Joys of Being Pregnant

Friday I will be 15 weeks pregnant.  Only 25 more weeks to go.  March just seems so far away.  Oh well, I get to wish Winter away, so I am not complaining!  The good news is my extreme exhaustion and nausea is over for the most part.  I am sleeping better and enjoying watching my belly grow.  I am trying to embrace my 2nd Trimester as much as I can because once I reach the 3rd Trimester I am back to feeling uncomfortable, tired, and ready to be done.

The last week has been rather interesting.  First I have a horrible cold/cough that just won't go away. (The coughing doesn't help with my bladder control issues.) I went to our family doctor to get checked out.  She prescribed me a Z-pac which is really not working and noticed my Thyroid felt "generous".  ( I guess that is what they use to describe a Thyroid.)  So, I called my OB to get it tested.  The results came back that my Thyroid is Low.  So, back to my OB doctor for more tests.  The good news is that in further tests... my T3 and T4 levels are still within the normal range.  Now we just need to monitor every 3-4 weeks.

Another fun adventure was I had some bleeding this past weekend.  It's never a fun experience to see blood while being pregnant.  Now this didn't freak me out as much as I thought, since I had this same experience with Kaitlyn at 12 weeks.  I wasn't experiencing any cramping, so we decided to just wait it out.  Within 24 hours the bleeding was pretty much done and we were back on track.

Of course I went into the doctor after the weekend to just make sure nothing was out of the ordinary.  He checked the heartbeat - 150 and my cervix.  All is good!  His only advice was to NOT start exercising.  While I can surely take that advice.

Jay Cooke State Park

Sunday on our way home we decided to visit Jay Cooke State Park.  The fall colors were beautiful.  Here are some pictures from our short trip through the park.

 My mommy!

 Me and my Papa!

 Since Nate doesn't like pictures I took several gazing ones.

 Nate and my Papa!

 On the swinging bridge!

 Walking on the swinging bridge!

 That's a long way down!

Me and my Mommy! 

My Cousin Sara's Wedding

This past weekend my beautiful cousin Sara got married to her best friend Lenny.  My mom, dad, Nate and I traveled to Superior, WI while Kaitlyn spent the weekend in Mora with her cousins.  The weather was perfect.  It was fun to be with family. 

Nate isn't a big fan of getting his picture taken.  Can you tell?

Cousins!

 My mom and her brothers.  I am not sure what Lee is doing!

 My cousin Heather from Texas!

Me and My soon-to-be Brother Randy!

Bowling

A few weeks ago my mom and sister took Kaitlyn bowling for the first time.  She had a lot of fun bowling with my sister's nanny boys Kia and Soren.  Here are some pictures from the outing.

 Kaitlyn and Soren

Kaitlyn and Kia

And Than There Were Four!

We would like to tell our favorite blog readers... that our family of three will be a family of four on March 25th, 2011.  It could be sooner knowing my track record.  My doctor recommended that I take fish oil supplements.  This is suppose to reduce pre-mature labor and delivery... but what if I liked going 5 weeks early and not having to deal with the last few weeks of pregnancy? 

I have been told that each pregnancy is different and I can now say that I agree.  This pregnancy has been tolerable, but annoying.  I am always tired.  Nauseous in the afternoon and evening.  Mornings are the best for me.  The most annoying part is I have very little bladder control.  (I know TMI, but I like to share.)  It all started when I was pregnant with Kaitlyn.  Every time I would sneeze and had a full bladder.... I had a good chance of peeing my pants.  (Classy).... Well now, it's worse.  I have a cold and cough and I pee my pants all the time.  I am thinking that I should invest in some Depends.  (Okay, it's not that bad, but just annoying.)  I know that I should be doing my Kegel exercises, but who has time for that or thinks about doing them. 

Kaitlyn is convinced that she is having a baby sister.  We are going to wait until the delivery to find out.  We just want a happy and healthy baby.  (Of course we want the perfect family of one boy and one girl...) 

We had an ultrasound at 8 weeks to confirm my due date.  The ultrasound tech says... "You have a beautiful baby."  I respond... "Yep, It looks more like a blob to me." ... the tech than says... "Well next week it will have it's arms and legs... and the week after that all the fingers and toes." 

