Weekend Randoms

My big belly listening to baby girl on the monitor while I was at L&D.

She sounds content in there!

It's weird how you can hear a baby's heart beat and movement with a little bit of gel and a tiny little machine. 

These dogs! 

We have finally been letting the girls ride the bus to and from school. We don't let them actually walk to or from the bus stop. We drive them up to the stop in the morning and I wait for them in the car in the afternoons. The bus drops off at the highway. You never know who's lurking around so I make sure I'm there when they get off the bus. 

The dogs know exactly where I'm going too and at what time of the day. The first couple of times I asked them if they wanted to go for a ride and of course they were super excited. They love going on rides. But now all I do is head for the door about 3:55 and they know where I'm going and beat me to the door, lol. 

They wait patiently in their seats for the bus with the windows down watching for it to pull up. Then they wag their tales at all the kids walking past the car until they see the girls then they get really excited, lol. I think its so cute.

This week in Girl Scout the girls are wrapping up their Journey patch. Lauri my back up partner led the class this time. She brought a lady bug kit. The kit comes with larva and then they make into lady bugs. They all thought this was the coolest thing. Even Jaina said she wanted one!

Here are a couple drawings from Jolee this past week from school.

She is still struggling in reading and spelling but her hand writing is getting better. 

She filled up her sticker chart and got to bring a stuffed animal to school with her.

And Jaina. This girl is obsessed with animals.

Justin is such a great dad, he arranged for her to spend the whole morning at the vet watching, learning and helping out. Justin is friends with the lady and her daughter that runs the vet that we use. He told them that Jaina is interested in becoming a vet when she grows up so he arranged a date for her to spend the morning with them. She went this morning and spent three hours learning and watching. She got to see everything, play with and pet all the animals and even saw a dog that was put down. I told her that was part of being a vet. She said she really enjoyed it and knows what she has to do to make her dreams come true.

I went into work late today. While I was gone Justin helped Jaina and Jolee make homemade all natural dog treats. She was so excited to show me them when I got home. She did a great job and the dogs love the treats. I told her if the whole vet thing doesn't work out she could have a business selling dog treats, lol. 

30 Weeks

I'm 30 weeks pregnant. Praise Jesus! Now I am officially on the down side hill to this pregnancy. It feels like a life time away but yet so close to the end. 10 weeks left to go! I can now start counting down the weeks I have left. Wahoo!

At 30 weeks I have had my ups and downs. Lots of sleeping and some days with energy. Some days I just want to come home and sleep and the others I come home and get a lot accomplished. I bought a couple new flowy maternity tops and dresses for the spring. I can wear them this summer while I'm off from work and feel comfortable in them. I sure am glad sweater weather is over.

You can definitely tell I've got some swelling in my legs in this dress but at this point I don't care who sees my legs, lol. 

The swelling in my feet continue as well as my hands.

I found myself in labor and delivery yet again this past week. Tuesday I started contracting at work but very sporadic but by the time I got home I was in a lot more pain and they were about every 15 minutes apart. Along with the usual all day everyday menstrual like cramping and my blood pressure got up to 150/88. I didn't want to go to L&D but the nurse told me I had to go in. By the time I got there I was feeling a lot better. My blood pressure was back down to 127/77 and I wasn't contracting anymore. They checked me and I was not dilated but I was dipping on the monitor. They said they weren't for sure why I was dipping and said it could be from all the lower cramping I have been having so they sent me home with some medication. But other then that they said baby was doing great! 

My sciatic nerve has been giving me some issues this week. It hurts from my butt all the way down my leg to my foot. And it hurts. There's nothing to help the pain either. 

This heartburn is out of control. I take medication for it on the daily and it still sometimes over powers the medicine.

 Not really any cravings. My stomach is back to hurting in the evenings and I don't really feel like eating anything. 

I can feel her move from at the top of my belly all the way to the bottom of my belly all at one time. It's the weirdest feeling. 

It's funny how you forget about all the small little details of pregnancy once you have the baby. I'm glad I've been able to document both Jolee and Jewel's pregnancies and I have Jaina's pregnancy written in her baby book. I love to go back and reflect on it. It makes for sweet memories.  

Now only 10 weeks to go!

Windstar Weekend

This past weekend Justin and I were ready to hit the road to Oklahoma. Justin looks really excited to be going to Oklahoma, haha! I was! 

