Author Archives: Laurie Blundell

32 weeks

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32 weeks

I figured I’d give you a belly shot for fun.  We only have 8 weeks left, maybe 7 depending on when we can schedule the c-section.  I’ve told little miss she can come anytime she wants after 37 weeks!  We had an appointment with my OB on Friday and she still looks great.  Apparently she is going to take after her daddy because she was commenting on how big her foot is and that she has some long leg bones – she measures over a week ahead of what I am.  She also said she already has some hair that is “standing straight up”, just like her brother, Ian’s was.  I’m hoping she takes after her momma and is born with a head full of hair.

I am still having a ton of contractions, I get them no matter what I do.  They are getting stronger and more frequent as I get further along in the pregnancy and now they actually hurt.  We talked about some of the medications I can take to stop them or atleast help them, but with my cardiac issues, I can’t take any of them.  One will drop my blood pressure (which I already have issues with) and the other will shoot my heart rate up (which I have a ton of issues with) so we are left with just being miserable.  I am going to continue to work as long as possible (although if she told me I had to go on bed rest, I would gladly accept it this time).  My plan is to work up until 38 weeks or so depending on how I feel….we’ll see what happens.  I will go back for another appointment in 2 weeks.

Here is an updated survey:

Due date: July 30
How far along:   32 weeks
Gender:  It’s a GIRL
Total weight gain/loss:  about 15 or so
Exercise: I’m not allowed to exercise
Stretch marks: the ones I got from the boys, that are ever so obvious now and a few more small ones
Swelling: some mild swelling in my hands and feet by the end of the day
Maternity clothes:  yes, and I’m tired of them already
Belly button:  Its disappearing at a rapid pace
Sleep: as long as I take an ambien – which is only 1-2 times a week
Food cravings:  Cream soda
Symptoms:  contractions all day long and holy heartburn!!! My reflux actually got better with the boys – not sure why but it did…this time around – its 10 times worse.  In 1 day I can eat the amount of tums that an average person would eat in a month!
Movement:  All. The. Time.  I have a new game I play called, is that a head, butt, elbow or knee that is pushing on my ribcage.
Labor signs: just the contractions, but apparently they aren’t doing anything so that’s good.
What I miss: not having to go the bathroom all day long and sleep
What I’m loving:  her room.  I finally got it all set up
What I’m looking forward to:  making it past 36-37 weeks
Best moment this week:  getting to see her again – even though it was just a sonogram
Milestones:  getting to the single digits as far as how long we have left

 

30 weeks

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We are in the single digits now folks! only 9 weeks and 5 days until little Miss gets here! Well, I don’t know for sure how many days, but since it will be a scheduled C-Section (unless she decides to come earlier than expected) we can guess it will be 9 weeks or so.  I am so ready to be done with this pregnancy and hold her! She is an active little girl and flips all around just like her brother Ian did. She can’t decide if she wants to be head up or head down, each sonogram she’s different.  At the last appointment she had her head and feet up by my ribs and her butt down, crazy girl!
We have painted the room, put the rib and dresser together, so her room is coming together slowly.  This weekend I’m hoping to talk the hubs into anchoring the dresser to the wall and hanging the shelves so I can start to put stuff on the walls and make it feel like an actual nursery….I’ll post pictures when I get it all done.
The boys are still too young to really grasp what’s going on and what’s about to happen.  They know what a baby is and they hear us talking about this baby that is coming, they know the crib is for the “baby” and when we ask where the “baby” is, they point to my stomach. Do they realize that there is an actual baby in my stomach and this baby is coming to live with us, I doubt it.  They’ll get the idea when this baby comes home and doesn’t leave!
Here are some updated answers to the previous survey I’ve done.
Due date: July 30
How far along:   30 weeks
Gender:  It’s a GIRL
Total weight gain/loss:  about 12 or so
Exercise: I’m not allowed to exercise
Stretch marks: only the ones I got from the boys, that are ever so obvious now
Swelling: some mild swelling in my hands and feet by the end of the day
Maternity clothes:  yep
Belly button:  Its disappearing at a rapid pace
Sleep: Insomnia has kicked in
Food cravings:  Cream soda
Symptoms:  contractions all day long, getting uncomfortable, and now having to deal with little miss trying to push apart my ribs, oh and heartburn
Movement:  All. The. Time
Labor signs: just the contractions, but apparently they aren’t doing anything so that’s good.
What I miss: not having to go the bathroom all day long and sleep
What I’m loving:  the anticipation of the new addition
What I’m looking forward to:  finishing up the nursery and my shower in about a week
Best moment this week: 1 week closer to meeting her
Milestones:  Being in the 3rd trimester, finally

