Wii Night

Guess who we got to hang out with tonight... three of our most favorite girls (and their parents and Val) =) 

Britton (kind of blurry b/c I was holding her AND taking the picture)

Charli (looking way too grown up for my liking)

Dac and Eden (having more fun than either of them looks to be... ha)

Always a good time with these friends and their girls. 

Friendly PSA

So, I will be getting this booster prior to the end of pregnancy... as will Dac. Have you had your booster? PS - sorry for the interruption in our regularly scheduled programming... feel free to scroll on down and check out my totally intriguing midweek randoms! =)

NC officials report first infant death from whooping cough

(Story from wcnc.com - link above)

RALEIGH, N.C. -– A two-month-old child from Forsyth County has died from pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough -- the first such death in the state this year, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Health officials stress that whooping cough continues to spread throughout the state and country, and strongly urge parents to take these immediate steps to protect their children and other loved ones:

1. Make sure your child is current on his or her vaccinations. The DTaP vaccination series is recommended for children starting at 2 months of age, and continuing at 4 months, 6 months, 15-18 months and 4-6 years of age.

2. Insist that the adults in your children’s lives are vaccinated also. Whooping cough spreads easily from person to person, and young babies especially are not fully protected until they receive the full series of shots.

3. Ask about your children’s caregivers. Babysitters, child care providers, family members, etc. who come in close contact with your children should be vaccinated.

4. Don’t forget booster shots. By age 11, children should receive the Tdap booster. It’s never too late for teenagers or adults to receive the booster if they haven’t already.

“Babies and young children are not fully immunized until they have finished a series of vaccinations, so their only protection against whooping cough is the people around them,” said State Health Director Dr. Laura Gerald. “Anyone who lives with or will be around a baby should be vaccinated.”

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services announced in March that the Tdap vaccine, which protects against pertussis, would be available at no-cost to anyone seven years and older for a limited time.

There may be an administration fee depending on your health care provider. The vaccine is still readily available through the N.C. Immunization Network, which includes private health care providers and local health departments.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious illness that is spread from person to person usually by coughing or sneezing while in close contact with others. It can be serious at any age, but is life-threatening in newborns and infants who are too young to be fully vaccinated. Many infants who get whooping cough are infected by caregivers who might not even know they have the disease. 

The Tdap booster shot is recommended for any child 7–10 who did not complete the childhood DTaP vaccination series and anyone 11 and older who has not yet received a Tdap booster. Tdap is particularly recommended for:
 

• Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant;
• All close contacts of infants under 12 months of age (parents, siblings, grandparents, household contacts, child care providers); and
• Anyone with a pre-existing, chronic respiratory disease.

Midweek Randoms

I believe I left off on Friday.

• I trick or treated at work Friday. Oh yes I did. Several people put new candy on their desks after lunch, so I told Vicki I needed to go trick-or-treating. Of course, Vicki happened to have this little jewel handy ('cuz why wouldn't you?) and sent me on my way. I collected some laffy taffy, saltwater taffy, tootsie rolls, and jolly ranchers. =) I'm so glad I work with some people that have senses of humor.

• That night, we went to Ponca for ribs and spent a titilating 1+ hours in Lowe's. =) I stuffed my face, loved it, cracked jokes, then ended up sore and with swollen ankles and stains all down the front of my shirt (this is before we left). I like to dress up when we go out to eat. =) haha. But hey, after a day in dress clothes, this couldn't have felt more wonderful.

• Oh - but I came across this at Lowe's... FINALLY, a setting for plus size paulie's. =) 

• Saturday, I got up bright and early to head to the "Baby Your Baby" fair at the hospital where I'll be delivering. Cori and Val went with me. I learned about infant CPR and what to do if the baby is choking. Scary stuff but I feel better having done the class. Then we collected a few freebies (kind of disappointed in the amount of freebies/coupons) and signed up for giveaways. I (and apparently everyone else who attended) won a free class from Wesley (the hospital). I'm considering the breastfeeding class. I also got FIVE free diapers and some wipes. And a bib and sippy cup. And candy.

• After that, we ran to Babies-R-Us and another baby store so Cori could pick up a few essentials. We ate at BJ's... got some yummy food and I got some tasty homemade cream soda too. YUM! Then it was a quick stop at Target and Cherry Berry before heading home.

