Baby Shower

I had such an amazing time last weekend in Chanute for my baby shower. It was so fun and I got such wonderful things from everyone. Baby Olson definitely has a great start on the stuff he needs! All of the pictures that were taken were done on my Mom's camera so I don't have any yet, but I will post some when I get them. Thanks again to everyone who came and send gifts. December already is a super busy month and trying to squeeze in one more thing can be tough, so I really apprecitate it!

Baby Olson in 4D

Yesterday I had my 26 wk Dr appt. They did my glucose screening, gave me a flu shot and did a 4D ultrasound. Here are some stats that we found out during the ultrasound:
Weight: 2lbs, 3oz
Head: Meausring at 28wks, 3 days instead of 26 wks, 6 days... Yikes! :) She said it was normal for the head to sometimes measure ahead (no pun intended)of schedule
Heart rate: 156 bpm
He has moved down into the correct position with his head down. Hopefully he will stay like that!

So far it looks like we have us a healthy little baby! :)

Of course the day that we are looking forward to getting some great shots of him, he decides to sleep, not move and look away from the camera. Even with quite a bit of trying to wake him up he still wouldn't budge... Maybe a sign of a good sleeper??!! We still did get a few pictures of his face which I was happy with.







This one is of his feet, which he has crossed at his ankles.

Double Digits

I am now officially in the double digit number of days until my due date! On Saturday it will be exactly 3 months until this baby is due... crazy! We were thinking about it last night as I was putting baby clothes away (Thanks again Sara) that it is going to be here before we know it!

We start our Chilbirth Preparation class tomorrow night so that should be interesting. I am not sure what to expect. Hopefully it will be something that we can use to help us (me) with the delivery. It is a 3 evening class. Dec 14th we have our prenatal tour of the hospital where they will pre-register us and show us where the L & D rooms and stuff are. It might be a little early, but with Darrin's class schedule it can be hard to do things in the evenings. He is done with classes until the start of next semester in January, so now was a good time to get some of that stuff done.

My Doctor had her baby this week. She was supposed to see me yesterday and then go in for a C section today, but her office called me Monday to re-schedule. So I am now going in tomorrow to see another doctor. Hopefully all goes well with that. We are going to try to do the 4D ultrasound so I will post pics of that when we get them.. Hopefully he cooperates with us!!!

Baby updates, etc.

I had my 23 wk dr appointment yesterday and everything seemed to be fine. They didn't do too much, but my next appointment is in 3 wks when I will do my glucose screening to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes and we will get to do another ultrasound. It will be a 4D ultrasound, so hopefully "Carl" will cooperate with us and we will get some good shots. I am really excited for that! Darrin felt him kick for the first time last weekend. He was kicking harder than usual and I put Darrin's hand in the same spot that he last kicked and within a few seconds he did it again and Darrin could actually feel it. He was so excited to join me in that fun of feeling him. He continues to kick with more frequency and moves around alot more than before. At least I know that he is still going strong in there! Last night I could actually see my skin move when he kicked. That was kind of weird but cool. We finished up painting the nursery and got the trim hung up. I am really happy with how it turned out and we put the crib together. So it is getting more real now having that done.

22 wks

I haven't posted a picture in awhile so I thought I should let y'all know what I look like. I really haven't grown very much in the last few weeks, and is hard to tell how big I really am in different outfits, but you can get the idea. "Carl" has been moving around alot more now and just always seems to know when I need to pee really bad and then wants to kick me in the bladder. Othen than then he usually moves the most at night like after I have eaten dinner and when I first go to bed. We have started working on the nursery and have painted part of the room so far. We will finish it up this weekend I think and then we can move his stuff in there. The office and Darrin's room are messes becaue we have everything crammed in there that we would normally have in there. I have also bought some bigger items for "Carl" so they are taking up alot of room also. I just don't know what we are going to do with this baby's stuff. It seems like our house is kind of cramped as it is! I don't know how we will have 2 kids in this house and it has 4 bedrooms! (But they are small and there is no family room or den.. it is just a living room, eat-in kitchen, 2 bath, 4 bedrooms and a small laundry room) I guess we will just have to make room and get rid of some of our stuff I think!

Foxy? Noooooo!!!...!!!!!

