What we've been up to

We had a really nice Christmas this year. Ira is finally getting old enough to sort of understand the whole Santa thing. This is him on Christmas Eve in his Consignment Sale $6 suit and his $1 Van Heusen shirt and tie from JC Penneys. (Not that I'm proud of that deal or anything...)

Santa brought Ira what he had been asking for for nearly a year: a drumset. He absolutely LOVES playing his drums!! (Although right now he currently can't play them because his drumstick made its way into the bass drum via the hole for one of the toms - can't really play with one drumstick, can't really play the bass or it might ruin it... bummer... he's still trying to figure out what to do about that one...)

Notice the tic tacs sitting on the "throne" next to Ira. They were in his stocking. Of the 60+ tic tacs in the package, I think he had about 17 left by the end of the morning. (As a side note, I think Ira really looks like me in this picture.)

Baby and I are doing well! This is us the day after Christmas (29w5d.)

Our crib we ordered finally came in! (Ira's was one of the Simplicity ones that had been recalled, so we took it back and got our money back and got this one from Tiny Tykes instead. No moving parts and solid as a rock! Our grandkids (God willing) will be able to sleep in this crib!)

Andy and I on our annual trip to Kansas City to see the lights at the Plaza.

Look at that cutie pie of a baby! We think it has the most precious chipmunk cheeks! This was at our most recent Bio-physical Profile Sono this past Monday. Everything still looks great with baby, so here's hoping we can go all the way to 40 weeks!

Other than that, we haven't been up to a whole heck of a lot. We started making a chore chart for Ira, in hopes that by the time baby comes, they will be old-hat/habit. We'll see how that goes. Well, I think I hear Mr. Man awake from his "Quiet Time" So until next time!

A Random Update

Yes, we are all still alive and kicking here... (especially baby, well and Ira sometimes too, depending on what kind of mood he's in.) What can I say, I haven't felt like blogging lately. We've been good this last 6 weeks, not a lot has happened, which is a good thing if you ask me. I'll update you with some random ramblings and pictures.

Halloween:
Ira was "Tigger" for Halloween. He trick-or-treated his little heart out and got enough candy to feed the children of several small countries. Needless to say, we are still eating Halloween candy a piece at a time (and probably will be until March when the baby comes)

Baby:
We had a great OB appointment last Monday. Everything appears to be going well. This baby is certainly a mover, which is oh so reassuring to me! I go in on Monday for bloodwork, glucose screening, and a full sonogram. We are excited to peek in at baby again. In 2 weeks, we'll begin having sonos (Biophysical Profiles) every week to make sure that everything with the placenta/baby is as it should be. With being on heparin (a blood thinner I'm on b/c of a clotting disorder in case you forgot) there is always the concern of blood clots especially in the placenta, which would deprive the baby of the nutrients he/she needs to keep growing. So, each week starting at 28 weeks, we'll have a sonogram to check that baby is still thriving. If at any point one of the sonos shows that the baby is not thriving, then we will have to deliver him/her then. I am staying positive though, and plan on carrying this baby a full 40 weeks, God-willing! I have definitely been feeling Braxton Hicks contractions lately, but apparently that's very common with your second to feel them earlier and more frequently. Here's a recent pic of me (taken around 24 weeks.)Photoshop:
I got Photoshop Elements for Christmas last year and had never been able to figure out how to use it really. I thought it was something that if I just got on there and dinked around with it enough, I would start figuring out how to do things. I was wrong - Photoshop is not an incredibly intuitive program (if you ask me) but recently, I found a really helpful website with great tutorials for photoshop and photoshop elements. So, I've been polishing up some of the amateur photos that I've taken. It has become very fun (and kind of addicting... maybe that's why I haven't had time to blog...) and I am certainly grateful for such a great Christmas present!

New Niece:
The day after Thankgiving, my baby sister gave birth to her first baby (I feel OLD!), a beautiful little girl, named Anna Marie. Andy and I got to go to the hospital to see her the day she was born and Ira got to go meet her once they got home from the hospital on Sunday. He really loves his new cousin. He also loves to hold her! It makes me SO excited for him to be a big brother here in a few months!

Other Random things that didn't fit in the above categories:
-I ordered a "Hotsling" to use with our new baby. I got to try it out last night with Anna Marie and WOW does it work nicely! It will be so nice to have for shopping trips, church, and just around the house so that I can have my hands free to play with Ira, etc.
-Ira is finally done with his round of shots (all four of them) to be vaccinated against the seasonal flu and H1N1. It was a decision we didn't take lightly, but in the end, felt it was the best for him and for our new baby to have him vaccinated. I only thought it was difficult to see your baby get shots (as in when they are tiny.) It is much more difficult to see your 3.5 year old who knows what is going on and can anticipate/worry about how much it is going to hurt. GLAD to be done with THAT!!
-I guess I didn't talk about Ira much in this post. He is doing well. He definitely has his days (as we all do) where he is kind of difficult to deal with (we had one such day on Tuesday - UGH!) but I think part of it is my patience is not near what it was before I got pregnant, and partly because he is 3, and that's just what you can expect when you have a 3 year old. So this Advent season, I am praying to be a better and more patient momma - what a perfect season to practice patience!

