pregnancy joys

I was going to try and update this monthly on the pregnancy...obviously that didn't happen:) amazing how busy life can be sometimes. With only two months to go ~here is a low down of whats been going on!

Month one...Gallbladder attack (didn't know I had gallstones!), inflammed gallbladder and hospitalized for 3 days on IV antibiotics. They didn't want to do surgery because of the miscarriage risk, so that will have to be done after delivery at some point. I will never touch ramen noodles again in my life! 0# weight gain
Month two...nothing but nauseous and exhausted. 1# weight gain
Month three...way too much like month two. Can't wait for the magical 14 weeks when all this is supposed to subside. 1# weight gain
Month four...wait, I think I feel normal?! Could the worst be over? High BP has already showed its face and the dreaded bedrest word has already been mentioned as a possibility if it doesn't go down. 2# weight gain
We had a Gender Reveal Party early December and let C open and tell us if he was getting a brother or sister, rather then a stranger ultrasound tech. Such a fun memory to have. ITS A...

Month five...I am still pregnant right? Cause I have energy again, getting stuff done, and don't feel like I wanna sleep all day everyday. Non-stop heartburn is now in full force though. Sure have a active baby though and my doctor already called her a "fiesty one" lol where would she get that from?!:) everytime he tries to get a heartbeat she kicks his doppler :) BP was only high one of the two appt's. We officially picked a name for this baby girl too! 2# weight gain
Month six...still have energy! Baby's room has been gutted, new carpet, new trim, new doors, new paint. crib is up, decor is almost all up and she can move in anytime ;) big month in the weight dept...5# gain (eeekkk!)

 

 

Month seven...oh yes, thats the feeling I remember. tired, exhausted, how much longer til I can go to bed thoughts all day long. I got all of her newborn and 0-3 month clothes washed and put away ~she has WAY TOO MANY!! Definetly more 0-3 month clothes then she will ever be able to wear. As fun as it is to buy the little itty bitty outfits, I am going to have to focus on colder months and get 6-9 months from now on. 

Getting uncomfortable, carring this little chica very low, which is making it seem like I have less clothes then I really do. Nothing seems long enough ~thank god for the maternity tanks for under everything! Every time I stand up or switch sides in bed I get extremely low pressure/pain. She has been flipping from head down to sideways, and the head down days are very rough! Having a job where I am up and down aprox 50 times a day, has not been plesant to say the least. My favorite part of this month, we had a 4D ultrasound done in Bloomington. It was amazing! I can't believe how much we could tell what she looked like, who's features she has, see her yawn, suck her thumb. She has DD's lip and nose for sure ~we're hoping she gets my eyes:)  It was all so cool. She was just over 3# and about 17 inches long. We have tons of pictures and the whole hour long ultrasound on DVD. My least favorite part of this month...gestational diabetes test! Epic FAIL...so for the next 8 weeks I get to poke my finger 4x a day, count carbs, eliminate candy and regular soda, no longer get to enjoy the "I can have extra cause I am pregnant snacks". Not enjoying it so far, however I started the month with a 2# weight gain the first week and ended the last week with a 3# loss. 10# total:) can't complain!

Can't wait to meet this little girl ~seeing her on this ultrasound sure looks like she is "done cooking" which is making it even harder to get through these last weeks. Starting month 8 today, and went to a .6 (three days per week) at work until my leave starts. The combination of the pressure/pain, BP issues, and having to work 6 out of 7 days every other week wasn't going well. This will make my last 6 weeks of work much more doable and hopefully I am able to avoid bedrest all together because of it. I submitted my LOA paperwork this week, which was super fun to put a in a 5 month leave! I will be able to be at home with both kiddos all summer, eliminate daycare bills and hopefully enjoy lots of time outside. Thanks to DD finally branching out on his own, and starting his own DJ company is made it all possible. Only leaving a few weekends open in that 5 months, we booked our first family of four trip to AZ for August! Hopefully by 4 months old this little diva will be able to be in the little kid pool with us and watch her brother play:) We have some cute little swimsuits I cannot wait to put her in!

