My “before the baby is born” LIST

I am going to post my “to do” list in hopes that it will push me to get some of it done…

1. Get Trigger’s preemie-3month clothes out of attic.

2. Wash baby clothes.

3. Get cradle and bedding from brad and michelle.

4. Put Trigger’s retired clothes in the attic.

5. Wash cradle bedding.

6. Return carseat cover. (because Graco people are idiots..uh-hum…excuse me…sorry about that)

7. Switch Trigger’s carseat to other side of car and install infant seat.

8. Hang Trigger’s curtain rods.

9. Have cousins paint canvases for the baby’s room.

10. Buy frames for canvases.

11. Hang baseball hooks in Trigger’s room.

12. Clean out baby’s room.

13. Wrap Trigger’s gift from baby.

14. Take down Trigger’s canvases, hand/footprints, and pictures off of the baby’s walls and re-hang in Trigger’s room.

15. Buy a frame and hang our family picture.

16. Buy seat protector for Matt’s truck.

17. Buy inclined infant positioner for bed. 

18. Buy a few newborn-3 month going out/church outfits (Trigger had NONE because he didn’t go anywhere until 6-8 months and this baby will just have to)

19. Sterlize bottles and pacis.

20. Take bumper and boppy cover to be monogrammed.

21. Buy things for Desserts with Mom at school.  Not there but still have to take care of everything (lesson plans, getting the weeks stuff ready, scrapbooks, etc.)

22. Make something to hang on the hospital door.  We didn’t have anything for Trigger (at LSU) because it would’ve been stolen.  :)

23. Clear off camera cards and back-up pictures.

24. Charge ALL camera batteries.

25. Pack for the hospital. (yes, this shouldve already been done AND i have packed some but keep pulling things out)

26. Spend as much time as possible with Trigger AND Matt. 

27. Pray that I have a couple/few more weeks to finish this “to do” list…

 

There are SOOOOO many more things that need to be done but I can’t think of them right now.  We were so prepared for Trigger and soooo not prepared for this baby.

 

Here are a few things I have found that I think I “need”…we will see what Mr. CPA says! :)

Carseat cover….LOVE THIS ONE!!!!  isn’t it BEAUTIFUL?!? I found it at http://babyant.com/designer-infant-car-seat-cover-coco-blue-baby-bella-maya.html

They have so many to choose from so if you are in need of a cover, you should take a look.

 

The NAP NANNY…This so would’ve been wonderful for Trigger because he had such bad acid reflux

Art work display…Trigger is starting school in the fall AND he LOVES to color. I found this one at  http://handmaderusticcreations.blogspot.com/search/label/Art%20Work%20Sign

There are soooo many more…but I need to get started on my to-do list because I have already thought of THREE more things that I need to add..and that’s just in the few minutes that I have been typing this last section.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I know alot of people are disappointed in the weather…I am NOT because I am hoping this weather will help me to stay inside and get some things done and marked off my list!!!

Zoo

I feel like our life is a ZOO and I know it’s only going to get more wild with another child. I really wanted to take Trigger to the zoo before we had the baby.  I felt like if we didn’t, who knows when we would have another opportunity…probably next summer.  I didn’t want the poor child’s first time to go to the zoo to be when he was almost three.  I know I am crazy…but that was one thing I wanted marked off my “before the baby is born” list. 

We decided to go to the monroe zoo…I knew it wouldn’t be great but we really didn’t have a choice seeing that I can’t get far away from Dr. Harper.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived was this sign…of course Matt noticed the typo before I even noticed that there was writing on it.  you gotta love those analytical minds.  However, I did think it was quite embarrassing that they misspelled LOUISIANA!!! 

I made Matt put his head in the whole…of course he was worried about germs…NOTE the child is completely disinterested in this display and is wondering what’s so great about the zoo.And in case you don’t have great vision, here is a close-up of the typo…EMBARRASSING!

 

Trigger loved the “moneys” (monkeys) which is good because they have alot of them at the Monroe zoo.

These are of Trigger looking at the “moneys”.

 

And, I want you to check out how cute these two are together…especially with their plaid.  I did NOT plan that by the way!

And this is one (of two) picture of me and Trigger….and it’s not even centered because Matt was trying to make Trigger smile. I was HOT and tired…we didn’t stay long.