Bluebonnets

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Its that time of year, the bluebonnets are out and its time to get snapin’…pictures that is.  Its a Texas tradition every year to get pictures in the bluebonnets. I can’t explain why or what the big deal is, but we do it every year…there’s just something about sitting in a patch of beautiful bluebonnets!

The boys were not into it this year.  The grass was a little moist still from the rain the day before and I don’t know if that had anything to do with it or what, they just did not want to sit down or smile.  We grabbed some of them running around or looking down or the opposite direction.  I did get one picture of me and the boys and one of the boys and Jonathan, but none of the 4 of us or even a good one of the 2 of them.  O’well, maybe next year…you know, when there is a 3rd kid to to try to wrangle with, because that will make it much easier! 😉

But, here are some of the pictures we got:

boysBB

IanBB

HaydenBB3

mommaboysdaddyboys

Its a GIRL!!

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Its true…we will be having a little girl! Our boys will have a baby sister in just a few short months.  I would have been happy either way, whether it was a boy or girl.  But, I am extremely happy to be welcoming a little girl to the family.  We have finally picked out a name, but unfortunately you will have to wait until she arrives to find out what it is. 😉

I figured I would do another survey since I haven’t done one in over a month.

Due date: July 30
How far along:   25 weeks
Gender:  GIRL
Total weight gain/loss:  7 pounds
Exercise: I’m not allowed to exercise
Stretch marks: only the ones I got from the boys that are ever making their re-appearance
Swelling: a little in my feet, but only after i’ve been at work all day
Maternity clothes: Yep, but I can still wear some of my regular shirts that are oversized.
Belly button:  I still have a normal looking one, but its slowly getting stretched
Sleep: Insomnia has kicked in, Ambien every few nights is my friend
Food cravings:  Cream soda
Symptoms:  just some mild headaches and heartburn
Movement:  she definitely likes to kick
Labor signs: contractions all day long! But none that are doing anything
What I miss: not having to go the bathroom all day long
What I’m loving:  the anticipation of the new addition
What I’m looking forward to:  hitting the 3rd trimester in a few weeks
Best moment this week: just feeling her kick and knowing I’ll get to meet her soon
Milestones:  Hitting week 24, i can breathe a little easier now.

Stitches

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The winner for the first one to get stitches goes to……Ian!  I’m really late at posting this, but about a month ago we were getting the boys ready for bed one night an, well lets just say we took a slight detour to urgent care on our way to bed. The boys were being crazy, as always and Ian was climbing on the glider rocker I just put back in their room a day before. We both had told him to get down and the next thing we knew he was on the floor, crying and holding his head.  At this point there was no blood or anything so I picked him up and Jonathan went to get an ice pack to put on his head. When I sat in the chair to take a look at his head, I was surprised to find blood running down his entire face.  I immediately told Jonathan, “we’re going to need more than an ice pack!”  I pulled his hair back and he had a huge gash on his head, right at about his hairline. It was about an inch long and pretty deep at one end of it.  Since Jonathan’s mom had just left from watching them all day a little before this, I had Jonathan call my mom and ask if they could come over and stay with Hayden while we took Ian. So we called their pediatrician to see where the best place to take him would said since he didn’t lose consciousness or anything.  once my parents got there, we just took him to the urgent care facility that was next to the pediatricians office instead of an ER. It was a great facility and we had a great experience – as good as you can have under the circumstances.

The doctor there agreed that it was deep towards the bottom of the gash and that he would need 4 stitches. Here is the before picture:

 IMG_9251

Ian was so good, he just sat there and played with his curious George stuffed animal while the doctor was looking at his head and when she was giving him the “shots” to numb the area before stitching him up he just laid there watching, what else, Curious George, on Jonathan’s iPhone. This kid was awesome, not one tear or anything while he was getting stitches! I was a very proud momma!

