The Whopper & Dillon's Field Trip

Today Danni is 29 Weeks, 2 Days. 

Last week I had my regular OB check.  Her heart rate was 156 which is great.  The doc was examining/palpating/ pressing around my belly and he states "Oh my we have a whopper in there."  While I am excited she's "healthy" I'm a little afraid about what that means in terms of the watermelon through a lemon hole analogy.  You get my drift.

I also went for my Gestational Diabetes test.  This is where you go to one of those Lab Corp/Quest Diagnostic type places and drink this sugary concoction that reminded me of a flat Orange Crush with way more sugar.  Then you wait exactly one hour and they draw your blood.  This tells the doc if your body is processing sugar normally.  I am happy to announce I passed.  They consider anything under 130 to be normal and I was 84.  This tells me my body loves sugar and that I should celebrate with a bowl of ice cream.

Yesterday I "chaperoned" Dillon's class field trip to Luizzo Produce Farms in Amite.  It was pretty cool.  They had pumpkin decorating, a corn maze, a tour of the farm, etc.  We got to pet the animals and feed the baby cow.  They even have a 5 month old zebra!  I also learned the best time to buy strawberries is in the winter.  By end of spring/summer, the plants are exhausted.  Good to know!

This was their Pumpkin Patch.  They have a real patch behind it but it had already been harvested and this was what was left.

Mrs. Brown's Class

Please note Dillon picks the table where the ladies are.  Loves them girls!

Dillon painted a Patriotic Pumpkin

Holding a teenage duck.

Very pretty Zebra!

Until next time...

Katie

Noteworthy Toilet Tips

If you are pregnant, or plan to become pregnant, I suggest you invest in some heavy duty toilet handles.  I have managed to break the handles off both toilets in my 28 weeks of Danni gestation due to the outrageous frequency for which I have to urinate.  So here are some more toilet saver options...

1. Heavy Duty Handles
2. Commercial grade toilets
3. Outhouse (free fertilizer for my gardener friends!!)
4. Adopt the ole "If it's yellow, it's mellow, if it's brown flush it down" rule
5. Start making use of those Depends!  This is great b/c you never really have to get up!

If you think of anything creative you want to add, please feel free to leave your ideas in the comment section :-)

TTFN -

Katie

Happy 3rd Trimester to Us!!!

PHEW it's been about 3 weeks since my last post and my sincerest apologies to all that find my blog exhilarating and have missed it.  You two know who you are!!!

We finished the house remodel on my birthday...yea!!  So I made a little 5 min video of the "after" if you would like to see it.  The Henderson Home Remodel Project

Yesterday I think I officially entered my third trimester at 27 weeks.  YEA!  I'm not totally sure on this since there are several different opinions on when the third tri starts.  But all my other pregnant friends on the pregger boards are celebrating, so what the heck!! 

Everything seems to be going fine.  Last week I had to cancel a work trip b/c I was having some pains but I think they were completely normal.  Dr. T was probably just being way too overly cautious when he asked me not to fly.  Kind of a bummer as I was looking forward to seeing some of my work friends.  Instead, Tom drove me to Birmingham to visit the fam while he "golfed his brains out".  I bought him a session with the Taylor Made Golf Lab for his birthday so he was in heaven.  While he was practicing for the Pro Tour (yeah right we wish) I went out and registered for all the crap my sister and I think I need to bring this sweet little girl into the world (yeah yeah vomit).  If you are interested in purchasing any of said crap, we are registered at Target, Babies R Us and Amazon.com.  I am especially mesmerized by the snot sucker.  Can't wait to use it.  May have Tom give it a whirl on me during my next cold.  OK GROSS!

The weight gain is OOC (out of control).  It's really the only thing that's making me uncomfortable.  I was already 25lbs over my normal weight when I found out I was preggers.  So any weight I put on is something I measure against my norm, not what I started pregnancy at.  It's making me nuts (and fat!).  I could totally control this rapid increase in weight, but I just simply choose not to I guess.  I'm tired and lazy, what can I say?

So...for your viewing pleasure - here is the latest belly pics.  OMG!

This week it finally looks like a basketball instead of just flab!

This week I honored the 3rd tri by taking my pic in THE RED PANTS!!

OK my new goal is to get back to my weekly Danni updates...  maybe some really sweet people will start buying us some stuff off the registry so I can blog about all the great stuff we are getting..  HINT HINT HINT HINT HINT HINT

More home remodel, Bloomington, and NEW CAMERA!

