Christmas

So this year didn't exactly go according to plan when it comes to Christmas, but that's life I suppose. I didn't mail out any Christmas cards, or call people, or take Christmas pictures. I feel awful. We did manage to give Caden one more kick ass Christmas before he will learn to have to share every little part of his life with his new baby brother. I'm glad we at least did that much.

I think that picture above is one of like 3 or 4 family pictures that we have. In the past four years that we have been a family, that's all we've taken. I feel horrible for that. We have pictures of me with Caden, and pictures of Steven with Caden, but not many of all of us together. No sense in dwelling on it though, all I can do is make sure that we change that.

I'm so excited to start this new chapter of our life. We have waited such a long time to add to our family and in less than two weeks Carter will be here. It's crazy to think that we'll have a newborn again. I keep saying that the only downside to have waited 4 years for another baby is that we are so out of all the baby stages and we have been for a while. No diapers, no wipes, no baby food, no potty training, no stroller...etc. We actually get to sleep at night! Some mornings I wake up and I wonder what the heck I was thinking having another baby, but of course I know Carter will be very much worth every minute of sleep that I lose.

At my appointment last week my doctor said she thinks maybe one more week...well that week is almost up and I have a feeling I'll make it to my next appointment on Wednesday. There are signs he could be on his way and ever since finding out I was pregnant I've wanted to have him on the 29th but that is tomorrow and I don't see that happening. We shall see!

Caden has been at his new school for two weeks now and he loves it and we love it. The people there are so friendly and I can already see the huge difference in Caden when he comes home from there, as opposed to the other places. It's awesome.

I plan to make another entry before the New Year, but seeing as I may be having a baby at that time, or may have already had him by then, I can't make any promises.

I've uploaded pictures to the picture page from Christmas and Gingy 08'.

We love you all and miss you very much and we can't wait to make that call and let you know that baby Carter is on his way.

XO,
Lynnette {37w6d}

Tis the season...

{36 Week Belly a.k.a. 9 MONTHS!!! ------->}

Two things to start off...

One...I'm quite upset that I have not once heard one of my all time favorite Christmas songs NOT ONCE on the radio yet, so I added it to the page and now I can hear it whenever. Enjoy!

Two...It snowed today! Snow & 34* weather...now that's how you cheer up a grumpy pregnant woman!

Now back to our regularly scheduled update...

We have offficially reached our 9 month mark! Just 4 more tiny weeks until we add this very much anticipated little guy to our family. I very much feel like he will be making his appearance in December and I'm hoping for that as well, but you never know! His big brother came out 3 days late and he probably would have stayed longer had I not been induced. It's exciting and scary all at the same time.

Thank God I have a patient husband. I've been so crazy lately and he just stands there right by my side :) I love him. Always.

I have appointments now every Wednesday until Carter comes. We will be able to find out soon if he's on his way or not. I'm hoping so! It's getting very, very uncomfortable to walk and even sit. I can't imagine another 4 full weeks of this! I'd definitely go nuts. I will keep everyone updated of course!

Caden started school again finally! Our plan was to put him back into the new school once we got back from the baby shower but between him and I we have been pretty darn sick. He is still on medication but doing much, much better and we wanted him to get used to the school before the baby comes since he'll be going more days once that happens. He said he likes it a lot and that his teacher doesn't yell. Gee, that's nice...makes me have a lot of questions for the last place he was at...

Gingy 08' is this weekend! I'm looking forward to it more than anyone will know. A weekend of snow and friends and family and ginger bread house making...how could one complain? It would be most grand if Carter decided to make his enterance into the world while we had some friends and family out here. I'd really love that!

We miss you all so much. The holidays are a real reminder of how we are not with you all but we pray every day that this is the last Christmas we will spend in Las Vegas...

XO,
Lynnette {36w 9 Months!!!}

Thankful

{Thanksgiving Belly! 33w3d}

Thanksgiving is coming to an end. Nice, long day. Did the usual...hung around the house and ate...played outside a little...played a little Wii....and that was that. It was a nice day. Caden is in our room playing and Steven had to go to work (though I did just get a text saying he can be off at 10), but still, I am bummed. He works almost every holiday. No fun. I'm glad that this day has more meaning, aside from just eating turkey. I hope everyone took a little time to remember that today.

I had a check up on the 25th. Everything is still looking good with the baby. I gained another pound, putting me right at 10lbs. If I gain a pound a week from here on out, I will have gained 17lbs, which is exactly what I lost before getting pregnant. Not too bad. Carter is seriously sucking up all my energy. I really do not feel like I will make it til January 12th. I will be full term in just 3 1/2 weeks....maybe he will decide to come out then? Though...I am so not ready for that either, lol.

I have another appointment on December 9th, when I will be 35 weeks. From then on it will be weekly so I'll have another one on the 17th. It's coming to an end so quickly! We are so excited. We have picked up a few more items for the baby like a changing table and glider and ottoman. We got them both off Craigslist for a total of $70. Makes me happy :) All that is left is a few odds and ends, the stroller/carseat and hopefully a swing. Almost done! I also started to pack my bag for the hospital and get his diaper bag together. It's all becoming so real!

