzzle is BIG. 2x3! It took up almost my whole kitchen table. Still is was so fun to put together. Ahhh... the memories. Hila, I am saving this one for you, its a classic.

great commercial

Everyone knows that I have been interpreting and working with the deaf for years. I have been hearing about this new pepsi commercial that is for the deaf. I finally got the link and I wanted to share it with you. This is sooo great! I love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffrq6cUoE5A

Sund Family Special

We went out Saturday night for our favorite meal. Chick-fil-A! Maybe it is just my favorite meal, but my family gives in to me and we eat there once a week. It is so good. Then we always go to Starbucks and get a White Chocolate Mocha for Jon and myself. Alysha hates coffee so she always gets a smoothie from the Smoothie king. So fun! That is our version of a Fun family night! I got all 'prettied' up, so I took some pics, cause I do not put on make up that much anymore. It takes too much effort. LOL

Look at my beautiful girl! If you notice, there is a plant leaf sticking out between us. I wanted to stand in front of the plant so it would be pretty, but I am a big boat, so you cannot see it! LOL.

Alysha does not like this shirt because it is black. She says it does not show my belly well. So, we took some more!

Here I am in the infamous white shirt. I posted one on the side that Lysh thought was the best. I have a nice little belly now. When we went to Wal-Mart the other night, I felt like people were gaping at me but I thought maybe I was just paranoid. Then, Alysha leans over to me and says, "Mom, people are really staring at you!" Great, it wasn't all in my head, as I was hoping. I think people are trying to figure out if that is my kid beside me and how old I am. haha. She is taller than me now..... Whatever, I waddled on out of there with my head held high!

26 Weeks and counting

Next week I will officially be in my third trimester! How great does that sound? My belly is growing daily it seems like. (and my bladder is shrinking, I'm sure) I am still feeling good, getting winded more easily, but all in all doing great. My biggest complaint is backache and heartburn. Pretty much everything I eat and drink gives me heartburn. There is nothing safe. My back hurts me lots. I cannot even walk around wal-mart for more than thirty minutes without my back aching. Sleeping is a whole other nightmare. I need a crane to go from my side to my back, seriously. (I know I am not supposed to sleep on my back, but I get tired of sleeping on my side and it alleviates my back pain to lay on my back.) It is a major ordeal to change positions. I pretty much have to sit up and and then change positions, which completely wakes me up and then my bladder reacts accordingly. That's right, I then have to go hit the head because I sat up to roll over. There's the rub.

I do have a serious sweet tooth. I could eat sweets all day. I don't, or at least I try not too, but it would be easy to do. I have actually gotten to where I don't eat dinner very much. I have to eat really small meals cause if I eat a whole meal, my stomach gets really tight and it is not comfortable. I have a standard meal I eat for dinner that is really good. It is cheese and crackers with chocolate milk to drink. LOL. (By cheese and crackers I mean saltine crackers with a piece of cheese melted on them. I grew up on those!) On a positive note, I am no longer weepy, I hardly ever cry anymore. Whew! Being that emotional all the time was rough!!

I went to see a friend of mine down here that is three weeks ahead of me and she gave me some pregnancy jeans she has outgrown already. They fit PERFECT!! I am so excited, those suckers cost lots!! I took 26 week pics and I will post them over the weekend.

shopping at wal-mart

Tonight we went to wal-mart with a two-fold mission. I had a great coupon for diapers and a gift card to use on a board game. I have been working some and making some extra money, so I have decided, now that I have finally paid off Alysha's very expensive braces, that I will buy some diapers every week with my money. I got a great coupon in the mail for $3.00 off huggies diapers, which is an awesome coupon. So I wanted to go get me some diapers and some wipes, which I also had a coupon for. FUN!!