None of us were too impressed by the selection of animals…alot of the animals were actually put up and the workers were cleaning the cages.  I thought that was POOR timing considering we went on a Saturday morning at 10. 

Trigger did like the HUGE turtle that they had…mainly because he could get close to it…the turtle was eating right beside the fence.  Somehow I didn’t get a picture of it.

Trigger really just enjoyed running and having Matt chase him.  He also liked pushing the stroller! :)

We will try again next year…I am glad that we got to experience the zoo with Trigger though!!!

Ny, Ny…

The other day Trigger was so very fussy.  We hadn’t been anywhere all morning…Trigger doesn’t usually take a morning nap anymore but I was feeling like he really needed one.  So, I put him down for a nap.  He slept for awhile which was a nice break for me!!!  When I went to get him out of bed, I realized I had put him down with one of his boots on.  He LOVES these boots and if he sees them in the house or in his closet, he HAS to put them on.  Well, apparently he had only put on one boot right before he went “ny, ny” (that’s what he says for “night, night”).  I just had to have a picture of him with his one boot on…How did he nap with that boot on…how uncomfortable!

 

Did you make a note of how many pacis you see in that crib?  I swear he hides them because we will be down to 1-2 pacis and then all of the sudden there are tons in his crib.  Also, I would like to say that he ONLY gets a paci when he’s in his crib.  In fact, they have to stay in the crib when he gets out.  However, I have to work harder on getting him to sleep without it…but i’m just not sure I have the energy!

Tomorrow is gonna be a busy day.  My parents are keeping Trigger in the morning while I go have my non-stress test.  Then, I will have to go pick him up because they are leaving for Houston…yep, baseball season has started. :) And, Trigger has got to have a haircut tomorrow…WALMART :(…and we’ve got to clean up because Mrs. Arva is coming to clean tomorrow afternoon.  Soooo much for rest! I’m tired just thinking about all that has to be done. Maybe I will get some rest this weekend…I hope so because I have developed this pain in my shoulder blade through to my chest…I usually get this particular pain when I am stressed or have too much going on. I’m ready for the pain to go away!

Springtime! and Echo

Trigger has been enjoying the weather and I am trying to get him outside as much as possible…it can be exhausting for me to chase him all over the place though!  We have also been enjoying a few popsicles every now and then…he’s really not OVERLY fond of eating them.  BUT, he LOVES to hold them!

I’m trying to make the most of these days with Trigger because I know it will change soon.  I do know that I will miss my one-on-one time with my little guy!  He’s a MESS but so much fun!!!

OH and I STAND CORRECTED! Trigger did absolutely PERFECT at his appt with Dr. King today.  They started out by doing the echo.  He laid in my lap and was VERY still for 20 minutes.  WHAT?  Well, he was a perfect angel and they got WONDERFUL pictures of his heart. 

Afterwards, they had to do an EKG…he wasn’t so sure about having all those tabs on him but it didn’t take long.  THEN, they checked his blood pressure and he LOST it.  He sees me check mine all the time and he pulls at the cuff and says, “no, no, no”.  Soooo i guess the same goes for him.  He was fine as soon as the cuff was off his arm!  He weighed in at 26.5 lbs. (fully dressed with shoes) which is down from a couple of weeks ago at Green Clinic (when he was naked).   And, he was 33 inches tall.  My little boy is growing up TOO fast!  Next, we saw Dr. King who is an AMAZING doctor with absolutely NO ego issues!  He is completely humble and gives ALL the praise to God.  LOVE THAT!  He listened to Trigger’s heart and told us that his hole is CLOSED!  YAY!  The echo preliminary report was all good.  So, unless something shows up when Dr. King looks at the echo, then Trigger is released!  I think Dr. King is great but I really don’t want to have to see him ever again! :)

The nurses were so sweet too…after Dr. King listened to Trigger’s heart, one of the nurses let Trigger play with her stethoscope.  He immediately put it around his neck…just like Dr. King…and pulled his shirt up and started “listening” to his heart.  Hmmm…maybe he won’t be an Emeril, maybe he will be a cardiologist!

Praise the Lord for a healthy boy!