I have only been to the border of Oklahoma when Dorothy and Richard had their lake house at Lake Texoma. I stayed at the lake house just a few times before they sold it. It was always a lot of fun. 

But I haven't been to anywhere else in Oklahoma so I was excited to get the opportunity to go. 

Hey, I LOVE me a good road trip! Especially with Justin, there the best and we always have such a good time traveling.

Every year the company I work for nominates certain Funeral Directors into the Century Club. This is something we work towards all year. We have to make a certain score in order to be invited on the trip. There are alot of things that factor into our score. Our customer satisfaction surveys, our accounts receivables and a few other things. I've made the Century Club three years in a row. The first year we went to Ft. Worth. Last year I had to miss because of the Girl Scout trip and this year it was at the Windstar in Thackerville, Oklahoma.

The drive wasn't bad at all. Just three hours from home, straight up past Ft. Worth and two miles from the Texas border. 

As you can see there's nothing in Oklahoma, ha!

This was our view. Wide open spaces with the world's largest casino out in the middle of nowhere.

We were glad to get to our hotel. We took it easy for about an hour before we had to be at the cocktail hour.

Sooooooo this happened, lolololol OMG I brought TWO pairs of the wrong shoe! One wedge and one heel! My heart cringed but luckily by the Grace of God I so happened to bring a back up pair. A pair that was missing the pads on the bottom of the shoes and that I didn't want to wear but after seeing this had no choice. Justin thought the whole thing was hilarious. Rrrrrrr pregnancy brain! That's a real thing people!

We got dressed and were ready to go with baby Jewel in tow.

My handsome man ready to escort me to the dinner.

Ready to go!

The first hour was cocktail hour. I didn't get to drink but did get to mingle with several people I knew. 

Then we headed into the banquet hall. We had a nice prime rib dinner with salad and dessert.

The name plates were a nice touch.

Then they started a short ceremony. They presented each one of us with our ring and gave a short speech about how we earned our ring.

The first year you are presented with the ring and then every year after that we get a diamond put in it. I'm working towards my third diamond. 

My coworker Joyce was suppose to be there with me but I know she was there in spirit. Our district manager gave a short speech about her and of course I cried like a freakin baby. I was sad she wasn't there. 

Here's the crew that made the Century Club from the Texas West group.

After the ceremony was over we were free to roam the casino.

So Justin and I headed back to the hotel room to change and then we walked the casino.

Gambling is NOT my thing nor is it Justin's. Now I do love me a great game of Bingo and he love poker but gambling the machines, no. Neither Justin nor I know how to play the machines and $100 can go quick if you don't know what you are doing and gambling my hard earned money is not my idea of fun.

But we love to walk around and people watch. We have such a good laughing walking around and watching these people gamble, it just blows our mind. 

We walked the entire mile and half casino. It was fun.

We even stopped and grabbed us some ice cream on the way back. Justin asked me several times if I wanted to play my usual $20 bucks but I just wasn't feeling it this time and that's okay. I was ready to go back to the room after our three mile walk. 

The next morning we got out of Oklahoma as fast as we got there. Haha! Kidding. We had breakfast at the hotel. Parted ways from some of my coworkers and headed home. Our drive back was nice and easy and were glad to be back home. 

March Madness

I can't believe March is almost over. Seems like it just began. We have been having lots of warmer weather and I like it that way. Winter is just not my thing. Spring is also in the air. I love the cool mornings, warm afternoons and crisp evenings. The flowers are popping out and I'm lovin it. 

 

Since the rain has been gone the girls have been playing alot in their playhouse with the neighborhood kids. Our backyard has became the neighborhood hang out. They all like to get on the trampoline and jump together too.

Jolee has also been keeping herself busy on rainy and cooler days too. Playing doctor in the house.

Jaina is at it again..... 

She no longer has her pet leopard gecko. She over heard her teacher talking about wanting to get a class pet so she offered her gecko to her teacher. Her teacher was so excited. Jaina packed everything up and Justin took her up to the school so she could give it to her teacher. 

All the kids were in aw over the gecko and I think Jaina liked all the attention on her since it was her pet.

Since then she's been up to something. She kept hinting around to getting another pet and I said NO! 

Then one evening Justin and I walked into the computer room to find a typed letter and a hamster book she has been reading.

