Happy Hallow- WEEN!

Happy Halloween from the Soup family. Pics to come soon- Isn't it just so that the older and more ACTIVE Keifer is getting, the less and less pictures I have to post? Ahh, yes. Life in our house is busy and I have pictures to upload but have been too tired at night to do so!
Soon, I promise...............
and yes, K is saying "hallow - WEEN!" just like a song we sing at Baby ballroom. She also learned "trick or treat" at Elaine' s yesterday when they had their party. Our girl apparently got VERY upset when she was denied from eating ALL the candy she collected in her bag. (hee hee).
We aren't taking her trick or treating- she just won't "get" the whole idea of what this is all about, and we don't really want her eating a ton of unwanted CANDY, nor do daddy and I want it, soo..............there's always next year :)

Make it stop...."I know!"

Dear Lord, make the morning sickness STOP. I am SO thankful and blessed to be PG again, thanks to our anonymous egg donor, etc. etc...but the morning sickness has GOT to stop. I'm around 7 weeks PG at this point, and this is when it "hit me" last PG. Ugg. I cannot handle feeling like this. Deep breathing, drinking my Ginger Brew, and sucking on candies. Nothing really seems to help. Daddy is leaving town on Saturday for the night, and K and I are going to stay home. I just pray that my sickies stay away so I can take care of my girl.

The spotting has slowed down A LOT. Thank God.
Feeling crampy off and on, but nothing like last week. Whew.
My boobs are getting a bit bigger, and are starting to FINALLY feel a bit sensitive. YAY for a chest again (hee hee).

I was feeling really good last night, so I hit the gym and did some moderate cardio on the treadmill for 35 minutes, and some light weights and squats. My legs are feeling it this AM. I don't want to turn into Jello legs like I did last time. I have to keep up with my Keifer girl, and make sure I can still handle her when she decides to throw her tantrums. Hee hee.

I have to say, last PG I was thrilled when I started pouching out and getting "plump" in my baby area, but this time, I haven't gained any weight whatsoever YET. This makes me happy. I''m not ready to trade in my new clothes I worked hard to wear YET for the maternity stuff. I have all winter to wear it :)

Keifer's latest phrase, besides EVERY darn thing we say in her parroting voice, is to say "I KNOW" just like mama does. Hee hee. I said something to CJ this AM and I heard her voice pipe up from her room in response, "I KNOW!". Oh, she is a joy!

Feeling better & supersonic ears on our Keifer

I'm feeling much better today- my spotting (well, bleeding, really) has slowed down considerably. I figured it was from the U/S wand, but still, seeing all that RED down there can really make you freak out. I didn't take it easy last night (LOL); I took K to her ballroom class, and had a ball (snicker). She loves her friends and dancing, although she took a turn for the crabbies halfway through class when she decided to be cranky because she was HUNGRY (that's what you get for refusing to eat dinner, Keifer). She was tired, too. I felt SO much better AFTER dancing (alone, no lifting) during class- maybe my body needs more movement vs. less? Who knows.
Anyhoo, I went home and posted my update on my Facebook and then laid down for the night. I have NO issues sleeping, so that is nice.

As for my girl Keifer, well, she is a funny gal. Every AM whenever I decide to have my oatmeal, she now knows what the "tinking" of the spoon against my bowl means. Those ears of hers are supersonic! I will be in the bathroom, shoveling the oatmeal in my mouth, when suddenly I"ll hear this voice from the crib in her room: "pease? pease? more? bite? bite? pease?". So I'll go in her room where she'll be standing up in her crib, surrounded by her books and toys we put in there to entertain her, and she's giggling for some oatmeal. I share my last few bites with her and we giggle away together. Damn, she is cute. I love her so (sigh).