Oh and my STORY will have to wait another day because I just can’t do it tonight!

My Izzy and Poppy

I am sorry that I am just now posting these pictures…i was on such a blogging roll and then I just fizzled out!  I think mostly from being tired and also because Matt has been home in the evenings now so I’ve been enjoying spending time with him!Trigger LOVES his Izzy (or “zizzy”) and Poppy.  We (Trigger and I) spent one Saturday with them while Matt was at work!  We are glad that he is done with those Saturdays for awhile! 

We enjoyed a little Sonic lunch outside in the “courtyard”.  I wish I had a courtyard for Trigger to play in…CONFINED is the BEST way to have Trigger!!!!!!

Here are a few pictures from our time with Izzy and Poppy.

Pregnancy Update:  I will be 32 weeks on Thursday!!!  Awesome!  I am now on weekly dr. visits and have been since 29 weeks.  This week I started NST (non-stress test) at the hospital.  They hook me up to the heart monitor and contraction monitor.  While they are watching those two things, I have to push a button every time the baby moves.  They are looking for 3 movements that are immediately followed by an increase in heart rate…all within 15 minutes.  They monitor me for 30 minutes.  I have to have these done twice a week.  With Trigger, when I was in the hospital, I had them twice a day for 2 weeks….so twice a week is not so bad….however that does put me at the doctors office or the hospital three days a week. :) I saw Dr. Harper today and my blood pressure was up…I will watch it closely this week and probably will have to up my medicine.

Tomorrow: Please pray for us tomorrow.  We have to take Trigger back to Dr. King (pediatric cardiologist) for a checkup AND an ECHOCARDIOGRAM…Trigger was about 9 months old the last time he had an echo and it showed that his heart still had the hole in it.   I remember the test being difficult because he had to be still….hahaha…NOTHING compared to how difficult it will be tomorrow.  I had been told that they would probably sedate him some which is fine because I know it will probably be necessary. However, I called and they do NOT sedate anymore.  They will try and if he doesn’t cooperate, we will have to reschedule to have it done at the hospital and have Trigger sedated.  I told the lady that I was pretty sure that he would NOT cooperate….considering he won’t let me hold him longer than a minute because he is always ON THE GO!  She (the nurse) replied, “Well, Ma’am, we put on cartoons for him to watch”.  After I got finished laughing my head off  I took a minute to compose myself, I told her, “All we can do is try”.  She said, “If he has a favorite toy, I would bring that”….I replied , “okay..great, I will bring his ball…will there be someone to fetch it OR I can bring his ‘mer’ (hammer) and he can hammer the daylights out of the echo guy and anything in sight.” However, i felt those were words that were best left unsaid so instead I replied, “I will bring his blanket and paci and I hope that will keep him still.”  NOW, let me just say that it can take up to 30 minutes!!!!  PLEASE tell me that my 20 month old is not abnormal…can any 20 month old lay still for 30 minutes while a stranger puts gel on his chest and rubs a big ball around????  I sure hope we aren’t the only ones that can’t cooperate!  So pray for us and little Trigger.  Hopefully, the hole will be GONE and we won’t have to do an echo ever again!!!

Please stay tuned because BOY DO I HAVE A STORY FOR YOU!!!  Trigger was up to NO good yesterday…let’s just say that he is ALIVE but I did have to call poison control!! I don’t have the energy to tell the whole story now though! 

Mama’s Overalls

Quick Update: We had our ultrasound on Monday with Dr. Jones.  EVERYTHING LOOKED GREAT!!!  The baby’s abdominal circumference measured a few days-week behind but so did his femur and head.  Dr. Jones said that was perfectly fine.  My bp was a little up…IMAGINE THAT…wouldn’t your bp be up too if you thought there might be a problem with your baby…sooo of course it was up.  We were alot happier with Dr. Jones this time.  He seemed to take a little more time and even gave a little advice.  He told me to not be surprised if my bp starts creeping up even more and to watch it closely.  I so believe that God made this baby’s belly grow.  We had so many people tell us they were praying…and I’m telling you that I watched Mrs. Nancy here in Ruston (last wednesday) measure the abdomen THREE different times and it was three weeks behind. On Monday, less than a week later, it had grown.    Dr. Jones also told me that I have to start weekly non-stress tests next week so we will do that here in Ruston. 

