Monday, December 29, 2008

2009 Joshie Bear Calendar

Picking out the calendar we will use for the next year has always been a big deal to me. I usually wait till a few days after the new year so I can get it cheap. Picking out my calendar is like a ritual... it's very important. I make such a fuss over it that Steve makes fun of me about it... lovingly of course.
This year I decided to make my own calendar. Here is the project view. You can push play or the forward button to turn the pages. I may have to explain who Joshie Bear is in the next post, but that's ok.













Friday, December 26, 2008

The Christmas Traditions I Miss

Since I've "grown up", Christmas hasn't really felt the same. I've really missed the Christmas Traditions that I grew up with. These are a few that I really miss.

1. Our Christmas Tree: It was the custom in my family to go pick out our Christmas Tree on Thanksgiving weekend. I'm not really sure why it was always that weekend, but it was. The 4 of us would get into the car and drive to a tree lot, usually in Greenwood... about 35 min away. It was always my mom who picked out the tree in the end, and most of the time we would end up with something like a Norway Pine with nice long soft needles.

2. Christmas Lights: Our house always had outside lights. This was something my dad did every year.

3. Christmas Eve Present: It was a tradition in our home, that on Christmas eve, usually after dinner, my parents would have my brother and I each open 1 gift. My mom would usually pick out something from under the tree that we could play with. This was something I always looked forward to, mostly because it was a custom that most other people did not do. I liked that it was a little unique to our family.

4. Mimi & Grandpa's: After opening our gifts at home and hanging out for a while, we would head over to Mimi & Grandpa's, getting there around 1030 or so. Mimi' always fixed hamburger gravy for biscuits and her egg cassarole with sausage and cheese. All the Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins would be there... often, for some, it was the one time in the year we got to see them because they lived out of state. When it was time to open presents, everyone would line up by family starting at the top of the basement stairs, winding through the kitchen into the living room and hall. Then one by one, we would go down the stairs and wave to the camera saying Merry Christmas, with Mimi & Grandpa being last.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

14 Weeks... ish

Well, in a few more days... so, why not!

I got to see the 'other' perinatal Dr in the office today (you can ask me about that later if you like). He took a look at my cervix today and said it looks great, but is going to take a look at it again in two weeks. So, for now, that's really great news. Doesn't really help explain why my water broke at 18 weeks in my first pregnancy... "sigh". I'm still spotting, but only a little. The Dr. reinforced the fact that I need to be "taking it easy".
My regular appointment for the 30th has been rescheduled for the 8th. I'm excited about that one since Steve will be here and he will go with me and see the baby for the first time! (YEA) My next perinatal appointment is the 7th.
Here's the new Peanut Pics from this mornings appointment. Not the greatest, but still pretty cool. The baby's arms are lifted up by it's head. The pics are only slightly different from one another, but I posted both anyway. The Dr. said we can see the pupil in the eye... apparently the ultrasound goes through the eyelids. I don't really see it though, I just take his word for it.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Spaghetti Recipe

One of my most favorite meals is spaghetti. My mom makes the best spaghetti sauce... it's still my favorite. The past few weeks, I have been craving a spaghetti meal, but I haven't found a place here that comes any where close to the flavor that I love so much. The only place that has sauce resembling my mother's is Carabba's, and that's not in Reno. You would think I would just fix it at home often or something... nope. But it's because I haven't found a recipe I like, and believe me I've tried. I've tried to do what my mom does, but she goes off the hip so much that it's difficult to mimic her sauce. AND, I discovered a few years ago that she uses Ragu Sauce as an ingredient. (I always thought it was completely homemade).

Last night was FHE and my turn to cook dinner. Three or four days ago I went looking for another sauce recipe. The first place I looked was The Pioneer Woman.com. She always has great recipes for food and it never fails to turn out wonderful. She doesn't have a spaghetti sauce recipe though. I usually like to try allrecipes.com, but you can get some wacky stuff on that website and it takes too long to find something decent. The past few weeks, I had been listening to The Splendid Table on NPR while traveling back and forth to choir practice on Sundays. So, I decided to check out their website and see if they had any kind of Italian type red sauce recipe. The website is not real user friendly, but I found one that your supposed to make for penne pasta.

I thought it was a bit strange because it calls for 4 different fresh herbs, a whole minced carrot and a whole minced stalk of celery, and only one clove of garlic. It actually turned out really great! I was so impressed, and everyone else thought it was pretty good too. I didn't add the basil at the end, and I used 4 cloves of garlic (because I love it), I also added a small can of tomato sauce to stretch it out a bit. There was only a tiny bit of sauce left over, and there were 5 of us eating. :(... I want some more spaghetti. By the way, I use Angel Hair.

Here is the recipe:
Soffritto of Tomatoes and Fresh Herbs with Penne

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Sleepless Nights

Ok, so they arn't completely sleepless, just a tiny bit sleepless. Lately, I've been waking up really early in the morning... between 230 and 4. Most of the time I can lay there for a bit, and then go back to sleep. Not this morning. Woke up at 330 and couldn't get back to sleep. I'm blaming it on this cold I have. You know a cold, it makes you miserable early in the morning. This one hasn't been real bad; I'm grateful for that. But this morning, I was so worried about the scratchy throat it's gifted me with, that I was too stressed to go back to sleep. Normally, no big deal, but I'm singing in Sacrament tomorrow in a quartet... so I'm worried it may cause some issues. I think it's going to be fine... I just hope I don't worry it into coming true! So, if you were wondering why I'm posting comments on your blog so early, there you go. I think I'm just about ready to go back to sleep, I know my cat is! She keeps trying to curl up in my lap, but it's not working out for her. Come on Allie, lets go back to bed!

