Getting in the Christmas Spirit

We took this photo last weekend at my mom's, while over to decorate her tree. I'll probably use it for our Christmas cards. We haven't cracked a Christmas decoration box yet in our house, and Ryan is wondering WHY!??? We need to pull them all down and get cracking. He' s a demanding little cuss.

Last week was a difficult one with Nate. He had horrible ear infections. Finally on Friday we got a script for an antibiotic that worked (the 3rd we tried). So last week he was pretty miserable and feverish most of the time. Finally on Sunday he started feeling better and actually started smiling again, and even laughed once. I hadn't seen or heard that all week and sure did miss it.

I caught his cold over the weekend, but as of yesterday I seem to be over it. I love having my old (non-pregnant) immune system back.

I'm not nursing anymore, so the weight is creeping back up. I started Weight Watchers on Monday. I hate dieting, but I really don't want to become a chubby mommy (and I was on my way).

I talked to Jill on Monday about the possiblity of me going to part time. I kinda got a weird feeling from her, but she said she'd see what the policy was at Deltek. In the completely oppostion direction, I had a 2nd interview with Stewart Title on Monday. I really liked the lady I met with and the company seems great. We'll see what happens I guess.

Nate has started to crawl on his hands and knees some. It's much faster to army crawl on his belly though, so he usually plops down and moves about that way. He's two bottom teeth are all the way in now. He loves to bite his top lip all the time. I pulled out more of my baby pics. He looks sooo much like me in them. It's pretty cool.

Ryan is still a perfect big brother. That kid amazes me every day.

True love

Ryan and his girlfriend Samantha Demoy - This will be a great pic to show at their wedding reception.

Happy Halloween!!

My little trick-or-treaters! Aren't they cute. Especially my little "Yoda". They both had a great Halloween, especially Ryan. We went over to Bret and Wendy's to T or T. Nate was fussy so Wendy and I stayed inside and visited while the guys took the big kids out to get candy.

Something new that Nate is doing... Just last night he started getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. He's doing some serious contemplating on how he should go about crawling. He's almost there... Look out!

I turned down the job offer I received from AIG. They were nickel and diming me on the salary so I told them nevermind. I think they were a little shocked. It just wasn't a good move for me. I'm relieved to be staying with Deltek a bit longer. My work load has picked up a smidge. Plus I would miss everyone here terribly.

I can't believe it is already November! Need to start Christmas shopping...

A Ryan funny....

Ryan told me this morning "when people get married, they kiss like this" and he kissed me and held his lips there for a couple of seconds. Then he said "there. We are married now."

Maybe Nate does look like me...

What do you think?

Nate's Baptism

Nate was Baptized yesterday, after much prodding from my good friend Robin. I was surprized that lightning didn't strike when I entered the church. It was a beautiful day, and the whole family showed up. Then we had everyone over for lunch at the house. Nate was perfect in church, busy looking around at everyone staring at him until he finally feel asleep on my shoulder. *sigh* One of the best things about being a mommy... holding your sleeping baby.

Nate is 5 months old now. He's turning into a little person with an adorable personality. Loves to watch his big brother, loves to watch tv (particularly football and Fear Factor) and loves to be held and carried around. When he's down on the floor he shows the beginnings of being mobile by rolling across the floor, or scooting on his belly. The scooting still takes tons of effort though which usually pisses him off and makes him fuss.

Ryan is playing T-ball now and loves it. Randy is assistant coach and swears that Ryan is a natural born All-star. I'll agree that he is good, but proud Daddy might be exaggerating just a tad. He did get a home run last week. He won the game ball and Daddy wrote "Ryan, Home Run #1" and the date on it, and bought a plastic case for it. Ryan slept with it that night.

Ryan turns 6 in a couple of weeks. Unbelievable to me. Is there any way to make time slow down a bit? He's been having behavioral issues at school lately. Randy said it's payback for how bad he was. Hopefully Ryan will NOT be as bad as Randy was. His parent teacher conference is today. We'll see what she has to say about him.

What else... Work sucks. Not enough to do, and what there is to do is meanial. I told Jill that I was interviewing and she was relieved. I've been interviewing a lot. We'll see what happens.