When I woke up at 3:25 am and hear hacking sounds coming from the foot of the bed this was my first thought...As I reach down to try to get her onto the easily washable part of my bed. I grab her and sling her toward me but not soon enough. I am hoping I got her there in time but when I turn on the light and see for myself that I did not. She has puked on my almost brand new beautiful, nearly impossible to clean king sized comforter. Foxy does not usually sleep with us anymore because of this reason..( she has a very sensitive stomach) when she slept with us I had to wash my bedding all the time and I was sick of it!!! But I thought, Daddy is gone and what the heck, she looked so cute looking up at me when I got into the bed. What's one night going to hurt? So up she went, siting peacefully at the foot of the bed resting on the folded back comforter.... After I got her locked in the bathroom I surveyed the damage.. CRAP it is all over and has leaked through from the undereath side which she was laying on to the front side which is normally in view when the bed is made. How in the hell am I going to clean this.. I do the stupid thing that I know won't work and dab at it with a wet rag.. yeah..ummm. like that is going to get this huge stain.. When I mean huge, I mean like you couldn't believe a 3lb dog had that much material in their stomach plus what ended up where I wanted it on the washable blanket. So after a few minutes of cussing and wiping realizing I am not getting anywhere I look at the care tag. "Maching wash cold, gentle cycle". Yeah right like this huge thing is going to fit in the washing maching. So what do I do.. I fill up the washing machine and start putting the affected area in there and spraying some shout and trying to scrub it out... This is never going to work.. how am I going to get it to agitate because the lid is not going to close because I only have half of the comforter in threre.. TaDa.. I look in the cabinte and see a throw-away type paint brush that I can stick the handle in the little hole thing that gets pushed down while the lid is down and I can get it to stay on its own.. Wonderful... so I wash and rinse the thing the best I could, but it won't spin, so I can'g get much water out. I try to wring it out the best I can and then lay some sheets on the floor and lay the comforter on them then get a flannel sheet and lay it on top and start walking around on it trying to get as much moisture out as I can. I now have it strung in the living room with the dry part of it draped over the coffee table and the wet part leaning over the kitchen chairs so that it can dry out..We shall see..

As for Foxy she is fine...now! She has gotten a bath and has been blow dried. I fed her ONE tiny piece of pork around dinner time that Darrin was cooking to put in their beans on his trip. I even ironically said outloud to Darrin, "I hope I don't regret this later." Well, I do regret it. I also regret letting her on the bed because if I hadn't, I would have been able to clean the carpet with my wonderful Bissell ProHeat 2X and the problem would have been easily solved. That machine is wonderful and I am sure it will come in handy once my child arrives in this world. It is a must if you have pets and carpet. Or maybe it is just my pets or the ones I pet sit that seem to get sick!

As for me.. I am a little queasy myself after having that smell (sorry if this makes you sick) engraned in my nostrils for the last hour but also getting sleepy and wanting to go back to be.

Maddie has been a good girl through out this event and has not even barked to get out of her kennell eventhough I have gone in her room to get towels, turned on the lights and walked around. That is good to know for those middle of the night feedings that I have up ahead of me that she will not need to get out of her kennel every time.

Sorry if this is not very well written but it is now 4:43 am and I am tired. I just figured I should blog instead of calling people to vent.

Take this job and shove it!

I made the big announcement that I was quitting my job at the end of the year to my boss on Monday. I was really nervous about telling him.. I don't know why, but I was dreading it! I was planning on telling him on Nov. 1st (I even had it marked in "code" on my desk calendar) but then something on Monday told me just to get it over with. I am really glad that I did. It is all out in the open now and I am not hiding anything from anyone. I am looking forward to my time off before the baby comes, but I am also a little sad that I won't be going to work. It will be nice not having to go in to work on days that I don't feel that great or days that I have alot I want or need to do at home, but there is something about going to work that gives you a sense of purpose as well as social interaction with the public and co-workers. Oh listen to me.. you will probably talk to me in January and I won't have ever been happier.. sleeping in until 8:00, getting around and maybe going to the gym and walking on the treadmill, coming home and getting ready and making Darrin's lunch, watching Jerry Springer at 12:00 or the myriad of judge shows or I might even get addicted to the good ole standby soap Young and the Restless, then I might need to go get some groceries or take a nap or work on Darrin's homeowrk for him (don't tell his professors) or organize stuff up for the baby room, read on my books that I never get around to reading when I was working, clean house, play with the dogs, shop some more, do laundry, cook dinner meals that require more than 30 minutes to prepare, blog, maybe.. just maybe... Uhhh... I can't believe I am even saying this.... some of you will be shocked to hear that I might..... Start a Facebook Page.. Ok.. I am just going to stop there before I come up with any more crazy ideas!

