12 weeks

Wow...I am nearing the end of the 1st trimester. Hard to believe!

How far along: 12 wks

Symptoms: I have been having headaches lately..mostly stress-induced from work...its insane right now. 
I seem to get really hungry in the middle of the night when I wake up, I just fix some chocolate milk and it helps. Speaking of chocolate milk, I introduced Carson to it, and I think he's in love! :)
The heartburn has reared its ugly head again, but I have my trusty Zantac.

Cravings: I have been super thirsty, so I have been drinking a lot more water lately. I have really been wanting some fresh fruit, but have had no time to go to the store to stock up. I was however able to have some great pineapple and grapes at Sweet Tomatoes with my girlfriends..I had pineapple all in my teeth while I was talking...but it was so worth it!

I had an entire text conversation last night with a pregnant friend about food you eat at the county fair and food you get at the movies! I am ready for some buttery popcorn, corn dogs, nachos and cheese, and funnel cakes...mmmmm.  I love pregnancy!

Best moment of the week: I am so excited that I found a new practice that I feel is a better fit for me and what I want for this baby's delivery.  I contacted the local ICAN network and Labor of Love Doula Services and both organizations recommended the same 3 practices! So I made my decision and chose a practice that they recommended and it also has great word of mouth among some good friends of mine. When I called to inquire about joining their practice I asked if a Dr. or Midwife could call and address some questions I had, and within 5 minutes I was speaking to someone who took plenty of time with me and it was so refreshing to have a Dr./Midwife on the same page as me for once.

Challenges this week: Mainly work, and the headaches. I HATE having to cook, so I don't. :) My mom will be making some frozen meals for us soon :)

Belly watch: My butt seems to be growing at the same rate as my belly! 

Carson is 18 months!

Wow this might be my longest Carson post yet! He is a very busy little boy!

At 18 months, Carson…. 

• Can feed himself with a spoon and fork, absolutely will not let us feed him unless we give him something from our plates.
• He knows the letters B, O, R, I, and E. Not sure why he likes those so much!
• He loves to color, and draw his own pictures, he likes for me to help him write his name.
• He tells us when he makes a dirty diaper, and is showing many other signs of potty training readiness, so every night before his bath, he sits on his little potty and we read a couple of books.
• When we change his diaper he likes to say “bye-bye pee-pee” or “bye-bye ewww” (ewww means poop). And he waves at his diaper. He says hey and bye-bye to everyone and everything. He likes to tell the bath water and bubbles bye-bye when they go down the drain. This morning I saw him cleaning up his crayons, and when he closed the box he waved and said bye-bye to the crayons. My heart melted.
• He likes to brush his teeth especially when he sees us brushing ours.
• He is a big helper, he thinks it is fun to help me unload the dishwasher, put clothes in the washing machine, wipe off the table, and generally clean up anything.
• With all of the extremely cold weather we had in the past few weeks, his eczema was really bad, so we had to put lotion on him at night and in the morning….now he loves to put lotion on himself.
• He constantly tests his boundaries, and it is SO hard not to laugh when he misbehaves.
• He wakes up every morning around 5:30 or 6am, and drinks his milk then he wraps his arms around my neck and goes back to sleep with me…I wouldn’t trade that cuddle time for anything!
• He will dance to ANY music…including the theme songs from Law and Order and NCIS.
• He is obsessed with books and I am pretty sure the word “book” is his favorite. He loves the “k” sound.
• About a month ago I taught him to say “please” instead if whining when he wanted something or wanted help. Now all I have to do is raise my eyebrows at him and he smiles and says “peeeze”.
• He thinks that all music in general is titled E-I-E-I-O
• He loves the show “Super Why” on PBS. That is really the only one that he will pay attention to for longer than 5 minutes, he is so cute when he repeats the letters that they ask him to. The others, he just likes the music.
• He weighs about 23 pounds, and he is still in size 4 diapers, and is finally in 18 month clothes from head to toe. He recently moved up to a size 5 shoe.
• He loves balls and he knows the difference between a basketball, baseball and a football.
• I took him to the park a few days ago and of course his favorite thing was throwing dirt.
• Has a mouth full of teeth, I am so in love with that precious smile!
• He is very addicted to his passy…I dread the day we wean him from that, which we are going to put off a little longer. He should transition into the next room at daycare in a few months and none of those kids have passies. The class he is in now, all of the kids have passies, so I am not going to take his away yet, he won’t understand and it’s not fair.
• He loves to make Chase (our dog) sit and shake hands for a treat. Every morning when Carson wakes up from our early morning nap, he hugs the dog who has moved into Daddy’s spot by that time.
• I love when I pick him up from school, his teacher is always telling me how smart he is and what a good eater he is. Makes me so proud.
• We still rock him to sleep every night, I keep saying we need to wean him from that…but it’s too hard. It feels so wrong to just put him in the crib without giving him the comfort he is so accustomed to. So I have decided to continue rocking him until he is just too big, or doesn’t want me to. Because one day….he is not going to want to cuddle with me or want me anywhere near him. I am going to soak up all the “baby” left in him that I can.

 Here are some recent phone pics of my little cutie:

10 weeks!

How far along: 10 wks

Symptoms: I am quite moody…poor Cory. Its hard to decide what I want to eat, I can’t let myself get too hungry or I will get really nauseous. Once I eat I am fine…for about an hour J 

Cravings: Good homecooked meals like chicken and dumplings, Brunswick stew, spaghetti, pot roast, love my soft drinks and Gatorade, and of course I love my Reese cups

Best moment of the week: The trip to Slopes BBQ and the Brunswick Stew that came with it were wonderful! Really hit the spot.