That's about it I guess! A blessed Advent to you and yours!

Every Season

Well, we've lived in this house for all of the 4 seasons now, and quite honestly I can't tell you which one is my favorite. Each season brings a new opportunity for me to wonder at the splendor of God's creation. What a gift He has given us!! This year, with being pregnant, the seasons (as well as the seasons of the church year) just seem so relevant. The seasons of my life this year just seem to mirror nature so well. In fall, nature gives everything without regard for itself, knowing that it is best for what is to come. In winter, nature sustains life inside while appearing unchanged from the exterior. And in the spring, all of nature bursts forth in new life and new growth. It sounds just vaguely familiar...

I'm also looking forward to going through the end of my pregnancy during Lent. I think it will be an incredible time of anticipation and sacrifice. Boy, will Easter seem triumphant!!

I took this picture out my kitchen window today and just had to share. Don't I have a beautiful view? And oh the colors!!! Okay, so the picture hardly does it justice, but you get the idea.


Also, along these lines, I wanted to share a video of a song that I love that talks about these exact sentiments. It's called "Every Season" by Nichole Nordeman. Just click the name to watch the video.

God bless you in all the seasons of your life!

Rainy Days

"On rainy days we stay indoors

We have a lot of fun

But there is so much work to do when rainy days are done."

(verse taken from Richard Scary's "Just for Fun.")

Story Hour

Today, Ira got to go to Story Hour for the first time! The little town just down the road from us has Story Hour every Thursday morning, and although I've been wanting to take Ira, I haven't felt the best. This week though has been so much better though, (SO much less nauseous and gaggy!) so I thought we'd give Story Hour a go!

What an incredible little program! There were probably 10 kids there, ranging from 17 months to 5 years in age. The kids got to: make block patterns, act out numbers, practice writing their names, glue leaves in a number book, have Show and Tell, play with balls in the gym, and eat a snack! (They ran out of time for the story!) Parents are welcome/encouraged to stay and participate with their kids. Let me tell you, as a teacher and a mom I was IMPRESSED! I think it's just what we've been looking for for Ira.

For one reason or another, the thought of Preschool just doesn't excite me much. I think Ira gets plenty of "schooling" at home and has numerous opportunities throughout the week to interact with other kids. I also think that 5 is plenty young to begin a regularly scheduled schooling experience. Now, that's not to say I will never send a kid to preschool (as a mom I've learned to never say never because more often than not I end up eating my words.) I just think that for now, in our current situation, there is no reason to send Ira to preschool.

This Story Hour is great though, because it gives Ira ALL these opportunities to learn things like: listening to the teacher, sharing with other kids, waiting your turn to talk, using "glude sticks", practicing writing, standing in line, sitting at a table working on an activity for a specified amount of time, etc... It's just the right amount of structure for him, and it's just one day a week for an hour and a half. (I like it too b/c it's low commitment - "come when you can" is their philosophy - which works well since I have "Together" every 2nd and 4th Thursdays.) And it sounds like they do a couple of field trips each year as well!

As you can tell, I'm pretty excited about this. I've been wanting something for Ira to do during the week that gives him a little bit of structure and a little bit of practice for school and I think this fits the bill perfectly. We're pretty unstructured as far as activities go at our house, we just kind of do whatever, whenever. If it's nice outside, sometimes we go outside, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we spend the entire day playing trains, sometimes we spend the entire day doing a million different things and at the end of the day the house is a TOTAL loss. So as I said, I think this is going to be a great thing.

Lastly, here's a couple of pictures of Ira before going to Story Hour. I can't believe how big my little boy has gotten!

Catching up!

So it's been 2 weeks. Sorry - I was doing good for awhile, then the thought of loading State Fair pictures on here overwhelmed me. I'm not really sure why, beings there's only a few pictures, but whatever. I think I'll stop "previewing" my next blog at the end of my blogs. There's just less pressure that way. Now that we're clear on that, I'm stealing the idea from a friend to update you through pictures that I've taken since my last blog.

So technically this was before the last blog, but whatever, it's from September 8th - right after I started using the new needles. I'm 13w2d in this pic.

Ira with the Verizon car at the state fair.

The thrill of the century for Ira. He got to ride on the train at the fair! He'll probably still be talking about it next year!

The other really cool thing that Ira got to do at the fair. The bungee-trampoliney-bouncy thing. He really liked that too!

Our "before" front lawn picture. It actually doesn't look that bad in the picture, but it's Bermuda grass (really it's mainly weeds) and it won't grow in the shade (which our yard has a lot of) So we were planning on re-seeding it with Fescue at some point. Well, at the new building that Andy is starting, they were going to have to dig through a bunch of Fescue for the building pad, so Andy, being the resourceful guy that he is, checked with his boss to see if it was okay for us to take the Fescue out as sod instead. He said it was fine, so Andy rented a sod-cutter and spent the better part of a weekend with his dad cutting and installing sod.

