More Pregnancy Woes. . .

Okay, so yesterday I could hardly keep anything down. I threw up at least 4 times and just had absolutely no energy!!! Then, this morning, I literally could not get out of bed (I had gone to bed at 8:00 last night, so it was NOT lack of sleep. . .well, not that I slept soundly.). Simon, being the great husband that he is, brought a bowl of oatmeal to me in bed so I could eat before getting up (which, of course, can help curb the morning nausea a bit--not that it always works). So, Aaron joined me on the bed and wanted some, so I gave him a spoonful in-between my spoonfulls (he was very cute helping me blow on it to cool it off).

So, I finished that and laid back down. For the life of me, I could not pull myself out of bed, so Simon called in to work to let them know he would be late since his wife was having such a rough morning. Then, he brought me the phone and I called the doctor. The nurse called in a prescription for Zofran and iron pills. So, to make the long story shorter, I took the Zofran (thank goodness there's a generic now!!!) and an iron pill. I have not thrown up today (though my stomach still hurts--it seems like that was a constant for the whole 9 months in my last pregnancies) and after laying around all day (other than going to have my blood taken for blood tests) I am finally feeling a little bit better.

So, maybe once I've been taking the iron pills for a few days, I'll regain enough energy to at least function. . .I'm even going to cook dinner tonight (granted, it's going to consist of boiliing frozen ravioli for 5 minutes, but hey, it's a start :-)

Pregnancy Thoughts. . .or maybe Woes. . .

Okay, so I find out I'm pregnant at abot 5 weeks and am feeling great. So, I convince myself that this pregnancy is going to be a lot easier than the last two (if I didn't think that was at least possible, I wouldn't have tried this pregancy thing again. . .I hate being pregnant). So, at about 6 weeks my stomach starts to hurt, but not too bad. Almost like a "pre-nausea" kind of feeling. So, I start making sure all my snacks and meals throughout the day include protein to help curb the nausea (nuts, cottage cheese, meat, beans, cheese, etc.). That seems to be working well for a week or so. At this point I'm patting myself on the back thinking, I'm just being smarter about it this time. This is great!

Well, then the exhaustion sets in, along with constant headaches (I'm trying to drink as much water as I can possibly stomach in case that's what's causing the headaches. . .I normally drink lots of water, so it's not too hard.) and, unfortunately, the nausea. But, it's not constant nausea like my previous pregnancies, even though it continues throughout the day. My stomach is always hurting, but not always full-blown nauseated.

My poor kids, this last week I spent most of my days sitting (or laying) on the couch while they played, watched too much t.v., etc. I have a feeling we'll be doing that a lot over the next few months. . .I had forgotten how completely worn out pregnancy is in the beginning. So, now, my hope is that all this will come to an end after the first trimester (babysteps of hopefullness to keep going!).

So, I love my kids and think they are totally worth it, but my goodness, pregnancy is almost a self-inflicted form of torture (because, yes, all three of my pregnancies have been planned--can't blame surprises). I know I am very blessed with the kids I have (and will have), but man, why does the process have to be so bad. . .? (rhetorical question)

But, if anyone out there has any suggestions on how to feel better, please share. I've probably heard most of them, but if there is the chance that there's something out there I haven't read about or thought of that would help, I'm all for it!

More 2-year-old prayers

Okay, Aaron was saying the blessing for dinner this evening and he was blessing everyone's cups ("bless Chloe's cup, and grandma's cup, and Aaron's cup, and Daddy's cup. . .") He was just about to bless my cup when Simon prompted him to end the prayer. Aaron was quiet for a second or two (he had been thrown off cause he wasn't ready to end the prayer) and then he proceeded to bless my plate, which started him on a whole other round of blessing everyone's plates. Then Chloe pipes in to prompt him to say something else (she likes to help him with his prayers) and he promptly looked at her, put his finger over his mouth and said, "shhh." It was sooo funny at the moment and my mom and I both couldn't restrain our laughter. . .not a good thing since that will only encourage him. But it was really funny because Chloe kept trying to tell him what to say and he kept shssshing her. Finally I jumped in and ended the prayer and he said "amen" and smiled. It's so hard to keep a straight face with him cause he's just so darn cute!

