Wednesday, February 25, 2009

CELEBRATING 36 WEEKS WITH A PICTURE AND A NAME

That's right, folks. Yours truly is in the home stretch. I'm at the doc every week now, which I really enjoy since it involves super cool stuff like listening to the heartbeat, getting measured, and finding out next week if this kid is seeing any daylight (doubtful, but a girl's gotta have hope).

I'm SO thankful to be at this place in pregnancy because this little boy is kicking the crud out of my ribs, organs, you name it, and sometimes my belly is so tight from these Braxton-Hicks, I'm pretty sure my belly's just gonna up and split on it's own (too graphic for you? well, most of you have been pregnant before or are right now, so truth be told, you know exactly what I'm saying, right-O?) I joke that I want this kid out of me NOW, but I know he's putting on all that fat, developing those little lungs, getting those instincts set in place, etc., and I. Am. Woman. I can TOTALLY do this for 3 more weeks (clearly you've caught me on a good day :) ).

And now off with the babbling and on with what you really wanted when you saw the title of this blog: A picture...(don't hate me for my hugeness - HA!):




And a....NAME!!!! With a little background first, of course. So when the bomb was dropped that "Bowen" just wasn't cutting it, I tried to make myself like some of the other names we've thrown out there in the past, and proceeded to get SUPER frustrated because it just wasn't working. None of the names fit or worked for lots of different reasons. So I threw up my hands and trudged over to the bookshelf and pulled out the "Baby Names Wizard" book (FABULOUS, by the way, if you're looking for a baby name) and started ALL OVER AGAIN with the letter A, going all the way through letter Z. As I went through, I was VERY picky and chose only names I'd TRULY name my kid, rather than writing down every name that could possibly work for a nano-second. I came up with a list of five names, with a VERY clear favorite. This number pleased me (didn't think I'd find that many), but also made me VERY nervous, because if Michael didn't like any of them (which has been fairly typical in the past - we have really different tastes in names), I wasn't sure what we'd do.

So I presented the names to my darling husband and purposely said my favorite one last (trying to play reverse psychology, I guess). I said this name very casually and as if I had not a care in the world. When I was done, Michael asked about the last name I'd said (my favorite) and said, "So how do you feel about that name?" I knew the gig was up and said, "Truth be told, it's my favorite from the list." He smiled really big and said, "It's the ONLY one from the list I like, and I REALLY like it!" Then he gave me an even bigger piece of pie and said, "I'd even like his middle name to be John if we use this name!" (something else we'd been debating over and he'd not been on board with previously). I was floored, but sat there in shocked disbelief at how easy it was. I felt slightly suspicious and a little unnerved. Did we really name our child so painlessly?

I figured only time would tell, so I've been sitting on this name and testing it out (along with comparing it to a couple of others, to be on the safe side, and ESPECIALLY comparing it to the name Bowen) for a couple of weeks now, and the more I sit, the more convinced I am that this is "it" and that this name fits this child, fits in our family, and is just an all around great name.

I warn you, it's a little different, a little old-fashioned, and I haven't heard it for ANY body else's kid, but we love it, think it epitimizes the glimpses of personality that we've already seen in this precious child, think it fits great with our family, and think it sounds SUPER cute and fabulous with the middle name John. And without any further suspense or ado, here it is:

Jasper John




Monday, February 23, 2009

CHEAP MAKE-UP!!