We took our hospital tour on the 22nd. Found out Caden can be in the room when we deliver, not sure if we will have him in there or not. I'm not really thrilled that he can't stay the night with us after having the baby. I understand it's policy but I feel like it just kind of makes the situation worse. Like oh your brother is here and you have to leave now. Of course we will explain it better than that, but it still breaks my heart.

This post was supposed to be about more, but sitting the way I am just isn't working....and I feel like I'm about to pass out. Darn little baby :) For now I will leave you with a video of Carter moving around. Don't watch it if it weirds you out to see a human dancing inside another one....



XO,
Lynnette {33w3d}

Mommy's little fighter...

The last time I posted was the day before Caden's appointment. That night at dinner I noticed that he was starting to get green booger junk running out of his eyes. More came as the night went on. At about midnight he woke up telling me his ear hurt. After about an hour I decided to give him some medicine so he could get back to sleep. (I was trying to hold off on the medicine in case the doctor was going to prescribe something, I didn't want anything in his system but I couldn't take his little cries anymore) So he went back to sleep. In the morning his cough had gotten worse and so had the green stuff. His eyes were extremely puffy and red and all running down his cheeks were as well. He looked miserable. Of course our appointment wasn't until later in the afternoon so I did my best to keep his eyes wiped and keep him feeling as best as I could.

We got to his appointment, filled out all the new paperwork for the insurance company (yay?) and were called back right at 3:45. The nurse jammed the temperature thing in his ear (insert bad word here) and weighed him and then we were taken back to Room 4. We get room 4 every time, it's quite entertaining. We waited another 30 minutes and listened to Caden ask questions (the same questions...) that he does every time we are in the room. Questions about the decals on the walls. He then decided to play the "lets repeat everything mommy and nana say" game. It was so annoying, yet so hard to not laugh at the same time. I was just happy that he felt well enough to be joking around.

In comes his awesome doctor. Asks me what is going on with Caden and I explain. He sits down next to Caden and looks in his ear that is hurting. Very infected. Looks in the other one, nothing bad. He told us that if he had an intern walking around, he'd grab them and say "Look at this, this is a very severe ear infection." No good. He let me look into his ears and it was very visible the difference between the two. Checks over the rest of him. Feels his cheeks, not good either.

The breakdown we got: Bronchitis, a severe ear infection and severely blocked sinuses. Geez Caden. I know you don't get sick too often, but you sure do save it all up and hit us at once! He's concerned about his eyes the most because it's hardening underneath. He says that if the medication he is given does not help, it could result in surgery to drain them. (Insert mommy breaking into tears here...) Hey now, give me a break, I'm already emotional enough as it is! He can't just get a common cold...he has to go all out every time and scare the crap out of us. Special little child!

Medication: Steroids, eye drops and an antibiotic...and 2 shots. He screamed bloody murder about the shots. I was going to have them just bring them in and do it but I can't lie to my kid so I gave him a warning. After she came in the room, he went off. I'm sure he probably scared a few kids that might have been in the same office building. I cried again. I'm such a baby. He didn't want those shots and I didn't want to have to have them given either. Poor little guy.

He's doing much better now. The steroids we stopped yesterday, the eye drops we get to stop tomorrow and the antibiotic he will be on until Sunday. We have a follow up appointment on Thursday so I will post again then!

In baby news! Yesterday we hit the 8 month mark. Only 8 weeks until Carter's due date. 5 more weeks until I am full term. It's happening so quickly!

Please keep Caden in your prayers. He's a tough little cookie. I guess the meaning of his name really does apply to him! "Spirit of battle" or "fighter"...oh geez....and Carter means "driver of a cart"....? Sorry little one.

XO,
Lynnette {32w1d}

Blessings

{31 Week Belly -------->}

Today we had another check up! After almost an hour of waiting I was finally seen. The doctor was running behind, but that's okay I suppose, since I was late getting there as well. Blood pressure good, weight...good! (I for sure thought I'd see an increase by at least 5 pounds since the baby shower was the weekend, but no! Only 2!) Carter is back to measuring right on track at 31 and his heartrate was 145BPM. Nice healthy boy.

{My stomach keeps hitting the keyboard tray and making it go back under the desk, lol}

She recommended that I get a flu shot since I have Caden running around here sick and she also said that it helps prevent the baby from getting the flu within the first six months, since he is due in Winter and right in the middle of flu season. Caden was happy to hold my hand and watch since it wasn't him who had to get it. Appointments are every two weeks now! Getting close!

Caden has his appointment tomorrow. He's had a nasty cough for almost 2 weeks now. I was giving him medicine but it wasn't going away so I stopped. Hopefully tomorrow his doctor can figure out what the problem is. It scares the crap out of me that he'll need to take medicine and get that awful rash again. It was almost exactly 2 years ago to the day. Boo.