Cravings are not prominent right now.  I feel like I need to eat all the time to curb my nausea.  Good thing my weight gain isn't showing that yet.  Of course I am at that fun stage.... of... "Is she pregnant or just getting fat.?"  At about 8 weeks I popped out, but have stayed the same for the last 4 weeks.

12 Weeks

Kaitlyn's 3 Year Stats

We took Kaitlyn to her 3 year wellness check-up.  Here are her stats from what I remember.

Height - 50%
Weight - 3% - 29 lbs.

There is a slight concern for her weight, but she is a very picky eater.  If we would let her she would eat noodles every night for dinner.   At 2 year wellness appointment she was in the 50% tile for weight.  The good news is she following the growth chart perfectly.  When she was born she didn't even make the chart for height, so now she is holding strong in the middle.

At the end of the appointment she had a Flu shot, which she did not like at all!  My mom came and waited for us in the lobby.  When Kaitlyn saw her she started crying all over again (after I had her calmed down) and she told me mom.  "Nana, the doctor appointment hurt me."  Poor girl.

Preschool
This week at preschool Kaitlyn had the sharing bag and got to bring something to share with her classmates.  Kaitlyn decided to bring her "crying baby".  We aren't sure why she calls it her "crying baby" since it doesn't make any noises.  My mom thinks it is because this is the baby she keeps giving shots too and always seems to be crying when she is playing pretend daycare. 

Nana and Kaitlyn being silly!

First Day of Preschool

Today was Kaitlyn's First Day of Preschool at Zion Lutheran.  Kaitlyn was so excited to go to school.  Nana and mommy brought Kaitlyn to school and she knew just what to do.  She hung up her backpack and than went straight into the classroom.  She found her name tag and put it on the door.  I guess they learned this at the Open House we went to last week.  I was impressed she remembered.

Kaitlyn getting ready to go to school with her new backpack and new outfit.

Her new backpack is almost as big as her.

Kaitlyn and daddy waiting to go to school.

Kaitlyn ready for school to start.

After her first day we asked her what she did at school.  She said "I had banana's at school."  We asked, "What else did you do?"  Kaitlyn's response... "umm.  I don't remember."

Camping

The last few weekends we have spent camping.  We borrowed Nate's parents old pop camper and headed out for some fun weekends.

Our first camping weekend we went to Codger's Cove Campground in Howard Lake.  It's only about 20 minutes from our house, so we were able to bring our boat too.  We went with some of our friends and enjoyed a "hot and windy" weekend. 

The Theme for the weekend was Halloween, so Kaitlyn dressed up as a Princess and we went Trick or Treating around the campground.   It was fun to see how everyone decorated their campsites.

Sara and Kaitlyn on their way to the next stop for some more treats.

The guys maning the candy at our campsite. 

We had perfect campsites right next to the lake. 

Labor Day weekend we headed to St. Cloud to spend the weekend camping with Nate's family and friends.  The campground was perfect except it wasn't warm enough to open the pool.  Kaitlyn stayed entertained with her cousins and some friends.  The weather was a little chilly, but we managed and still had a great time.

Hailey and Kaitlyn showing off their new matching zippy's they got from Aunty Betty.  Kaitlyn and Hailey were best buds for the weekend.  Everything Hailey did... Kaitlyn was right behind.  I asked Kaitlyn what she wanted for dinner... Her response: "What's Hailey having?".  Hailey was a big help in persuading Kaitlyn to do something we wanted her to do.  If Hailey was going to the bathroom so did Kaitlyn.

We decided to continue Kaitlyn's Birthday celebration and have a small party for her while we were camping.  We had a fun game for the kids to play, cupcakes, and opened presents. 

Playing the music game!

Kaitlyn needed a little help figuring out what to do when the music stopped, but she figured it out very quickly.

Opening Presents and cards!

Look Mommy.  I got monies!  Every card after that she just looked for money. 

Cody and Darren!

The campground had lots of fun activities planned through out the weekend for kids and adults.  Saturday they had Hawaiian Ice treats and a Medallian hunt.  We didn't find the Medallian, but it was still fun to try.  Sunday they had a kid's carnival and Bingo in the evening for the adults and older kids.

Grandma helping Kaitlyn play one of the carnival games.

Cousin Gibson getting a bath!