I got this e-mail forward from the school Michael teaches at and I was a little skeptical, but it does in fact check out, which I found out for myself when I went to order a TON of new make-up. I'm a big stock-up kind of person nowadays and LOVE myself a good deal. So here's the e-mail with the link to the website. The only thing I found to be inaccurate was the price of mineral make-up, which is more like $5, rather than $1, but if you use mineral stuff like I do, you know that that's SUPER cheap anyway (I buy my BareEscentuals for like $20 a container, and justify it because it lasts 6 months). And just so you know, even the coupon code is accurate and makes your shipping free...hope this helps some of you shrink the holes in your pockets :)
------------

The make-up line e.l.f.(eyes-lips-face) has been bought out by
Nordstrom and will be re-packaged with the Nordstrom name on it. They are getting rid of the entire make up in ELF packaging. They are selling everything for $1.00. You do have to pay shipping. They have everything - powder, mascara, lipstick, a mineral line (100% natural), brushes & cases, nail polish, lotions, you name it -it's there. The website is :

http://www.eyeslipsface.com/shop.asp


When you check out there is a space for a coupon code. Use CAROLINA and save an additional $7.50 if your order is over $15.00 used my coupon and paid for shipping.

Happy Shopping!

P.S. Please continue responding to the diaper bag plea below if you still have some gems of knowledge to pass along!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

DIAPER BAGS...HELP!!

I need some help, people. I have felt discontent with my "bag" situation pretty much since Bennett was born. I've tried lots of different ways of carrying around my stuff and his and have never found a system I've been satisfied with. Now that #2 is almost here, I'm totally unsure what to do, and thought I'd pay a visit to the blog world to see if one of the many mommies out there (especially those with 2+ kiddos) has it all figured out.

Here's the deal: I do NOT like carrying around a gargantuan diaper bag that's stuffed to the gills with everything you could possibly imagine needing. I stopped doing that very quickly with Bennett. But of course I want to have the essentials for both kids, which will include a lot more for an infant to begin with. I also really miss feeling the feminine aspect of carrying around a cute purse, but can't figure out how to claim that back and make it work. What I've been doing with Bennett most recently is carrying around his mini backpack that he also uses at school. In this I keep his snack, diaper/wipes pod, a drink, and my clutch which contains money, cell, keys, etc. This is okay, but I don't really want to use it when baby comes along because a) it's primarily Bennett's bag, and his school bag at that, and b) it would be miserably full of stuff with both munchkins' supplies to carry around.

So here's what I want to know:

1) What kind of bag do you carry for your kiddos and yourself? (diaper bag, purse, etc.)

2) What size bag do you carry? (small, med. or large)

3) How many bags do you carry? (for example, do you have a separate bag for each kiddo, a bag for them and a purse for you, etc.? and also, what do you do when they go to church and both have to have their stuff?)

4) What things have you found are true necessities and what are the unneeded extras to carry around with both an infant and a toddler?

5) Do you have a specific bag that you just LOVE and would highly recommend? (I'm on a budget people, so a little realism taking into account our one income family would be greatly appreciated :) ). I really don't want something gigantic, and I really don't want to switch bags around all the time - I'd love to have one system to stick with. Anybody figure this out yet?


Thanks ahead of time for your help and suggestions! I just can't get it together with deciding which direction to go with this, and it's driving my ordinarily organized brain INSANE.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

SHARE THE LOVE




Happy Valentine's Day, from my little heart to yours :)

Thursday, February 12, 2009

34 WEEKS

Once again, prepare for a belly explosion...



And that's all for today, folks.

Monday, February 9, 2009

TALES FROM THE ER

I am posting this for two reasons. 1) To entertain you and myself, in spite of the trip to the ER that was slightly nightmarish. 2) To ask for your prayers for my family's sanity and my health for the remaining five weeks of this pregnancy.

Without further ado, here are the Top 10 Most Fabulous Experiences from the ER:

1) It's fabulous when your ER nurse doesn't speak more than choppy, mixed phrases of the English language, so when she's asking important questions, or attempting to give important answers, neither quite come across the way they need to, and you're left wondering what might happen next.

2) It's fabulous when the same ER nurse comes in to tell you (choppily, mind you) that she will NOT be starting an IV in your arm because they are uncomfortable and she doesn't want to do anything unnecessarily before it's time. Then, when you ask politely for a drink of water, she says, "Oh, we will do IV. Yes, you need it." What??! When you try to explain that you are not dehydrated, just a little thirsty, she says, "IV quickly, then get you water." You stare at your mother (who has been upgraded to the status of Saint) in disbelief and groan a little, knowing the big needle is coming, and won't be leaving for the remainder of your stay. You try to ask the nurse why she changed her mind, but she either doesn't understand the question, or doesn't know how to respond in a coherent sentence, so you're left to wonder if these were really the doctor's orders...

