Where are my feet?

Another busy week down. I almost made it without a trip to the doc, but not quite. Thursday I had to go to Summit for another Non-Stress test because this ornery baby decided to not move all day long... this time I got to lay there for 35mins with these big round sensors strapped on me like the jaws of life. And of course, not long after being hooked up the little stinker started putting on a show with lots of big kicks. :) But I couldn't be mad because I was just glad that the baby was moving again. I told the doc that I was sorry for coming when nothing was wrong, but she assured me that she wants her patients to come anytime they think something isn't right. She said she would much rather see a pt and nothing be wrong then have someone stay home because they were embarrassed to come in and something be wrong with the baby. So - all is well in babyland for now, and my next appt is this Wednesday. I have decided that I am really excited about this baby, and I can't wait until he/she is here. That may sound strange, I mean, I've always been excited about this baby, but lately there has been so much else going on that I haven't gotten to enjoy the end of my pregnancy and the excitement of being so close to delivery. I am putting everything else that is not important right now to the side and focusing on Cadence's birthday and the birth of our new baby! I'm really really really anxious to see if the baby is a boy or girl... I just knew with Cadence that she was going to be a girl, but with this baby I have absolutely no idea about the sex. (The nurse did say on Thurs. that this baby was bound to be a boy for all the trouble it has caused :) ) You can definitely tell that I am getting near the end now... I am waddling -much to the amusement of my coworkers, and I have finally traded my heels and wedges in for flat, comfortable shoes. It is hard for me to breathe and get comfortable in any position, but I'm not complaining because that just means that the baby is growing and the end is near. (well I'm trying not to complain anyway) I am still having contractions, but no more spotting, and I am hoping that when the doc checks me this week my cervix has changed again. The baby's room is ready, and we put the carseat in my car this weekend so all we have left to do is pack our bag for the hospital and PICK A NAME for the baby... HOPEFULLY we will be doing both of these before the baby decides to come.

We have almost everything ready for Cadence's birthday party next Sunday... I am SO excited to see her face when she sees all the Mickey decorations, and balloons, and her cake! She gets so stinkin' excited when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse comes on the TV it's crazy... she even stands up and does the "Hot Dog Dance" at the end of every episode - it is so cute. So far we have gotten her new bedding and decorations for her room (ladybug themed), clothes, shoes, new Minnie Mouse cups, and Minnie Mouse pjs. It is hard not to just buy every cute thing I see for her, but I have finally cut myself off. So far we are expecting a crowd of about 30 so I am praying that it doesn't rain. (we'll have 2 big tents set up just in case) I still can't come to terms with the fact that my little angel is going to be 2 years old - where has the time gone? Yesterday she counted from 1 to 10 by herself and I nearly fell over in the floor! She says 1,2,3 all the time, but for whatever reason yesterday she just kept going... all the way to 10! So I had her say it again for Dave just to make sure that I wasn't imagining it and she did it again! I'm pretty sure that I've got the smartest little almost 2yr old around ;).

As an aside - heard another great message at church today about David and Goliath. It's such a simple story, but it demonstrates a good message about being willing to do what God wants you to do and submitting to his will. Thanks to Brother Bill for teaching me something important again this week. Also Cadence goes to the nursery every week and she cracks us up talking about the "kids" she plays with. Today, when I went to pick her up, Mrs. Cripps said, "She is the perfect child!" And I said, "You think so?" She said, "Yes I do, she has played and colored and talked to us... she is so good and sweet." So as a proud momma I thought I'd share that. Every parent thinks that their child/children are so good or so sweet, but it's just nice to hear it from others every now and then too.

Now I'm going to take a nap with my angel before I have to go mow the yard... hope that everyone has a GREAT week and I'll post again after my appt on Wednesday.

Whirlwind!

Don't ask me where the last 3 weeks have gone - I don't know! Seems like pregnancy was going so slowly until about 2wks ago and all of a sudden I feel like my life is a tornado that is raging in all different directions. I finally got Cadence's birthday invitations mailed and some of her party decorations, but I have still yet to buy any food for this party that is taking place in less than 2wks (besides the cake, thanks Natasha), nor do I have my house or yard ready! Compounded with the fact that after Cadence's birthday I will be "ripe" enough to have this baby any time this is all driving me bonkers! Thankfully I don't have a doc's appt tomorrow so I can work on my house, but starting next Wednesday I will be going to the doctor every week. And I have started training the lady that will be my replacement on Maternity Leave, so it is really sinking in that in just a few short weeks I am going to be a TEMPORARY stay at home mom with a newborn and a 2yr old! I say temporary like that because I am planning on taking 6wks leave MAXIMUM and coming back to work as soon as humanly possible.

