Merry Christmas?????

Well, Katie's first Christmas wasn't exactly the day that I had planned. We were going to just be getting home from my dad and step mom's house in Indianapolis and spend the day just vegging out with the kids and my family. That all changed for us when on December 23rd Matt had a heart attack. Fortunately, if it did have to happen it at least happened when all the family was around and we were able to get him to emergency quickly. He started to complain that he was getting a chest cold which quickly elevated to laying on the floor grasping at his chest. I just got re certified for CPR but God help me, I didn't want to have to use it on an actual human being. From the emergency room he was transferred to St. Vincent Heart Hospital. God was watching over us because it is one of the top rated hospitals in the country. Our three day stay in Indy turned into almost 2 weeks as Matt had to have quintuple bypass surgery.

We are now home and he is getting better. Our lives right now center around doctor visits, getting medications right and me buying out the healthy heart cookbooks on Amazon. Matt is tired but he is healing. My Christmas present this year was bringing him home!

Katie also picked the same week to start crawling. And when I say crawling I mean it!! She is everywhere, non-stop go go go. She can stand herself up on pretty much anything and won't go to sleep without a fight. I really hope the novelty of standing in her crib wears off soon because I am tired!!!! Matt can't pick her up and it hurts him to hold her so i've been doing quite a bit of everything until he gets better. He still tries to do a lot so I spend a lot of time yelling at him too :-).

I have video of Katie crawling and standing but i'll have to post it later. Seems my time at the computer is a little less these days.

Il Neige!!

I have been taking lots more pictures of Katie now that we are getting close to Christmas! Today I took more pictures in front of the tree and also outside for her first snow.




I also bought her something new today. I just HAD to buy her Zwieback toast but have been having a hard time finding it. Well, Meijer's had it today so she got a new treat. These things are messy!!!

Almost that time!!!!

Since we got about 7" of snow overnight we decided today would be a great day to put up the tree!! Of course we had to take some pictures and video of Katie so I thought I would share. Nothing big happening for us today, Katie is doing great and everyone is happy!!!

What they don't tell you...

So here I find myself pregnant again (really, I need to figure out what causes it!!!) and now I like to think of myself as kind of an "expert" on the whole thing. I know people have had way more children than I ever will, i'm certainly not a Mrs. Duggar by any means. BUT, having "been there and done that" at least once, I like to think I know one or two things about this whole ordeal we call "pregnancy". I periodically get updates on friends of a friend who are pregnant with their first. One of my best friends currently has 6 pregnant friends, all due around the same time. I get to hear about some of their ailments and sometimes I chuckle because it only gets worse!! So here's my list of things people don't tell you about pregnancy and childbirth - and don't tell you for good reason:

1. Your nose will be stuffed up throughout most of the pregnancy. There is absolutely nothing you can do about this except learn to breathe through your mouth.
2. The waking up at 3 and 4 and 5 and not being able to sleep is NOT conditioning you for waking up with a newborn. There is nothing on this planet that can prepare you for only getting two hours of sleep at a time, 24 hours a day, for at LEAST 2 months straight. NOTHING.
3. Later in pregnancy (and earlier in your second pregnancy) you will pee your pants every single time you sneeze, cough or laugh. This does NOT go away after the baby is born. If anything it gets worse. And I have to say that with multiple pregnancies you may as well kiss "normal" function of your bladder good bye.
4. While giving birth you will poop and pee on the table. And as much as this horrifies you, you and the nurse cleaning it up will probably be the only ones who know this is happening. For some reason this is completely normal and no one else in the room really seems to care or notice.
5. While giving birth you will most likely push out the largest hemorrhoid ever recorded in history. This will not easily go away and will scare you away from the bathroom for months. Get a prescription, it will help. Also, you will probably eat stool softener like they are Pez. They will be your friend.
6. Later in pregnancy, buy slip on shoes. I give props to anyone who can still tie a shoe at 8 months pregnant.
7. You can write out the most detailed birthing plan, practice breathing, get your focus pictures ready, birthing balls packed, music picked out and just know how everything is going to transpire once you get to the hospital. Throw all of these things away, you won't be needing them. Nature will decide how things go and no matter how prepared you think you may be, you're NOT. I can promise you it won't go as planned.
8. Don't poo poo an epidural or pain meds. Some people can do it but most can't. And if you are induced you may as well have them hook up the epidural at the same time the Pitocin starts. This is the worst pain you will ever feel and i'm sorry but those stupid birthing classes are to just trick you into thinking there is a "natural" way around the pain. HAHAHAHA!!!!!
9. Speaking of pain meds...be prepared for the epidural to NOT WORK. Then you can really be mad at the birthing classes and breathing techniques that don't work.
10. I'm still waiting for the "magical moment" when I hold my baby and the memory of the pain just disappears.
11. I'm sure there are many more things I could go into but i'll stop. Just remember that how bad the pain gets and how awful things may be, it really is a short time and you will get through it.

It's a...!!!

BOY!!!!

So much for a Natalie. Guess we're going to have a Nathan! I'm not sure if we have officially picked that name out but we both actually like it so it has to be in the running.

Ultrasound went really well. The baby is growing exactly as he should be, measuring right on, everything is functioning properly and he looks great. They have 3D capabilities so I have some pictures of his face. But they don't look too great yet since the baby is still a skeleton with skin. I personally think he looks like Katie in the 3D pics but Matt thinks i'm crazy.

So..........now we need boy stuff!!!

Let's try this again!!!

I don't think the link to the video worked last time so here goes again!!!

Funny Girl!

Don't you wish you were a baby and the smallest things made you laugh like this?

I haven't posted in a while so there are a couple of new things I guess. Katie has two teeth on the bottom. I don't see anymore wanting to poke through but she has two!! She's extremely whiney today so maybe there are more to come soon. Today she tried really hard to get up on all 4's but just kept pushing herself backwards. I can tell she wants to go somewhere but she just can't yet. The funny thing is, if I am in the room she doesn't really move around a whole lot. If I leave the room i'll come back and she'll be half way across the room. I'm not sure how she gets there but she does!

I'm feeling okay but really tired still. I have more energy than I did in the beginning but these cold, gloomy days don't really help my energy level. Otherwise I feel fine. I haven't had a migraine in almost two weeks so that's a blessing. I'm about 18 weeks now so I really hope they are gone.

Well, not a whole lot to say today but wanted to post a video of Katie from the weekend.