We also had a gift card, that I got from Kristy this year for Christmas that she said was to be specifically used for a board game. Now, when she gave me this, I was worried. There is something you should know about us. We are a game playing family and we own a closet full of games. No joke. The top of Alysha's closet is FILLED with board games. I went to the closet and counted before we left and there are a total of 32 board games in there. (which does not count all the card games we own) So, I was worried that we would be able to find something we actually wanted to get that we don't actually own. Now, I get all our games at garage sales and thrift stores, cause it saves bunches of money and I am cheap. It is crazy to pay full price for a game when you can get the exact same thing that is gently used second hand. We got there and looked at the game aisle and I promise we own over 90% of the games there. Luckily, we found one game I have only played once, but always wanted to own. MAD GAB. Yeah!! Crisis averted. Now we have game number 33!! Correction, I have five games in my closet so it was really game 38!!!

speaking of nicknames

Alysha and I have such a great time when we get in the car, especially when I am feeling good. So, one day when we were going down the road, I was cutting up with Alysha and I gave her the nickname P.O.P. - Pile of poo. I kept saying pop, pop, pop, all the way home, it was hilarious. I do not remember the conversation leading up to the nickname, but we were laughing our heads off. So I kept repeating that for a few days, singing it and playing around, just to irritate her. I am laughing just thinking about it. There is actually a song my mom used to play when I was growing up, called popcorn. It has no words or anything, it's just music, but I dubbed it her theme song and I would 'sing' it. Here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZT4owFcD4M. (Youtube has everything.)

Well, she tried and tried to think of a clever nickname for me, something that was as good as 'pop' and she could not come up with anything, which is even more funny. Later that week, or even the next week, my mom came to visit. She helped Alysha think up a nickname for me. I was not impressed, it was not as good as mine, but it was the best they could do. W.O.R.M. - Woman of Raunchy Mouth. LOL. I mean, u gotta love that. How crazy are we? It was this great crazy game that took on a life of its own.

Alysha claims that my craziness gets on her nerves. I like to play around and act silly alot. While she was in dothan for those two weeks without me, she told meemaw to act crazy like mommy does, cause she missed it! Too Funny! Of course, my mother does not know how to act silly, she is an old fuddy duddy. I do believe that baby missed me while she was in Alabama! I missed her too, it was lonley here, I found myself talking to my cat. How crazy old ladyish is that? This baby and I are a good team.

Kristy Darling

While I was in Dothan, I got to spend lots of time with my Kristy Darling. (I don't remember how it started, but that is her nickname, Kristy Darling) We have decided that that is what baby Shay will call her also since she will already have an Aunt Christy (my brothers wife). We always have so much fun when we get together, like no time has gone by. It is too bad we live so far apart, I could really use my Kristy down here. We went out one night, just the two of us, and spent the whole night just talking and hanging out. We went to my favorite place, Atlanta Bread Company, and sat on their couches by the warm fire. It was so great. People tell us alot that we look like sisters! That second picture is three beautiful girls.

Our husbands are the best of friends too, so we always try to get together as families whenever we can. Jon and I went by there Saturday for just one hour to visit. It was so great to all be back together again, just like old times. Before the military took us away. :)

Hopefully they will come down and visit us soon, so we can hang out even more.

25 Weeks - Home sweet home

I am finally back home with all my family. It feels good to be all here together. We had a great time in Dothan. I have some fun pics to share. Always when I go to Dothan we put puzzles together, me and mom. I don't like doing them by myself, but with someone else it is great! My favorite aunt in the whole wide world (Aunt Grits) gave mom some puzzles for Christmas and we did three of them. Here they are:

I am doing great and feeling great. I feel this little girl move and kick and punch all the time. My whole tummy jumps now with her movements. It is so funny! I will soon be in my third trimester. It really has flown by so fast that I cannot believe it. I think now that I am bigger and a little more uncomfortable that it will start to go by slower. I did get to pick up my changing table while I was there. It is soooo beautiful, thanks stacy!!

Kristin, next time I am in town we are going to get together, outside of Library, we did not have enough time to catch up!! Meeting at work is no fun, to many stupid patrons interrupting us... hahaha...

I have more pics for later posts!

baby stuff

I am in Dothan visiting my mom. We have both been looking for the baby clothes and blankets of Alysha's that we just knew we kept in a big tub somewhere. Neither of us could find them anywhere, so as a last resort we went out to the shed and searched. We could not find them, but at the last moment we saw a little tub in the corner and THERE IT WAS !!! I have all the outfits I LOVED of alyshas, some of her favorite toys, and the blankets that people made for me that are so beautiful! I am not able to put up pics while I am here, but I will when i get home. I have so many pics of alysha laying on these cute little blankets! I cannot wait to take some of Shayla and put them side by side. Sisters! How sweet! Also in the box was the baby monitor i used, still in the box. I don't remember keeping that, but I am gonna try it out to see if it works! :) Meemaw and I just ooohhhheed and aaaaahhhhhed looking at all the stuff. What sweet memories!