Drum roll:

Sorry for my delay in posting this- blogger and my work computer don't agree sometimes, so I haven't been able to log on to update blogland with our news:
CJ and I went to the doctor this AM to have my ultrasound, and we were blessed to see ONE little heartbeat flickering at us. Whew. One heartbeat = one baby. No twins (whew). Not that twins wouldn't have been a welcome joy, but it would've changed our lives in more ways than we really wanted to at this point in time (aka new car, no new house for a long time, no job for a year for mommy = no $$).
Anyhoo, the doctor was fabulous and reassuring. The heartbeat was around 108 BPM, and she said at this early of a time, between 108 and 112 is considered "normal". She gave us two printouts of the little fleck of rice, and one with the yolk sac clearly in view (which will soon be the placenta). I don't have a scanner, so I can't post them; however, in all honesty, you'd be squinting to try and figure out where the heck the baby is!

The bad news: Since I've been back from the visit, I've been gushing bright red (thin, though) blood. I know chances are it's because of the ultrasound wand being shoved up me and yanked around this way and that, and the cervix is a delicate state right now. It doesn't help matters, though, that I never had any spotting or bleeding AT ALL with Keifer, and this one is giving us a run for our money already. I just spoke with the doctor and she said unless the bleeding gets heavier, not to worry about it. She sure didn't sound worried. Damn, I hate being in this position of "wondering". I know we saw the heartbeat flickering away, but man, I couldn't lose it this fast,could I? She said the chances of losing the baby after confirming a heartbeat are less than 5%. I'm praying I''m not in that 5%.

Our next ultrasound is scheduled for November 5. I hope we have good news then!

Rock concerts for toddlers?

CJ and I did it: we splurged and purchased tickets to Elmo's Green Thumb, which will be here in January.
Both of us are as squirrely as a teen aged girl going to her first concert. We are really hoping Keifer enjoys it, as we are 6th row, front and center.

Oye, 2 years ago I was at Justin in January (with K in my belly) and now I'll be at Elmo, with another babe in my belly. My, how times have changed!

Mommy & Daddy have a getaway

Last week, CJ and I had a romantic getaway for a night. My parents came down to watch Keifer for us, and we drove through the beautiful Fall colors about an hour or so southeast to the small city of Red Wing. We bummed around the small town, ate a lot of unneeded food, and hiked up the infamous Barn Bluff. I took it slow, as to keep my heart rate down, but what a beautiful walk it was.

We giggled that whenever I get news that I am PG, or am newly PG, we decide to go for hikes, as that was the case when I was first PG with Keifer and we had a getaway night.

Red Wing was beautiful, and the pictures of Barn Bluff don't to the sights justice. We stayed at the historic St. James hotel, and stayed in one of the older rooms, which was named after a ship. It was a very quaint room, and after bumming around, eating, and taking in a matinee movie (Body of Lies, which didn't impress either CJ or myself), we chose to watch TV and snack on room service for dinner. The real luxury was being able to sleep in the next AM. On our drive home, we took a side road to another apple orchard, where CJ purchased a scrumptious apple pie that we devoured in 2 days afterwards!

The best part about the trip, though, was coming home and hearing our Keifer girl scream at the top of her lungs in her excitement to see us! Ahh, that was the best of the best.

Starting our hike up Barn Bluff

Here I go, lugging my body (and lots of water!)
Beautiful scenery

CJ at the top

Self-portrait

A view of the Mississippi River

Steep stairs (no, we didn't climb them)

A view of downtown Red Wing

A picture of part of our room

Go, Vikings! (Halloween, 2008)

Yesterday, we had our rescheduled photo shoot for K's Halloween pictures/18 month photo. We went to Flash! again, in our local mall, which is where we had her 1 year pictures taken. They are a bit (well, very) pricey, but I had a coupon for $19 for the session (1/2 hour) plus an 8x10, a 5x7 and 8 wallets. Totally worth it. We had a million fantastic shots to choose from, so it was very hard to choose.

Anyhoo, this is our little Vikings fan. The outfit was the easiest for us to dress her in - she was still refusing the pink poodle, and the Princess dress just didn't interest her. I figure we have many more years ahead of us to have her choose her costume, God willing.

Here she is, modeling her new puppy backback (leash), Thanks to Anne for giving us this + the bear! Is daddy walking her or is she walking daddy?

Of course, she was agreeable to the Tiara AFTER our photo shoot! HA!

Love, love, love, love, love.....