I saw Dr. Harper today and he was pleased with everything and said he would see me in a week.  He did mention that the baby was high…ummmm…he’s not telling me anything I don’t know.  This little boy isn’t comfortable unless he is under both ribs and kicking them! Real pleasant for momma! Ha!!!

Back to my first BABY!  This past weekend Matt had to work his tail off so I had Trigger on Saturday.  I decided to put him in these overalls…they were my overalls from when I was little.  Isn’t that precious?!  I am a tinsy bit sad because I have all these smocked dresses from when I was little that are in a tub in my attic…and they will never be worn! :(  However, I am NOT sad that I will have two little boys…boys are so fun and i don’t have to worry about the high heels, bows, inappropriate clothing, etc.

I took Trigger outside to take a few pictures outside with the beautiful trees…please excuse the grass.  As I said, Matt has been working his tail off and has had NO TIME to mow…he will this weekend.  Hopefully, we won’t get kicked out of the neighborhood.  I seriously contemplated putting out a sign today that said, “please excuse our grass…my husband is a CPA and i’m very, very pregnant with a toddler” but I thought the sign would just add to the tackiness so I decided against it!

And this is what Trigger does with his tractor…goes OVER the stumps.  Apparently it is an off roader!

Then, he went around to the other side of the house.  He picked up the water hose and tried to squeeze the nozzle.  When nothing came out, he headed to the faucet to turn it on….HOW DOES HE KNOW THESE THINGS…i mean he may have seen us do that once!

Trigger went inside and took a little nap.  When he got up, we picked up lunch and went to spend the afternoon with Izzy (“Zizzy” as Trigger calls her) and Poppy (my parents).  It was fun and kept Trigger entertained.  I love watching Trigger interact with Daddy and Liz. I will share some of those pictures tomorrow!

Thanks for all the prayers for our sweet baby boy!

The most PRECIOUS outfit

We are very fortunate to have a wonderful family with THREE boys pass down their clothes to Trigger!  This is one of their outfits.  I tried to put Trigger in the outfit several times last year but it was just too big.  This year the outfit fits PERFECT!  Of course Matt walked in and said, “what in the heck is he wearing?”  But what does he know about dressing a little boy! :) Anyway, while Trigger was wearing the outfit, I had to snap a few pictures.  Please excuse the rubber boots that do NOT match…but for some reason, I think they are just precious with the outfit.  What’s more boyish than rubber boots?!

Oh and he is helping himself to a little snack of grapes and water!

And these two pictures are blurry but I love his expressions in them!

LOVE those little lips!

And, look at that smile behind his little hand (that was trying to grab my camera…sneaky little boy)!

And apparently Trigger got tired of using his hands…we are gonna have to work on those manners!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend…our house is COUNTING DOWN the days until THURSDAY, APRIL 15th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mischievous Little Monkey!

Trigger is constantly getting into trouble!  He’s so busy and SO mischievous…I’m hoping he is a little charmer in the future like his Uncle Seth and can get himself out of trouble because i think he is gonna NEED it!

Here is just one of his latest. The thing is that there is no way that I can really capture his true personality with the camera…mainly because I am usually needing my hands to rescue him from danger OR putting him in the corner OR swatting him on his behind.  haha!!  So this is just a one thing that I have captured on camera.

The latest is the salt incident.  Trigger crawled on top of the table and poured out ALL of the salt in the shaker.

And do you see the salt around his lips!

AND, parents, please tell me how children know how to do this… 

Why am I posting a picture of a banana with a miniscule bite off the end?  BECAUSE this is what my child does when you say, “just take one bite”.  HOW DOES HE KNOW TO TAKE THE SMALLEST POSSIBLE BITE? to get credit for his bite/…this is absurd to me…how do these little monsters precious children come out knowing how to manipulate and push buttons????? Please…if you know, I would love a little insight!

Okay…well I hope you have a good weekend!  I hope I can get some good pictures of Trigger this weekend because the trees are such a YUMMY green color right now…just amazing that God created all of it for us to enjoy.  I get so busy sometimes that I forget to take a minute to take it all in!  WOW, spring is SUCH a beautiful time of the year!