you have been summoned...

i am so irritated right now. i was sent a jury duty summons for the 2nd time in my 10 eligible years. the first time i was in college in another state so i was excused...and this time i'm pregnant! great, right? right... well my doctor's office won't excuse me because i'll be under 38 weeks at the time of the trial. i'll actually be 36 weeks 1 day. AND...my doctor has even expressed that she thinks i'll deliver early. i just can't believe they would expect a 36 week 1 day woman to sit through a trial but not a 38 week woman. ridiculous. anyway...if i end up having to go and don't get some miracle excuse hopefully i'll be excused because the judge is way nicer than my doctor. either that or everything will just work out and it'll be something more interesting than an easement dispute...

would you...?

i got a plastic bowl at the dollar store. i figured it would be a good size for mixing stuff. anyway, i noticed there was a piece of it coming off on the bottom. when i went to see what it was (i thought it was a sticker) the dang thing came all the way through to the other side. so now there's a hole in it. so here's the deal...would you take something back to the dollar store?

santa claus came to town...

going to see santa...













there's his cute little house...













isaac was too scared to sit by himself...and i'm not that mom that will make him. even though those make for the best christmas pictures.














merry christmas everyone! now stop reading and go put up some christmas lights!

you're in big trouble mr...

more 'baby boder' pics...

here i am at 25 weeks 5 days...













here i am ready to see 'new moon' with the neighborhood moms. 28 weeks 2 days...













and this is normally what's going on during my day...

how long?!

my brother thought he'd mention how i haven't updated my blog lately. i know, i know. i think because i get limited time on the computer these days... isaac takes over. he likes watching old mickey, donald, and chip and dale episodes on youtube. hey, it gives me a minute to do other things.

here's a funny story...

the other morning isaac and i were laying belly to belly in bed. i had the blanket between us because i never know when he's going to move fast enough to hurt my stomach. so the baby kicked quite hard and isaac, in his sleepy stupor, smacked the blanket as to stop the movement. how crazy is that that he felt it and reacted to it?! i was shocked, but i thought it was kind of a neat story to share.

here's another:

instead of calling derik "dad"...isaac lots of times calls him "derik". it's hilarious. he uses it especially when he's yelling at derik for doing something bothersome. and it's a very slowly drawn, "deeerrrrikkkk". i have a video i'll need to upload that shows him doing that. he does it so much i'm not sure why i don't have a thousand of the same video...

just thought i'd post something to appease my crowd...if anyone's still there. here are some pretty funny pictures of my little sweetie. he's so precious. i love his smile and especially these big ones. he's obviously very happy :)

bueller...? bueller...? anyone...?

i don't have anything to say, but thought i should say something. we're celebrating my gpa's birthday on sunday...he'll be 86. he's such an awesome guy. when he was little his nickname was "dude" and his brother, ward's, was "bud". so bud still goes by bud and, well, sometimes family members call my gpa dude. i just think it's funny so i call him dude almost all the time lately. and he responds...it's especially funny in public. he requested pie and cake for his birthday dessert. i guess when you're 86 you can do whatever you want!

isaac is hopefully getting over another sickness. he/we got sick a few weeks ago. it was not pretty, but it also was not the flu. this time it's just a sniffly nose...so far. he seems to be clearing up a little bit...and no fever. i could handle this kind of sickness year round! ok, that was not an invitation...hear me, sickness?!

little baby in m'belly is doing well. measuring big. well i guess i'm measuring big. by two weeks. wonder if he'll come early. that'd be nice...just not too early. i'm good with one or two weeks. afterall, i've never been more than 37 weeks pregnant. i'm certainly packing on the pounds though! i have 11 pounds until i weigh what i weighed when i had isaac...and i have 15 weeks left. yikes! my doc suggested i switch to skim milk since i drink so much (currently drinking 1%)...and that i cut back on the carbs. but i'm not a nutritionist...sheesh, i thought you were supposed to have like 5-6 servings of bread a day. that's all i eat carbs-wise...and cereal...sometimes pasta. whatever. i'm just trying to make healthier options...but i'm not very good at that. i guess i can just consciously choose more fruits and veggies and less fatty foods. and i look at labels now. that's a pain! it's startling when you realize what you're actually putting in your body!