Brothers

Ryan loves his baby brother. He amazes me at how gentle he is with him, and that he hasn't shown a single ounce of jealousy since day one. And Nate is completely fascinated with Ryan. He is constantly turning his head to see what Ryan is doing or where he is going. He little personality has been emerging lately too. It's very easy to get him to smile, and is typically a very happy little baby unless he's hungry or tired.

I think he's teething pretty severely right now. He gnaws on his hands (and sometimes my knuckles) till they are red. The other day he tried to roll from his back to his tummy. We'll start solid food when he's 4 months old, just a few days away! He's ready for it. It takes an awful lot of milk/formula to keep him satisfied. He goes for his 4 month appnt on August 29. I can't wait to see how much he weighs these days.

First day of Kindergarten

Ryan started Kindergarten last Wednesday. He was SO excited. I took him to Primrose (his preschool) and they took him to the elementary on their bus. I didn't even cry! He rode the Primrose bus to Adam with his best friend Trevor. When I picked him up that afternoon he was exhausted, but told me about his day.

The first thing he said was that Ms. Hetrick said they couldn't get on the computers yet. Then he said that they learned all about the rules for the playground. Don't slide down the slide backwards or on your tummy. Then he said at lunch time they didn't say a prayer. He told me exactly what he ate for lunch. It must have made an impression on him, because usually he can't remember what he ate.

So, his first week was good. He caught a cold and already missed his first day though. He felt horrible on Friday so Randy stayed home with him. He wanted to go to school anyway, but he needed to stay home and rest.

I can't believe he is so big.

"Meet the Teacher" - Kindergarten begins!

Here is pic of my newest little guy. I'm trying to get some good portraits of him.

We had our "Meet the Teacher" at Ryan's new elementary school yesterday morning. I did pretty well. :-) Ryan did fantastic!! He was so excited to walk through his new school. This is the first he'd seen of it.

We walked through the library and he got excited about all the books. We took him to his classroom and he met his teacher and a few classmates. Then we left him there for 20 minutes and went to the gym for the parent presentation. When we came back, all the kids were sitting around the teacher and she was reading them a story.

He handled it all so well and wasn't nervous at all, unlike me and even Randy. When we were walking out, he asked why he couldn't stay all day and wanted to know when he could! The first day of school is Wed. We are so proud of him.

Highlights of life at my house...

Smiles all around!!! :-)

Cutest. Baby. Ever. (at least since R was a baby)

Look at my tummy!

SLEEPING MACHINE!!!

7 WEEKS OLD - My little man has become a sleep machine. In the span of one week he went from waking every two hours to sleeping 6-7 hours straight! Wow! I feel so much better these days.

He is still pretty fussy, so I'm trying to figure that out. But at least I'm not bleary from lack of continuous sleep!

Oh, in other news... Ryan lost his first tooth this morning. :-( My biggest baby is growing up. He also learned to ride his bike with no training wheels a few weeks ago. WAAAAAHH.

4 weeks till I go back to work. My first day back is July 11. I'm kinda dreading it. It's been so nice to be off.

Fussy Little Man

It seems that Nate is a pretty fussy little man. I'm not sure what is up with him, but when he is awake he is either eating or crying lately. You would think I'd be stressed out about it, and I am to an extent. But mostly I've gotten used to it. I've found myself cleaning house, folding clothes, etc, while he wails away. What am I supposed to do about it?

I have to admit that he is cute as hell when he cries. His little face bunches up and turns red. But sometimes there is just nothing that will calm him, so I've just learned to live with it.

My little piggy!

4 WEEKS OLD - We went to the doctor on Tuesday. Nate had a white film on his tongue and I was afraid he had thrush. Turns out he doesn't, but the most noteworthy news from the doctor's visit... Nate has gained THREE pounds since birth. Yes, my boy has gone from 7 pounds, 2 ounces to 10 pounds, 2 ounces in THREE WEEKS. Can you say OINK? The boy does eat. Alot. Just like mommy I guess. ;-)

Good news on my end... I'm down to 160. I took Nate to the WelcomWorld reception on Tuesday night. Everyone ooo'd and ahhh'd over him. And some ooo'd and ahhh'd over me. How did I lose all that weight so quickly??!? Like I said. The boy can eat.