Until next time...xo

Baby #2...month two

Well, the symptoms are in full effect now. I don't recall being this exhausted all the time pregnant with C! Its horrible, I need a nap everyday to feel like I can fully function. On the plus side, as long as I remember to eat something when I wake up it seems to control the nausea most of the day. I read a list of about 10 things "you may be feeling" at this point...bahahahaha I had 8 of the 10. Good times.
We have bought some baby items already, gotta pick up some cute stuff when it comes along.:) I've also thrown in some diapers and wipes to keep it practical of couse.
The first doctor appointment went well. The 7 tubes of blood being taken, I could of done without that part. I had a nice little chat with my doctor -who is awesome by the way- about my twins concern, and got a ultrasound scheduled for Oct 6th. He also confirmed the May 3rd due date. We also talked about my blood pressure issues with C and he said he will be inducing me at 38 weeks again. I am on BP meds now, so maybe it won't be as big of a issue. Hopefully, bedrest is not on the menu again! It would be super cool to have the baby born on April 25th though, that was C's due date.
My mom has been shopping all the summer baby clearance for next summer. Why not buy both genders when they are $1!? Crazy JCP deals!
So gut feeling so far since this pregnancy is already much different then C ~I am guessing girl at this point. We'll see :)

Baby #2 ...the first month

The baby talk has been going on in our house for about a year now. Obviously, if we waited until we were ready financially we'd probably be close to 50. So now seems as good of time as any. Of course, if you know me at all, you know I have it all "planned out" and am completely crazy. My original "plan" was to get pregnant in August or September and have a May baby to get the summer off. No daycare bill for C, and I get to be off ALL summer long! July was my last month on birth control, so I used the handy fertility calender online and figured out August "you could get pregnant" days...
Then the waiting game...I don't play that well. When it comes to things like this, I have no patience lol! So I quickly figured out, which day I could take a first response "6 days sooner" test, which was Aug 20th. By Aug 17th I was already having a couple mild symptoms, but thought maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. The 20th came, which we ironically enough had card/drinking plans...so that afternoon after work I decided I better take one, just to see even though it was super early. I got a very faint positive. Hmmm...but if it was a negative, that second line wouldn't be there at all, not even a little bit, right?! My crazy self, took a test maybe two everyday for the next 5 days until my "friend" was supposed to show up. Had a total of 4 very faint positives, and a bunch of negatives. Then finally Friday, the 26th came, the day after my "friend" did a no-show. I couldn't take the faint lines anymore that were so questionable, so onto the digital "yes" or "no". We have a YES!
I had my first nauseous experience by noon. At the clinic with C to get his cast off, and we're waiting for a X-ray as I am trying not to throw up, then had a feeling of I might faint. Just great. Reminded me quickly of my pregnancy with C...EAT within one hour of waking up, or else. I made it out of there not having a scene:)
By the end of the day, I had the babycenter app on my phone and a due date (May 3rd). LOL yep, I am a little bit crazy.

Our Christmas Card

We were slacking on the Thank You cards from our wedding gifts and were quickly approaching our 6 month deadline...so we thought a Christmas/thank you card combo was the best way to go. It didn't seem to make much sense to send our two cards within a month of each other. I should of got some that didn't have the "thank you" in the inside for people that didn't get us a gift but are always on our Christmas card list...oh well. I wish I could post the inside of the card ...but its not cooperating at the moment. Lol.

Holly On Top Holiday 5x7 folded card

Turn your photo into this year's holiday party invitations.

View the entire collection of cards.

Also if I posted this on my blog, I get a $25 gift card for Shutterfly! OK!! I buy all my cards and calendars from there every year so it rocks!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! We have our Christmas on Christmas Eve, and I get to go to work on Christmas Day. I do get a yummy dinner at my sisters house after work though so its alright:)

Vegas 2010 Take TWO

Well of course my week leading up to Vegas completely sucked ~So why wouldn't it continue.....

I had a nasty stretch of work days ending with a evening shift on Wednesday, leaving me basically Thursday to get our stuff packed of course most of it wasn't washed either, pack C for his couple overnights, get the dogs taken care of, and bring the baby girl puppies to their weekend home, plus try to sleep before the airport. So after feeling like an overwhelmed crazy chicken running around all day long, at 11pm I decide to check my email. Thank god!! Delta has emailed me that our flight we are going to the airport for in 4 hours has been cancelled. They rescheduled us for a 3pm departure arriving in LV at 7pm. The flight we were scheduled to be on originally had us arriving at 8:30am, leaving us all day Friday for whatever. Called Delta and after what seemed like a hour on the phone everything seems longer when I am pissed, we got on a 7am flight out from Hibbing, MN. Yes, Hibbing, the town of nothing! It beat driving to the cities so we took it. We finished packing etc, put the clothes on that we were wearing to the airport and got to take a 1.5 hour nap. Set my alarm for 3:20 and my sister comes knocking on the door at 2:50 (thought she was coming at 3:30) so there goes my extra half hour. We left the house about 3:45am, saw a crazy amount of deer on our way, but made it in just over a hour. The GPS told us closer to 2 hours lol we never saw speed limit signs so apparently we were way off our guesstimated speed limit. The airport was big enough for one terminal, one baggage claim (still had the mini looking garage doors that they just put the luggage on from the other side), and one ticket counter. Don't forget the dead animals all over the walls.....The baggage claim, ticket counter and terminal waiting room all in that one pic. The carpet was the waiting area. Our favorite part was the free parking 30 feet from the door! So crazy....but so cool. We also got to walk onto the runway to get on the plane.....