Friday, December 19, 2008

2nd Trimester

I've been anxiously awaiting this day! It's the first day of the second trimester.... thank goodness! Now, if we could get to 24 weeks, that would really be something!

Thanks everyone for all of your prayers... I know that they are helping. Seems like every person I talk to on the phone, at church, online, in the temple... all of you are praying for us! Thank you sooooooo much. I know your prayers make a difference and it really makes me feel more at peace to know that so many are watching out for us. Thank you!

I've been spotting all week. Not bad. I think I'm beginning to really come to terms with the fact that it's just something that takes place in 'my' pregnancies. Except for being completely emotional about it on Sunday, the rest of the week has been really great. I feel good emotionally and physically, so I think everything is pretty safe for now. I'm starting to get a worry in the back of my mind, though, that my water might break early again. I hope that remains the major difference between this pregnancy and the last. I was talking to Sister Chamberlain the other day and she told me she felt that everything was going to work out fine. I have to admit that I've had that feeling a few times throughout this pregnancy, but sometimes the fears overwhelm the feelings of peace and it can be hard to stay hopeful. This pregnancy has been better than the first, which I'm thankful for. There has been less spotting... so I feel that it's a good sign.

I have two appointments coming up, one on the 24th with the perinatal Dr., and a regular appointment on the 30th. We are going to be looking at my cervix on the 23rd and see if any issues can be detected.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Worry

I started bleeding again last night.

When you start seeing bright red blood coming from a place you don't want it to come from, things become really scary. Last night I felt scared, frustrated, and maybe even a little angry. I had a hard time getting to sleep last night, thinking that any moment I was going to start cramping. It's been harder this time, trying to hold on to the hope of having this child. I feel some bitterness that we have so many complications with trying to bring a child into this world. Why can't it just work RIGHT!? I know the Lord has his purposes, and that He understands everything that's going on, but it doesn't make it easy for me... because I have no idea what is going on. And I think I want to know. I was thinking this morning that I wished I could just know if this child was going to stay with us or not, but stopped myself before I prayed it out loud, thinking that... no, I really don't want to know, because where is the growth and understanding in having it made so simple.

Last night I was talking with my sister-in-law who is a few months farther ahead in her pregnancy. She struggled with morning sickness and she was expressing how she is glad that part is over. I'm pretty lucky there, because I don't have problems with morning sickness at all. As long as I eat when I'm supposed to, I don't even experience nausea... which is great. No, my problem is much worse.... I bleed all the time. At least every time you get sick, your not thinking, "am I going to miscarry?" Not that I want to have the morning sickness... and I would never wish constant bleeding, spotting, and bloodclot lose on any other pregnant woman. It's just stressful. It sucks.

How do you continue to hope for one of the thing you want more than anything else when the path is so dark? I wish My Katie was here... Girl, I need your shoulder to cry on.

Friday, December 12, 2008

12 Weeks!

Yesterday I had my second perinatal appointment. This is the first really good picture of our little peanut! I'm so excited. The appointment went pretty well. The Dr took some measurements. At first the baby was just laying there and had his hand up by his face. The Dr was trying to checkout the bones on his nose, but the his hand was blocking the view. So the Dr starting pushing up and down on the baby to try to get him to move. After that, the baby wouldn't sit still! He kept pushing with his legs off the side, jumping around every two seconds. The Dr had a hard time getting this pic.
Everything seems to be going great. I've had no spotting in almost two weeks, which I am very excited about. The heartbeat is average and all the limbs have developed. Steve and I have decided not to have the cervical suture put into place, since it doesn't seem that it's absolutely assured to help. One more week and we will be in the second trimester (phew)!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Book Project

I've been working on a project for my aunt lately. I finally finished it up today. It's a book for my Nana (grandma) that my aunt is giving her for Christmas.











Peanut's Ultrasound Pics

The baby's official nickname, for now, is Peanut. There is not much to these pics yet, but it's still exciting to me anyway!

6 Weeks (Oct 29th)

7 Weeks (Nov 10th)

10 Weeks (Dec 1st)

Monday, December 1, 2008

Pregnancy Update: Week 10

I had two appointments today. My regular appointment with my Midwife was this morning. The main event was to check to see that there was a heartbeat and discuss other issues. We both celebrated this morning as we watched the little fetus jumping around and saw that there was a little pulsating spot right where the heart should be.

This afternoon I met with the perinatal doctor. He confirmed that I do in fact have a Septated Uterus. He measured the baby at being 10 weeks and 3 days old... only 1 day more that what my Dr predicted a few weeks ago. (In case it's confusing, I am seeing a Midwife and a Dr at my regular office, so there are 3 medical people involved altogether). He does not recommend that I have the "wall" surgically removed from my uterus because it could cause other complications and it's not something that needs to be done unless I'm having multiple miscarriages. Which, good thing for me, I've never had a miscarriage. He does not think that I have an incompetent cervix, but is giving me the option to have it sutured if I so desire. He says that it's completely up to me and was not really giving me advice that it would be best with or without it. It's something that Steve and I will discuss, pray about and decide together in the next week or so. While he was monitoring the heartbeat, he chuckled a little bit because the baby wouldn't sit still. When he was able to pinpoint it, he said it was average for what it should be.

As far as the spotting goes, the past week it has become less and less, and I have not spotted at all in the past two days! Things seem to be going great! Thanks everyone for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers! I will post ultrasound pictures when I scan them... though there isn't much to discern yet, but that's ok.