Snow Day Blessing

So for the last two days, the state of OK has been in a State of Emergency due to ice and snow storms. This time, it did end up pretty serious, however we didn't lose power at my house like I was sure we would. Thursday I spent the whole day pretty stressed and tense worrying that we'd lose power, with lots of ice and sleet coming down. Yesterday the ice had moved on and it snowed for over 12 hours. It was beautiful and it ended up being a delightful snow day.

It helped that we had friends here to play with, too!

In any case, as Colt is napping this morning and we're preparing to venture out to reduce cabin fever, I am just SO thankful. Because I realize what a blessing these last two days have been for me and for Colt. With my office being closed (though still working from home) and not venturing out to daycare for Colt, we spent the days together. Playing, singing, LOTS of laughing, exploring, talking, eating, and even some snuggling (he's much too busy to snuggle these days). I realized today I won't have days like this anymore in a few weeks.

Next time we're stuck in a snow storm I'll have two little boys to share my attention. And while it's going to be a blast, I'm also so grateful that I had this time with Colt. Right before Owen is born, we had two days of playing with nowhere to go, nothing to do, and my attention all on him...just being mom and son. What a blessing it's been and what fun I've had. I'm so blessed to have this amazing little boy to raise. I'm lucky to have him call me Mama.

So thank you, God, for giving me these two days. Thank you for helping me to realize how special this time is as Colt's time as an only child comes to and end. Thank you for keeping our power on so we could spend our time playing and not trying to stay warm. Thank you for Colt.

I can't write anymore, I'm crying too hard. I'm one emotional, 9-months-pregnant Mommy!

Stream of Consciousness

Stole this blog idea from MckMama....

Loved my weekend. Spent all day Saturday with Colt so John could work on Owen's room. We had breakfast with friends. Lunch with Mom and sister. Finally took 1-year photos before he outgrew his birthday outfit. Target portrait studio ROCKS. Had dinner with new friends. Awesome queso. Watching "The Pregnancy Pact" on Lifetime. Thankful I have sons not daughters, but already thinking about life with teenagers. Worst part of pregnancy so far...I'm hot ALL THE TIME. It feels like 110 degrees in this house. Thankful the house has been getting picked up lately since we have a playroom. But my master bedroom is closing in on me. Everything is dumped here to "get organized".

Had book club today. Didn't read the book, but heard it was all about extramarital affairs and not very good. Glad I didn't waste any money on the book. Wish I could get the drive to go to the library. But if I did, my books would always be late. Like movies. How is Blockbuster still in business? I've never been to Redbox, too afraid I'll never return the movie. I don't even really watch movies anymore. There's always HGTV.

Wrapped up a 4-month project at work that ended up not going as I planned. I still don't think it's hit me. Only have a few weeks left before maternity leave. Weeks. Haven't filled out my leave paperwork yet. Thankful John and I have already saved to cover the insurance deductible!

Insurance makes me sleepy. It's past my bedtime! With Colt going to sleep by 7:30 I'm now used to heading to bed before 9:00. Trying to enjoy it before Owen comes. I REALLY hope he sleeps like Colt slept. I know lightning doesn't strike twice though. Maybe we'll get lucky?

Watching a commercial about prescription for longer eyelashes. Seriously? Who would talk to their doctor about short eyelashes?

Going to bed.

Getting ready

Well, it's been a crazy few weeks around here. Specifically this last week.

First of all, check out my little man getting ready for church. Doesn't he look handsome? Don't you love pictures in my messy bedroom, on our messy unmade bed?! But he looked so handsome that day I had to take photos. A few hours later he promptly threw up all over the outfit but...hey, at least it's recorded for history.

Anyway, we had a strange bout of sickness for Colt at the beginning of the year. I think he started the stomach virus that is going around. Through all that we found out he had an ear infection (YES, less than a month after getting tubes) and the antibiotic made him even sicker. But as soon as we took him off that and dairy he was back to normal.

Then, I started to develop a headache, which turned into a lingering headache (not migraine) which prompted my body to respond in other such ways that I ended up going to the hospital to have my blood pressure checked. Blood pressure was fine, but they noticed I was having pretty strong contractions every 2 minutes. Now, I couldn't feel them but they ended up checking me to make sure and I was not dilated at all. Went home with a pain med for the headache.

Two days later, I'd been at work all day and came home where my sister was watching Colt while John was at a business dinner. Everything was fine, Colt was playing, Julia and I were eating, and then we were getting him ready for bed. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I started having severe pains in my lower abdomen. They grew progressively worse and spread through my entire abdomen. After a few minutes I was on all fours, unable to stand, sit, or walk and crying out in pain. My poor sister...she was terrified and trying to wrangle Colt. She called my mom and John and I ended up BACK in the hospital (on my doctor's orders).

Most intense, terrifying pain I've ever experienced (well, it was on-par with the worst migraine I've ever had) but I could hardly move. To have the nurse even hook me up to the monitors was painful. What was happening is that my uterus was in one strong, constant contraction. It was as hard as a rock and not letting up for HOURS. The monitor was not showing strong contractions, because I was in ONE the whole time!