Dave is still battling his last Algebra test for school - he is even using my old college notes, but I certainly can't help him because I stink at Algebra... I'm really proud of him though, he has taught himself Elementary Algebra from one of those Dummy Books! I mean - he is doing slopes and quadratic equations... stuff that makes my skin crawl! We are anticipating a speed bump in the school process - they are going to start a 2nd shift back up at his old job so he will probably be called back to work soon. This means that he will have to knock school back to part time, but he is definitely still going to go. Either way, there are pros and cons to each and we can't get worried or stressed about it until something happens. We have been very fortunate to be able to manage our finances with Dave being unemployed for the last 4 months - I know that a lot of families are not able to survive when one person loses a job. Dave and I are very fortunate that we are able to take advantage of the newest options being presented by the gov't for laid off workers. We were recently approved for the new Health Care Tax Credit, which pays 80% of our Cobra Insurance! You will not hear either one of us bashing our president because right now we are saving $600 a month because of a plan he put into action. We are very, very blessed.

Anyway, all is well, just busy, at the Reynolds' Household. I probably won't post before my next doc's appt (next Wednesday), if anyone needs me - I'll be cleaning and running around like a chicken with my head cut off!!!

As Promised...

Here are a few more pics from the fair pageant... she was hot and didn't want to cooperate, but we still managed to get a few!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Updates

I had my 32wk doc's visit yesterday, and it went so much better than I was expecting! I lost 2lbs this time, but still gained 1cm in my uterus, so the baby is growing fine. Baby's heartbeat was 150 this time, a little faster than it has been and the nurses are still predicting a boy... we'll see! I was expecting to be dilated at this appt due to all the spotting and pressure I've been having - and it was scaring me to death thinking that the baby might try to come early. Luckily - I'm not dilated (well not fully anyway)! I am 50% effaced, and Dr. J said not quite a fingertip dilated, so this little baby is staying put for the time being - yay! I won't have to go back for 3 more wks because my doc is having foot surgery, but after that appt I will be going every week until delivery time.

We also got Dave registered for classes yesterday, we are both REALLY excited about it - probably me more than Dave (he is a little nervous) but we both know that he is just going to do great in all his classes. He will be taking 17hrs this semester so it is good that he isn't working because that is a full load for a soon to be dad of 2. He will start his classes the last week in August so we're going this weekend to get him a new laptop and some school supplies. I'll probably post on the day that he starts school because I will just be too proud not to. :)

I am also getting everything ready for Cadence's 2nd birthday party. We have the invitations ready to be sent out, just waiting on my Zazzle stamps. (I ordered stamps with Cadence's pic on them to send on her invites!) I finally ordered her cake today... I was determined to make her cake myself, but I'm thinking that the baby will be ready to come out any time by Cadence's b-day and I don't want to be stressing over the cake. Natasha Vaughn is going to be making her a "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" cake with a Minnie Mouse topper and I CAN'T WAIT to see Cadence's face when she sees it! I can't believe that in 3 short weeks my sweet little girl will be 2yrs old... time just flies by entirely too fast when you have kids.

Yet again, I'm overwhelmed at how blessed I am... my husband takes better care of me than I deserve, and takes the best care of our daughter. He is also taking such a big step in our lives right now by going back to school. My sweet baby girl is smart and healthy, she amazes me every day at what a wonderful little person she is. We have wonderful, supportive family and friends that I look forward to spending time with at every possible opening. And I have another healthy baby on the way. WOW - I have so much more than I deserve! Oh, and me, my mom, and my Mumsie are all going to get pampered this weekend for my Mumsie's birthday - facials and massages! It may be that I'm just hormonal and all lovey dovey this month, but I just want to say how happy and blessed I am with my life - I can't get enough of it!