i started walking with some friends up the street and all was well until a couple weeks ago. isaac was ticked off that i didn't have our "walking snack"...goldfish. so he threw a fit and made me carry him. so we cut the walk short and played in their driveway for a little bit. then when we were on our 1/2-3/4 mile walk home isaac would NOT sit in his stroller. so i carried him...again...pregnant...not cool isaac. not cool. so now i'm scared to take him walking. i keep asking him if he wants to go and he says no. he actually knows what 'no' means now. and he uses it. quite appropriately, if i do say so.

can you believe football is on three days a week? and soon to be FOUR...that's absurd. and...AND all three sports, football-basketball-baseball, are currently all at some stage of tv play. that's nuts. needless to say, i do a lot of putting around at night. not golf putting, but like nesting putting. i've washed clothes, gotten the car seat cover washed. and now i'm thinking of making a new car seat cover. is that crazy? tanya told me it wasn't. i could just staple some fabric on the top of the existing cover. that'd be awesome. i plan to wear my baby more than carry it in the car seat. so maybe i'll just have the baby sit in isaac's chair and i'll get isaac a booster. afterall, he'll be three in...10 months :)

anyone heard of the amby bed? it's a european thing, i think, but it seems like a genius invention. if anyone has anything to teach me about it, please do...i'm considering it. found one on craigslist for a decent price. if you don't know what it is, look it up. it seems pretty awesome.

s'more...

this is 22 weeks.













this is 18 weeks, i think...not much difference, huh? i have no idea what's going on here...

isn't he so cute...

just had to post this picture. he is so cute! i know parents dote on their children like they're the cutest kids alive...so just humor me, alright?!

as requested...

here's a picture of me, in the dark, at the state fair. my sister took it and i had no idea she was going full length. so this is 18 weeks, i think. i know it's kinda hard to tell with me wearing a black shirt and the darkness for the background, but mama is big! the other day this girl told me that i looked more like 7 months than 5. i agree...

i'm such the favorite...

just kidding (for any family members reading this ::wink wink::)

gpa is a simple man. that's why when he realized he couldn't use this, coupled with the fact that i've wanted one for quite some time, he simply gave it to me. the man is generous. loving. thoughtful. here are a couple of the first sample pictures i took with it:













this is in our messy garage...

bunny...?

here's a conversation i just witnessed between isaac and his stuffed bunny:

-hi bunny.
-what you doing?
-want to go in the box?
::throws bunny in box::
-bunny!
-you ok?
-i sorry.
-it's dark in there.
::proceeds to get bunny out of box::

oh man, i love this little mind we've created!

update...

thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. it's very nice to know there are so many people out there who care. and i'm doing really well. i've been through the roller coaster of emotions, but i'm surprisingly at peace. now that my doctor has told me what they were looking for and what my screen results were, i'm not worried. i'm not anxious. i don't care if he has down's. i feel him kicking and i know all is right inside my belly. although i will be interested to know what these "specialists" have to say...

::sigh::

couldn't love this girl more....

p.s.

i got my new bed last week. it's magnificent...and worth every cent!

spoke too soon...

my doc just called and said in the next week or two she wants to send me to a specialist for further examination. she said with my age along i have 1 in 860 something of having a child with down's....but because of the numbers from the screen i have 1 in 40 chance. poo. i've always said that if i had to choose a disability (besides having a lefty) i'd choose down's. i wonder if God was listening to me...

two in the brood...

short story: i had an ultrasound yesterday and we're having another dude! i'm very excited. derik told me he had his heart set on having a girl so we would have both, but i think he's excited too. it'll be pretty easy on the pocketbook this way!