Below is a picture, unrelated to this post, of him feeding his baby doll water through a straw. . .It's so much fun watching him do so much pretending now! He and Chloe are pretending a LOT together these days! (it was funny when he did this because we had all three been at the table having a snack and when he was finished he just got down from this seat and took his water glass over to the baby doll to give her some water. . .he'd been there for a few minutes before Chloe and I noticed what he was doing.)

Due Date and a 4-year old's reaction to fetus pictures

Well, I went to the doctor yesterday (well, actually the mid-wife who works with my doctor. I see her every other appointment until about 5 or 6 months and then I only see my doctor during the last few months). Anyway, I saw her and my due date is December 15th.

Of course, she also gave me the "review" packet of info. that includes a magazine with fetus pictures of each month. Since Chloe already knows we're having a baby (but not for a LONG time--I'm telling her right after Christmas even though it'll be a little bit sooner.) I decided to show her the pictures of months one and two. She told me that one of the pictures for month one looked like a dinasour. I agreed. (similar to the one above)

Then we went on to month 2. The picture for the end of that month looks a little more like a baby (see above). However, she was very concerned that the baby only had one eye. I assured her there were two but because of how the picture was taken, we could only see one. She was relieved when she turned a few more pages and saw the one below with two eyes.

She is totally enthralled by all 9 months of fetus pictures! She took it to bed with her tonight (there was still enough light in her room to be able to see it). After our night-time routine I tucked her in and she was reading the magazine in bed. I came out to the computer and started this blog entry when I heard a very loud, "Mommy! I need you to come here." She was a bit distraught because she did not see teeth in any of the pictures. I explained to her that babies are born without teeth and get them later. It took a few minutes of repititous explaining (it's amazing how many times a 4-year-old will ask the SAME question--a frequent occurance!) and then she was finally okay with it.

Earlier in the evening she was trying to show the pictures to Aaron and explain them, but he was a bit uninterested. I guess a 2-year-old isn't quite as enthralled :-)

Just lounging around. . .ahhh, the life of a child!

Make-shift beds. And, no, our kids really do not sleep in the entertainment center. . .

Aaron has developed a camera shyness. . .well, it depends and it is totally random when he smiles for a picture or when he hides his face.

Funny prayer quote

Last Thursday, Natalie's brother, Alan, came and spent the night here (he had some business to attend to in Dallas the next day). He arrived that evening after dinner. Aaron said the blessing on the food that night and blessed, "Uncle Alan and the Chipmunks." (we took Chloe and Aaron to see the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie at the dollar theatre a few weeks ago and they loved it! It's a cute film. Even Aaron stayed focused until about the last 20 minutes--then he got restless.)

Princess

Chloe can be such a little ham! She LOVES posing for the camera! In fact, we were at our friend, Claire's, wedding reception a week or so ago and once she saw the photographer taking pictures of guests, she kept trying to pose. At first he didn't see her and finally he did and took one of her. After that I gently told her she needed to stop trying to pose for pictures and just play with her friends.

She LOVES to dress up and she got this particular cinderella dress as a hand-me-down from her cousin Beth. The first time she saw it, she said "wow." And then when she put it on, she said "I look way beautiful!" Funny kid. She's been wearing it almost every day for the last couple of weeks. I pretty much let her wear it all the time when we're at home. She just has to change when we go out (of course, at first, she couldn't understand why I wouldn't let her wear it to the park. . .sure that dress would be great for swinging, monkey bars, and slides!)

She and Aaron have been playing a LOT of pretend games together lately. She's even got Aaron calling her "Cinderella" when he calls for her. She calls him, "Prince Charming." This afternoon she and Aaron were in their little indoor popup play tent having a picnic and camping--and, yes, she was dressed as a princess--but this time it was a Belle outfit because she had gotten some food on her Cinderella dress at dinner and changed.