On the 3rd week

Wow, time flies these days. I can't believe this is the third week I've been home. Things are going pretty well. I don't do much during the day but hold Nate and nap. I thought I'd get a bunch of things done while I'm home, but that isn't happening. Every time I get up to do something, Nate wakes up and fusses.

He is eating really well. We went to his 2 wk appnt yesterday and he was already 8 lb. 14 oz. and 21 inches. He is growing fast. He eats about every 2 hours, which pretty much sucks at night. I'd kill for a good 4-5 hours of straight sleep. Or 3 hours even. This part is so hard. But it doesn't last forever.

We've been taking walks each day. The weather has been nice and it's great to get out of the house. I've lost about 25 pounds so far. I still have about 7-8 to go to get down to my pre-preg weight. I can already fit into my old jeans. I'm amazed at how fast that happened. My tummy is pretty flat already. Yay!

Nate still looks a lot like Ryan, but I'm starting to see little differences. I think he may actually look more like Randy than Ryan does. His eyes are dark grey, so I'm thinking they might turn brown. I can't imagine having two blue eyed babies, with mine and Randy's dark browns.

Nate and I are going to visit the office on Thursday. I miss everybody. Well, mostly everybody.

Lots of news

April 24 -
Well, so much has happened since I posted last. I had another dr appoint on Monday, April 24 and was still only 1 cm. I was dissappointed that I hadn't progressed at all.

April 26 -
Wednesday afternoon at work I started getting non-painful Braxton Hicks contractions at a regular pace, every 5 minutes or so, until I went to bed that night. Thursday they continued but not as regular. I was just happy that something was happening. I scambled to finish some things up at work.

April 28 -
At 2:30am Friday morning, I woke up to painful contractions. Finally. I laid there for about an hour, timing them. They began to get worse, so I decided it was time to go to the hospital. I got up and woke Randy and Ryan up. Ryan was instantly awake, excited about what might happen. I packed his suitcase and we left for my mom's to drop Ryan off.

We dropped Ryan off and made our way to the hospital. The contractions were a little irratic, sometimes 3 minutes apart, sometimes 7. We got to the hospital and went up to L&D. I got checked in and hooked up to the machines. The contractions where getting more painful, but still not consistant. I was really worried that they would send me home at that point. Finally the nurse checked me and I was 5 cm. They "admitted" me. I was staying put. It was probably about 6am at that point.

The machine was having trouble registering the contractions, so they had me turn to my back. The contractions began getting really painful and I began asking for the epidural. At around 6:45 the nurse checked me and I was 6-7 cm. I was progressing pretty fast. By 7 the contractions really sucked, and the epidural man finally came. He fixed me up and I was feeling better within minutes.

The nurse said that since my contrax were still irratic, she'd give me pitocin to regulate them. We called everyone and told them the situtation and that they should probably get to the hospital soon.

My dad and step-mom were already on there way, and were the first to arrive. Lisa was right behind them.

I was feeling great at this point, just waiting to push. At around 8:45 the nurse checked me and said I was almost at 10, but that the baby was turned and the head was kinda stuck. She had me lay on my side for about 10 minutes. When she checked me again, the baby's head was right there! She called the dr to quickly come, and stood with her hand on his head to prevent him from sliding out!

Lisa asked to be in the room during the delivery. My mom was supposed to be in the room too, but she was stuck in traffic! So Randy and Lisa stood in the corner of the room, while nurses and doctors were running about. There was meconium in the amniotic fluid so a neonatologist was called to make sure the baby was immediately cleaned up and monitored.

Finally the OB flew into the room, they threw the scrubs and gloves on her and she sat down and said "Let's have this baby!" The nurse let go, I had one contraction and out he came, with absolutely no pushing. What a difference from last time (3 hours of pushing with Ryan). The doctor wisked him away for a quick clean up. He brought him back after a few minutes and I got to cuddle my new little man! He looked exactly like Ryan did at birth. I was elated to see him and so relieved at how easy the birth was this time! We spent the next hour introducing him to the family. Ryan was giggly and excited to meet his new brother. He kept calling him his little baby.

Nathan Alan Bergeron, born at 9:20am, 7 lbs. 2 oz, 19 in

Almost time!!