It's a Boy!!!

Our handsome side profile.



Our "It's a Boy" Proof
---He's kicking me right now for showing you all this embarssing picture... He literally is..haha. :)

I had my appointment and ultrasound today and we found out that we are having a little boy! We are so excited and I am so glad to know so I can start more planning! Right now the baby weighs 9 oz and is doing great! Everying looked good when they did the anatomy scan and looked at everything. It was really cool to see how much he (it seems so crazy using "he" after so long of saying "it") has grown. He is in a breech position right now but my Doctor said that's ok just as long as he moves his head down by about 35-37 weeks. We are still on track with my original due date of March 4th. I can't believe that we are at the halfway point. I have a feeling that these next few months are going to go by pretty fast with the Holiday's coming up. Darrin is getting excited thinking about having a little "Darrin Jr." running around the house and all the stuff they can do together. I am getting excited thinking about sending him off to do stuff with his dad while I have the house to myself.. but then there will probably be another one by that time and there goes that free time! :)

First Flutterings

On week 19 day 2 I felt the first kicks from baby Olson. I was sitting on the couth Saturday night after going out to dinner and I thought I felt something like small pops in my lower abdomen. I felt it again then again right away. I thought I had felt the baby move before but I really hadn't. This was the real deal! Later in the evening I kept feeling it some but not as hard as I had the first time. I can now feel it swoosing around and bumping up against me now and then. It is a pretty cool feeling and I was glad Darrin was sitting there right by me the first time!

18 wks

Hey everyone.. I can't believei it has been 5 weeks since my last picture. So I want to update you all with my preggo glory. haha I am still feeling good most of the time. No sickness or extremem fatigue or anything like that. I don't think I quite have the stamina I did, but I can still shop just as good as I could before, which by the way is what I am up to today. I have been shopping on Craigslist trying to find some nice, used baby stuff to save us some money from having to buy brand new. I actually found something yesterday, so I went to this lady's house and met her to look at her swing. Since Darrin is out of town, (doesn't that seem like another reoccuring theme in my blog) and I am pretty much unaccounted for, I called him before I went and called him after I "made it out" alive. Haha. No, it was nothing like that. She was very nice and had a very nice house.. made me a little jealous of her decorating skills. Her baby's room was so cute and she told me how she made everything pretty much from spraypaint and things from Hobby Lobby. So I ended up with a nice, barely used swing for nearly half price and some really cute, cheap, easy decorating ideas for the nursery!

Back on to baby.. I am not feeling any movements yet. If I lay really still, I think that I can sometimes feel something, but I think it is just in my mind (or tummy rumblings). We will find out in about 1 and a half weeks whether we are having a boy or girl, so be ready for that!



The baby's swing and my lovely baby model, Foxy.

17 wks (tomorrow) and Hungry!!!!

Ok..

I have heard that your appetite would return in the 2nd trimester, but I am finally experiencing it and in full force! I am a bottomless pit right now. Not really craving anything that I just have to have, but I just can't hardly get full. Like last Friday on our way to Dallas we stopped at Dairy Queen... We both got the "Texas Meal Deal" which came with a big hamburger, fries, large drink and a mini blizzard. Darrin ate his and was stuffed, I at mine and was just about right. It is bad when I can eat more than Darrin... That boy can put away some food if he wants to.. or he can get by with eating almost nothing.. I don't get it, but that is for another time.

I am trying to keep it semi-healty most of the time by eating fruit for snacks at work instead of candybars and and alot of water instead of pop (just 1 or 2 a day isn't too bad I don't think), carrots and ranch instead of chips before dinner time, mixing half healthy cereal with sugary cereal for breakfast. Hopeuflly those things will keep me from crossing over to the next 10x10 on the scale before the baby is born. Ahhhhhhh!!!

I will post another pic soon... I think you will be suprised... Darrin said I am already growing exponentially and is suprised at how "tight" it is when he pushes in on it.. like he thinks I have just been gowing more flab! haha :)

Trip to Kansas

Starting Labor Day Weekend I got to spend the week in Kansas. It was so great to be home for an extened peroiod of time and see everyone without being totally rushed like we normally are. Just a few of the things I got to do while being home..

1. I finally got to see Lisa's beautiful engagement ring and talk about wedding plans. (I guess red will be ok.. hahaha.. just teasing you Lisa, it will be beautiful!)

