Garden Pics!

Here's our neighbors yard and a pretty good representation of what ours looked like when we first moved in. There were more dead bushes that Andy pulled out too.






Then thanks to Grandma Phyllis! We now look like this! This is the front. There are cacti and ivy. We are trying to get the ivy to grow but it's not doing too well. We're going to plant more if these don't take.






This is the cactus we have planted all over. Phyllis brought these from her own that grow in her backyard, which she has worked so hard on. Her cacti are HUGE and these are their babies! We have them all across the front too but they are hidden by much of the ivy.




A bush we saved. This one was about to die but we've been taking care of it.







Our little tomato plant that is trying so hard to grow! We hold out great hope that it'll keep growing so well even if it doesn't fruit. This also came from Phyllis's backyard!






This picture is supposed to be turned - sorry I missed it! Another bush we're saving. Phyllis brought us the decoration to serve as a way to hold the bush up and keep it from dying. Seems to be helping - it looks so much better than when we started.





Right in front of our door. The ivy is so wild it looks like a jungle! There're also some big stalks of flowers that are about to grow flowers buds! Phyllis planted the flowers by just scattering some petals around, I can't believe how they've taken off! And she brought the ivy from her front yard!




More of our jungle!








The jungle didn't grow so well over on this side so this is where we've planted some new ones that we cut from our own. You could say these are third generation ivy!







New bird bath. This is pretty much right in front of our living room window where the kitties sit and look out. We didn't want a bird feeder because we want the birds to eat the bugs. This is just to get them to come hang out here!




Our new ivy plants around the corner. Hope these do well!








Close up of a cactus my mom gave us. She gave us two of these and we didn't get pics of the other one. He's planted with our basil plant in a planter on the porch so we can take him with us! But since she gave us two we thought it'd be nice to let one grow here.





A flower plant that was originally in a pot on our porch but wasn't doing too hot. Still seems to struggle but we're pulling for it. If it flowers again the flowers are the same color as the top of the cactus and they're right next to each other so it'd be pretty.





Close up on the big stalks of flowers out front in the jungle. These are so close to blooming! We'll take more pics soon as our new ivies start to grow!

Diabetes Week

First of all thank you again for the overwhelming show of support for this child and our budding family! It has been quite emotional for me to see how many people have generously given gifts for the baby. It makes me realize how many friends we truly have and how much love there is in the world. And it makes me feel good about bringing a child into this world. It’s a harsh place and it’s good to know in spite of it all, there’re still people who love you and think about you! This baby will be born into more love than he’ll know what to do with spread all across the world! Thank you all!

Had kind of a scare this week, I got my gestational diabetes results on Tuesday. They called to tell me I was slightly elevated. They like us pregnants to be below 140 and I was 147! A bit frustrating for sure! So I had to go back to the office for the 3 hour 4 stick and draw test. The nurse I spoke with asked if I could come soon and I said of course I’ll come tomorrow! I don’t want to wait to find out any longer than I have to about this one. If I need to give up my one soda a day, I need to know now! And btw – it’s not always a caffeinated soda, I drink mostly fruity sodas with an occasional caffeinated one.

Anyway, she asked that I be fasting so no food after midnight and come in at 830am for the test. What a nightmare! That was the worst part. I couldn’t get to sleep. My belly felt empty like a cavern and started burning and I was too afraid to take even my Tums for fear of throwing off the test. I ended up finally getting some restless, nightmare-filled sleep from about 3am to 730am.

The only good thing was because I couldn’t eat breakfast, I got ready pretty quickly! I wore the new dress I got from Motherhood with a gift card my mom had given me. She helped me pick it out too! Unfortunately, we were too tired to take pictures, but I’ll take some the next time I wear it, probably this weekend. I love it it’s so soft and comfortable and yet pretty!

Andy was sweet enough to get up with me and drive me to the office. I don’t know my way around the Denton very well yet. He dropped me off and I called him after I went back for my first draw and asked him to return at 12.