In honor of K's favorite song, I'm Yours, by Jason Mraz, I thought these pictures were appropriate at showing expressions of her love. She is just such a cuddle bug these days; man, do I love this girl.

Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love

This is her and Mason's pose when we said "give a hug"

Cousins and friends
Cuddling puppy cousin, Dexter

Loving on puppy cousin, Dexter

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Random example of play time with Keif

Disregard my awful voice (especially the singing bits). Are all 18 months this ADD? LOL
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Drunk Pumpkin

I bet many of you can recall a Halloween party that made you feel like this, huh?

The girl makes me laugh

Keifer is blowing us all away lately with her incredible parroting of everything we say, and also her ability to tell us what she's thinking pretty damn clearly.
In no way do I want to come across as bragging or showing off, but my GAWD, the girl is amazing to me!

The other day at Elaine's, when I was picking her up, she was drinking out of her sippy cup. She paused, looked up at me, and said clearly, "I drinkin' water". I had a hard time picking my jaw up off the floor.

Yesterday, Elaine told me that after Keifer bit Alex (again), she looked at Elaine, and said "Alex is crying". Yes, he was, Keifer my girl. Ahhhhhhh.

This morning, when CJ loaded her into her car seat, and we were getting ready to pull out of the garage, I turned the radio on and Keifer immediately started wiggling back and forth in her seat, to the music. She looked at CJ through the window and said "dance, daddy". She was telling him she is a dancing machine (as if we didn't know that!).

Sunday before church, Keifer was eating breakfast with CJ. I slept in a little later, but got up to say hello, and then went into the bathroom to take a shower. Apparently Keifer looked at CJ and said "mama potty" matter-of-factly. Yes, she knows what the bathroom is used for.

She is very fond of telling us things are "broken", and she loves to carry her bucket for her blocks or a purse around, telling us "bye bye, bye bye!". I guess carrying your purse means you are leaving.

Our girl has also started temper tantrums in FULL FORCE. Ironically, the day I found out I was PG, I had stopped at Target to pick up a few things, including Home Pregnancy tests. I put our cart away, and brought Keifer into the bathroom, as I really needed to use it. She came with me, me holding her hand, but leaving the bathroom didn't go over as well. She tried to pull me back into the bathroom, and when I insisted she hold my hand and leave for the doors, she became a limp noodle, dropped to the ground and proceeded to scream, cry and flail about. I became very red-faced, but kept my calm and even laughed out loud at my girl (despite the fact I was sweating like a man-woman trying to haul her and the 2 bags of my stuff out the door).

Yesterday was not easy leaving Elaine's. Our girl has fallen in love with the kiddie rakes and raking leaves in the large yard. Well, I didn't allow her her outdoor play time, and she refused to cooperate getting into her car seat. She literally did the back arch/limp noodle thing for almost 10 minutes, screaming and sobbing so hard she was pretty much gagging herself. I put ALL my weight into trying to strap her in, to no avail. How can a 30 pound child have that much strength?

We've discovered (by accident, but YAY!), that our girl LOVES to doodle on my magna doodle I brought her from my work. She LOVES it. When she pulls the lever to the side to erase what she's drawn, she is so damn cute, saying "all done? all done?". She is still biting markers and prefers to draw all over herself with markers, so I'm a bit hesitant to stop with the magna doodle at this point in time.

Bye Bye

I am not a big Mariah Carey fan. Not at all. I never have been, and probably never will be. However, I have enjoyed a few of her songs throughout the years.

This summer, her song/video Bye Bye was featured on VH1's Jumpstart pretty much every morning, when Keif and I were starting out our day. Although I'm not a big fan of the song, I have to admit the video and listening to the lyrics has me tearing up every damn time I hear it. I saw it at the gym about a month ago, and had to re-focus on something else because I didn't want to get caught sobbing to a video at the gym.

I guess the reason it touches me, is because she flashes pictures of people that have passed away, that obviously have meant something to her in her life.