2. Have dinner with my family like old times when we both still lived at home!

3. Go on a fun trip to Big Hill lake with the Hockett's, Wards, and my favorite Mother-in-law! It was so fun hanging out with them and watching everyone get cold water splashed in their face and bounced around on the tube!! Ok, maybe I was jealous that I didn't get to get out there b/c of my current baby situation... but totally next year and maybe Darrin will get to go. Thanks so much to Aaron and Michele for adding one more peron to the already "illegal" occupancy :)

3. Take both of my Grandma's out together for a fun lunch at El Pueblito partly to celeberate their belated August birthdays, partly to just get to hang out with them!

4. Taco Tuesday at 5th Street in Pittsburg with Erin and Kyle, My sis, parents and some of thier friends. Not quite the same without the cold one's that my dad likes to still try to pour me because he keeps forgetting i am pregnanct, but still fun hanging out with everyone! Erin's house is so cute and nice! She always has such unique things!

5. I went to Stacie's and visited with her and baby Abe! He is so cute and such a good baby! She let me hold him and I totally can't wait until I have own little one. Thanks Stacie (and Sara) for the materinity clothes and books. I have started reading "The Girlfriend's guide" and it is pretty funny... and how true it is to what it is really like and I'm not even close to the end (of the book or the pregnancy)!

6. Next.. I got to go to Kansas City and see my Aunt Carol's new house. It is beautiful and I just love it! Linda, Amanda and Savannah came over and we watched "the BackUp Plan". It was super fun haning out with them, eating dinner and watching the movie on caro's new Tv. Carol and I had a great time shopping looking at baby girl things.. yeah.. we mainly looked at girl things with a handful of boy stuff mixed in just for good measure...and I got to eat out at one of my most favorite restaurant's: Jose Peppers. Ever since college when we would eat there (or at Cactus Grill.. same thing..) when I lived in Lawrence it has been one of my favorites! Everything there from the chips, to the soda, to the espinaca dip to the black beans and rice.. it is awesome.. Mabye I think it is so good, becaue I have such fun memories of eating there with Carol, Linda, and Robin.

7. Still the list keeps on going... Friday night, instead of going to the game, dad and I stayed home and he fixed me dinner because after my trip to KC I was just too tired to go anywhere but the recliner, to the table, then to bed! It is amazing how exhausted I get from doing normal things like shopping, and driving... Satureday I had fun hanging out with Lisa, Mom and Dad at the house and watching the dancing at the Mexican Fiesta. Oh, and mom and I made some pickles which was pretty fun too!

There were alot of things that I am sure I did not mention, but I want everyone to know I had a great time! I miss you guys!

13 wks!

Well, here we are.. starting the 13wk of this journey and amazed at how slow at times and quickly at others the last few weeks have seemed to have gone! I have a few new updates since the last post. I am finally starting to feel better and not as nauseous and tired as I was there around weeks 7-11. I am getting my appetite back and starting to eat more which is causing me to gain a few lbs, which was bound to happen sometime I guess! As far as body changes go, I am now not able to button my pants. My dress pants were the last to go, but I plan on extending the life of them by using a "bella band", "tummy sleve" or whatever brand name you want to call it to help me to keep my pants up while having them unbuttoned/unzipped. Sara and Lindsay said they were a wardrobe blessing so I went and got a couple yesterday and am actually wearing one today and it working pretty good so far. I did the rubberband thing last week, but has been a struggle with dress pants because they don't have a button. I broke down and bought my first pair of maternity jeans yesterday and they fit pretty good and are actually really cute!

I got the "Belly Book" (Pregnancy journal) and have started putting some things in it. It has spaces for a belly shot every week, but I didn't get it until last weekend and haden't been too good about taking my picture, so the first trimester is pretty much blank except for ultrasound pics and some thoughts, ect, but I am going to try to keep it up because I think it will be cool to look back on later. Darrin said I should have bought 2 so that way it would motivate me more to do the same thing for our second baby in a few more years... that is if I think I still want to have another one after I get done having this one!!!