• Once we got there, we stopped by Aunt Darla's to pick up the babies. I got to hold each of them for a while and it was nice to visit. Ooooh - did I mention it rained too? A LOT! I love me some rain. Dac and I made a last minute trip to the Wal-Marts around 8:30 that night and got caught in a downpour about the time we needed to load the car and leave. Dac was absolutely drenched... he ran out to the car then pulled it up front and loaded it so that I wouldn't get too wet and/or slip and fall. Nice guy. When we finally got home, we popped in a pizza, watched some TV, and went to sleep!

• Sunday, I had originally planned to go to church, but Dac was getting up to work on the house with his Dad, so I decided to stay home and get some things done too. I started making cavatini and doing some cleaning and laundry when I got a call from my mom. Turns out my Dad had a gall bladder attack in the middle of the night and was at the hospital. Poor guy. And who am I kidding, poor Mom too. As soon as I got the cavatini done enough to leave, I headed up to the hospital with some breakfast. He was pretty sick but by the time I left, the pain and nausea meds seemed to be working ok. Still, I know he was miserable. He had surgery Monday and came out just fine. Drugged and in pain, of course, but fine. My uncle had heart surgery (again) on Monday too... kind of a hectic day.  He's doing well too. Thank God for all that!

• That afternoon I did newborn pictures for miss Felicity. Oh sweet baby. I'm going to have to snag some more cuddle time once things calm down for them. =) It's hard when you're there to work and NOT to cuddle and play. haha. 

• You know what I don't like? I don't like when I wear a ruffly shirt (oddly, my non-girly self loves soft tees with ruffles) and all the crumbs from my snack end up in the ruffles. Then, I don't notice it until I'm walking down the hall to the bathroom (for the up-teenth time) and they either start falling out - leaving a trail - OR - I see them in the bathroom mirror. Crumbs in ruffles = NOT classy friends.

• Monday night I had a board meeting. It was SUPER short though... AMAZING... so I came home, got into some comfies, read my new American Baby magazine in total peace and quiet and then watched some TV. Then, I proceeded to sleep pretty dang good. Successful night? I think so!

• Ya'll listen. A funny thing happened to me. I was asked by our local paper's sports editor to serve on the "Gridiron Gurus" panel. Basically, he sends out a list of football games each week (high school through NFL) and I have to pick a winner and guess by how much they'll win. I follow some college football stuff (mostly Big 12 and even that's not much) but I am about as in the dark on this stuff as it gets. =) Should be interesting. All I can tell you is I will have OSU winning every single week they play. Even against OU... even though I know it'll be pretty hard to beat them on their turf. I'm professing my faith! =) 

• I know I sort of mentioned this earlier but I am getting stain after stain after stain down the front of my shirts. ANNOYING. 

• I visited my Dad last night - took him some Subway to eat. I enjoyed our visit and seeing that he's doing pretty well.

• I came home to my Peety pug. He had another trip to the vet. you may remember it was just a few weeks ago he went under the knife. Well, today, he got put under again. Love pug. He's had a rough go at it lately. His poor paws can't catch a break. =|

• Then I did a load of laundry and watched the documentary "The Business of Being Born" on Netflix with my swollen feet propped up. It was interesting. A little hoakie, granola, scary and painful. But interesting. 

• One of my bosses brought donuts to work today. Happy Wednesday!

Monday Morning Pop Tart

Week 26: Your dad and I have had a very busy work week! He especially has been putting in lots of overtime. We had an appt. with Dr. A this week. You’re measuring well and your heart rate was 140 this time. My weight, however, wasn’t so great. I’ll be trying to really watch sodium, etc... this month in hopes that it’ll level out and we’ll both be healthy! We were there when your friend Felicity was born. =) I hope when the time comes, we do as good as she and her momma did! Your nursery continues to come along. I’m ready to see it all come together. You’re wiggling more and more all the time and as we’re about to enter the third trimester things are starting to get a bit more real and surreal. It’ll be an adventure, that’s for sure! =) You ready to hang on tight!?