Whenever I see this video, or hear the song, I immediately think of the family and friends I've lost in the past few years. The biggest loss lately, would be my Grandma Gina last December, and my Papa this past July. I'm still sad about losing the two of them, but I do know that they are in a better place. I just hope and pray that they are able to look down and see that I am PG again, and it makes them happy that Keifer will be a big sister. I told Grandma the last time I saw her to whisper in God's ear for a baby, and she said she would. Maybe she did? Who knows. If she did, I'm willing to be it's a girl baby, and if so, it'll be K*** Whitney - Whitney as her middle name in honor of my Grandma's maiden name.

How am I feeling?

I've had SO many people at work stopping to see how I'm doing, and I know many of my family members are wondering, so I'll give you another update.

It's hard to believe, but based on our egg retrieval day (the day the eggs were fertilized), I am around 6 weeks PG. I cannot believe I am this far along in the process already. It's amazing to me.

I'm still spotting, though not as heavily or as often as earlier this week. It continues to be brown (old blood) thank God, and a little pink here and there.

I'm still cramping, but again, not as awful as I was early in the week. I've been doing a whole lot of NOT moving, which is driving me stir crazy, but I feel better about things.

Looking back on older blog posts, from when I was this far along with Keifer, I chuckle because I was SO hungry all the time. I'm not as hungry this time around, and when I eat, I don't really want to eat very much. I'm finding that I am queasy here and there, but not consistently (let's pray that holds off), although sometimes I'm getting the sick feeling after I eat food.

I'm exhausted all the time, so that is reassuring to me. The tireds have hit and I'll tell you , it's so hard to work in the afternoon after lunch when all I want to do is allow my sand-filled eyes to close and just snooze, even sitting up at my desk! LOL.

My sense of smell is still pretty intense, though it has been varying, which somewhat freaked me out earlier this week. It's back, though, and the smell of playdough in my room has me almost developing a headache!
And, based on the judgements of my coworker, my boobs are getting bigger. LOL. Yes, 6 weeks along and my chest is definitely swelling a bit, something I am very happy about, although I have much of the medications I'm on to thank for that as well.

My big Ultrasound is at our clinic on Monday morning at 10:45, so I'm counting the minutes until we actually see a soup baby inside me. I'm still not letting go of my worries. Praying for a strong PG, even if it means I get (again): 1) morning sickness, 2)carpal tunnel in my wrists, 3) Gestational Diabetes, and 4) Shrek like feet and legs.

Leave me a comment! :)

Stop in and say hello!
My people tracker tells me I have a lot of visitors each day, but I rarely hear from many of you. Sure, I have the faithful followers who are so kind and sweet, but I wonder, who else is reading about the Soup family?
Thanks!

I loved this book:

Last Thursday, CJ and I went out of town for a night, leaving Keifer in the capable hands of Papa Dale & Nana.

I read this book, The Art of Racing in the Rain, on the drive home, and finished it that night. You must read it, especially if you love animals in stories. This is a story told by the viewpoint of the dog, and I loved it. I must admit, I was a bit apprehensive to read it, for fear of a sobbing fit, as most animal stories have me sobbing at the end. I knew it would be emotional, but I didn't think this was AS emotional as Marley and Me was, which was good, because that means I only cried a LITTLE bit.
I highly recommend this!

And just as a reminder, I have my 50 book challenge post listed on the top of the right side of my sidebar. I keep adding to it, as I finish books, so if you're looking for a new read, be sure to check out what I've been reading!

She's a dancing, dancing, dancing MACHINE!

There is nothing she loves better than: 1) dancing, and 2) Elmo!
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A dish of tidbits

I ordered the book Teeth are Not For Biting today - after K has now had 4 (or is it 5?) separate biting incidents at Elaine's. Poor Alex seems to be the brunt of most of her frustrations. Apparently, today, they were fighting over a toy that they each had (clones) but K wanted his (the woman is never satisfied). She crouched to chomp on his hand and apparently did so with less force than previous times. She knows "no bite" when we talk about it, and believe me, every AM when we get dressed or pull into Elaine's driveway, we repeat our mantra: "no biting, no bite, no bite" (complete with the "no no" head shake), so hopefully that message is getting through loud and clear.