I brought a bag of things to do with me. I planned to find recipes for the week and make my grocery list, but I was so hungry and couldn’t stop thinking about breakfast, that not much was looking good for dinner, so I gave that up. I read some stories in my Mommy Wars book, a gift from my father Lee and some of my breastfeeding book, a gift from Andy’s mom, Phyllis. I also read in about 3 of the magazines they had there, walked over to the Women’s Center to check out where the baby would be born. I ran out of time so I couldn’t stay and ask if they gave tours yet, but I will see soon. I even had a chance to talk with their insurance office lady about calling my Medicaid plan for a referral. I spoke with Medicaid Monday and they said the doctor’s office could call them for a referral. After about 48 hours, we’d know if they could see me. She said they’d call that day so I should hear about both the test results and possible doctor visit this month on the same day.

I got drawn every hour on the hour after drinking the sugary soda drink, which really didn’t taste that bad. The tech was very nice and good at sticking, so I’m not all bruised and sore. It overall wasn’t a bad experience, I was just so tired. And I am nervous about the results. I was very close on the last one though so hopefully I’ll be in range this time! Keep me in your thoughts!

By the time it was all over, I was so sleepy! But too hungry to think so we went to Denny’s which was the best breakfast ever. I ate the Original Grand Slam and then half of Andy’s pancakes, too!

Then home and back to bed!

I did do some research about the gestational diabetes and it’s not the worst thing that could happen and quite common. I was surprised since I feel I am pretty healthy but apparently that has nothing to do with it. I’ll just have to increase protein intake and decrease carbs. And be a bit more consistent with my walking – which I should be doing anyway! But it’s hard enough to watch the diet when I’m hungry every few hours. And the result if I don’t watch it is a fat baby! Not cute until AFTER they are born! Fat babies are much harder to get out the natural way if you know what I’m saying, so my chances of having to c-section or being induced early are greatly increased, neither of which I want. I need every last moment to prepare for this child. It’s taking me forever to get this place in order!

The summer seems to be beating me down. It is so hot here in the afternoons, I can do next to nothing until the sun goes down. And I can’t go to sleep early and get up early, it just isn’t happening. Especially when Little Andy (as I call him now) is always up and kicking at 2am! I am seriously considering staying awake at night when it’s at least a livable temperature and sleeping during the days. I’m really having a hard time getting a schedule I am comfortable with. I know it won’t matter once baby comes since I’ll be on his schedule, but until then I can’t find a rhythm. I feel so in limbo!

This week has been strange because of the surprise test and I feel like I’ve lost half the week even though it was only one day. Of course I took a nap that afternoon and then slept 12 hours almost straight through (one cereal break and many potty breaks) last night!

The fears are starting to enter my mind. There’s too many to list them all but I will say this. I just wish I knew that the labor and delivery would be ok and when it would be exactly. I’m nervous about the anxious waiting of “any day now” and the surprise interruption. I’m scared of the labor not going how I want and having to get medicated or worse c-sectioned. I’m just not interested in missing any of this!

I’m scared he won’t be easy to breastfeed.

I’m scared he’ll be a picky temperament. I wonder what he will be like! What kind of personality. Will he be just like one of us or nothing like either of us? I just can’t wait to meet him! And mold him finding out what he likes and encouraging it in him.

Andy and I talk everyday about what is important to us in raising this baby. I’m still scared about the moments we didn’t expect and the times we’ll disagree. But we’ve made it very important to keep our love for each other and this family the number one first and foremost thing in our hearts and minds!

Thank you for coming along with us on this journey this far. There’s still a long way to go so stick around!

Here’re the pics for the week!

Whiney-Butt Raven was actually cute this week! He's lying with a gift from Phyllis that though intended for the baby to come, has been adopted by the babies we already have!






Hard to believe this little sweetie wakes us up with loud craggly meows every morning isn't it?







Here's dress from Phyllis also I wore one day last weekend. It is too small in the top! Or maybe I'm too big... Next time I'll put up pics from our trip to the waterpark and you'll see what I mean! I am wearing a tank under this so I can still wear the dress just unbuttoned. It's a good comfortable weight in this deathly heat!




What am I looking at?













More of the tiny puppy! He's hiding in the grass. This grass is not that tall either!







Look at his comparison with a shoe shot!








His sweet little face! They decided to name him Tazz, as in the Tasmanian Devil!







Look out he'll get you!








He loves to attack snadles and feet. Well, hey, it's all he can reach!








I swear this shirt still fits dammit! It may be ripping a little on the inside, but that doesn't mean it's too small!







