Change is a Constant

      There is a saying  "the only constant in life is change."  This holds so true especially in parenting.  From the moment I found out I was pregnant for the very first time six years ago my life has completely changed.  I also know that babies do not stay babies, toddlers grow up, and your once completely dependent child is now feeding himself, picking out and putting on his own clothes, washing dishes (or at least trying very hard to), and playing independently.  
   
     In the past month Owen's personality has changed more than I could imagine it would over a month's time.  Just last month he was having me swaddle him in his blankie and singing to him as I rocked him like a baby.   He loved to cuddle, all the time.  He would hold my hand when walking or going up the stairs.  He sat in my lap sometimes for meals and to play.  Lately however, I am lucky if I get a hug or if he blows me a kiss.  He tells me that he is my 'big helper' and he also does not ask for help with much anymore.  He LOVES to help me clean, do laundry as well as wash dishes.   I love my 'big helper,' but I also miss my little cuddle bug.

    WELL... This morning he woke up at 9:00 and grabbed my arm and snuggled in real close.  We layed in bed all snuggled for almost half an hour.  It was bliss!  I felt like I had my little baby back.  Do not get me wrong, I am not one of those people that say "I wish I could keep him this size forever"  I want to see him learn and grow and become his own person.  But, I absolutely adore those moments where he is all mine.  Where I am all his and nothing else matters.  

    I look forward to every day I have with him.  I am amazed every day by how much he has learned so far and how independent he is becoming.  Each moment is precious and I want to remember it all.  I also look forward to the day he gets to meet Charlotte (his new baby sister!) and shows what a great big brother he can be.  For now I am going to soak up every moment I have with only him.

   Hug your child/children, hold onto those special moments.  Life is so precious and it passes us by so quickly.

It's A.....

GIRL!!!!  

We are so excited that our baby is a girl!  We get to have one of each.  While it would be more convenient to have another boy, I cannot wait for the princesses, and baby dolls, and tea parties!

Now I can't wait to pick up some cute girl dresses.  One of my friend's is also going to help me re-do the nursery to make it more suitable for a girl.

Pregnancy Dreams

I have always heard that dreams when pregnant, are much more vivid.  I lived it when I was pregnant with Owen as well as the twins, and I have been with this pregnancy too.  Lately my dreams have been similar including my neighbors and trees.  I am not really sure what that might mean.  Last night I had a completely different type of dream.  It was so vivid and I remember so many details that it seems as if I really lived it.

So here are a couple of my dreams.  The dreams about the neighbors and trees I do not remember as many details and they did not seem to last very long.

I remember two very distinctively.  One dream there was a terrible thunderstorm with tons of strong winds.  Well, the wind and wet ground caused a huge tree in my neighbor's yard to knock out almost their entire house, all but their garage and room above the garage.  Since there was so much damage I invited them to live with me for a while until they were able to rebuild.
 Woke up right after that.  While we both have many trees in our yards I do not think there is a tree that would do near that much damage.  Lets hope we never find out.  ;)

Another dream I had was that a different neighbor (that not very many like) crashed his car through my fence and knocked over a tree, and then backed out and crashed through another part of my fence.  To top it off, he refused to fix it.
The parts of my fence that he crashed through are not connected to the road so I am not sure how it would have happened.  Again, weird pregnancy dream.


The cream of the crop so far though has to be the dream I had last night.  And it is really long.  I cannot believe all the minor details that I remember, although I do not describe them all.  But I remember scenery and smells and everything.  Here it is:

Utah had a pro football team (which they dont in real life) but one of the quarter backs died and he had a zoo type thing in his back yard with tons of guard lions and stuff. (the team mascot was a lion) I some how has at the house and he also had a huge aviary with macaws and a male and female pair of eclectus. Well one of the lion was coming after me so I climbed the bars of the aviary and stood on top of it and then somehow distracted the lions and jumped off the aviary and ran to an suv.  But it was locked so I jumped into a truck but in the bed of the truck was another lion. So I started up the truck and pressed the gas and then slammed the break to knock the lion out. And then I drove the truck for a while and saw a cop and since I stole the truck and knew about the dead football player I wanted to hide so I drove down a different road. I drove for a while and then drove back.  By time I got back there were tons of authorities and I explained why I stole the truck and my sister (that just had a baby last week) was there and she was pregnant and I didn't know how since she just had a baby. And then I asked the cops what was going to happen to all the birds and he said they were going to be killed, so I stole them all. I hid them in my dinning room and then built an addition onto my house to put them all in. And I had to try to convince Martin that since I got the eclectus (which is one of the only types of bird he likes) that I should be allowed to keep all of them.

Yeah. It was an extremely crazy dream. I am sure the football aspect of it is related to the fact that the Super Bowl was on yesterday. Not sure about all the rest of it or why there were birds.

So, if anyone wants to take a stab at what these dreams mean I would love to hear your ideas. Also, tomorrow I have a doctors appointment to follow up from my ER visit. I will post how it goes when I can.

Fun at the E.R.

For the past few weeks I have had mild cramping, nothing major but enough to concern me.  I though as long as I am still vomiting and not bleeding everything is ok.  I also told myself that if it gets to the point it really hurts I would call the doctor.  Well, last night I was making dinner and I had to stop.  I crawled into a ball on the floor and just cried for a little while.  I was in a great deal of pain.  I asked one of my friends what she thought I should do and she said to go to the hospital.  Still no bleeding so I was not sure if I should or not.   I called the on call doctor and got her opinion, she said to go to the ER and have an ultrasound done just in case.  I felt that the worst thing that would happen is they will send me home with nothing wrong, but I would at least have a relaxed mind knowing the baby is ok.

I get to the E.R. check in, see a triage nurse who takes my vitals and enters my info into the computer.  I sit back down and wait.  A while later I was called by another nurse who collected a urine and blood sample.  She put me in a room told me to put a hospital gown on that the doctor would be in soon.  I sat and waited for an hour.  A male nurse comes in and pulls out some vials and needles.  He verified my name and then said he was going to take some blood and then give me an I.V. with fluids as well as some medicine for the pain.  That is when I stopped him.  I told him they already collected blood, and that I did not want any meds or I.V. until I knew my baby was ok.  At which point he said 'Oh you are pregnant?'  and then left the room.  There is NO WAY he looked at my chart.  He would have known I was pregnant.  Some time later a lady came in, told me to lay on the bed and she would take me for an ultrasound.  By this time I was balling my eyes out.  I was in a great deal of pain and wanted to know that my baby was ok.

The ultrasound tech comes in and gets everything set up for the ultrasound.  I was so anxious to see the screen.  I did not know whether to look or close my eyes.  Finally she turns the volume up and I hear that beautiful sound of a heart beat.  A huge weight was lifted.  She showed me a couple different angles to verify everything was ok with the baby.  She then showed me a side view and held it there for probably three minutes.  I just stared at my precious baby.  His heart beating perfectly and his little body shaking with hiccups.     After I was reassured the baby and placenta were both ok she started looking at other things to see what could be causing the pain.  She snapped what seemed like a hundred pictures.  She got quiet and didn't really look at me.  I knew she saw something.  Something was wrong and she said she was not allowed to tell me what.  She said the doctor would have to review the scans and talk to me about it.  The other lady takes me back to the ER room where I sit and wait for the doctor.  I was as scared as could be.  While I saw the baby was ok, I did not know if the problem that the tech saw, could cause a problem with my pregnancy.

A while later (seemed like forever) the doctor finally came in and explained what the tech saw.  He said it needed taken care of right away and that it was good I came in.  Because of the procedure that had to be done I am at a high risk for miscarriage.  I was put on strict bedrest, no lifting or exerting more than 10lbs.  until my next doctor appointment, which is February 5th.  I think that is going to be really hard to do, and I am going to try my best.