Along the way to buy this book, I noticed Tails are Not For Pulling. Since we have two puppies in our home, and Miss K is learning about pet etiquette, I decided to buy that one, as well. She has just recently attempted to pull Treble's tail 2 x, and has gotten the warning growl. I say, "good for you, Tboy, you tell her NO!". Typically, Keifer stays pretty clear of Treble and vice versa, but lately she's been obsessed with trying to kiss him again, which didn't go over too well the first time she tried (he growled and gave her a harsh bark, scaring us all). Lest you worry that Treble would harm Keifer, no worries. He knows he is not supposed to go near her with any type of force, and we never leave the two of them (or with Sage) alone or unsupervised (we know we cannot ever fully trust ANY animal!)

Since I was online ordering books, I noticed Amazon was having a buy 3 get one free deal with some of their books. So, me being the book connoisseur that I am, I had to pull the plug on that one! :) Because Keifer is so in love with Sheep in a Jeep lately, I decided to try Sheep in a Shop, as well as Sheep Trick or Treat. I'm not sure if she'll enjoy either one of them as much as she enjoys Sheep in a Jeep. She will literally grab the book out of my hands when I'm done reading it to her, turn the pages and "read" them to me. "Uh oh", "baaa", "uh oh". It's so damn sweet to witness: my 18 month old READING to me *my heart, my heart*.

I had Sager in to the vet again last Wednesday. She was in over a month ago for the same condition: we'd get near her, to touch her or pick her up and she's literally scream (have you ever heard a Jack Russell/Rat Terrier SCREAM? It is intense). So I spent my morning last week in the vet's office, while Sass had Xrays, etc.. The vet was very gentle with her and gave her a shot, of some type of steroid. The vet seems to think it has to do wtih some tissue inflamation along her back (like maybe a bad bruise?), but her spine and everything else on the Xray looked to be in fantastic order. He commented on how healthy she appears to be. We've been giving her pills (Prednisone) since then, along with some anti-anxiety med that knocks her out along the way. Poor Sass. I hope she isn't prone to this her whole life. She's only around 4 years old, she is too young for all these problems!

Speaking of steroids, our girl K is still on the steroids and nebulizer for her sickies. CJ took her to the doctor yesterday (one week after her 18 month appointment, and 2 days after her Urgent Care visit). The doc suggested we give her some type of medication on a daily basis to act as a preventative to her breathing issues, which may be pre-asthmatic. I'm not sure what to think. CJ couldn't remember the name of the medication. If it's something like an allergy medication, I think it'll be OK. But if it's anything else, I'm a bit leery about it. However, listening to my girl breathe and hack and cough is miserable and I don't want her to suffer whenever the air turns cold. We'll see how this turns out.

And onto me. I met with a personal trainer last Thursday, as I had Thursday and Friday off of work (MEA week for Educators in Minnesota). Anyhoo, I met with Heather this past summer, and took advantage of my membership's free session of training. I used her tips and ideas faithfully for a few months and although I didn't lose as much poundage as I had hoped, I definitely felt better, knew I looked better, and dammit, the jeans I wore pre-PG with Keifer finally fit! Well, most of them did; some are still a bit too snug in the hips, which I think Keifer ruined with her size when she was inside me.

But, I met with Heather on Thursday AM and got a whole new routine set up that is low impact and works with the lowest possible weights ever, but still gives me a bit of resistance. I'm all about keeping it safe with workouts, and not pushing it, but I also hope to NOT become a slug bug like I did with Keifer. I just can't afford to put all that weight on again, and be expected to rush after my 18 month crazy, wild child! Plus, knowing me, I feel better when I'm doing SOME type of activity that is deemed "exercise" and "good for you". However, due to the fact that I've been spotting and cramping, I've put the work out sessions on hold until I feel better, and we find out that for sure I have a soup baby inside me. I don't want to cause anything to go wrong, at this stage of the game. Last night, I laid on the couch from 5PM until bedtime, and today at work, I lazed around in my chair, doing as minimal as possible. I'm hoping and praying that the spotting is because little soup baby is pushing his/her way deeper into my uterine wall, where it can start to suck the life right outta me! LOL. I'm not sure if it's in my head, but I think I MIGHT be starting to feel a bit more queasy in the morning before work. Which is both a good thing and a bad thing: good that the baby is sticking, bad that mama might have to go thru that agony again. Oh well, I'd rather be sick and happy, then not sick and not PG. *praying*

Alas, the poodle is not so popular.