IMG_9249 When we were all finished we went home and he went to bed.  Of course we gave him some Tylenol in case his head was hurting, and. I honestly expected him to wake up throughout the night and be a little cranky the next day. Again, it didn’t even phase him!

IMG_9252

The next day himself just his normal self. Jonathan was home with them that next day and his biggest problem was keeping him still enough not to bang his head again!

IMG_9259He did just as great when we went to the pediatrician to get the stitches out.  By the time we went to get them removed, he only had 2 stitches left…the other 2 had fallen out sometime over the previous 7 days. Oops.

Poor Hayden didn’t know what to do when Ian got hurt. I had Ian in the kitchen with me while I was holding a towel to his head to stop the bleeding and Hayden was just standing there tearing up because Ian was hurt.  He didn’t know what to do and was worried about his brother.  I asked Hayden if he would go get Ian’s pacifier just to give him something to do and maybe he would feel like he was helping. He immediately went to find it and when he brought it to Ian he wouldn’t get any closer than about 2 feet from him, so he just threw it at him and backed away. It was the funniest thing! But it was sweet, he was worried about his brother.

Here’s to hoping we wont have anymore stitches in our future with any of the kids!

Half Way There

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I am now half way through the pregnancy with little bit and can’t wait for the next 20 week to go by so we can meet this new little baby. I’ve been asked a lot how this pregnancy compares to the last one with the boys…I can’t really compare the two since last time there were TWO babies and this time there’s just one.

Just like with the boys, I had horrible morning sickness through about week 17 and Zofran was my friend! Although, it wasn’t nearly as bad.  I lived on Zofran and Phenergan during the last pregnancy (I’m talking, 2 zofran’s a day – every day- and phenergan every night) and this time I only took it 4 or 5 days a week, just in the morning.  So while I still felt horrible this time, it wasn’t nearly as bad as last time.

After the morning sickness went away, I started getting lovely headaches.  I mean serious headaches – ALL DAY LONG.  They would wake me up at night they were so bad. And when you can only take tylenol, which does nothing, you just have to live with it.  Thankfully those have gotten better, I only get them a few times a week now and not nearly as bad.

I am finally started to get a belly, although I can still hide it pretty well.  My regular pants really don’t fit all that well anymore, but maternity pants are still too big.  I just look like all my clothes are too big and I ate too much for lunch or dinner.  another few weeks and they may fit better.

I have started feeling the munchkin move and kick, not regularly, but at least a few times a day. We went to the doctor yesterday for a check up and everything looked great! Little bit was growing just as expected and was breech just like the boys…head up, feet down. We were able to confirm the gender on the sonogram so we can now stop saying “it”. But, you’ll have to wait to find out what he/she is?! 😉

The last few weeks I’ve felt really good, I’m not as tired and have more energy, and I’m not nauseous.  I have started having contractions though, but not as bad as with the boys, so she said everything is fine and we’ll just keep an eye on it.

Just like I did with the last pregnancy, here is a fun little survey I’ll try to do every month
from here on out.

Due date: July 30
How far along:   20 weeks
Gender:  You’ll find out soon
Total weight gain/loss:  5 pounds
Exercise: I’m not allowed to exercise
Stretch marks: only the ones I got from the boys
Swelling: nothing yet
Maternity clothes:  a few maternity pants
Belly button:  I still have a normal looking one
Sleep: Insomnia has kicked in
Food cravings:  Cream soda
Symptoms:  just some mild headaches and heartburn
Movement:  nothing regular, but I feel something everyday
Labor signs: NONE
What I miss: not having to go the bathroom all day long
What I’m loving:  the anticipation of the new addition
What I’m looking forward to:  painting the nursery and getting the bedding in I just ordered!
Best moment this week: seeing the baby on ultrasound and confirming the gender!
Milestones:  finding out the gender

Neglecting the blog

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I have pretty much neglected the blog for some time now.  Our lives have gotten incredibly busy lately with 2 very active two year olds and me being pregnant.  All that combined has left me with no energy or desire to sit down and think about writing a blog post.  But, now that I am feeling better and have a little more energy, I am hoping to start posting more.  So for now, I’ll leave you with a picture of my goobers, simply so you can see just how goofy they are..

sillyboys

one size fits all

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When it comes to family, how big is too big?  Or what do you consider a small family? One size fits all definitely doesn’t relate to a family size. Every family is different.  Every couple has to decide on their own what they want for their family, how big do they want it. How many kids to they consider to be a big family?