Here's the new grass. It covered a good 1800 sq ft. probably. And the best part was - it was free! Because of the cost of sod usually, we will definitely be seeding the rest of the lawn, but this gave us a good start!

I'm not really sure what it is about my sister and I that makes us such laundry detergent freaks, but it seems like we are both constantly trying out new detergents. As we've both said before, our laundry cabinets look like the detergent aisle at the store. So my latest experiment was with "Cheer Bright Clean" I tell you what, I'm impressed! The sock on the left was washed in it. The sock on the right was washed in "Arm & Hammer" powder with Borax added as a booster. I can't believe how well the cheer worked. I've started using it on all our stuff now. I think it's less harsh than the "Arm & Hammer" but still gets stuff really clean and gets the stinkies out too.

My parents ran a half-marathon on Sunday the 20th. I can't tell you how proud I am of both of them. I only run when I'm being chased.

Ira and I made Play-Doh people the other day. They didn't last very long because he tried to actually play with them.

Andy and Ira (and our neighbor) rode the Dune Buggy in the Fall Fest parade on Saturday. From Andy's telling, apparently Ira said "Dad, I don't want to ride in the parade" just about the entire time. He didn't mind so much after it was over and he realized that Mom and Grandma and Grandpa had caught a whole bunch of candy for him.

My stomach today (at 16w 1d). The new needles are SO much better. I don't know what happened with that bruise on the right - I think I must've hit scar tissue or something. It takes a LONG time for the bruises to heal (as you can see by the ones in the middle that are like 2 months old), but I've been told that they do eventually heal all the way and you're left with no sign of doing the shots. We'll see, I guess!

Kinda sorta starting to show. I never got very big with Ira, but I'm hoping I'll show more this time. I love how pregnant women look!

Great news and Old Professional Pics

First off, since I last posted, we got some great news! My heparin shots/syringes had been costing us around $170 a month. Ouch! (Talk about your pricey baby! J/K) For some reason, insurance wasn't covering a penny of it. Last time Andy picked the shots up, he asked the Pharmacist why they weren't covered by insurance. The pharmacist said that his guess was that since they aren't usually used for a long-term treatment, that insurance wouldn't pay for them without a letter from the doctor. Fortunately, we had an appointment with Dr. Ferris the next day, so we explained the situation to him and he said he'd see what he could do.

Well, last Thursday, the phone rang, caller ID said it was "US Bioservices." Now, lately we've been getting telemarketing phone calls (despite being on the "do not call" list), so I will say I was less-than-Christian when I answered the phone. A terse, "Hello?" was all US Bioservices was going to get from me. A lady named Christina begins talking, and I begin half listening until she says the words "heparin prescription" and "Holy Family Medical Associates." My ears perked up and I tried to replay what she'd just said (rather unsuccessfully since I'd really only been half listening.) So I told her I was confused and that she'd have to repeat herself.

Long story short, Heparin, because it is and injection medicine, is covered by our major medical insurance, NOT our prescription benefit. Because of the labs/procedures we've had done this year, I've already met my deductible, so the Heparin will be covered by our 20% portion of our coinsurance. Now, I'll get my prescription mailed to me all for the low price of get this, $22.89 a month!!!!! Huzzah!!! So yes, I am totally thrilled. This baby may be affordable after all!

I tried calling PHS to see if they would reimburse us for the 3 months that we've paid totally out of pocket. Usually, I am very impressed by PHS's customer service, but the lady I talked to acted like we should have known it was filed under major medical (despite the fact that US Bioservices is mentioned NOWHERE in our Declaration of Benefits.) I guess Andy and I both thought that because it was a medicine, it would be filled at a pharmacy and paid for with prescription benefits. So, we learned a sort-of expensive lesson that I'm just glad we figured out now instead of never.

Onward and upward to some cute pictures of Ira as promised in my last post. These were all taken at Portrait Innovations.

3 Month Pictures

We always thought it would be funny to Photoshop a martini glass in his right hand and a cigar in his left hand.

My cutie pie! (The tux was for Monica's wedding)

We have this one in black and white in our bedroom.

This was everyone that we gave pictures to's favorite. Unfortunately, it was the one we had the least prints of!


6 Month PicturesOur little family

Look at those handsome boys!

I don't know why, but I think he looks like a character from "The Little Rascals" here.


9 Month Pictures
By this point, Ira had figured out crawling which made catching him for a picture DIFFICULT!

With his Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa.

We didn't order this one, but I just thought it was funny! Only new parents would think that a big prop teddy bear in the background would be a good idea! :-)


1 Year Pictures
Big boy!

I absolutely adore this picture.

Such a sweetie pie.

Okay, I may be partial, but I'm pretty sure he could be in a Johnson & Johnson commercial with this one! We have this in Sepia in our Bathroom.


18 Month Pictures
This is probably one of my most favorite pictures of him. I love his curls!

Thank you consignment sales for this outfit.

We have this one framed for Ira's room.

Okay, that's enough for today, I'm sick of dragging pictures all over the place (my one thing I don't like about Blogspot.) Have a great day! Up next: State Fair!