Dothan here I come

This is funny! I am heading to the circle city in a few hours to visit with family while my hubby goes off to North Carolina to train, train, train! I will be there a whole week! I am looking forward to getting away, let someone else wait on the pregnant princess. :)

24 WEEKS - It's mutany

Twenty four weeks flew by fast! I cannot believe how much my tummy has grown since week 20! It got big fast. I am officially out of all size small maternity shirts, I have moved on to mediums and larges. I can actually still wear my regular pants, but I just button them bellow my belly, (like men with beer guts do - lol). I decided to have Jon take my picture outside this time, I was tired of pictures in front of that same old white wall. So, this is my front yard. I realized at the time that this is the most I have ever taken my picture in my whole life. I mean, how often do you hand you camera to your family and say, "take a picture of me"? I never did that, but now I am doing it weekly, that is hilarious.

I am convinced that when you become pregnant your body gets angry with you and turns against itself. I am just amazed at all the little things that go wrong while your pregnant. Case in point, I have been noticing when I put on my make-up in the mornings that my cheeks are really rosy red, almost like Santa claus (I am only referring to his red cheeks, not his 'bowl full of jelly'). I got out my handy dandy pregnancy guide and it looks like I have pregnancy rosatia, Oh Joy. Something else to add to the long list of offensive things my body has done to me since I got pregnant. On a positive note, I have really had a great uneventful pregnancy. I know lots of women have bad things happen and I am blessed to be so healthy and not have any major complications. But, it is almost like a little game my body plays with me. I wake up every morning to see what else could possibly be malfunctioning today. Lets just say, I am never disappointed.

Look what my postman brought me

I ordered these off the Internet, I just could not help myself. In case you don't know, Coastie what people in the Coast Guard call themselves for short. That is a little pink onsie and a white bib. The next time you see these, they will be on Shayla. :) How sweet. For anyone who has not noticed, there are some videos you can click on there on the right side of my page. They are all Coast Guard videos, some are kinda lengthy, but the first one is very good. It is a short little video, making fun of the German Coast Guard, if you have never watched it, click on it. It is supposed to pull up a screen right here on my blog page. A little Coast Guard humor.....

I got an email from pampers.com today that said, "Congratulations! You are now six months!" I guess they go by the four week scale and that would make me six months (tomorrow). Woohoo! That sounds great. I took my picture today for my 24 week shot. I am putting it up on the side, so ck me out. I have a nice size baby bump.

More to come tomorrow...........

waddling through walmart

I got up yesterday morning and decided to go run errands. Here I am, foot loose and fancy free (no Jon or alysha) and I go run boring errands. It was just something to do, instead of sitting around the very quiet house. My last stop was Wal-Mart to buy some groceries. I have definitely developed a distinct waddle now. (You would waddle too if you were slightly over five feet tall and someone strapped a half a watermelon to your stomach.) Unfortunately, on my grocery list is cat food and I don't have Alysha with me to do the heavy lifting. I don't know if you have ever priced cat food, but you save money by buying it in the big bag. I debated on getting the smaller bag, just to make it easy on myself, but after adding it in my head, i could not bring myself to do it. I am woman hear me roar..... haha. I haul the twenty pound bag of kitty chow into the bottom of my buggy and I am quite proud of myself. I did it without falling down or pulling anything.

I finish walking all over Wallyworld at my new snail's pace and I proceed to check-out. I politely ask the check out girl if she can scan that sucker without me having to pick it back up. I really don't think I could have anyway, but she was able to walk over there with her handy dandy scanner. Now, keep in mind I have been walking around wal-mart for a while so I am slightly winded. The check lady scans my items and then asks me if I need help getting my stuff to the car. LOL. Your kidding me right? You know Walmart does not have bag boys, this is not Winn Dixie. I must have looked really pathetic for her to offer to get me someone to walk me out. Of course, I politely declined. I told the helpful lady that I managed to get it in there, I would get it out. I am only 23 weeks along, how sad will I be when I get a really big tummy...........

doctor again - almost 23 weeks!!