Since we have announced the addition of our 3rd baby (which we are very excited, yet very nervous about!) I have had several people say, in response, “oh you want a big family!” Really, 3 kids is what people consider a big family? I can see how a person who only had 1 child would consider it a “big family.”  But for me and Jonathan who both grew up in a family with 3 kids, its normal.  Its a normal sized family, not big, not small. I personally consider a family big when it has 4 or more kids.

I think Jonathan and I would both agree that we would love to have a “big family” but since we have been given the experience of expanding our family by 1 child at a time this time we will see how it goes with #3 before deciding on another one.  We would both love to adopt, so if we go for #4 (in the far distant future) that may be the route we take.  You know, since I LOVE being pregnant and all (just imagine a sarcastic undertone with that).

Anyway, like I said, we both grew up with a family of 3 kids and love it. He has 2 sisters, I had 2 brothers.  Luckily, we all grew up and love each other.  There isn’t any family hate, or turmoil between any of us and we sincerely enjoy spending time together.  Its funny that as you get older, you actually become friends with your siblings.  And, I love that we get along well with each others siblings.  I can honestly say that Jonathan’s sister has become one of my best friends, and I love it!

When it comes to bigger families, I think I would be more likely to say lets go for it, rather than Jonathan.  Simply because I did get a little taste of what its like to have a bigger family growing up.  All growing up we had a family friends (the Medlins) that were just as much family as my “real” family, they were just an extension of our family.  For 35 or so years our families have lived by eachother, moved where the other family moved, went on vacations together, spent holidays together.  Some of my favorite memories growing up were when all 5 of us “siblings” got together.  We would play games, sing Bohemian Rhapsody aloud in the living room, joke with our moms (mainly the brothers did this) and laugh at our dads.  Even to this day, I always look forward to times when we can all get together. The majority of us have kids now and its fun watching a new generation become friends, its a little different though because the ages are a little off and none of them will go to the same schools or live int he same neighborhood like we did.  But its still fun and I look forward to what the future holds.

No matter what size our family becomes, whether we stop at 3 or go for #5 (hahaha, just kidding!!) My prayer and hope for our children is that they grow up loving each other and truly enjoy spending time with one another. I hope they grow to lean on each other and be there for their brother/sister – wishful thinking that #3 is a girl 😉 -  in times of need . I also hope that they grow up and love spending time with their cousins, because really they have no choice, they will be spending a lot of time with them either way! So far they love them all, so I think we’re good!

So what about you, what do you consider a “big family?”

Adding on to Casa de Blundell

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We have decided to make some additions to our home.  There will be some renovations going on in the next 6 months, some not so pleasant, but definitely worth it in the end! The majority of these renovations will mostly affect 1 person of this family, but I’m sure everyone will feel the repercussions of these renovations.

This add-on will be taking part in 3 phases throughout the next several months.  The first phase is just about complete and we may (fingers crossed) have a relatively easy phase coming up.  The first phase has been rough so far, there’s been a lot of headaches, sleeplessness and fatigue, mixed with a little nausea.  The last phase will be the roughest of all, we will all be uncomfortable and inpatient while we wait for the completion of the project.  We’ll be checking in with the project leader a lot in the end they will ultimately decide when the end date will come.

Here is a sneak peak at our new addition…

Coming in July, we will be welcoming a new addition to our family…we are so excited to be welcoming our 3rd baby and can’t wait to finally meet him or her! More to come later…

2 year check up

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This is way over due, as is their Brithday party post – I promise I’ll get to it one of these days. Anyway, the boys went for their 2 year check up and both are doing great and growing as they should. They are doing wonderful with all their milestones – except for talking.  We are going to gt a speech therapy evaluation for them just to see where they are. They talk all the time, just not much that we can understand, and they say words, but not a whole lot and definitely not where they should be for their age.  Their pediatrician isn’t worried about it, she just wants to get them checked out since they won’t have another “physical” for another year.

They have both grown a lot since their 18 month check up.  Here are their stats:

Hayden: 36 in tall and 31 lbs, 11 oz

Ian: 35 in tall and 26 lbs, 8 oz

It seems like yesterday the boys were these little 4 pound babies that we brought home from the hospital, and now they are 2 years old!