Eventually, they determined I was dehydrated. They gave me a shot of muscle relaxer to stop the contraction. Which helped some, but still left intense muscle pain. So I got a shot of Demerol (wow!) and sent home. The next morning came and I was STILL unable to walk without assistance, let alone get in and out of bed. Luckily I had a doctor appointment that day. He was pretty much unconcerned and called it severe round ligament pain. Gave me muscle relaxers and orders to stay in bed and rest. A few days later I did feel 100% better.

ALL of that to tell you the next part. We have been really dragging our feet about getting ready for Owen's arrival. We've been busy, we've been enjoying Colt, we've been getting through the holidays, we've been living in denial. But two trips to the hospital to see contractions gave us both quite a wake-up call.

I know it sounds crazy, but I've had such a hard time accepting and getting excited about this pregnancy. I'm not ungrateful, just haven't been quite so accepting of God's plans this time around. But now...well, now I'm getting excited not just because Colt is going to have a little brother to grow up with, but because we're going to have another son. I'm getting excited for OWEN because he's Owen and he's joining our family. And that's a pretty big step.

I'm still very protective of Colt, especially because he's too young to prepare for this life-changing event. I'm cherishing the alone time we have as a family, the ease in which our routine flows right now. But slowly and surely, I'm beginning to get excited for Owen to join us and mess us all up. Those same things I thought about Colt (what will you look like? what will your attitude be like? who will you become? will you sleep? will you love adventure? will you be a cuddler?) I'm now wondering about Owen.

I'm sad that it's taken me so long to get to this point, but really glad that I'm able to see what a blessing it is to be excited by God's plan and for our second son.

It has sprung us into action, we are done with the playroom and have only the nursery left to put together. A small shower is being planned for me. And I'm starting to wrap up projects at work and think about maternity leave.

We're having another baby!

Me, too, Buddy

Forgot to post my favorite picture from Christmas morning after all the presents had been opened. I hate seeing the presents end, too!

Better late than never!

It's not even been a month since Christmas, so I can still post photos! Finally found the camera cord and had a moment to post. Pretty self-explanatory. Between the blizzard, Christmas at both grandparent's houses, more visits with great-grandparents and Aunt Lind, and then finally Santa's visit to our house 5 days after Christmas...Colt was overwhelmed with toys. He has enjoyed them, actually! I wondered if he could ever play with SO many. We've saved a few still in boxes for a little later, but so far he's having a blast with his new toys.

He was sad to see Christmas end and family leave, but he's since recovered and is busy trying to walk and find the vacuum cleaner every day. So...Merry 2009 to us!

Also, no New Year's Eve pics this year. Our usual plans went awry, so Colt and I stayed at home, one of us going to bed at 7:30, the other at 9:00. Paaaaaarty!

For the Great-Grandparents! Thanks for the Cookies!

This is for Colt's Great-Grandma!
Thanks for the cookies!

I'm alive, still pregnant, and chasing after a toddler

Ai yi yi...what a post to leave hanging here for over a week! I'm much better than I was in that last post. In fact, I was much better by Monday and so ready for the Christmas decorations to be put away! I was ready to have my house back. We finally got around to that this past Saturday.

The last week has been fairly uneventful. I continued to do minimal work and try to enjoy "vacation" as best I could. No more days off until Owen arrives! I did some cleaning, minimal nesting, and LOTS of nagging John to get the playroom and nursery started/completed. I will be 33 weeks pregnant this week. The fact that we have not registered, taken inventory of what we have in the house or what we need, not even started on the nursery, and pretty much continued in our blatant denial that another person will be living at our house anytime in the next 7 weeks is starting to get very scary to me. We now officially have less time to get ready for Owen than we did for Colt.

JOHN - PLEASE GET OUR HOUSE READY!

Ok!

The rest of the week we spent together and had lots of Colt time. It was fabulous! And even though a strong antibiotic for an ear infection (in an ear that he has tubes less than one month old!) caused some vomiting and gross diapers over the weekend, he remained in a great mood and we had tons of fun. In our own house, even! I guess I'm gearing up for never being able to leave the house once we have TWO kids.

Unfortunately Colt and I had to miss our annual New Year's Eve party at his friend, Anna's house. She got pretty sick and he was just getting over a cold. But I think we all know that neither of us would have made it to midnight. Or 9:00 for that matter. Colt went to bed on NYE at 7:30, I crashed at 9:00. John did go to the party but he was awfully tired the next day!

So...that's what's going on here! I've seen a lot of interesting posts going on in blogland, especially the ado.ption blogs I follow. I want to comment on some of these things but I'm having a hard time finding the right words and also wanting to remain low key without going private. But know that I'm following you all and thinking about the various issues our little blog community is facing.

New Year's Resolutions:
- Finish Colt's baby book before Owen arrives
- Finish our house projects before Owen arrives
- Try to enjoy the last few weeks of pregnancy (weeks...not months, we don't have months, we have weeks!)
- Figure out how to sanely be a mom to two little boys

I don't think I can take too much else on for this year! Great thing about being 8 months pregnant on New Year's Day? I don't have to resolve to diet or work out!

Pictures coming soon, I promise.