Lesson Learned

So today I wanted to bake. I have been in the mood to cook all day. So I started about 3 things at the same time knowing that I was going to run out of energy half way through the first one. SO I fugured that if I started making deer meat enchiladas, tapioca, and brownies at the same time.... I would get them all done and then be tired. But in that process I didnt read the directions on the tapioca pudding all the way through before I started making it. SOOO... I poured two boxes of tapioca together and added the sugar. THEN I read that your only supposed to use 3 TABLESPOONS of tapioca. And there were 8 oz of tapioca in each box. 8 oz of tapioca x 2 boxes of that = a crap load of tapioca. So I googled a few measurements and figured that for everything to even out I needed to times the recipe by 10. So this picture is my massive amount of tapioca pudding that I made. And of course.... as it was cooking it got thicker and bigger and eventually started overflowing. So I skipped the brownies, finished the enchiladas and now I have enchiladas and a TON of tapioca pudding for mothers day dinner. YAY (: As much as I love tapioca, I am already sick from eating it so much. My thought behind all of this was that I was going to clean the house spick and span and have dinner and dessert cooked for my mom for mothers day. Well... most of that got done before I ran out of energy and my feet swelled up like balloons. So... hopefully its the thought that counts. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM... here's 3 gallons of tapioca. (:

baby BUMP

So I have hated every picture I have taken of my belly. But I figured i'd put at least one up. This is 37 weeks and 4 days. 17 days to go. I started having contractions this week. They were really bad on Tuesday and Wednesday then pretty much stopped all together. The worst part about being pregnant has been my swollen and sore feet. And the back pains. But mostly my feet. I got a pedicure a few weeks ago and I really loved it. It felt sooooo good. I cant even reach my feet anymore. And they are always so swollen!
I really have loved being pregnant. The best thing has been feeling him move so much. He has been so active. More active then some of my friends that are pregnant. And I love that I can feel everytime he moves or has the hiccups. I fall asleep at night listening to his heartbeat on my little monitor thingy. It amazes me that he is almost here. 9 months has been long enough to wait for him. But it still hasn't fully hit me that he will be here in 2 weeks. Its going to be amazing when he finally gets here. But I am more than ready for him. I will post pictures of the nursery/my bedroom later this week. It really is coming together. I did the colors blue and brown. And I'm thinking of having hot pink to accent things. Just so its a little girly for me too.
I finally have everything he needs. Except for a swing. And he doesn't need one of those.... I just want him to have one. Haha. But I have everything ready for him to come. So now I just have to wait for him to decide he's ready to be here.

week 37 and 38 ....

This past week has really been a hard one. I think its officially hit me that I dont sleep at all at night. And if I do its for a very short period of time. Im too hot, too cold, and when I just think that I am about right, I have to get up and pee. (: I have been going to the Dr. every week now. But nothing has changed in the past two weeks. The Dr. said the baby is still sitting really high and I havent dilated anymore than a 1. So... no progress yet. He's not ready to come. But I have been having contractions so that is giving me some hope. I am really ready for him to be here. Besides the little mess of my room. I have all of his things washed, folded and put in the right places. I have my bag to the hospital packed and the carseat by the door. Now I just have to wait. Has anyone tried drinking castor oil? My neighbor lady swears by it and said I should drink 4 tb of it with a pepsi and he will come right out. As much as I would love to have him out... is that safe? And I really am miserable enough that I dont want to be even more miserable and be throwing up. So lets hear your thoughts on it Ember.. and anyone else who reads this. I have been walking a lot. 3x a day usually.. hahaha. And sitting in my rocking chair while I watch tv. Someone told me that will start labor as well. I have 2 weeks left and I am just ready to be done, and do anything to give him a little nudge to get here.

Fetal development in pregnancy week 38:fetus in ninth month As you know, you've arrived at the final leg of your pregnancy journey, and if you're still carrying your little love around, they've just about reached their birth weight (somewhere between 6 to 8 pounds is average depending on whether they're a boy or girl). There really isn't a lot to report on baby this week, so lets do a quick recount of where we're at: all internal organ systems are pretty much ready for the outside world, they've got their meconium stockpile building up (their first black baby poo), lots of healthy baby fat, a rapidly developing brain (that'll keep growing with them for years to come), and they've more or less reached official baby status-- all they need to do is "head out" and say hello to the rest of the world and especially their ready-to-pop momma.