OB appt # 2

I had my 10 week checkup today. I have lost 4lbs since last time, but probalby is attributed to my tummy troubles. My blood pressure was fine at 120/65. Dr. Bellman tried to use a thing on my stomach to hear the heartbeat but it was to early for that or maybe there was too much (um.. tissue on my abdomen) getting in the way of it. So she had me go in the ultrasound room and have one done just to make sure that they could still hear a heartbeat and everything was fine. I was hoping I didn't jynx myself by telling everyone about it so soon. But she said it all looked great. I was really amazed to see the differnce in the size since my last appt. I think it is about 1 and a half inches long now when it was like as long as a grain of rice at my first appt! I hope everyone enjoys the pictures. You have to kind of use your imagination on seeing the parts in the picture. But when the technician was doing it I could see arms, legs that were bent at the knee. It was pretty cool. I wish Darrin could have been there but maybe next time. I think he would be pretty amazed at seeing that little image on the screen of our little "Darriana" as he likes to call it.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Ok, so the whole bit in my last post about my tummy troubles getting better... well not so much. I don't know if I ate something I shouldn't have yesterday or what but I have been really sick since last night. I even missed work today because I can't keep anything down and in the office is the last place I want to be when I am throwing up even my water! I am kind of worried that I am dehydrated because I have lost 1.5 lbs since yesterday. I have eaten a popsicle and just a bit ago a peach and have kept that down, so maybe it is over for now. The worst part of it is that Darrin is gone now. I took him to the airport this morning and tried not to get sick in the car while driving on the interstate on the way back!!! But that is probably good for him, because I am no fun to be around when I am sick! I tend to be kind of winey! I have my OB appt tomorrow so maybe she will have some more advise for me or maybe I will be feeling great when I go. I just never know!!
Ok enough with the wo-is-me bit. Sorry!

Bun in the oven....

And I don't mean cinnamon rolls, which do sound really good right now!! But I am talking about a little soon to be baby Olson! Yes, Darrin and I are expecting our first child who is due to arive somewhere around March 4th! I have just noticed that there are alot of exclamations in this post so far but I think I am just really excited about all this baby stuff... So in case you are doing any calculations I am 9wks along. I know that's not that far but I can't keep it a secret any longer. So far just the usual symptoms I think... Not feeling all that great most of the time (like sick to my stomach), but it is actually getting a wee bit better I think?! If not getting better, then I am just getting used to it!! haha The exhaustion is really getting to me though. Pretty much by 7:00pm I am worthless. It was especially bad this week because we went to Chanute last weekend and that wore me out with all the driving, staying up later than usual and visiting with family and friends. At first Darrin didn't know what to make of my pathetic self, but he is getting used to it and is being a great help to me already.

So thus far, no names picked out or anything like that.. We do want to find out what we are having so that we can plan accordingly and get sex appropriate stuff for the baby room and pick our a name (or two) that we like...

I will keep you updated on any new developments and will post pics along the way!

One full house

So, Darrin's family is coming to visit for the weekend! Michele, Kimbery, Gwenda and all the kids are going to visit today. I am really excited and will send some pics of the "madness" of the weekend. It is super fun to visit us people, so let this be an invite for Y'all to come on down!

Let it snow......

Of course the year we move to the south they have record heat in the summer and it snows for the first time in over 6 years!! It snowed all day yesterday and was like 33 degrees so it didn't stick at all. Then last night it continued to snow and actually had some accumulation. It was kind of funny yesterday at work....Ann said" Look at those crazy birds out there in this weather. Aren't they supposed to fly south for the winter?" Then Carolyn said"It is the south". So of course the schools are closed and my boss decided for us not to come in until 11:00, so I am getting the morning off and thought I would post some pics.. The kids across the street are trying to make a snowman... I think it will probably melt by the end of the day because it is supposed to be like 36 or so but they look like they are having fun..

King Cakes

Oh, my goodness! Has anyone had a king cake before? They are a traditional Mardi Gras cake that has a little "King" burried in the middle somewhere. We had one today at work and it was delicious. Ours had a cream cheese filling , but I guess they can be filled with whatever and looked more filled that this picture.I am trying to learn about Mardi Gras history because I know that it has alot more to it than showing tatas and getting beads. I will keep you updated on that stuff. Eventhough we aren't in New Orleans, Mardi Gras is still a big deal here they have like 5 big parades that apparently people camp out for, grill and have a good time at these events. I want to go to one next weekend and will let you know how that goes.. They also have a parade for pets next Sunday, so if I get ambitious, I might take Jo and Goonz (Foxy and Maddie) I call them by their nicknames more than their real names! haha

Trying this out

I see other people's blogs and love reading them. So, I am trying this out on my own. What the heck, I might have more to say than I think!