Our plane from Hibbing to Mlps was 10 rows with one side of the plane being single seats. Also had propellers....Scary small! Smallest plane we'd ever been on. Then the plane from Mlps to LV was huge! 50+ rows and the wing was as big as our first plane. We got seating in a emergency exit row, I had the window and it was the coldest airplane ride ever! Comfy though with the extra leg room but flip flops were not a good idea for this flight.

We get there about 10:30am, the weather is great and we got our room right away. Usually 3pm is check in time so that was cool. We played some slots, walked around the PH, checked out their mall ~found a cell phone cover I wanted but for $50 I could get two of the same thing at home but passed. Around 5pm we were running on empty, 1.5 hours of sleep and a crappy little nap on the plane were catching up. So a actual nap was needed. We were supposed to meet people for dinner AND meet someone else for a drink later. So 7:30 was our nap deadline...when that time came DD had a different idea. After a half hour of trying to get him up and he was talking to me while sleeping and made absolutely no sense I gave up, went back to sleep myself. Longest nap ever.

Saturday, pretty mellow day. Did the pool thing, gambled some more, walked the strip a little, went to our free buffet at PH for dinner, then went to Peepshow at PH. Peepshow was a little disappointing, it was based on nursery rhymes as Holly Madison played Little Bo Peep looking for a guy. It was a cute idea for a show, but Holly who is playing such a big part she was never really on stage. For a topless show, I would of expected cuter girls....and all but a couple were flat chested who wants that? maybe to make Holly look even bigger? Lol. Anyway, glad that show was free. We had killer seats and there were a couple hot guys in it so I can't complain too much:)

We went to the Flamingo for Blackjack after, they have a fun Party pit. Lost some money there on cards but it was fun. They have really good bloody marys, and of course they're free so bring it on! Got to meet a Duluth friend there, that just happen to be in Vegas the same weekend. Needless to say I was pretty buzzed when we left there. Only night I can say that about.
Sunday, my roller coaster day! Woke up to clouds and not much for sun. We moved over to Monte Carlo today, which we both loved it there! Will totally stay there again. People there were super nice especially when you compare to PH staff, we could actually win on the machines there, all over much better experience then PH. The only thing PH has on them at this point is PH pillows rock! I stole one in May Monte standard room pillows sucked. Hope for their Hotel32 (top floor)they are better.

We went to NY NY to gamble there and did awesome! I played a few different slots and cashed out ahead every one. THEN I played a new goldfish game, put in $20 and cashed out $601 ~~super sweet! I hadn't ever seen this one, but got the bonus multiple times and was playing $5 a spin after I had my first bonus....they were still showing up all the time, along with a bonus inside the bonus game. DD was frustrated that his goldfish we're not being as nice lol. I was a nice girl and shared some winnings and bought us a yard drink:) "Tickled Pink" frozen pink lemonade with absolute citron...OMG delicious!!

We went to Harrah's to go to The Legends in concert. "Michael Jackson" was one of the performers, and I swear it was him! He was amazing! From the look, to the voice, even dance moves! Serious he deserves his own tribute show.



I was hoping Justin or Britney would of been in this show too, apparently we were the wrong night of the week for them. We got Tim and Faith though, they were good too. Elvis was fun too:) That show was worth the money.  P.S Don't gamble at Harrah's ever again is on my "note to self"!