Highlights

How Far Along: 26 weeks

Size of baby: Head of Lettuce

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Wait for it... don't judge... you probably expect it... 35 lbs. =( The goal was 40 or under for the entire pregnancy and I have 3 months to go. The doctor said she thinks it's mostly water weight since I've been swelling so much, but still. If it doesn't level out this month, I'm sure she'll have me on some kind of stricter plan at my next appt. Let's all say a prayer for cooler temps so the swelling can go down and I can get out and walk!

Maternity Clothes: Oh yes.

Gender: It's a surprise! 

Movement: Feeling quite a bit and it seems to be getting more consistent... maybe? Definitely still noticing it more around bedtime and I'm also feeling it more during the night now. Oh! I also think I may have felt some baby hiccups too.

Sleep: Hit or miss.

Symptoms: Nothing new really... same things (heartburn, headaches, back pain, cramping, swelling...) I have been feeling more wobbly lately... this belly is throwing me off more than I expected. Nothing too bad though. I've been so blessed with a healthy pregnancy.

What I miss: Being able to easily bend over and pick something up. 

Cravings: Fruit and donuts. 

Best Moment this week: Photographing the birth of my sweet 'niece' Felicity Anne. She could not be more beautiful... reminds me so much of her big sister when she was born. Mom and baby were both awesome and I'm thankful I got the opportunity to be there! =) Second best moment was my purchase of some new comfy pants. They made the long night at the hospital even more enjoyable! =) 

What I am looking forward to: A long weekend. I'll still be working (photo sessions) but still... it'll be nice and I hope we can get quite a bit done on the house.

There's a new kid in town...

Guess who I got to meet yesterday... even got to photograph her world debut...

Miss Felicity Anne. =) Super cute baby of our good friends Mark and Kayla. She's a doll and I love her already! I also love getting to be an auntie! =)

She looks so much like her big sister did when she was born. Different, of course, but so similar too. Beautiful babies.

Just for kicks - here's a flash back!

I'm so happy everything went well. Kayla did awesome and Felicity is just perfect! More later...

Mini Update

• I had my OB appt. today. Everything looked good... baby's heart rate was about 140, my blood pressure was perfect, and no sugars or proteins showed up in the pee test. =) 

• My weight is a little scary... and she was a little concerned about it. She thinks most of it is water weight (I'm not so sure, but ok... let's go with that) since I've been swelling for so long. She's giving me one more month to see if it levels out and if not, I guess we'll put some kind of plan in place next time. My glucose test is in 4 weeks so I'm sure she's kind of holding off for those results too. We'll see how it goes. My hope is that the weather cools off and thus I have less swelling and thus I can get out and walk some. Clearly I'm going to have to cut back on the sweets too. Clearly.

• When I talked to her about the cramping, she wasn't concerned about it being another bleed. She thought some of what I was feeling was sharp round ligament pain and some was crampy braxton hicks contractions. She said they're different for everyone and mine seem to be presenting as cramps instead of the typical "tighten and release" you (I) think of as "contractions". My actual labor contractions might very well be crampy too so she told me to keep an eye on them so I can discern if it's just practice or if it's pre-term labor. Regardless, the chat put me more at ease. 

• There wasn't really anything else all that exciting at the appt. Like I said, I go back in 4 weeks for another check up/glucose test, then I start going every other week. Ay yi yi. How is it we've come this far already?

• In other news, I stopped by Babies-R-Us today. Oh no she di'int!!! Oh yes she did! =)

• Then, I stopped by Target... picked up some new comfy pants (maternity even, so they don't squeeze my belly) AND they were on clearance. Holla!

• Dac put the crib together tonight. Check it!! =) Isn't it cute? Isn't he cute? =) 

• I'm on call for miss Felicity's arrival. Could be over night - could be tomorrow. Kayla's at the hospital... and I'm antsy! ha!! =) 

• I'm gonna hop in the tub so maybe my pain and swelling will improve before go-time!! Excited!

Midweek Randoms

• It's been a busy, productive week so far!

• We had Wii Night last week - it was my turn to cook. Dac suggested pork tacos and guacamole, so that's what we had. =) We cooked it the slow way so it was a 2-day process but I think it ended up being worth it (though next time I wouldn't be above using the crock pot! ha!) Here it is in the starting stages... all the onions, peppers, liquid, etc... boiled out and we were left with some spicy, shredded pork that we slapped on some tortillas. The guacamole I made was Chipotle's recipe (except I used the wrong peppers... oops) and it was pretty good. Different - but good.