Daddy's so excited about the baby! And I can't believe my belly is bigger than his head! He has a big head. I imagine the baby kissing him back from the inside!

New Doc and More

OK. I fixed the Wildflowers.com registry. I apologize to anyone that could not access it. I had it set to private for some reason. Now you should be able to go to
Wildflowers.com
And search for Lea Goin.
Thank you to everyone who has already responded. We really appreciate all the love and support!

I’m officially 28 weeks, which means 7 months along and only 12 more weeks to go. I could go any time from about 10 more weeks on but I’d rather he waited the full 12 more or maybe one extra! As long as he doesn’t get too big!

We had an appointment to see our new OB last Friday in Denton. He’s my mother-in-law, Phyllis’s also, so he came recommended, and he accepts the Medicaid plan I will be on. Unfortunately I will not be on the plan until August 1st!! So they couldn’t see me. Well, they could have but it would have cost us $125 that we do not have to spare right now. The good news was their in-house lab is a different company and accepts more Medicaid plans, so I did get my glucose test done. I seriously doubt I have the gestational diabetes but it was my last day to have it done so I wanted it just to be sure. I am trying to go buy the book as much as I can.

I spent all afternoon while at the docs on the phone with many multiple Medicaid hold lines trying to figure out what had happened. It was a little traumatic, but I didn’t know it would take so long for the plan change over to take affect.

Now I have to wait until August 1st to see him. But I feel like I should see a doc at least once before then. Or at least know that if anything comes up I can go to a certain hospital. Without trying to explain too much of the highly convoluted system of state help, I am not on any particular Medicaid plan, I will be on AmeriGroup, I was on Parkland Health First, but now I am in transition. But I am still covered by Medicaid. Certain docs and hospitals only accept certain plans. I am going to call the Medicaid Helpline (and probably sit on hold half the day!) tomorrow to see about at least finding a hospital I can go to near here if it comes to that. I feel great and don’t think I’ll need to go for any reason, but with something this delicate, I don’t want to risk it.
I also would like to see a doc before August 1st. Just to hear the heartbeat. My mom let me borrow her old stethoscope, but I have only heard a little rushing fluid twice, and I think it was the cord not an actual heartbeat. I keep trying though! I’ve checked my blood pressure and I’m good there. The only other things they do are check urine for sugars and proteins and measure the belly. Oh and weight. I could do without that right now! The last weigh in had me up to 151! That’s over 25 pounds of weight gain.

It really is surprising to me how much my body has changed. I was in so much denial. I read books that talked about spreading thighs and thought, “not me,” and here I am with a bigger butt and thighs. My thighs are rubbing together! Not something I am used to for sure! Andy has assured me it will go back if I want it to after the birth. I just hope so. I am looking forward to taking the baby out for walks multiple times a day. The funny thing is I’ll have to increase my caloric intake even more for breast feeding, and ironically, I’ll lose weight better that way. And I know I shouldn’t be too concerned about such things as long as I am eating healthy and taking my vitamins and whatnot, but I can’t help it. With how big I feel like I already am and I have almost 3 more months still to go! How big could I possibly get?

Andy and I are really enjoying our little garden outside. We have all kinds of plants from Phyllis’s yard, and we water every day. Our complex has just recently fixed their watering system and water a few days now which lightens our load but we still like to go out and check on it. We have found two frogs out catching the crickets and June bugs! I love it. Those things are annoying and the frogs are a huge help. Our cricket population has greatly reduced! And the frogs are so cute. They sit so still they look like garden trinkets! We saw one tonight but then couldn’t find him again. Our ivy however is getting so big it’s very possible he was hiding in it. I was wondering for a while if he was pregnant with how big his belly was getting, but he has been eating an awful lot of bugs! Still, it’d be so neat to have baby frogs!

Everyday I get the bare minimum done around here, dishes and cleaning and whatnot and tell myself, tomorrow I’ll get some other great project at least started. Yet nothing ever seems to get done beyond the minimum. I manage to keep the apartment clean enough to live in but I wish I could do more. Even right after I wake up in the mornings I feel so tired I have to pull myself out of bed. Not impossible seeing as the kitties are waiting for their breakfast and won’t let me go back to sleep till they’ve had it. I’m back in first tri land of tiredness! It’s different this time though. It’s more like a physical exhaustion than a sleepy, and I will fall asleep accidentally without having to really lie down, just sit down! I don’t see how moms do it. I guess I’ll find out if we get pregnant again!