After the show we went to Toby Keith's I love this bar to get dinner. There was a 10 minute wait so we went to the gift shop connecting the restaurant. We were of course goofing off, trying on cowboys hats, taking pics etc. Well being my "Minnesota nice" problem and Duluth being a pretty trustworthy city, apparently I've grown to think people are just as nice all over. HAHAHA!! I set my purse down by the hats while we were trying them on. Our table was ready so we went and sat down, order our drinks and realized "OMG my purse is still on that shelf!" Literally 5 minutes had went by and it was gone. My immediate thought is "how am I gonna get on the damn plane?!" Not that I would of minded being stuck there a little longer lol but I would of had to fly C out somehow! So as I am walking around the tiny store like a crazy girl in a panic, the girl that worked there knew nothing and had seen nothing. A lady stopped me and asked if I was looking for a purse and said she found one and brought it down to the management desk. HUGE sigh of relief for about 5 seconds, then she says I found it in the bathroom garbage. There was a bathroom about 10 feet from the exit of the gift shop. So back to my FML feeling, but she walked me to where she brought it, come to find out shes from MN! Why couldn't she had found it in the first place!? So I get it back, every single dollar I had is gone. Everything else was there, my ID, my cards, my checkbook, even my camera. So yay for that, but wow what a shitty evening! Thank god for my mom, she gave me some money for the next two days. Good thing I shared my winnings too....I got that back. The rest of the trip I really didn't lose when we played. Here and there but I'd get it back on the next machine. Plus we played blackjack the night before we left and I won all my money back to make it so I went home with $100 more then I went with. But the amount I could of came home with is still bugging me.

Monday our big excitement was the "Minus5" Ice Lounge. A bar set at 23 degrees, and everything in it was made of ice, including the glass you get your drink in. Ice benches to sit on, ice tables, ice centerpieces....so cool. There was lights behind the walls to make it all change color, white, blue, pink etc. It was expensive to get in, they have different packages but the cheapest was $25 which just included your winter gear and one drink. We bought the hats....cause ya know we'll need them at least one more winter!

Overall I will say it was an OK trip. I could of had more sun, to have more pool time. I could of done without the crazy wind ~that caused outside tables and chairs to go blowing onto Las Vegas Blvd. Heavy rod iron ones even, hit some people on the sidewalk on the way onto the strip. Obviously I could of done without the purse incident! But the gambling was good on a plus side! Missed my little man C like crazy. He was mad at me everyday I talked to him wanting to know "why did you leave me in MN?! I wanna be in Vegas baby" yes he really says "Vegas baby" lol. I realized I cannot hang with the Vegas party crowd anymore. Either I am getting old or .....(still trying to figure out something that will fit there). I would much rather go to the "lounge" type bar then a packed dance club these days. That feeling continued in Vegas walking by all the clubs and crazy lines and young peeps screaming, being loud and stupid....ick. Thankful for my home life! I would never be able to hang anymore, or maybe married family life has got the best of me lol. Who knows:) We also realized while we were there, when looking for a house stay away from Las Vegas and focus on suburbs is a MUST! Henderson being first pick!:)

Vegas...Planet Hollywood....FIXED

Dealing with Planet Hollywood for our wedding was a frustrating experience from start to finish....
After looking back when it was all over it was a unsatisfied feeling so we wrote a letter to let the president of planet hollywood know what was going on in their wedding dept. Here is that letter......

I am writing you to tell you about the horrible experience that we have received from your Planet Hollywood Resort located in Las Vegas. We choose to get married at your resort for the great views you were able to offer for a night time outside weddings. We booked our wedding and paid a deposit May of 2009 for our wedding to be held May 14, 2010. The first issue we had is every time we called to ask questions we either had someone new working in the wedding chapel that did not know anything about our wedding day, because they were new and the other people that we had talked with no longer worked there. This was very frustrating, as it seemed like we had to start over every time we wanted to find something out or we would have to call back several times because no one would call us back. The next problem came when 3 weeks from our wedding day we get a phone call to tell us that there was a pool party booked where we are suppose to have our dreamed about outdoor wedding. First of all there is no way that they just found out about this pool party and we booked the location a year prior to this. We were given the option for a refund, but who else would be available for an outdoor wedding on a 3 week notice. Their other solution was to move into the chapel, which we really did not want to do and to compensate us for this they gave a suite for two nights. The room was great and it was a nice gesture, but this was my wedding! We were also promised to have the pictures that we wanted outside with the Paris trademarks and other attractions, which also never happened. We had a DVD made of our ceremony there, along with the video montage. The first coordinator I talked to told me there can be growing up photos, or wedding photos included. I confirmed this with our last (and 3rd coordinator) and said we would like wedding photos. That was not in the DVD and when we called to ask James what happen to it he told us he never received any mention of that being included.


To sum this up, we are very disappointed in the service that we received from your resort and believe that we were over charged and treated unfairly from what our contract stated. We did not have the wedding that we wanted, actually feel our wedding was ruined. I will not recommend a wedding here, and will in fact discourage it. We are frequent visitors to Vegas and on a positive note, I will say we did like your casino and hotel.