Thought for the day - Remember Your Chains - Steven Curtis Chapman wrote (in a song):

"Remember your chains. Remember the prison that once held you before the love of God broke through. Remember the place you were without grace when you see where you are now. Remember your chains, and remember your chains are gone! And in the light of all that we have been forgiven of, we will find our hearts fuller and free to give and receive God's Love."

Monday, July 27, 2009

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner :)

This past Friday night Cadence competed in the DeKalb County Fair Toddler Pageant. There were 11 little girls total, and Cadence was the smallest of them BY FAR. She went out on stage and waved and blew kisses like a pro - she waved and said "Hi" to the judges and then walked over to our spot and blew kisses at her fans. These fans included: Nana, Grandma, Pa, Mumsie, Pop-Pop, Granny, Aunt Sommer, Uncle Eric, Uncle Bob, Aunt Carolyn, Uncle Dave, Aunt Monica, Dr. Duke, and Sarah Clark (and Momma and Daddy of course). I had made up my mind that I wouldn't be disappointed if she didn't place this time because there were so many little ones in her category and the judges can only pick top 2, but I must say, while they were tabulating scores I kept thinking "my baby girl did SO good, surely she'll place" and....... she did! She won 1st place!!!! I was so excited I thought I was going to start crying right there on stage! Here are just a couple of pics - I'll have more when I pick up my CD from the photographer and get Aunt Sommer's memory card :). Some of them are blurry, and in one of them Cadence and I are squinting pretty hard, but you can still tell that we were both excited about the win. (on a side note: I did have more spotting on Saturday night, but I'm waiting for my appt on Wednesday to go in to the doc - I'll post on that subject after the appt) And by the way, the name of this post is Winner Winner Chicken Dinner because Cadence's Aunt Sommer kept telling her that after she won - I don't really know what it means, but it's cute!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Long Week, Long Thoughts

This week has been one of the longest and hardest weeks I can remember. I'll start by saying that this past year has had it's fair number of trials anyway. We have lost friends, family members and jobs. David and I quit going to church for a couple of months because we didn't feel welcome, then we started going to other churches and didn't feel like we were at our true church home. We were SO happy to find out that we were having our second child early this year, but this pregnancy has not been as straight forward as the first either. For the past several months things have seemed to pick up - we have been going back to our home church and feel comfortable and welcome there, we have been spending more time with family and close friends, and have had several calm months on the pregnancy end. But as most of you know, when things seem to be going too well, the devil likes to snake his ugly way into your life. Some very stressful family stuff started over the weekend and has worn us all down. Nothing life-threatening, but hurtful nonetheless. After seeing my husband more upset than I have ever seen him I started getting stressed too. Dave is the most calm, easy-going man I have ever known, and I have probably seen him upset or worked up less than 5 times in the last 4 1/2 yrs. He believes that life is too short to hold grudges and be unhappy. On Sunday night I started spotting. I wasn't worried the first time it happened because I didn't really think it was coming from my female parts, but after a 2nd occurrence I realized that it actually was. After speaking to the doctor we decided I should stay home and monitor the bleeding and contractions for dramatic changes that may indicate a bigger problem. Thankfully, none came, and I went about my business considering it a fluke. Monday afternoon I started spotting again. I called the doc again, and we went over possible scenarios and I decided to try to go home to wait it out again. Luckily, this proved affective and I haven't had any spotting in 3 days! I will be checked at my next visit to confirm whether or not my cervix has started opening early, but we think it could just be attributed to stress. Also, Monday, Dave went to take his placement test for VolState, so he was anxious about that and had a hard time focusing. (Hopefully he will be calm and relaxed for his testing today :)) I felt that Tuesday was relatively calm, everyone seemed to be doing OK considering the situation, but Wednesday was another hard day. After learning of a family member being diagnosed with cancer I had a little breakdown of my own. It really made me think about my husband's thoughts on "life being too short for all of this"... I know that he is absolutely right. It is bad enough that anyone has cancer, but it made me realize that it could be my mom, or Dave's parents just as easily. Cancer is so quick to sneak in and take a life, not to mention that anyone could be in a car accident, become ill, lose a spouse, ANYTHING. We don't yet know the stage or extent of the cancer, but I'm a firm believer that prayer works, as it has worked in my family several times.