3) It's fabulous when the ER room is so cold, that despite the fact you're there to be treated for mounting symptoms of pneumonia at 33 weeks pregnant, you're pretty sure that if you don't have it already, you definitely will by the end of your stay. And no, no blankets or extra pillows are offered, in spite of the fabulous nurse's multiple comments about how much colder it is in your room than it is in all of the others.

4) It's fabulous when you are given a breathing treatment and it spikes your heart rate up so high you feel like you're running a marathon and become dizzy. When you ask if this is normal, the nurses give each other the "Uh-Oh Look," but then turn and smile politely, saying, "Yes, it can be a side effect." When the rate does not go down, you continue to see more of the "Uh-Oh Look" but receive no real answers...until several hours later when it's admitted that one element of the breathing treatment should've been discarded from your treatment since your heart rate was already too fast to begin with (or at least you THINK that's what she was saying...)

5) It's fabulous when your nurse brings in an antibiotic drip to start you on, and when you ask her what it is and why you're getting it, she blinks at you for a second, then says, "Doctor wants it. She tell you." And when you say, "I don't want anything put through my IV that I don't know about or know the contents of," she looks at you like you've sprouted a second head and says, "You have fever." You say, "I know I have fever. I want to know What. You're. Putting. In. My. IV." This seems to compute and she tells you the names of two antibiotics to doctor has prescribed.

6) It's fabulous when every time your favorite non-English speaking ER nurse comes in the room (at around 5-6am after no sleep all night), she flips on the flourescent lights overhead and says in a nasally voice, "Ookaaay, let's seeeee!" and comes to check your stats, move things around, etc. The second or third time this happens, she also informs you that they finally have a hospital room ready (they're moving you because they're still concerned about your fever, chills and heart rate). She then promptly leaves the room you've been attempting to sleep in, with all of the lights on. She returns 15 minutes later to "prep" you for leaving, repeats the lights and speech portion of the show, and is interrupted, so leaves again for another 15 minutes (lights on, of course), as you once again stare at your mother (the saint) in disbelief. By this time, after having been there for 9 hours with NO sleep in a cold room, with no answers and a nurse who knows diddly-squat about giving those answers, or about patient etiquette, you're more than slightly ticked (having been more than patient and kind and helpful yourself for the entire time of your stay). There's really no telling what might happen next, or what might be the determining factor for an explosion of sorts...

7) It's fabulous when your favorite ER nurse comes back in the final time, this time with a medic dude who's going to wheel your bed to your new room, repeats the lights session, and talks to him (not you) about all the things she's going to hook you back up to for the trip, including an oxygen tube that you haven't been made to use for the past 3 hours, but she suddenly deems necessary. You look at her with disbelief (she's already ripped tape with arm hairs off with no warning, ripped off little rubber stopper thingys to be replaced with new ones without warning, and stuck the heart monitor thingy back on your finger). Enough is ENOUGH. You look at this psycho and say with a tone that could shred a shirt and eyes and ears that MUST be smoking by now, "WHY are you putting that tube back in my nose?" She stops in shock, looks at you like she's completely flabbergasted and says, "You need it." You say, "I haven't 'needed' it for the past three hours, so WHY would I need it now?" She gets defensive with a huffy tone and insists, "The doctor has ordered it for you. You wear it." You say (while gesturing wildly), "You stick me with needles and IV bags, can't answer my questions, and randomly decide what I need or don't need. I think you're making all of this up as you go along. I'm NOT wearing that tube in my nose." Something about your tone of voice and the phrases that must've somehow carried through warns her and she backs off, saying in soothing tones, "It okay. You not wear till you get to the room." She then lets nurse dude wheel you out. He begins to chuckle as soon as you round the corner and says, "I was going to tell you to yank the dang thing out as soon as we got in the hall anyway." He continues to placate you and tell you that the ER nurses and doctor on this shift are sub-par (essentially). This makes you feel slightly better as you move to a new location and have the hope of sleep and appropriate care.