Today was my doctors appointment. He likes to see me about every 6 to 7 weeks. I only stress out about it cause I have the dreaded "weigh in". lol. I am so crazy about my weight, I need to get over it, I just can't seem to stop obsessing. I mean, I haven't stop overeating, just obsessing about how much I have gained. :)

So anyway, I left the customary specimen and then it was time for the scale. I take off my shoes, cause you know they add like five pounds, right? So, crazy as I am, I insist on taking of my sneakers before I get on the scale every time. haha. It was not as bad as I thought. I had only gained five pounds since my last visit. That makes a total of six pounds for the whole pregnancy, which puts me right on schedule. Why I am so anal about it, I just cannot understand. So, that put me in a good mood right off. Five pounds was alot, but I blame Hila and all that food we had. As I said in a previous post, it is unfair to be preggo during the holidays. But, I digress...... The rest of the appointment went fine. All my labs are fine. I am having no problems, just the normal pregnancy related stuff. My doctor is SO nice, we really like him. I had two or three questions for him and he really put my mind at ease. If all these "do-gooders" would stop putting thoughts in my head of all the things that can go wrong, I would not have any questions or concerns. :) People find out your pregnant and they like to tell you their horror stories.

He did tell me that the second time around you can generally expect your labor to last half as long. (this is not a rule, just in general, so don't leave me comments about how that is not true). It made me happy, I like to hear things like that. I was in labor for 24 hours the first time around, so maybe this time it will only be twelve. :) He also put to bed some fears someone had put in my head about epidurals. Someone told me that you can only have one if you are less than 3 or 5 centimeters dilated. He said that is absolutely not true. Good. I wish people would stop giving me things to worry about. I did not have one the first time, so either way I will be fine, but having zero pain would be nice. :)

I had taken a picture of my naked belly to post, but I think it is a fat tummy and I changed my mind. ha ha. I do have a picture of the Christmas ornaments I bought cheap at hallmark today. One is for 2007, it is a stork so that I will remember I was expecting that Christmas. The other is a baby's first Christmas ornament that is a sweet little baby in her cradle and it has no year. I bought a baby's first Christmas for Alysha too and I still hang it every year. How special. Here's the pic....

I will not post again on Friday when I actually hit 23 weeks. This is my pregnancy post. I do have lots to say about Hila's recent visit. Since I am all alone starting tomorrow (Jon leaves for work and the baby is in Alabama), I will post those stories later.

I also went to Motherhood Maternity today and bought a pair of petite maternity jeans, they were on sale half off and I need one good pair of jeans. I did not have any maternity jeans, I have been wearing my larger size jeans that I keep when I put on a little weight. They fit good in the waist, but they hang off of me, so I decided I deserved one good pair of jeans that fit nice in the tushy. :) Jeans are all I wear when I work and I will be working for the next seven days.

22 weeks and getting big

This is me on Friday. Alysha and Hila said I had to take a pic on the day I turned 22 weeks for it to be accurate, so this was it. LOL. I look big. I took some others a few days before. I am trying to get some good belly shots, for posterity. I cannot believe the baby only weighs one pound, I sure do have a nice size tummy.

here are some more pics:

I took that picture in the pink shirt on my birthday.

Alysha left me today, she is going to spend the next week and a half in Dothan with her meemaw. I am going to work everyday while she is gone, make some extra money. I sure am gonna miss her. She is such a good companion, I get lonely here all by myself. Jon is gone at night alot, so I have to be all alone. Don't you feel bad for me? sniff, sniff. I am looking forward to a little Julie time, it will be the only Julie time I get, once Shay gets here I will be a busy girl. :) I will be in Dothan from January 13 through 17 to visit and pick up my baby girl number one. I am looking forward to that. Jon will be in NC for training (which means he will be playing with guns).

I am feeling great, except for backaches. OH My Gosh! My back hurts alot, I cannot sleep at night because of the pain. My mom bought me a new sealy posturepedic pillow for Christmas and I used it last night, it is made specifically for side sleepers. I had my first night of no back pain. It was wonderful. I can no longer sleep on my back comfortably, so I am always on my side. I also have a body pillow that i use to "rest" my belly on, so I and Shay are comfy. :) I have a doctors appointment tomorrow, so I will blog the good, the bad, and the ugly soon. I mean, it is not fair to be preggo during Christmas, you already have a voracious appetite. There is no such thing as self-control at Christmas, everyone indulges, but pregnant women cannot be expected to control themselves.... heeheee....

I really hope I have not put on one to many pounds. We shall see!