Today I woke up with a song in my head that I had not heard since I was a little girl in Sunday School. It's about the fruit of the spirit and it says :
"The fruit of the spirit shows Gods love in you, a seed of love is planted and grows,
and the spirit shines through. But you gotta have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness - for this is the fruit of Gods spirit. You gotta have goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control - for this is the fruit of Gods spirit."
Now I don't know why I woke up singing that, but I really feel that God wanted me to hear that message today. With everything going on it is hard to feel and show all of these fruits, but shouldn't it be a daily goal to show them? I believe that I know several people that strive to live by these adjectives, one of which is my husband. I KNOW that I don't exhibit them all, but I am going to start trying today. It's hard to think about being loving or kind to people that have not been so toward me or Dave, but I am going to try my hardest because I know that I'm not perfect either. It's hard to let go of "wrongs" you think people have done you, but I think the only way God will give you peace is to accept his will and forgive and move on. If I died tomorrow, or if any member of my family died tomorrow I would want them to know that I love them and it doesn't matter what they do wrong because God is the only judge and I want to have the fruits of the spirit in my heart.

Dave and I are blessed much more than we deserve. We have the most beautiful little girl in the world that tells us every day how much she loves us, and nothing compares to how good that feels. We have a roof over our heads and clothes on our backs. I have a job that I love with people that are wonderful, and Dave is going back to school after 11 yrs to do something he loves. We have AWESOME families on both sides that would, and have, dropped everything to help us through our rough times - be it illness or otherwise. And, God willing, we are going to have another healthy beautiful baby in just a few more weeks that will only increase the love we all have for each other. I hope that anyone reading this has taken something out of it and has a wonderful, blessed day.

Friday, July 17, 2009

30 wk appt

After an entire month of having contractions every day I quit having them all together this past Sunday. I was definitely not complaining, but I noticed that I was also not feeling much movement from the baby. So from Sunday to Wednesday all was quiet in babyland, and needless to say - I was becoming very concerned. I'm not the type that likes to go to the doctor, and I already had the appt set for Wednesday, so I waited it out. My appt started out normal - getting my weigh (gained another lb), leaving a urine specimen :), checking the heartbeat (which was normal, then the doc came in. I told her about the loss of contractions and movement and she decided to mash around on my stomach to see if she could get the baby moving. Let me just say - I was relieved that the nurse got such a strong heartbeat, but I was also thinking "a heartbeat doesn't mean there isn't something wrong", so I was still pretty nervous. The doc started her mashing and discovered that the baby is now in the head-down position, which is great because the baby has been breech until now, but she was still unable to get the baby to move. So she decided to hook me up to a non-stress test to moniter the baby's heartbeat and activity. After about a minute of being hooked up to this thing I started sweating and feeling like I was going to pass out, so I said "I'm not feeling very well" (the nurse and doc were still both in the room). So the doc says "OK, let's get you on your side, the baby is pressing on your veins and it is causing your blood pressure to drop". So at this point I am ready to just about cry because I am just working myself up. I rolled over and got situated and the nurse brought in a fan for me. The test took 30 mins and thankfully during that time I was able to relax and get Dave relaxed by telling the both of us that the baby was fine and this was easy peasy. Dr. J came in and checked the baby's printout and said that there were a couple of little movements in the 30mins and that the baby's heartrate was perfect, so she let us go with a clean bill of health. I was relieved to say the least! I just want to say that I think I have the best doc in the world and I am so glad that she always listens to my concerns and takes every precaution with me and the baby. So after the doc appt the nurse told us that we need to go ahead and pre-register at the hospital. Off we went to Summit to get everything squared away. That also took a little while so afterward we were starving. We decided on IHOP and let me just tell you, I LOVE IHOP! I mean come on, where else can you get stuffed french toast at 12:00pm??? Anyway, then we went to register for a few baby essentials at Babies-R-Us and Target. We still have to register at Wal-Mart, but other than packing our bags in a few weeks I think we are set.

On a lighter note, I've been on vacation all week and have had a wonderful time at home with Dave and Cadence, we have been everywhere and done everything! Dave took his first test to go back to school on Monday and ACED it, I was so proud of him - I can't imagine having been out of school for 11 yrs and having to jump back in. Not much else to tell, I'm a blessed woman! I'll post again soon.