She wants another hamster...….neither Justin nor I are thrilled about this idea. I told Jaina she's not getting another pet because she will be getting a baby sister here in a few weeks.

But I did think her letter was adorable.

Friday Jolee had "bring a stuffed animal to school day". She filled up her sticker chart with good behavior and was rewarded with a stuffed animal day. She chose this huge bear to lug around school all day, lol.

I was feeling pretty good this past weekend so me and the girls did a little bit of shopping. My shopping days are getting shorter and shorter by the week. I picked up a few decorations for our kitchen nook area and am loving it. I'll have to post pictures soon.

29 Weeks

At 29 weeks I'm feeling really pregnant.

I feel big, fat and I waddle. I actually waddle yall, lol. 

This week I have been suuuuuuuper exhausted. I want to sleep all the time. If I could, I would sleep all day. I just have no energy. Maybe I'm preparing my body to be up all day and night with this baby, who knows she might be really needy, colic or she may be a great baby. Jaina and Jolee were such good babies I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she's just as good of a baby.

I'm still cramping ALOT. All day everyday. I'm curious to know if I'm dilated but I wont know for another few weeks when I go back for my next appointment. 

Heartburn is killing me, even with medication it's still awful. 

Night time has become more challenging. I wake up several times a night to go to the bathroom, I wake myself up by snoring, my hips kill me while I'm sleeping, I have to sleep with three pillows under my head now and my hands straight by my body or else they fall asleep.

Justin and I trade off sleeping in our bed because my snoring is so bad and the couch has become more comfortable then my bed. 

Shortness of breath has kicked in and I get tired easily before I have to sit down. Bending down to pick things up or put my shoes on has become a little challening as well.

No real cravings and I still can't smell anything.

And I recieved my test results back on the parvovirus. Apparently I have already had parvo as a child and am immune to it so I can not get it nor transfer it to the baby. Praise Jesus!

Some positives.

 I can feel her move around a lot. From kicks, to rolling around, to whole body movements. She even kicks me under my rib cage.

 Justin and I are still working on her name. We are still confirmed for Jewel but not sure if we will use one L or two. And we can't agree on a middle name. Which to me doesn't really matter because people often don't use their middle name. But Justin is afraid she won't like her name Jewel because it's too old fashion and she will want to use her middle name. He does not like Ann because he wants her middle name to be something she can use instead of Jewel. I think he's just over thinking all of this too much. But we have to decide on something quick because our weeks are running out. This coming up week starts the downward climb to having this baby and I can not wait!

When Sickness Hits and You have Know Idea What It Is

Last Friday Jolee came up to me after her bath to tell me she had a rash on her arm that itched. I didn't really think much of it because it was just a small area so I gave her some cream to put on it before she went to bed.

The next morning she woke up looking like this with the rash all over her body. I was then concerned. She didn't want to eat her breakfast and said she didn't feel good but I had to work, Justin was at work and they were scheduled to go to the babysitters house. I took along some Benadryl and told Cindy that if she didn't seem to get any better I would leave work and come get her.

Cindy called about mid morning and said she just wasn't herself and not feeling good so I went and picked her up and took her to the children's hospital ER. 

There was no one there so we got in right away. 

I will be honest I wasn't impressed with the doctor who came in to check her. At first he said it was a sun burn.....I was like huh, a sun burn? Really because it's winter and she has been wearing winter clothes. And then he said it was Parvovirus. A virus kids get. There's no medication and no cream for it and it just has to work itself out. I left there a little upset because he didn't test her for parvo and didn't really examine her like he should have. 

When we got home I ended up giving her some Benadryl and letting her chill at the house.

This is how she looked on Monday. I was a little concerned that the school wouldn't let her come to school but when Justin took her medicine to the nurse she said there was tons of kids that came back from Spring Break with Parvo. I never even had heard of Parvo until she got it. I thought only animals got it, lol. 

In children it starts with a cold and ends with a rash all over the body and takes about 2-3 weeks to work its way out of the system.

I was a little concerned because I am pregnant and I know Parvo can effect an unborn baby so I contacted my doctor to let him know what's going on. He ordered me some lab work and I had to go get some blood drawn to see if I have it. There is no symptoms in pregnant women so I would never know if I did have it. 

I have to wait a few days to see if I test positive and then we will go from there. Let's pray that everything will turn out okay.