8) It's fabulous when your first set of nurses in your new room are angelic and cater to your every wish and need...then you're woken up after one hour of sleep to a new pair of nurses assigned to you, and it becomes quickly apparent that they don't know what they're doing either (what in the WORLD?!), especially the assistant, who doesn't even know how to briefly remove your IV hook up so you can wash your hair and put a bra on.

9) It's fabulous when after asking both of your nurses repeatedly to help with your IV tube for the aforementioned reasons, after about 45 minutes of this, the assistant nurse decides to "give it a try." (didn't you learn how to do this in school?!) She twists the tube out and exclaims excitedly over her victory. Then as you head to the bathroom while your nurse continues to chatter away about her IV prowess, your mother (the saint who slept in a chair) says, "Is that blood dripping on the floor?" You look down to see that your "successfully removed" IV is gushing blood from your arm all over your stylish hospital gown and all over the floor. Your brilliant nurse looks horrified and keeps saying over and over, "I'm going to be in so much trouble!" as you and your mother try to clean up the mess and page your head nurse. The head nurse comes in, patches is it as best she can, finally unhooks you the proper way and allows you to accomplish your desired tasks, and in passing says, "We might have to start a whole new IV since this one got blood in it." You stop in your tracks, horrified at the thought of one of these shmucks resticking you in the same spot with a huge needle.

10) It's fabulous when your last IV antibiotic takes 2 1/2 hours instead of 1 hour because your assistant nurse doesn't see anything unusual about the slow tempo of the drip, and your head nurse is once again no where to be found. After paging her three more times, the head nurse pops in, proclaims your tube is in fact clogged, but that if she can't fix it, it's no big deal because this antibiotic isn't exactly necessary anyway...what?!...and that you don't have to finish it. She once again doesn't not have the discharge paper work she promised you and mumbles some excuses, saying she'll have it in 15 minutes. You calmly inquire, "And will this be an hour long 15 minutes, or a 15 minute 15 minutes?" She stops, looks at you in shock (because you've been so sweet and accepting to this point) and says sheepishly, "I'll be back in 15 minutes." She's back in 20, and as you are practically running for the door, your assistant nurse seems to just notice you're pregnant and asks in a somewhat startled voice, "Oh! How far along are you?" You turn and run for the bank of elevators.

All of this is true, with no exaggeration. I have one word for it all. Fabulous.

I'm still feeling under the weather and am having a hard time getting around, so I really would appreciate your prayers for us. Being sick like this makes me nervous since I've got this little guy. Hope you were entertained and laughably outraged by my experience as I was :)

Thursday, February 5, 2009

BABY SURVEY

1. WAS YOUR PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes, but happened WAY faster than we thought it would/plans were in the works, but no

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes/Yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Wow, we're good at this! Wahoo!/Um, wow. We're too good at this.

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? Never

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 24/26

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? 1) Took a test WAY earlier than I should've, but it showed up anyway 2) Got suspicious on the timing, took the test, and was pretty shocked.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? 1) I'd rather not say because it wasn't who it should've been :) 2) Michael

8. HOW DID YOU TELL YOUR PARTNER? 1) Took him to Braums, bought him one scoop of blue ice cream and one scoop of pink, told him we could end up with either one, and gave him a present that was really a present for the baby (pacifiers) 2) Walked out of the bathroom, and while Michael was still asleep, went to the fridge, got an egg, brought it back and woke up Michael. Gave it to him and said, "Guess what?" hee :)

9. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Absolutely/Absolutely - I hate surprises, even good ones :)

10. DUE DATE? 1) Due Nov. 26th, born Dec. 6th...poor me 2) Due Mar. 26th, will be born on Mar. 19th if he doesn't come early (and I won't hold my breath for THAT to happen! :) ).

11. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? 1) 3 days pretty bad 2) Not really...just felt queasy for a couple of weeks on and off

12. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? 1) waffles, for dinner especially 3) cheese enchiladas

13. WHAT IRRITATED YOU? 1) How swollen and huge I got, how much weight I gained, pregnancy brain = memory loss and a loss of intelligent vocabulary, my stretch marks, the fact that my doctor was an IDIOT and let my baby get up to 9 lbs., torturing my poor body in the process (a LOT irritated me the first time) 2) Not much of anything, although Michael would probably admit I've been a little snippy about silly things starting about a week ago.

14. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? boy/boy

15. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? at first, because I always thought I'd have a girl first/once I got over the surprise, not at all. I'm PUMPED about having two boys

16. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 45 lbs. (yikes)/looking like it'll land right at 35 lbs., which I'm very happy with

17. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes/will at the end of the month

18. NATURAL OR C-SECTION? 1) c-section 2) will be the same, but scheduled, rather than an emergency

19. HOW LONG WERE YOU IN LABOR? 1) 8 hours 2) most likely won't be an issue :)

20. HOW LONG DID YOU PUSH? 1) never did 2) not planning on it

21. HOW BIG WAS YOUR BABY AT BIRTH? 1) 9 lbs. 2) my prediction is right around 8 lbs. since he's a big boy like his brother was

22. HOW LONG WAS YOUR BABY? 1) 20 in. 2) ??

23. DID YOU CRY WHEN YOUR BABY WAS BORN? yes, when I heard him

24. WHAT DID YOU NAME YOUR BABY? Bennett James/we don't know yet

25. WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST WORDS WHEN YOUR BABY WAS BORN? 1) He's got some pipes. He sounds beautiful.

26. WHEN DO YOU WANT TO DO IT AGAIN? Um...NOT a good time to ask.


Thanks, Kristen, for letting me steal this post. I was feeling warm-fuzzies about being pregnant today and thought this would be fun :) If any of you other pregnant friends out there would like to steal, be my guest!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

I can't believe I'm writing this as I write this :) Last night Michael dropped a bomb. He turned to face me and said, "I don't think I can deal with our kid's name being Bowen." WHAT??!

Now, before I go on, let me say that I knew this was a possibility all along. Truth be told, Michael's never been sold out or overly enthusiastic about the name, but he agreed we should tell people and play it out and call him this. When I bought the letters for the wall in his room and painted them, he helped me hang them up and said nothing. But we agreed that as time got closer, if he just couldn't wrap his head around it, we'd scrap it and use something else. Because I think it's important that we both REALLY like the name. So he's always had the veto power with this one, and last night he exercised the right.

So here we are, practically back to square one. Because I've also decided this kiddo's name isn't Gibson. Fabulous.

We've got 3-4 other options floating around in our heads, but it's looking more and more likely that this will be a repeat performance of last time (and possibly will cut it even closer), where our baby won't have a name till the last couple of weeks or so. I'm wondering if we'll really know until we meet the little dude. Oh, well. At least I've been able to call him something for most of my pregnancy, even if that's not really who he is - HA!!

It's funny because in the back of my mind I'm thinking, "WHY on earth is this such a big ordeal for us? What is so important about picking the 'right' name?" But it really is important to me. This is most likely because I'm anal with a capital "A," but regardless, it still matters and I can't let go of it.

I'm not going to put our options out here on the web, because who knows if we'll end up using any of them, and it just confuses me more to hear other peoples' opinions of certain names. We want a name that we love, that has a strong meaning, and that fits with our family. Those are things only we can decide anyway, so wish us luck (and me in particular since Michael's only job is to nix or accept each one I come across) as we dust off our baby name books and start the list making again. Yikes.