We tried on K's pink poodle Halloween costume last week, in hopes of getting her used to it for her 18 month/Halloween portraits coming up. She loves to talk about the "puppy" and look at the puppy,but forget about wearing the puppy. Oh no. So we're not sure if we'll be putting her in this again this weekend. What do you think? Any suggestions? What about the following?

Should she be a Princess?
Or a Vikings Cheerleader? (her daddy's fave team?) And, if so, which one, left or right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And, in my news, I'm continuing to spot, but not so much as yesterday. It's still brown, thank God. The cramps are not as severe, but I'm laying pretty low. Last night, CJ was super daddy/super DH and let me lie on the couch from 5PM until bedtime. I'm sitting a LOT here at work, which is difficult when you work with 3-5 year olds! Just hoping and praying all is well at our Ultrasound next Monday, the 27th!

Updates: nurse called me back

Well, I'm continuing to spot this AM, mostly brown with some pink tinged in there. I'm downing a lot of water, so I'm going frequently. I'm still having some bad cramps, but wonder if the chili I ate for dinner -which had a lot of tomatoes and spicy but not alot of beans- could be causing the cramps? Ugg. This sucks.
The nurse said not to worry unless the spotting goes way into period like flow (heavy) and if the pain turns into severe onset of intense pain in my abdomen area. She said that might be an indicator of an ectopic pregnancy. I'm hoping that little Soup baby #2 is healthy and giving me a run for my money because he/she is making herself comfy.

To make matters more fun, Keifer is home sick today with CJ. He stayed home with her because she is still rattling in her chest, coughing like a fiend, and is going around telling us she needs to blow her nose by blowing it out super loud wherever she goes. She is a hoot. The steroids she's on are making her all jacked up and crying at the drop of a hat.
When I called to check on her, I told her "love you" and she said "love you" in her little voice back to me. Ahhh.

Freaking out - brown spotting

I know brown spotting is usually normal, but I've been crampy so far most every day and am worried that the brown spotting tonight might get worse. Please send prayers that all is OK inside for soup baby!!! Ugg, tomorrow AM cannot get here fast enough! I have lots to blog about(I made lists of topics I want to share) but Keif being sick and life is keeping me away from blogging time.
Please send prayers! Thank you!

Poor K: she's got the sickies again

Well, exactly one month to the weekend night, K once again has the respiratory crud that she had before. She was awake off and on from 3AM until 6:30 AM today. CJ went in to change her diaper and called me: she had the chest retractions again, and needed to be nebulized immediately. It seemed to help, but 2 hours later, she needed another treatment. Of course, today we had scheduled her 18 month/Halloween pictures, so we rescheduled those until next Saturday.

After lunch, CJ and I took our girl to Urgent Care, where she received steroids and another treatment from the doctor. They wanted to monitor her reaction to the medications, and once satisfied with her breathing, sent us on our way with our prescriptions for more steroids. Ahh, the fun of medicating our little one. Poor girl. She's been so good throughout all this, even though she cried and screamed when the poor doctor only wanted to listen to her heartbeat. You'd have thought she was getting her shots again the way she was resisting.
She's now in bed, after whimpering for mommy to come and rub her face so she could get to sleep. Of course, I obliged her. My poor angel girl.

How did 18 months go this fast?

"Hello, Papa(s)? Nana(s)? I have some news!
I went to the doctor and got more shots and am still in the higher percentiles for my age!"