Our baby shower was this past weekend! Thank you to everyone who came to spend time with us and thank you for the gifts. It was such a nice break from all the stuff we have been going through...so nice to feel at home. It was very relaxing! {Especially the part before when Jaime and I snuck away for pedicures!}

{If you know anyone who works in computers, let us know if they need someone! Steven will be starting his job hunt soon! Of course we can't move until after Carter is born, but we CAN start looking!}

Went to Church while we were down there. It was nice to look around and see all the Chargers jerseys...not so nice to hear them talk politics, but, it ended up being a good sermon. Hit the nail right on the head!

Steven has been doing well with the new schedule. He's actually been making more tips than he ever would normally on those days. He's about to be off for a whole week from TI because of the way his schedule is so Caden and I are looking forward to that.

Other than that, we are just preparing for our little guy's arrival and I have started to plan Gingy 08'! I can't wait to have everyone come up here next month. It's so close to Christmas that it will be like celebrating a little early.

We miss you all terribly and it sucks to be back in Vegas, but hopefully it's not for too much longer.

XO,

Lynnette {31w2d}

Life Lately

Yesterday was our 6 year anniversary. Steven worked all day, I cleaned and cooked and we went out when he got home. We went to the drive in and saw Max Payne. Too tired to stay for the second movie, plus it was a lame one, so we came home. That was pretty much it. Not an exciting day...but at least we got to spend some time together, without the Monster Man.

Caden did start preschool. We do not like this preschool, so the week after we get back from San Diego, he will be starting a new one. I got a little tired of his teacher not being there when I dropped him off or picked him up. I'd have to take him to another class in the morning because she came in a little after 8, even though she was supposed to start at 8. Then when I picked him up at 11, she was on her lunch. I also didn't like the fact that the teacher in the other classroom we took him to was always yelling. You could hear her in the hallway, and the other day when I went to pick him up, she was on her cell phone talking. He also didn't do much work in the class, mostly play. The last two days though his teacher has been there and he has brought home and showed me work, but too late, I already put our notice in. I suppose it's my own fault for not having done more research on the place and looked into it better. It seemed like a good school and with it being close I was excited to get him started somewhere. So we basically wasted $75 on the registration but at least he was occupied for the past two weeks. I'm so excited to start him at the new school.

I went on Monday to take the tour and get all the information. Such a breath of fresh air. The kids were actually sitting down at the table with the teacher doing work. The lady giving me the tour filled in for her while she answered my questions and showed me around the classroom. She let me know everything about what they are working on and what programs they go through and it was just such a better feeling. I shouldn't have ever put him in that other school. A lesson learned though.

He will start at the new school on the 17th of November. At this place he will go three days a week, for five hours each of those days. We might put him in for four, still undecided. Then again, once Carter is born we will have him go for five days, not sure on the hours yet.

I will be sure to get more pictures this time. When Caden started at the other school he was so excited he pretty much ran away from us and I got one picture of him.

We had to switch insurance companies due to some crap with Steven's job at Treasure Island. It's not exactly the most fun thing to do when you are 7 1/2 months pregnant but we are just trying to see the positive in it all and I think we are doing a pretty good job of that.

Tonight we head down to San Diego for the weekend. The baby shower is on Saturday and I am so excited. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going. I can't wait to meet this little guy and watch how amazing Caden is as a big brother.

I will update again next week after my appointment with pictures from the shower and a new belly picture! We hope everyone is doing well. We miss everyone so much but most of you we will see this weekend! Yay!

XO,

Lynnette {30w3d}

Pumpkin Patch

On Thursday night we wanted to take Caden over to the Pumpkin Patch. They did not have the one that we usually go to every year but we found one by our old apartment that looked fun. On the way over there we saw one that looked similar so we decided to go there instead. Mistake.

It was like a ghost town...something you'd see in a cheesy "Goosebumps" children's movie. There were like 2 other people there, it just gave me the creeps. So we took a picture and told Caden we'd take him to another one on Saturday.

Yesterday (Friday) Steven realized that he had to work a tournament all day so we wouldn't be able to go but we decided it was best to not keep pushing it back and I took Caden instead. First we went over to the mall to eat and then we met up with Nana and Joe at the Pumpkin Patch across the street. SO.MUCH.BETTER.

We did a walk through to see what Caden could and wanted to ride on and then we went over and bought our tickets. We started first with the petting zoo. Oh joy? Mommy of course wasn't thrilled because there were 3 ducks and a few chickens...and seriously...why? Have you ever met a chicken that wanted to be pet? Fed maybe, but not pet. Same with the ducks. I sucked it up though and was brave for Caden (though I was watching my back for those damn birds!)

The petting "zoo" was followed by a pony ride, a swing ride, two turns down the big pumpkin slide, a duck game and then he rode on a firetruck...type thing. Took a few pictures and headed home. The pictures can be found on the family picture page. The link is to the right. Enjoy!