Challenges this week: deciding whether to stay with my current OB, giving Carson his bath - I am so exhausted by that time…oh and I ran out of Reese cups J

Belly watch: Ok, this shot looks more like my 12 week pic with Carson. This is my usual work attire – stretchy pants and an oversized shirt! My regular jeans don’t fit anymore b/c I have gained weight this fall, so I got my maternity jeans out, but they are too saggy in the butt and crotch still. So…stretchy pants it is! I am so ready for it to be "ok" for me to show, then I can let it all out!

And here are some pics of my sweet little guy lately:

Spaghetti!

Playing in his boots

So much to say...

I have had such an extremely busy week, but I hate when my blog posts get old, it just annoys me...so I MUST post something new. Pregnancy news anyone????

This pregnancy is going very well so far (knock on wood). There are a couple of things weighing heavily on my mind:

1) Changing caregivers and hospitals:

While I had a happy experience (what I thought was perfect at that time) with Carson's prenatal care and birth...I am now a changed person, a more informed, educated, and outspoken person when it comes to the birth of MY babies. What was "perfect" then is nowhere near the experience I want this go round. I was the perfect patient back then, I had my list of questions, read through them quickly as to not waste the Doctor's time on little ol' me. I took his answers to be the only truth without batting an eye. And I was oh so wrong.

My attitude back then was "induce me as soon as possible" and "give me every drug available" and "maybe I will breastfeed". After Carson was born I became a mom - I grew up, I realized that there is nothing convenient about birthing or raising a baby. This time, my own convenience will not overshadow what is best for my baby and my health.

My first order of business is to ensure that I will birth in a place that fully supports a VBAC and doesn't just say they do. My current practice says they support it, but their actions and body language don't suggest the same. My first few appointments during this pregnancy I expressed my want for a VBAC and I was made to feel like a student in detention...I was quickly reminded of the rules that are associated with it. They seemed to focus on the negative (which is an extremely small portion). It was almost like I was inconveniencing them by wanting something that they can't control. You see, with a successful VBAC, labor must occur spontaneously, no induction of any kind, no speeding up labor, etc...just wait on labor to take its natural course......imagine that! The only appointment where I felt supported was my most recent visit, this Dr. actually asked ME about VBAC, not me initiating the conversation. He gave me some information on the subject and was very kind...but he is the only person that has made me feel that way....and there is no guarantee that he will be overseeing my labor and delivery on the big day.

One of the main give-aways of the staff's true opinions on VBAC (besides the looks on their faces) is the "right of passage" to get a VBAC. For example, they ask me why I had a c-section with Carson and they sigh and say ok, breech presentation is a good reason to try for VBAC. On the contrary people, unless this pregnancy/labor suggests that a c-section is medically necessary (not conveniently necessary), then women should be allowed to try for VBAC no matter how many c-sections they have had, and no matter how their labor progressed during the last delivery (every, pregnancy, labor, delivery and baby are DIFFERENT). Just because X,Y,Z happened in the first labor, doesn't mean X,Y,Z will happen again. Especially if you change your game plan. Statistics show much better outcomes when labor begins spontaneously rather than when induced (that induction begins a snowball effect of unnecessary interventions).

Multiple c-sections are very dangerous (placenta accreta), but no one discusses those risks with you when they sign you up for this ridiculously routine major surgery.

So..... I am in the process of assessing a supportive birthing team to get the best outcome possible.


2) Ultrasounds:

Among my research of avoiding unnecessary surgery...I have come across many other helpful warnings. Be careful not to have too many unnecessary ultrasounds. This is something else I wish I had known while pregnant with Carson. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing my growing baby, but at what cost? No one really knows...many years ago, women received routine X-rays while pregnant, and they thought that was safe.

Just google ultrasound risks, and there is plenty of info. The FDA said that it is still unknown what effects ultrasounds have on a fetus, they advise against having them if they aren't necessary.

Guess What!

We are so excited to announce that we have another sweet baby on the way! We had an ultrasound yesterday and everything is looking great!

Here is wee Baby Phillips at 9 wks.

Playing in the Snow

This snow was a little more brutal than the last one. Poor Carson could barely walk, the snow came up to the top of his boots. The wind and the sleet were very hard to bare, so we weren't out there too long. I was able to snap a few pics on my phone. We got about 6 or 7 inches!

Goodbye 2010

Wow, what an eventful year. Cory and I were watching the news and they were recapping the worldly events that happened this year....unbelievable!

As far as our lives go, for the most part 2010 was great. 

We rang in the New Year with Becca, Zach and Zoe in their new house! 

Carson got his very 1st haircut.

We celebrated Carson's 1st Easter.

We went on our 1st family vacation to the beach.

My precious baby turned ONE! He has since grown into such a smart and funny little boy.

Sadly, in November we said goodbye to Charlie. I still think about her and miss her everyday, she holds a special place in my heart that can never be filled by another dog. I would give anything to have her back. 

I typically don't make New Year's resolutions, this is more like a list of things I would like to do:

• Take better care of myself. It is so hard as a working mother to eat healthy and exercise. After I work all day and deal with traffic, I want to cook something easy if I cook at all, and spend time with my family and relax...not spend an hour preparing a meal then working out. And after Carson goes to bed, that is when I do my household chores. Maybe when it warms up outside I can get Carson out in the stroller in the evenings...we'll see. 
• Spend less money. When I think of all the money I waste on everyday things it makes me sick, I really want to buckle down and put more towards retirement.
• Treat myself a little more...my last mani/pedi was the day before Carson was born! Unacceptable.

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2011!