I's had so much going on in the past 2 weeks I don't even know where to begin.

Let's start with little Miss Danni - since this blog is supposed to be about her development anyway.  So far she is doing great at almost 24 weeks!!  Lots of kicks and punches.  I love it when I have a full bladder and she decides to wake up and start playing around on top of it.  LOVELY!  I can no longer see my toes.  Which isn't a big deal.  But...I can hardly see the area "down there" anymore either, which is a big deal.  Grooming is of utmost importance.  And our shower isn't really grooming friendly.  I need to move this party to the bath tub, but it's pretty stopped up and I don't even want to speculate as to why.  Also, after running the water for about 10 seconds, the water turns orange for a minute before returning to clear. So the plumber is coming tomorrow morning for the new kitchen sink (to me this is a baby tub - I aint bending over in the bathroom every night!) and he will hopefully be fixing my bathtub as well.  Yea!  I have also noticed that my bend radius is diminishing more and more...  more so after I eat breakfast.  When I first wake up I'm fine.  I can drop things and pick them up fine.  But not so much after I eat.  Strange! 

The next item on the update agenda is my trip to Bloomington, IL this past week.  It's a pilgrimage I try to do in the summer to visit my best friend Laura.  I have mentioned her several times in this blog.  We roomed together at Illinois State University together our senior year and in the 12 years that have followed she has become a member of my family.  She has been down to see me and my family several times in the past year, but it's been 2 years since I've seen her 2 sweet babies.  We had a great time together!  We shopped til we dropped, had a  "party" (it's not REALLY a party unless I can consume adult beverages to the point of embarrassing myself and the people around me), celebrated Laura's 34th birthday and had a photo shoot (she's a kick ass free lance photographer!).  I've posted all my favs! It's important to note that this was a very impromptu shoot - and look how amazing the photos turned out!!  She only did minor touch ups!

My stylist - Riley Books with Books Photography

Laura let me borrow her sweet little girl Riley for these photos.  She was the assistant photographer and she was in charge of my hair.  I think she did an excellent job! 

Ode to the Red Pants!

I also inherited Laura's infamous red pants.  Apparently she lived in these things during her 2 pregnancies and I'm sure her husband BJ is eternally grateful that I took them off her hands.  They ARE great pants - let's see what Tom thinks about them in about 2 months! 

I loved going places with these 2 beautiful children...  they looked like they belonged to me and I appeared to be very fertile to the general public.  I felt like such a mommy! 

I love going to Bloomington.  Out of all of the places I lived in IL, Blooington was my favorite and I always feel like I'm going back home in a way.  And the weather was gorgeous!  It was nice to get out of the swamp heat in Louisiana AND out of the dust that is my remodeled house in progress. 

Me and Laura partying at her house.  Riley accessorized me with the Donald Duck sticker.

Home Remodel:  I CAN SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL!!  As I type this blog update, the granite guys are installing my new counter tops!  YEA!  YEA YEA YEA.  I have spent so long living in dust and disorganization that I just simply cannot wait for this to be DONE.  And so far, everything looks great.  The new paint, the new carpet, removal of the fireplace, and I'm especially in love with the new hardwood floors.  My best friend from AL is on her way to visit me right now and I'm so excited for her to use my new kitchen to prepare Sunday dinner (fried chicken, greens, mashed potatoes, and whatever else we can think of!!) - note that I said excited for HER to prepare...not me  :O)  As I mentioned before, the plumber will be here in the morning to hook up the sink and then we are good to go!!!  

Tomorrow is my birthday, so this morning Tom and Dillon hooked me up with an awesome new Nikon Cool Pix camera.  Quadruple YEAs!!   It's amazing.  I've already played with it and here are some of the pics I shot.  

Dillon ready for school - and bored because his friends are not at the bus stop

Still waiting for the bus

I love this pic!  Photo bombed by the Roo!

This camera is so quick - I can actually get decent shots of the animals!

I'm so happy they are finally snuggling.  The cat would die if she knew I was posting this. 

I also have before and after photos of the home remodel project to share - so maybe on the next update!  This is of course thanks to my wonderful husband and sweet stepson for my birthday present.  And Tiffany will be here so we'll take some pics of her visit. 

I sure hope that one day Danni appreciates all of these things we are doing to prepare for her arrival!  I am counting the days until we finally meet her - literally thanks to the WTE app!