long story: last week i got the results of my quad screen. i had one with isaac and everything was negative so i didn't think anything of taking it again. but this time it came back with abnormal results. my doc seemed to think it necessary to call me on a friday evening to tell me the news. she said we might just be off on the dates, but someone would call me on monday to schedule an ultrasound. my original ultrasound wasn't for another three + weeks. i'm only 17 weeks along. so i worry about it all weekend and do a ton of research only to find out that the screen has a very high amount of "false positives". i'm sure most of you already knew this...but not me. so i got to scare myself to death wondering if my baby had anecephaly or spina bifida. i didn't do much research on down's because i figured it was a higher count than lower. why i assumed that? i don't know. anyway...other possibilities were that i was further along than i think or having twins. it's also possible nothing would be different.

so i schedule my ultrasound and they were able to get me in yesterday at 2pm. the tech was really great with us. apparently they're not allowed to tell you anything. they give the info to the radiologist (which i think she was) and then the radiologist gives the findings to the doc and then the doc calls you. blech! i've waited long enough! so i asked our friendly tech if she would be able to tell us anything. she said, "it depends". so i told her how i've been freaking myself out and if she wouldn't tell me anything i actually did my research to find out what certain things to look for on the ultrasound to see if it had any of these problems. she just patted me on the shoulder and said, "just let me do my job...my goal is to leave you feeling resolved." very nice. so she took her precious time and explained almost everything to me. that the middle bone in the pinky finger is often a soft sign of down's...as well as the top of the nose. i knew about the liver and the sacs formed for spina bifida. the head was nice and round which seemed to rule out anecephaly...my worse fear. the little bugger was fighting back when she wanted him to turn a certain way. he was pretty funny. she couldn't get a photo of his left foot and said that as soon as she pretended to look for something else, he would expose it. and sure enough, she pretended to be looking elsewhere and he moved just enough for her to grab a picture of his foot. he was so active! isaac just sat there the whole time sleeping or just chilling out, but this little thing was BUSY! we joked how he was going to hit the ground running.

so the conclusion was that everything looked great. the dates are on so i'm still only 17 weeks and there are no multiples. spina bifida and anecephaly were ruled out and because of the size of his young heart, she couldn't get an accurate read on it for down's. but she said he showed no other signs of down's so that was unlikely.

he sure looks like a cute little baby. i can already tell he looks different from isaac. we'll see how that one works itself out. i'll post some pics soon.

sometimes i surprise even myself...

i think i need to take a picture of my house right now because i cleaned the CRAP out of it! i had a tupperware party tonight so that's the reason behind the massive cleaning. actually i think i had the tupperware party to get my butt in gear. our house has seemed so small to me lately and i realized it's because we have so. much. stuff. it feels SO much bigger now and i feel like a million bucks! maybe i can use the picture to remind myself how wonderful it can be...

ok where's my camera?

what a silly baby...

isaac just came and handed me 2 dollar bills from my wallet. at least he knows we don't mess around with dolla dolla bills ya'll.

birthday boy...

we had isaac's 2nd birthday party at my gpa's house. afterall, he loves being out there and everyone feels so comfortable at gpa's! we had a lot of fun...lots of food...lots of people. luckily it wasn't deathly hot like the week before. it was a cool 80 degrees...hence the lack of clothing on isaac's part. here he is finally eating the good stuff that mom wouldn't let him have last year.














gotta have a birthday kiss from mom...that is one big smack-a-roo if you ask me.














the tabletop farm theme. afterall, we are on gpa's farm...














his new thing...pretending he's a dog. someone please remind me to clean that kennel.














poor attempt at a family picture. for all those who are curious...there's the baby bump at week 13. yeah, i know.














he loves picking berries at gpa's. he insists upon carrying the bucket from row to row. here he is with grandma who he calls "bahdna".














can it get any better?