And how's mom doing? Hang in there momma, it's only a matter of time before the obnoxious and painful fake contractions you felt in your back, lower belly, and pelvic region will be replaced by real contractions... which are even more obnoxious and painful. You'll know when the real ones kick in because they're if you're feeling weird electrical tingles in your legs and inside your vagina, this would be none other than your not-so-little baby hitting various nerves as they settle into the pelvic area more intensely painful (woo!) and they spread over the entire uterus, through the lower back and into your pelvis.

If you're having trouble sleeping (which about 100% of women in this phase of pregnancy are), try to take little catnaps during the day, get one of those neato full-body pregnancy pillows, or at least lots of pillows that you can shove between your legs and under your belly to support your awkward shape more comfortably. Also, if you're feeling weird electrical tingles in your legs and inside your vagina, this would be none other than your not-so-little baby hitting various nerves as they settle into the pelvic area. If you're feeling sharp shooting pains instead of tingles, this would be your extra-evil-but-adorable baby pressing on your oh-so-very sensitive sciatic nerve. All we can recommend is some wincing, sitting down, and putting your feet up.

Fetal development in pregnancy week 37:fetus in ninth month It’s the calm before the storm. Changes in your baby's weight have leveled off with only a few ounces of fat added this week. At this point your baby should weigh in at around 7 lbs and 20 inches (with boys somewhat heavier and longer than girls). Happily, as far as internal organs go, they are now developed enough to function in the outside world although the oh-so-important immune system is still developing and will continue to do so after birth. With a large boost of antibodies provided by breast milk when nursing begins. Fighting infection and staying healthy should be well within their physical capacity when your little fighter is born.

And how's mom doing? Your health care provider will assess the likelihood of where you are relative to your upcoming birthing process—seeing as you’ve now arrived at that waiting phase that could turn into labor at any time. Various charming indicators such as loose stools, expelling your mucus plus (along with the bloody only 4-5% of women actual deliver on their predicted due date. What’s more if this is your first pregnancy, you can expect to be anywhere from two days to two weeks late show – see week 35), a dilated cervix and increased Braxton-Hicks contractions are all signs that labor is only a few days away. The infamous water breaking may or may not be your first true indicator that labor has commenced. However, water breaks for only 15% of mothers and despite what Hollywood would have us believe, is more frequently just a slow leak rather than a large gush.

Be patient: if labor doesn’t start this week, or even next, keep in mind that only 4-5% of women actual deliver on their predicted due date. What’s more if this is your first pregnancy, you can expect to be anywhere from two days to two weeks late. You can distract yourself by keeping track of fetal movements, mostly to reassure yourself that all is well with your little miracle. In the off chance that movements do start to decrease substantially, try not to freak out and instead, call your doctor of midwife and discuss it with them.

If you still haven’t decided whether to breastfeed or not, here’s a good reason: some experts estimate that mothers excrete between 400-700 calories a day while breastfeeding, and to compensate, you should be eating roughly 500 extra calories a day (mmm that’s like one spoonful of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream).

me n swade...

Swade is definitely the highlight of my life right now. He always has something funny to say. And he is always asking me questions about the baby. I went to the dentist last week and he asked me if the dentist took my baby out. He cannot wait for the baby to get here. One day the baby had the hiccups so I had Swade put his hand on my belly and feel the hiccups. He sat there for 20 minutes and laughed hysterically everytime my belly would "jump". My favorite most recent time with Swade is when he asked me to unbuckle his seat belt and get him out of his car seat so he could "scratch his butt". Thats exactly what he told me. So sure enough I let him unbuckle so that he could scratch and get back to his movie.






















Swade has been as photogenic as I am. He is always willing to take a picture and loves to see what he looks like in the picture afterwards. In this picture we were supposed to be flexing our muscles. And at the last minute he said his muscles were too big for the picture.