22 Weeks and Home Improvement Con't

22 weeks and 2 days today!  Pregnancy time is flying by...home remodeling time is wading through a river of molasses. 

Someone needs to poke me in the eyeballs with hot needles so I'll remember that home remodeling really isn't such a bad thing.  I'm just tired of it...  we were supposed to be finished last Friday, before Labor Day.  I even had my cleaning service scheduled for Friday so that we could enjoy the labor day weekend.  Not so much.  The damn hurricane (which really was just a regular old storm as far as I could tell) has royally screwed the schedule.  The day before the work was to start, we had moved the washer, dryer, and fridge to the garage.  Then the "hurricane" took a turn towards us and everyone lost their minds.  So we had to cancel the work, but our appliances have remained in the garage.  I hate going out to the garage to get a bottle of water or some ketchup.  And the laundry is getting out of control!!  I am leaving in 2 days for Illinois to visit Laura (IL BFF) and I'm going to have to take dirty clothes and wash them when I get there. But the good news is...after 2 days of prep (scraping tile and leveling the floor), the living room and eating area of the kitchen now have new wood flooring and it looks amazing!  I hate that I have no camera.  The installers left at about 8 pm so it's too dark for the crappy camera on my phone to capture the results.  Maybe tomorrow...

I had my normal OB appointment yesterday.  I was a little concerned because I had experienced a little "fluid" leakage the day before.  I can't explain it and have no idea what it was, but Dr. Tydings did a amnio test strip and it was negative.  And it has not happened since.  Like I said, no clue what that was and I really don't want to venture to guess.  I also have a lump in my right breast that I needed him to check.  I felt it a couple of years ago and it was diagnosed via a mammogram as a cyst.  But now it's larger than it was when I first found it.  I had my routine mammogram last January so I'm sure it's just some strange mammary thing. But to be sure I'm going to have a boob ultrasound tomorrow.  Danni's heartrate was 153 and she is kicking (or punching?) away in there. 

2 weeks ago Tom and I painted the kitchen and living room.  I did most of the taping and really didn't have too many problems with it.  But in the past week I've noticed my bend radius isn't what it was 2 weeks ago.  It's crazy how all that changes so quickly!  And I just feel bigger.  So today, in the middle of Home Depot when Tom announced he was going to paint the master bedroom, I BEGGED him to hold off.  I can't help him do it - not like 2 weeks ago.  And this is the only room in the house that I have to sit or rest or work from since the rest of our house is turned up side down!  As much as I'm getting tired of staring at these 4 walls, I need my little sanctuary!  I'm hoping he has dropped this idea.  I like the idea of painting the bedroom and I like the paints he picked out...just not right now.  Mama needs the rest of the house to be completed and a little R&R before we tackle another project. 

Friday I'm off to Bloomington, IL to visit with good friends.  Looking forward to getting away from the house madness for a few days and seeing some good friends!  If Tom would like to paint the bedroom at this time, he has my blessing...as long as my room is put together when I return on Tuesday!

Until next time...(and sorry no pics...  I may purchase a new camera while I'm with the expert Laura in a few days).

Hurricane Belly!

While we are enduring Hurricane Isaac and we still have power, I figured I'd take a few minutes to update everyone (as the wind howls outside the window!).

I finally got home from the beach last Wednesday and was excited to start getting the house ready for the new floors.  We still needed to paint the new wall where the fireplace once was and start packing up our nic nacs so furniture could be moved around.  Tom and I got started on this while we were waiting for Dad and Tina to arrive Saturday.  I also took a couple of hours to hang with Jessica and Angela at Fountainbleu State Park Beach while we were waiting on my P's.  It was great to finally go out there - just another new thing to do with the kids!

Dad and Tina finally got here and I treated Tina to a massage from Jan's Massage Haven for her birthday.  I figured she needed it after that grueling 6 hour drive on a motorcycle.  After that she cleaned up and we went to try out Middendorf's.  Surprisingly this was a first for both Tom and myself!  And it was soooo good!  But Tina's real reason for coming down was to get chargrilled oysters at Dragos.  So we went on Sunday for lunch.  The place was packed!  Apparently they are never opened on Sundays so this day was an exception.  They were having a fund raiser and everyone was there, but it only took about 20 minutes to get a table and I got to have a Virgin Mary with spicey pickled green beans - yum!  Once again, I wish I had taken a picture of us, but I'm very bad with the camera!