riding the horse. he loves this and could do it all day if derik would hold up for it. they ride around and isaac bounces all over the place laughing so hard he can barely hang on. i've taught him that dad's the horse and mom's the cow...this is very true, at least it gets me out of running around with a 27 lb child on my back!














isaac is a funny little monster these days. he's a very sweet boy and loves to help by saying "i'm hewping".
-he loves watching his tv shows. he actually knows them by episode name and can sing their theme songs.
-he can count to 18...why only 18? i have no idea.
-he knows his shapes as far as the triangle, rectangle, square, circle, star, and sometimes semi-circle and oval.
-he's pretty good with some colors...he knows orange, pink, and green for sure. he always says blue when you ask him what color something is. then you ask him to think about it and he tries again...sometimes hitting and sometimes sorely missing!
-he's been a TON better at sitting in his car seat when he's upset. i've learned that m&m's are the ticket. he'll pitch a fit and as soon as i offer some "neh neh's" he settles right down and takes them one at a time from me.
-he's a very sweet boy. he will sweetly tell you to stop crying if he thinks you're crying (my tactic to get him to realize he may have been too rough). he'll tell the kids in nursery at church to stop crying if they're sad. he'll say, "gohn ky justin". sweet boy.
-we bonked heads a month or so ago and for some reason i couldn't stop crying. he was fine, but it hurt me so bad...he got me good. and he felt so bad that i was crying he just kept hugging and kissing me and telling me to "gohn ky" ('don't cry' for those of you who are baby-talk challenged). then he was wiping away my tears telling me to take them off. he showed so much compassion i was so proud.
-he's really good at throwing and catching a ball.
-he loves going to gpa's. we go out there probaby 2-4 times a week. we play outside and eat lunch and pick berries. can't forget a ride in the green machine! isaac loves driving around the farm with gpa. it's priceless.
-he glares at most people...we call this the stink eye.
-he loves running around other kids. he'll just giggle and run.
-he's quite the copy-cat. if someone in nursery starts clanking their cup on the table he'll follow suit...unless mom says stop. he's also very mindful.
-he knows that knives and bees are 'ouchy'.
-he stopped nursing at night (thank the heavens). and he has only been nursing a couple times a day. i'm loving this milestone!
-he LOVES moving small items from one spot to the next...clustering them just to move them somewhere else. here's a snapshot of the process with his cars. that's gpa sipping an odoul's.













see them in the dog bowl? he laid in there for awhile moving them from the dog bowl to the dog bed.















we love this little boy and are so happy to have him in our lives. it's so hard to imagine what in the world we did without him.

here's a little photo recap of our little baby to our little toddler. i promise next year i'll give only a couple pics from each year...

why?

i'm being so lazy. i have so much to catch up on that it's a little daunting. can something be a little daunting or does that defeat the expression?

i'm soooo excited!!!

i just placed an order for my new bed!!! i saw the queen sized waterbrook mattress go on sale many times, but never the king. it's just something i assumed didn't go on sale. until now! i got an email from costco showing me their deals and i always search for the waterbrook king. and this time, i found it!!! $100 off baby! total including shipping=$799.99! i can't wait. too bad it will take 4 weeks to get here. it's worth the $100 discount if you ask me though! woo hoo!!!

sweet, sweet friends...

thanks to everyone for your support. i've actually been feeling well. just tired. at about 10 weeks i stopped getting nauseous. luckily i don't throw up, but feeling sick all the time is no good! we're headed out this morning to go see derik's brother in washington. he and his new wife (who is also pregnant) are visiting her family so we're going to hang for a bit. i'll update later on isaac's birthday (which was the 5th) and our trip to the polk county fair (which was the 6th) and our trip to washington (7th and 8th)...boy are we busy. we normally hang out at home! ok more to come soon!

medical update...

most of you don't know, but i've been having some medical issues for the past few months. i haven't been feeling well but i've done a lot of research and seen the doctor a couple times and they've confirmed that i suffer from what nearly 6 million americans do each year. luckily there's a cure, but i have yet to experience the worst of it. in about 6 months i'm supposed to have a really hard time with this condition. luckily, if all goes well, it ends in the birth of a beautiful new addition to our family. holla!

how many...?

how many times do i use the bathroom with no toilet paper before i replenish the supply? today...4. what's my problem? you'd think i'd go grab a few rolls and throw them in the direction of the bathroom--maybe even get one or two IN the bathroom for easy access in the event that i don't think about kicking them all the way in on my next trip. bet i won't (that's my own mind trick because if someone says i can't do something i normally try that much harder...)

the results...