I’m just so lucky to have a husband at home that can help me with things when I need a break. And someone who is so excited about having this baby. I broke it down for him tonight. I said we have about 2 months until the time comes when it could be “any day now.” His eyes lit up! He can’t wait to meet his son. He’s got so many great plans and talks all the time about things he’ll do. We both do. It’s going to be so different around here. Right now I think we both feel so in transition. Like we don’t know what to do with ourselves, we just want our baby to play with. But I remind myself to enjoy these last weeks. They will be the last time I won’t be a mother yet.

I am reading The Chronicles of Narnia to Little Andy every night. Big Andy enjoys it too! I do too for that matter. I’ve only ever read the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe before and the rest of the stories are very good also. I feel him kicking sometimes while I read but mostly afterwards when I am settling down to bed!

Phyllis, Andy’s mom and Ken got a new puppy! We went and saw it last Saturday and he’s so tiny! He’s barely about 4 pounds and will only double in size. He’s super sweet and rolls on his back to play. He seems very well behaved also though they said he was a little sick and usually more playful. It made me want a baby even more. Andy thinks he wants a little puppy now and wants to trade in a couple of our cats! (not really) I told him he’d have a much better playmate soon enough!
Here are the pics of the puppy Phyllis sent us. We meant to take more but of course forgot the camera. We’ll see her tomorrow and may get some then.
As for pics of us… Next time! :D

Can't tell how tiny he is!

What a little sweetie pie!

Here you can tell how small he is. He's so small he gets lost in high grass! Such a good puppy!

Pictures!!

I know I promised apartment pictures but to be completely honest, its still not even done yet! AAARRGGHHH! We can't seem to stop running around for more than a couple of days. Not to mention running around takes us longer now since we live far away from things we still need to get to, but not for long!
And when we do have a couple of days at home, we have so much work to catch up on from our business that there's not much time to work on the apartment.
And when we do work on the apartment, we have been working on our "yard." Since we have a first floor now we were given permission to plant in front of our porch. It's been quite fun actually finding our green thumb and getting outside for a little while in the evenings and playing in the dirt. Though I am not allowed to play in it much once the ant killer is put down! We just realized today that we should have been taking pitures the whole time but haven't been. We've pulled up old dead bushes and planted a lot of new things. Thanks to Andy's mom, Phyllis, we got a ton of great plants. She likes to work in her garden and took clippings from her own plants that she has grown and helped us replant them in our beds. They take a lot of water to get going so we water every night, but they seem to be growing for the most part. We will take some pictures starting now and show the progress from here on out as it continues to blossom!

One of the many things that has kept us busy this month was a family reunion. It was Andy's stepmom, Lorna's family and they hold it every year out on the family farm. That's where she and Andy's dad, Paul, live as well on thier own plot of land on the farm, and we stayed with them at their house overnight. It was nice to get away and be on a mini-vacation! I got to meet a lot of family members I had never met before and everyone was very nice and welcoming. Most of them hadn't seen Andy in at least a decade and hardly recognized him. Some even asked his dad how Andy was with Andy sitting right there!
Here are the pictures we took from the weekend. I won't go through each one but introduce them all at once. The first ones are of Paul and Lorna's farm. It's so beautiful and peaceful out there. Then there's some good pictures of Paul, Lorna, Andy's sister Rachel and her boyfriend BJ, and Andy's brother TC and his wife Lindsay. There's a few pics mixed in of the area where the actual reunion is held Many of the atendees camped out there. I am not camping at 6 months pregnant and was very grateful for the use of Paul and Lorna's bed and home and especially shower - it was quite hot! The last few are some pics of a bird's nest we found on Paul and Lorna's driveway.




































I will updating again very shortly. I have a lot of baby news as well and I am sorry it has taken so long to get even this far!!! Hopefully we will be caught up soon and it won't take me this long again!