Keifer's 18 month old stats:

• Weight: 29 lbs, 14 ounces--95% (the lowest she's ever been *gasp*)
• Length: 34 1/2 inches -- 97%
• Head: 19 1/2 centimeters --97%
  
• Can someone please tell me where the past 18 months have gone? Have you seen my baby girl? My baby Keifer is not a "baby" anymore. She has grown into this big monster of a girl, who doesn't simply walk anywhere. Oh no, she runs and dances and practically skips away as fast as she can go, her little motor inside her saying "go go go".
• Keifer continues to love music with a passion. If she doesn't like the song I have on the radio or CD playing, she makes herself clear from the back seat that this "song" isn't going to cut it. When she hears one she does approve of, she'll clap and say "yay". I cannot even begin to count the number of words she's using, but she's moved into two-word phrases, and is so funny. Besides the usual "want ___", "hi, ____", she's also saying to inanimate objects, such as apples. We had to say "hi, apples" to the apples in the orchard this past weekend, and of course, we always have to say goodbye to everything and everyone as well. Our girl is a social being.

• She also continues to love her dancing to the music, and Baby Ballroom is the highlight of both mama and K's week. Mama isn't able to lift her anymore, since I have restrictions on my PG and not lifting over 20 lbs, but the girls at class have been bending over backwards to help with Keifer, and for that, I am so grateful. Keifer's highlight of the dance class is usually the parachute songs and games, and at the end of parachute, we have to say goodbye to 'chute' and blow many kisses. She has to know it's going bye-bye.

• Keifer is also putting people in her lives together in her little mind. For example, when I pick her up, she'll put her hands up in the air in that questioning "where" stance, and say "daddy? daddy?". Or, if she sees Nana, but not Papa, she'll say to Nana, "Papa? Papa?", and vice versa with whoever she sees minus their partner. Abby is her beloved cousin lately. Abby was here a few weeks ago and Keifer literally shrieks with love and joy and throws herself into Abby's arms. I told Abby next summer she might have to stay with us a day of the week to entertain Keifer, who thinks the moon and sun rises and sets on her. It's so heartwarming to watch this relationship grow.
  
• Keifer has unfortunately started biting our friends at daycare as recently as the past week, so we're working on using words instead of our mouth and teeth. She's started picking up the sign for "help" and "stop" and I encourage her to use these instead of her mouth. Ugg. I've become the parent of "that child". It's humiliating, yet I've been hearing more and more from other parents that their children went through this as well. We're working hard on this. Today, our girl did better, she was constantly praised for NOT chomping on a friend, and she received a certificate for being kind to her friends *giggle*. If anyone has any more tips on how to put the kabosh on this, we'd love to hear!

Running around Auntie & Uncle's back yard in /through the leaves Where's Nana?
Up, up, up the tree

She liked the pumpkins on Saturday
But she especially loved baby Aidan
He was a fun baby (she kept swooning over him all day)

It's official: we have another soup baby(ies) in me!

Apparently my body does OK with the PG part of the process: it's the getting PG that is our biggest hurdle. Damn eggs.

The nurse called: my HCG numbers:

Friday: 51.3

Today: 153

She said they want to see them double, and mine tripled so that is great! Let's continue to pray for a healthy PG! Stick, baby(ies), stick!

My EDD (estimated due date) is June 18!
We'll be hearing from the clinic to schedule our first Ultrasound to confirm this PG! That should be the week of October 26-November 2 - at some point.

My HCG numbers the first time around:
First day: 47.7
Second day: 87.7

A is for Apple: a teaser while we wait for "The Call"

Saturday, CJ, Keifer and I went to an apple orchard with Courtney, Kyle and 6 month old Aidan. We had a ball. It was hot and sticky (read: sweaty), the hornets were out and freaking me out, as were the ladybugs - or are they the Japenese beetle bugs? Anyhoo. Keifer had a wonderful time,and I have MANY pictures to share, but thought I'd just share a few while I sneak on from work quickly.

I had my 2nd BLOOD TEST this AM. I am waiting for "the call". Six (yes, 6) pee sticks later I am apparently still PG according to the HCG in my urine. Let's hope that remains true in my blood *deep breaths*

K chomping on one of MANY apples she picked up/off a tree in the orchard fresh picked apple: *chomp* Mmm, was it good!
two super cool gals in their shades
I think most of my excitement was my being able to dress K in her apple shirt and leggings! LOL

Signs and Sticks

Keifer is an Aries....born in April, full of life and playful.

She has a strong will and a mind of her own.
Our next baby(ies) will most likely be a Gemini, due in June, God willing.
This was this AM, 11dp5dt.