• Friday, Dac worked late then we met his family for Chinese.

• The next day I spent the day out of the house because Dac was refinishing the nursery floor. I went with Val and Terese to Oxford to check out an antique store (looking for a dresser) and to lunch at Biederman's. Then we headed down to Ponca for some more browsing and Cherry Berry. When we got back we spent a couple hours with Cori and the girls.  =)

• Here's what the floor looked like when he was done. We made the decision a while back to skip the staining step. We both really wanted darker floors and that was the plan... but since we're running on a tight schedule now, we decided to go natural and just slap some polyurethane on top. It's also shinier than we planned since we took advice and did the high gloss. We'd both prefer quite a bit less but hopefully this will help it last longer. All-n-all, I think it turned out very well and I'm happy with it. It looks much better than before and Dac did a great job! =) We're talking about trying to get the rest of the floors up front done soon too... we'll see if we can stand the smell again. =) Oh - and the piece of missing corner round is back on now... just needs some touch up paint. Then all that's left is building shelves, etc... in the closet and the room will be move-in ready! HOLLA! So thankful for all the hard work that has gone into this room.

• Sunday, Dac put the final coat on the floor, painted shelves for and put trim back in the hallway closet while I did some cookin'. I have a list of freezer meals I plan to make for after the baby's here and/or in the final days before if Heaven forbid I'm on bedrest or just simply don't have the energy to fix something. I had already froze a couple tubs of the carnitas meat (pork from Wii Night) so Sunday I baked some chocolate chip cookies (most of which we ate that day) and I made dough balls out of the rest of the cookie batter so we can just pop however many in the oven we want to at a time. There's two bags of those. I also made two small containers of baked oatmeal. It too just needs popped in the oven to bake before serving. Easy enough! I've never had it before but it looked good and it helped me clean out the pantry! =) Don't worry I do have actual "meals" on my list to make too! ha! This is just stuff I already had ingredients for and needed to use up.

• Yesterday was the day all teachers and other school staff come back to work. It's a busy day. We have our big "opening convocation" meeting where we welcome all the adorably refreshed peeps back. =) I get lots of calls and questions from everyone about the website, etc... - half of which, I can't answer, and then we have an insurance info. session followed by a staff "picnic" of sorts. 

• Today (Tuesday) was insurance sign-up day. Normally, this is a pretty easy peasy process for us. But THIS year, things are a'changin' and we just got ourselves all confused and didn't know what plans were best for us. Sigh. SO - we visited with the insurance experts and got it alllllllll figured out. I took a lower deductible plan while Dac took a higher one, we re-vamped a couple other areas, I thanked God I took out a short term disability benefit last year so I might actually be able to take some time off for maternity leave and whew - I'm just glad it's figured out. I'm still a little nervous about money (won't I always be?) but feeling much better!!! =)

• Even outside of work I had such a productive day today.Over lunch, I went to the grocery store, threw a big bag of frozen chicken into the crock pot, used a coupon to get a free snack size oreo McFlurry  =), then I came home shredded the chicken real quick, made taquitos and apple enchiladas, cleaned up, ordered some Scentsy bars on sale, ran the dishwasher, and did a load of laundry. Whew!! I'm pooped! 

• The taquitos made enough for our dinner tonight and a container to freeze for later. I also made enough apple enchiladas for tonight plus two big containers to freeze. HOLLA. Oh - and I got two extra bags of shredded chicken to freeze too. =) 

• Now my tired, achy self if sitting here on the couch ready to enjoy the rest of the night. 

• Tomorrow is my chiropractor appt. AND my doctor appt. I'm kind of excited about both of those. 

• THEN - assuming Kayla's baby girl hasn't graced us with her presence by then, Kayla goes in to be induced tomorrow night. I was able to take Thursday off so I can be there for the big event. =) So excited for them, to meet her, and to shoot my second birth story.

• I washed my flip flops tonight... again. Lord have mercy those things stink. Hopefully that helps.

• That's it. I'm tired. =) Have a great rest of the week.