 Up until this point I have hated that we got a t.v. for Christmas.  That is all Owen talks about and he wants to constantly watch Cars 2.  However, I think for the next few weeks The t.v. is going to be a blessing.  It is in the playroom so Owen does not sit in front of it in a daze, he plays with his toys and the t.v. is more of a background noise.  It keeps him happy to have it on though and it is going to help me get the rest I need in the upcoming weeks.   Here is to hoping that everything works out, I heal properly, and baby stays healthy.

New diapers!!!

 I recently was given a bunch of Sunbaby cloth diapers, however they are all pink and purple.  I passed some of them on to one of my friends that has a little girl.  The rest I am holding onto until I find out the gender of baby #2.  I wanted to test them out however so I put one on Owen over night.  I must say, I am in love!  He does not leak with them! 

In addition to the Sunbaby (which I might not be keeping.)  I recently ordered some Kawaii Baby cloth diapers from http://www.sweetbottomsbaby.com/.  I was recommended these from Kristen at http://trialanderrorhomemaking.com/   I was a little surprised at how big they are (I will add pictures later)  I cannot wait to try them out.  One of the main reasons that drew me to these diapers is the lining of PUL around the stomach area.  Owen tends to leak out the stomach at night (which is why I like the SunBaby) So I am hoping these Kawaii will work just as well!  

I will post an update after they are washed.  :)  Become a follower so you don't miss a post!  

Philly Cheese steak stuffed peppers

I got the idea off Pinterest from http://peaceloveandlowcarb.blogspot.com/2012/06/philly-cheesesteak-stuffed-peppers.html#.UPIH5G9hRty  I didn't want to make this blog about recipes because I usually do not have many.  However I will share the occasional good recipe.  

Unlike the blog post at peaceloveandlowcarb, I used shaved steak instead of the roast beef.   Here is how I made it:

1 cup Onions
1/4 cup Mushrooms (approx two mushrooms)
1lb Shaved steak
Salt
Pepper
2 large Green bell peppers
2 cups Mozzarella Cheese

Cut peppers in half and clean.  Boil peppers until soft but not to the point they are falling apart, this serves as your bowl.  Meanwhile slice onions and mushrooms.  I used about a cup of onions and 1/4 cup of mushrooms.  Saute.  Brown the shaved steak, add salt and pepper to taste.  Combine meat and onions and mushrooms.   Place the softened bell peppers on a foil lined cookie sheet (makes for easy clean up)  sprinkle mozzarella cheese in the bottom of the pepper.  Add meat mixture on top of that.  Cover with mozzarella cheese.   Place in over and broil until cheese is melted.    Serve hot, refrigerate left overs.

Serves 4.

**Notes:   All measurements are to taste.  I like a lot of onions and cheese but not many mushrooms.
Both DH and I loved this, however there are a couple changes I will make for next time.  Next time I am going to try boiling the peppers in au jus sauce to add more flavor, as well as add some to the meat mixture.   Any remaining would be great to pour over the pepper on your plate.

Washing cloth diapers

It is equally as important to know your washer as it is to have a good wash routine.  There are many different types of washing machines, you have your old school top loading with agitator, High efficiency top loading with no agitator, and front loading.  Each washer no matter the style has different wash options.  I personally have a h/e top loader with no agitator.  My wash routine before I would just dump all the pre-rinsed diapers into the wash, pour the detergent over top of them and then set it to a 'normal' wash cycle.  However, I pulled out my owners manual and read it.  I STRONGLY recommend reading your manual!  I learned that I am not supposed to add the detergent into the wash and I am instead supposed to put it in the detergent dispenser (which I do with liquid detergent but did not know I could do it with powder)  Apparently the wash cycle first wets/rinses first then distributes the detergent.  So before essentially all the detergent was getting washed off because it was added too early.  After reading my manual I have decided to wash the cloth diapers on the 'whitest whites' setting.  It adds an extra rinse and a soak.  Which with cloth diapers is good to have, means it will wash more of the remaining soap off at the end.   This will come in handy when I have newborn dirty diapers.