3 Down 6 to go. . .

In the mail on Saturday, Simon received the test results for his 3rd Architectural licensing exam. He passed! :-) So, 6 more to go. . .at this rate he should have them complete before our next baby comes in December :)

General Conference

Okay, I was inspired by my cousin's wife, Jacqui, to write a little about General Conference (she is quite good at journaling on her blog!). I enjoyed getting to actually see the sessions at home rather than just hearing them over the Internet (as we have in the past. This year we have the BYU t.v. channel thanks to Dish Network--compliments of my mom who lives with us and pays for it). However, with two young kids, I still missed a lot--though Chloe did use her Conference Bingo paper a bit during the first Saturday session. So, she sort of paid attention (well, for a four-year old that is) for a short time. The talks that I heard were good, but I look forward to reading them later too cause I know I missed a lot. Plus, I must admit, I did fall asleep during the end of the Saturday morning session. I was REALLY tired!!! (I secretly blamed it on pregnancy. I just took a pregnancy test on Friday and it was positive! I know I'm telling people way too early and they're going to think I'm pregnant forever since I'm only about 4 1/2 weeks along, but oh well. I can't keep my mouth shut). As you can see I'm not dedicating a post to the announcement just yet, but rather hiding it within this post--who knows why--just a whim :-)

On Sunday, we had all of Simon's siblings over for lunch in-between the conferences sessions. His mom and two of his siblings and families were here for the morning session, one came just for lunch (with her fiance), and three siblings and families were here for the afternoon session. It was fun, but a bit chaotic during the morning session. My sister-in-law Sandra was trying to teach me how to make hair bows for Chloe and I realized (yet again) that I'm not good at multi-tasking (Sandra, of course, knew what she was doing so could both listen and sew a bow together). I either needed to concentrate on making bows or concentrate on conference. So, I have an unfinished pink bow for Chloe :-)

I really enjoyed President Ballards talk and President Monson's last talk in the last session (by then things had quieted down ;-) While I do miss President Hinckley, I love President Monson. He was always my favorite speaker as a child because I loved his stories! I remember as a kid (before President Hinckley was prophet) thinking that it would be way cool if President Monson lived long enough to eventually become the Prophet. So, it's kind of fun to see that come to pass.

So, we had a day of great talks, conversations, food, and fun. Of course, Chloe and Aaron always love it when other kids are around and the house is in chaos! I think everyone had an enjoyable day!

Okay, back to the pregnancy thing. Chloe was so excited when I showed her the pregnancy test and explained what it meant. She broke into a huge grin! I emphasized that the baby won't be here until after her birthday, my birthday, daddy's birthday, Aaron's birthday, and then right after Christmas (just a guess on that one--but might as well keep it sounding like it's forever away!). Being Chloe, she then asked, "what about Grandma's birthday?" And I said, yes, also after Grandma's birthday).

So, she asked me if she could show Aaron the test. I let her take it to him and I heard her explaining it and going over how it would be a long time and going through all the birthdays and "right after Christmas" talk. She assured me, in no uncertain terms, that she would be getting a baby sister because she already has a baby brother. And Aaron, the little repeater, when I asked if he also wanted a baby sister (fully expecting him to say yes or just simply repeat exactly what Chloe had said--as he normally does). He said, "no. I want a baby brother." I think that's the first time I've heard him say the word "brother." It was cute!

On Saturday in between the afternoon session and the priesthood session of conference we were at a ward Elder's Quorum potluck dinner and I heard Chloe telling someone that she was getting a baby sister and Aaron was getting a baby brother. I told her that I was not going to have twins. So, I guess one of them will be disappointed. . .

Wedding Reception

On the way home from our friend Claire's wedding reception, Simon asked Chloe what her favorite part was. Chloe said, "when they tried to open the presents, but they didn't." Chloe was not ready to leave because they had not opened their presents. I explained to her that they would open them later at home. She was very disappointed.