My favorite times with Swade are when he's tired and in a cuddly mood. On the way home from our weekend at the motocross and rodeo he spent most of the trip cuddled up next to me. So I took advantage of it and held his hand most of the way. It was getting so hot for me tho that I finally had to prop him up and just let him sleep away from me.

motox

This is Kent and my dad giving Vance a prep talk before his 2nd race. He was really nervous. I think he was so scared because his crash in his previous race was totally out of his control. So he was nervous that something would happen again. But he did AMAZING. You could really tell in his last two laps that he was getting confident again. He was really jumping high.

Rodeo/Motocross

This is the greatest man alive. The greatest man you'll ever meet. My great grandpa Vance. He is getting kinda crazy tho. Hahaha. When I was taking this picture he was having a dream and moving his mouth and lips like he was talking... but no words ever came out. Then he just started making noises. Haha. When I gave him a hug and was talking to him he said he finally feels like he is getting old. I guess at age 94 it hits you that you are old.

This is what Swade wore from Thursday night when we left... till Friday night at the rodeo. The dirt was really starting to stick to him. And he still had to wear his boots and Carhart with his sweats. He was having so much fun running around with Vance and Nick. They basically had a free run all around the rodeo grounds. There was a skate park and a playground. So they ran all over the place.




You can kind of see the pink and brown flower that my dad bought from the little girls at the rodeo. They thought it was so funny that he would buy a flower for him and put it on his hat. Even after he left we could hear them talking about how silly this old cowboy was for wearing a bow on his hat. He probably made their whole day by sitting there and teasing them and joking with them.







This was at the motocross track. We were parked right on the front of the track next to the Ahleen's so we had front row seats to all the races. Everyone who didn't get to park up there had to sit on bleachers or in the dirt. So we really had amazing seats right at the front. You can see all the kids in the back... Swade had kids everywhere to play with and run around with. I only lost him once when mom and dad was gone. And he came runnin back and said "I was just runnin around. Im a big boy". We all had a blast. But Vance had the best time out of all of us. This is his "world" and everything he loves.

slEEpiNg...

This was my moms way of blocking out the sun. She has been making burp rags for the baby for the past week. She had head phones in and was trying to get some sleep. ... about 30 min later she found that impossible with Swade in the back screamin and yellin.















Swade FINALLY fell asleep on the way home from the motocross on Saturday afternoon. This was one of the ways I came up with to prop his head up so he would STAY asleep.














This past weekend was AMAZING. We left Thursday night and went and stayed at grandpa Vance's house in Fremont. Woke up to snow and freezing cold weather. We stayed around Wayne County for the day and then headed to Castledale. Castledale is about the worst town I have ever been to. I really couldn't figure out what the point of the town was. But the rodeo was way fun and Shaylee totally kicked butt on all her events. The highlight of that day was when my dad bought a pink flower from a few little girls that were selling them at the rodeo and he still has it pinned to his hat. Ill post a picture.
Friday after the rodeo in Castledale we drove to Price. We got there about 9 and found a spot to camp. The next morning Shaylee had rodeo and Vance had motocross. Luckily the motocross was right across the street from the rodeo. So we ran back and forth so we could watch Shaylee run and still make it back to Vance's race.
Vance totally KICKED BUTT in his race. But on his first lap, someone clipped his back tire and made him crash. He was pretty upset about it. And it took him a few hours to decide that he was going to do his second race. In his 2nd race he did even better. He was getting so high on some of the jumps. Ill post some pictures of that too. He got a trophy and a Ogio wallet and he is pretty excited about his next race.
We stayed at the motocross all day. It was so much fun. The weather started to get bad and then we left. But it was so much fun. Kent, Denise and Zach are the neighbors that live next door to us. They were there and we hung out with them all day. Denise is a hoot. She had me laughing all day long. And Kent wants me to name my baby Cledus. So all day he kept askin me how Cledus was doing and if I was doing ok. Hahahaha.. The whole weekend was amazing. The rodeo really got me excited to rodeo this summer.
This weekend was so much fun. I kinda feel like I over did it though. Last night I was sick on the way home and all day today. I stayed in bed all day till about 4:00. But I'm starting to feel better. So hopefully it was just lack of sleep!