Really Long Week

It's been an exhausting week so far. We moved to Sanger last week. Thankfully we had the help of our friend with a truck and his two teenage sons, but it still took us two trips, one hour drive both ways! We keep wondering how we accumulated so much stuff in our 7 years living together!

We got most of the 'stuff' moved on Wednesday, but the apartment was chaos with furniture and boxes everywhere. We actually still have another car full of stuff left there, but we have that place for two more months so we'll pick it up when we go to pay rent next month. The first night was just spent trying to get things into the proper rooms and furniture in the proper spots, computers hooked up and running (without internet), and putting our bed together. Then a few hot baths to soak our sore bodies - I actually can't get in too hot of a bath. But we didn't sleep well that night because of all the back, leg and feet pain! Since then we have unpacked almost all the rooms, and it has taken the WHOLE week to get this far. Still not done!

It is very exciting to be closer to all of our family on our many sides out here, except we are no closer to my mother, which is sad. She is the only family I have in this area, but she recently got a new job in Denton - the big town right near here - so she will be close to us now anyway too! We haven't had the time or opportunity to contact anyone since our move. We still haven't finished unpacking! Did you know life doesn't stop for you when you are moving? You still make dirty laundry, dirty dishes, need to eat, a business to run. And we were without internet for about 3 days and lost a lot of work time that we had to try and make up for over the weekend between the emptying of boxes and attempting to rest.

We LOVE the new place! No pictures yet, but I'll take them as soon as we finish unpacking the baby's room. Right now that's the room where we've been throwing empty boxes and all the stuff we aren't sure what we're doing with yet, so it is a total disaster! I have finished everywhere else as of last night, so I'll be starting to tackle that danger zone today.

The cats love it too! They sure didn't love the car ride, but once we got them here and let them out of the bathroom where we had them locked while we got stuff in, they adjusted very quickly. It was the fastest adjustment I have ever seen! I figured they either love it here as much as we do or they've gotten used to being moved every year or so. They have a huge window in the living room that we put chairs in front of for them to sit on. That's their favorite spot! We have gotten our bed back now too because they have other things to do around here besides wake us up. We miss them sometimes though, but as I get bigger and bigger, I am grateful for the space! This place also has hardwood floors through out the main room and they can shed all they want without it sticking! It's so easy to clean. Not to mention the fun with sliding games. Chasing a toy and catching it in a slide is a good one, or just flipping the fat Tyler on his back and sliding him around the floor! That one's for us.

Another thing I love about Sanger is the small community. I am looking forward to finding a place to do some volunteer work to give back and meet some people around town. Also, because Andy and his family are from this area for generations, we have already run into a couple that own a cute little knick-knack shop "downtown" that knew his grnadparents. In fact the lady's sister dated Andy's dad before he married his mom and knew who she was too! What a neat experience to say your name and have people say "Oh yes, Buddy and Sue, we remember them!" Those are his grandparents on his dad's side. It brought me to tears hearing this lady reminise about not only Andy's grandparents and parents but his great-grandparents. I have been a bit emotional the last few days though! ;)

Overall, it is going well with only a few bumps in the road along the way. Andy and I have been through a lot together and we can get through anything, we are sure. This new challenge of parenting will be our greatest challenge yet. I feel confident that it won't be something we face alone. My mother is a rock for me and has been there for me, even when I didn't think she was, she was doing the right thing, and I know she'll be a great ear to hear my woes as well as offering advice and guidance. We're looking forward to getting reacquanted with Andy's family on both sides now that we'll be closer to them as well. It's been hard to not see people regularly, especially when I worked retail for places like Nordstrom that demanded all of my weekends and often 10-12 hour days even when I was just sales. Most people have events on weekends, so it was hard to miss all of those for so many years. Thankfully Andy works very hard and diligently on our business so I can stay home and help him and we can both be with our baby. I am grateful to his family for being so understanding of our difficult times and neglect. And forgiving. It was hard for us in ways some people could never comprehend. We are now looking forward to making up for lost time with those that we can!

Sorry again there's no pictures yet! We will get them done as soon as possible, and I'll make one big picture post next. Unfortunately we never got a belly pic for last week so I'll start again this week. Hopefully that will be the only week we have to miss! I am looking forward to not having to move for a while! We only signed a year lease, but we can save money here so may stay another year after, then maybe, who knows... a house?!!?!