Three weeks after receiving this letter, the last wedding coordinator (who I will call K) we had called. She said she had a copy of the letter along with a post it on it that said "take care of these people now". She offered us a few different options/ideas that she had to try and make us have positive happy thoughts about planet hollywood which were A) $500 cash refund B) come back and have a private photo shoot with the trademarks we didn't get C) a free weekend, show tickets and restaurant certificates. Leaning towards option C. If I didn't gain back the 10 pounds I lost for the wedding I might have wanted the photo shoot. That could of been fun but not when I feel like a fat ass!. K told us if we picked option C she could give us a lot more and was open to other suggestions. I think anything we could cram into one weekend they will accommodate. If its done at PH it doesn't cost them any money to give us...so here is what I am asking for...

ROOM: 3 nights in a Hollywood hip room with a strip view. Hollywood hip room is their standard room, can't believe I didn't try for a fancy room being in the room so little I didn't think it was necessary to ask for anything more then that.

FOOD: Spice Market buffet dinner, KOI certificate (Japanese)

SHOWS: Holly Madison Peepshow ~of course we are gonna try for the meet and greet tickets, Tony & Tina's Wedding ~VIP style

EXTRAS: Poolside bar credit & a couples massage at the Spa

Being that everything is at PH I am pretty confident we will get it all. Value of it all would be about $1500. We are supposed to call K Tuesday with our decision. Do I try for airfare deals? and be a greedy bitch Hoping for $99 airfare through Allegiant in Aug or Sept to buy for Oct 1st =)

Crazy Summer!

Seriously, almost August? Really?! Why can't winter months go this fast? Its half over and feels like it just started....but its been fun and not so fun.
I've managed to go to Vegas and get married, have a kick ass wedding reception which sucked ass to plan, exchange old for the new items with SO many wedding gifts TOOK ME WEEKS to put away and get off the floor, paint my living room, paint and redecorate my bedroom completely, had a overwhelming number of birthday parties to attend,

 had many playdates for C and myself AKA adult cocktail hours

organized a neighborhood rummage sale, went through my entire house and priced it all for this rummage sale, had a flooded basement, tore apart the flooded basement, managed to get C to all of his baseball games except the one I didn't want to drive to

 drove 2.5 hours to see the Twins play a few times

got the adoption process 90% complete, had more people over and fires then I can count, and had 4 puppies!

 Now planning a trip to Wisconsin Dells for August, and a Luau adoption celebration party for September. Seriously? What happened to the simple summer days?! I miss them.

Doing all of this, my regular house chores have taken a back burner a lot of the time. Picking up after myself and two boys is enough Laundry & dishes have become enemies! Who has time for this stuff, at least ones with rugrats running around making a mess back in the room you just cleaned up before you started the dishes? Its a never ending battle and sometimes I just don't like to accept thats the way it is. Cook dinner? where would you like take out from? The normal things have been the most difficult this summer.
My rummage experience was AWFUL! My rummage experience was interesting....my procrastination took over and the basement drama didn't help either. I was still going through, marking and setting up the day before. My sister also thought she would make it more fun and give me 4 totes of my neices clothes to mark for her. How thoughtful, I really didn't have enough to do:) Pretty sure I slept about 4 hours three nights in a row to get all this done. Thursday was the first day and to start at 4pm. A little preview of my day....get up, stayed in my shorts&tank aka jammies  thank god I put a bra on! and start setting up first thing in the am. I am still marking my neices clothes as I am putting them out, its 80 degrees by 10am and the humidity is out of control. Going up and down stairs in that heat, imagine the beauty I had going on LOL, then being the wonderful neighbor I was to put this nightmare thing together I get to put up all the signs, balloons and get people here the day of. So that all happened about 12:30pm had them done by 1:30. Thought I could shower, get my money out, set up a table for myself to sit at and be ready by 3. Did I mention I had C this whole time too? Good times. Lunch was extra special this Thursday. So around 2pm I am a sweaty mess, still have no make up on, still in the clothes I slept in and still haven't showered....enter our first customers.   Just shoot me in the face All I am thinking is "you've gotta be kidding me" come to find out I had a free loading neighbor that didn't want to help pay for the neighborhood sale ad (I asked everyone involved for 10 whole dollars) so she started her sale at 2pm so it was "different"'. Well thanks lady, not only have you annoyed me with your free loading quality, but now really made my day suck. People just kept coming and DD was still working....so here I am. Ugh, awful. All I had was a chair and money for the first two hours cause I couldn't get away for even 2 minutes. There was always at least 6 people here at one time.  Then enter DD to the rescue! Whew!

First half of the summer was more work, now we're on to the more play time. Wisconsin Dells in 3 weeks should be a blast! We will be doing this as a substitute for our Disney trip that won't be happening in Oct. MONEY SUCKS But super excited to get C on a water filled mini vacation!