Once we got home from dinner we got busy trying to get 2 things accomplished.  1) Prepping for our new floors and 2) This stupid hurricane!  We had no idea what to expect - would the flooring people need to reschedule?  Would we have to wait weeks while our house was torn up?  Best to be prepared so we acted like it was business as usual.  Dad and Tina helped us move appliances and get ready - they were also helping Tom try to convince me to evacuate to Birmingham the next day.  I was strongly against this idea.  I mean, I don't want to be stupid, but didn't I just get back from a beach trip I regretted?  I just want to be home - must be a nesting thing.  They did everything to try and reason with me and I just tried to ignore them.  On Monday morning, Dad and Tina got the heck out of dodge early, while I pouted around the house packing bags and supplies for Dillon and I to make our escape.  The flooring installer did in fact reschedule - fine, gave us more time to prepare -but I was thoroughly upset that I was being pressured to leave.  I told Tom that if it was going to be bad enough that I needed to leave, then he should come with us.  Again, maybe a nesting thing and some innate need to keep my family intact?  At any rate, he finally talked to a few of the public safety officials he works with and felt comfortable this was not going to turn into Katrina so...we stayed...yea!!!! 

So here we are, a little bored with this storm.  It's Wednesday, August 29th at noon and this is the 7 year anniversary of Katrina.  The winds and rain have really picked up in the last hour.  So far, only one large-ish branch has fallen in the back yard (glad we removed 13 pine trees back in March!!) and we still have power and cable/internet.  So here is the newest comparison photo - I put the newest photo under the last one I took just for comparison sake.

PHEW really???  Only halfway there??  Oh lordy what's in store?  I swear there is only 1 in there.

Here is a fun one.  Side by side of 5 weeks to now:

OK so that's all of the excitement I have to share for now.  More waiting this Hurricane out I guess!!  Wish me luck. 

Bored at the beach :o(

First off - let me start with an official Anatomy Scan update:

Last week (Thursday), Taylor (SIL) and Laura (MIL) accompanied me to my anatomy scan.  It went really well.  It only lasted about 15 min and everything looked great.  And once again, we confirmed Danni is Danni.  (I'm still on the fence about this spelling).

She may one day hate me for posting this pic on the web :o)

Bladder punchers.

 

I worked for the rest of the day while the contractor finished sealing up the wall where the fireplace had once been.  I would post pics, but my beloved waterproof camera is no longer waterproof (more on that later). 

I then headed downtown for a work meeting.  It was fun to see all the people I work with (remember I work from home so I only talk to these people on the phone typically).

So several weeks ago Tom asked me if I wanted to go to the LA Sherriff's Association Convention with him in Destin, FL.  I thought SURE!!  I'll work from the hotel and maybe catch a little beach time at lunch and get some sun on this white belly...so we decided to leave the Friday before so we could hang out before the conference started.  So we left on Friday, got to Destin, did some shopping and had a little dinner.  Saturday we had a little spa day, which was great!  I layed out by the pool for about an hour.   Got some dinner.  And then yesterday, Sunday, the rain started and has not stopped.  So needless to say, I'm bored at the beach.  Tom is at the conference and I'm stuck in the hotel.  I've caught up on all my work.  No calls until later this afternoon.  Bored bored bored.  I want to go home so at least I can start getting my house in order since it looks like we had a small snow storm in there, and 1 wall needs to be painted still.  I could also be throwing in some laundry, reorganizing something, etc etc.  I cannot possibly spend any more money on spa treatments.  I mean I could but I'm a cheap ass.  And there is nothing good to eat at the hotel and I have no car.  BLAH.  Wow what a complainer I am!  I could rent a car and go home, but there is no easy way to do that.  Someone would have to drive me to the rental place about 20 min away and then someone would have to pick me up in Slidell.  And I really enjoy seeing my husband when he's able to break away from customers to see me.

Oh and the camera - I've had it for 5 years.  It's water proof and shock proof.  I took it down to the beach with me Saturday so I could snap some photos for this blog.  So, as I've done many many times in the past, I took it in the water with me, snapped my pics...and it died!!  ...   OH WAIT - I just plugged in the SD card.  Here are the last 2 photos my little camera took in it's short lived existence...please a moment of silence.

The positive here was that the water was BEAUTIFUL!!  Clear and refreshing. Danni liked it.  SO at least my camera enjoyed a pleasant demise.

OK I may blog again a few more times since it's all I have to do.  Later!!