$64 and 97% later...i own an official oregon driver's license!

she's got a ticket to ride....

ok so i've lived in oregon for 2 and a half years and i'm just now getting around to getting my oregon driver's license. i have to take the written test...not the driving test, thankfully! i'm nervous because i don't have the patience to go through the whole 100+ page manual...and i failed my written test like two or three times when i was 16. i, then, still didn't have the patience to read the full manual. so wish me luck. i've got all my documents ready (plus some...you know how the dmv can be!) and i've taken all the practice tests possible. i'll continue to look through the manual as much as possible today, but i'm going to take the test tomorrow...ready or not!!!

it's been 4 months...

and i still don't have my new bed.... ::sigh::

i have a BIG problem!

since i was about 18 years old i've had this weird ear itch. i itch it and itch it and it gets all nasty inside. i'm used to it now, but after being to the doctor for it a couple times, nothing takes care of it. it's to the point now where i can feel my ear get swollen because i itch it so bad. but no worries, just a little neosporin on a q-tip and we're like new the next day.

seriously though...i'll probably go deaf in this ear. i can't imagine the ten years of abuse it's taken from me and my q-tips has done it any good...poor me.

holy smokes!

was it hot last night or what?! holy crap, i thought i would die. and poor isaac! i ended up taking isaac on the couch so we could lay in front of the AC unit. i happened to look at the thermostat and it was 78 in our house and much much warmer in the bedroom. it would have helped a little to open the windows and put a fan in front of them, but i'm always too afraid someone will take advantage of the hot nights and come rob us. they could take what they wanted, but i just don't want to be there when they do it.

this, i realize...

i realize i've turned into one of the most boring blogs lately. what's the deal? it seems like no one is blogging as much anymore. are we done blogging? is the honeymoon over? oh well, i'll do what i can...

today i feel like i'm a young child growing up with minor luxuries. our tv is going out and you have to smack the top of it every couple minutes to bring the picture back. it goes away after a few rounds of smacks, but it's still nostalgic for me.

dear tv,

even though we bought you 6 years ago for $500 (and i'm sure you're worth about $30 today) thanks for being old school enough to bring back memories from 20 years ago. it's a little annoying, but i slightly enjoy smacking you to fix things. plus, i think isaac thinks it's sort of cool...

BIG news!!!

after waiting nearly 5 long months...














derik finally got his annual review! which was really positive and that means...








he got a pay raise! yay!



congratulations, derik! way to bring home the bacon!

two things...

i'm pretty serious when i say i want a snuggie.

i just taught isaac to scratch my back. i've created the slave i've always wanted.

fun with granny pants...

this is the fun isaac got to have with gma today while i was at the dentist. what a lucky boy to have such a cool grandma! she even taught him to say "beach ball" ...which he says perfectly! apparently he likes to spit and he got in trouble for doing it at grandma's. she made him clean it up and say sorry...which he did. good boy isaac!

speaking of water...

i noticed that we all (me and isaac) drink more water when we drink it out of the massive 32 oz hospital mug with a straw...and ice. it's amazing.

sidenote: i just set a bowl full of grapes down in front of isaac and he said, "you wehcome, mama". he's picked up that every time he says 'thank you', i say 'you're welcome'...so really he's just making life easier.

water-pops...

i just made isaac some homemade popsicles. he loves them. the flavor...water. i just filled them with water and froze them...he loves it. i'm so awesome.

warning: picture overload...