Continue to keep us in your prayers. My final blood test isn't until Monday, and we want to make sure my HCG numbers are doubling as they should. But:

my sense of smell, my recent forgetfulness, my recent sleepiness, and my recent continuous cramping makes me think that this will stick!

I couldn't have gotten PG without ALL of your love, support, PRAYERS, and good vibes. I just pray that this is a good PG ahead of me!

Welcome - sign in and say HELLO to me!

Surfing Skype: calling Papa & Nana

Or as Keifer likes to say: "Papanana" all in one fell swoop. Our girl (as I've mentioned previously) LOVES her Papas and Nanas. Whenever she hears our computer's Skype phone ringing, she starts shrieking, "Papa! Papa!" and runs to the computer. She now associates the computer with her beloved grandparents, and each time we chat with them, our girl can usually be depended on to share some "Mwah" kisses with them, when she's not taking breaks to run around the living room like a wild banshee.

Keifer is starting to use 2 word short phrases consistently, and is singing even MORE songs lately, if that's even possible. Her favorite phrases now are "hi, ____", (baby, Sage, mama, daddy), and "bye, _____". She's also describing things "big truck!" and can be found looking for sympathy each and every time she bumps any body part on something. She will rub the spot, make her pouty face and say "owie". The other night at Baby Ballroom, she noticed the dirt on the bottom of her bare feet, and she took a break to try and wipe them off. "Dirty" she kept saying. She'll hold her hands out to me and say this at dinner time, too "dirty". But, the most common phrase CJ and I hear about 200 billion times a day? "Want Elmo, want Elmo, want Elmo". *sigh*.

Hmm, this is what mama or daddy does when they sit here.

And then they click this thing they call a mouse.....
..and there is Papa & Nana on the computer screen!

Houston: we have pee pee in the potty!

Tonight, K signed "potty" and said "potty" to us, so I told CJ to bring her up to the potty chair in our bathroom that's been sitting there as an introduction, and she sat down and peed! I was screeching and clapping and excited and even took a picture of her first potty chair filled with her pee pee. I don't know if she was all that excited, but she was a little bit proud looking. She just wanted to get her clothes back on and stick her feet in the potty chair, like she has been doing lately. LOL.

Wordless Wednesday: Pink (lady) slippers: Just like mama

K is proud as punch cruising around the house in her new slips, just like mama.

One embryo left

We just received the letter from the embryologist today in the mail.
Out of the 11 that were "still going strong" on our 5 day transfer day, only 1 embryo made it to freeze. Out of 11. For some reason, my heart has dropped a little in my chest. I'm not sure why. We didn't have any leftovers the first time, and I didn't need any. This time, I'm a little nervous. What if we don't have a successful cycle? We have one embryo left, and will that be able to be the life we want instead?
Trying to not think negative, and think of the fact that most likely we won't need to worry about leftovers........but it's hard, man. It's hard.

Symptoms?

Today I feel: continuously crampy. Non-stop crampy. Not sure if it's a good thing or not. Also, just realizing that the cramps are somewhat also happening in my cervix area. This happened with Kefier. I specifically remember hiking with CJ around Cove Point Lodge and wondering if the cramps in my cervix were a symptom.
OMG. I am on pins and needles. The weekend cannot get here fast enough.

Is it next Monday yet?

Seriously -how am I supposed to wait until NEXT Monday to hear the news if I'm PG or not? *silently screaming*

Harness buddies

With Keifer entering toddler hood with her bang - complete with whining, throwing herself on her back when told to do something undesirable to her (like get in the car), and pushing CJ and I to our extreme limits, I've decided it's time to purchase something like the safety backpack for her. Knowing that she loves to run, er, walk quickly in public places rather than holding someone's hand *gasp*, and knowing we are traveling over Christmas in crowded airports, I wondered if anyone had any knowledge on what safety backpacks you've used?
And yes, we are teaching her that she DOES have to hold our hands when we want her to, no matter what (aka listen to the "rules" of mom and dad), but sometimes I do want her to be able to run and exercise her little legs.
What do you think? And, which one do you like better? *hee hee*