37 WEEKS - I had a Dr. appnt on Tuesday. I'm 1 centimeter dilated, 75% effaced and his head is "really low". Yeah. I know. The pressure down there is killing me. So things have started to progress. That was encouraging.

I had a meeting with my new boss last week, Jill, Director of Events at Deltek. She is wonderful. I'm so happy to be working for her. So I guess I'll be doing only events now. It should be pretty fun, although I do enjoy doing all the other Marketing related things as well. Anyway, I've been working this week to hand over all my duties to the appropriate people so I can have a restful (regarding work) maternity leave. I'm looking forward to the time off. Randy and I have discussed how long I'll take off. I'm pushing for 10 weeks, he's pushing for 8. We'll see.

Wednesday night I started having painful contractions. They were every 3-4 minutes and lasted about 2 hours. I was a little worried that we when in for a trip to the hospital that night. I wasn't ready for that, so I ignored them, went to bed and they stopped. I haven't felt anything substantial since then. I've been frantic at work since then, getting things wrapped up. I should be good to go by the end of the day today, just in case.

Easter was fun last Sunday. I have to mention that so I can post a pic of my gorgeous boy. He had a great time and the house is over flowing with chocolate, which isn't such a bad thing to a pregnant woman.

We'll see if I make through the weekend!!!

One more month...

Yep, one month left. I had a dr visit on Monday. I’m not “progressing” at all yet, unfortunately. I’m so looking forward to not being PG anymore. I'm feeling pretty good, and people keep telling me I don't look 8 months pregnant. I guess I don't really feel that big either.

I am getting nervous about having a newborn again. Will I remember what to do? We bought Ryan some new furniture last weekend, to be delivered tomorrow. So this will be a big preparation weekend, getting the boys rooms in order.

Regarding work.... in talking with the Deltek events lady, I’ve pretty much decided that I’ll leave WelcomWorld for them to run and just not worry about it. I really do like the Director of Events (Jill, my new boss). She has two kids, 3yr and 5 mos, so we bonded on the mommy level. She assured me that I have a team behind me now, and not to feel like I HAD to be there at the conference. Made me feel good. I was pretty stressed out about trying to handle it and childbirth too.

Ryan is increasingly excited about his new baby brother. He wanted to know how Nate was going to come out the other day. I said “I already told you. He will come out of my privates.” He said “But the baby is too big.” I said “things will stretch and he will come out.” He said “Eeew. I don’t want to see that.” LOL He’s freaking hilarious.

I realized yesterday that I have to sign him up for Kindergarten next week. I had a little breakdown here at my desk. :-( He is getting so big. And doing SO well in Pre-K. He has started learning how to read. He's amazing.

9 more weeks... or 7?

31 WEEKS - I had a doc appnt this morning. Dr. Smith brought up the idea of inducing me early. My ears perked up! She said since Ryan was on the big side at 39 weeks, and I had the 4th degree tearing, that we should consider inducing a week or two early this time. I vote for 2 weeks at a minimum. She said she doesn't want the baby to get that big this time.

So, given that, I have 7ish weeks left which is very exciting. I just need to get my butt in gear and take care of things (baby room etc).

That was the highlight of the appnt. The downside, I'm 183 pounds now. Holy freakin moly.

2 Months Left!

7 months - It's hard to believe only 2 months left. However, I've started to feel kinda miserable lastely so I'm a little anxious that the 2 months goes by quickly. I've started to feel nauseous everyday, and I'm achy because I'm getting so big. My heartburn was unbearable so I got a script from the doc for Nexium. It works wonders but is expensive as hell. oh well.

Last weekend we went to the Rodeo B'B que cookoff with Jeff and Lindsay, like we did last year. This year? Not as fun. Not being able to imbibe is only part of it. I'm not used to doing that much walking and felt like I was going to give birth in the Reliant Stadium parking lot (where the B-B-Que was held). I probably would have if this guy on a runaway scooter had crashed into me. He was hauling ass through the crowd and came about a foot or two from hitting me. Scared the sheeeaat out of me.

This weekend I turn 36. :-O I feel so old. I guess it could be worse though. Randy is cooking dinner for my mom, step-dad and Lisa. I forgot to invite Lindsay and she made plans for the weekend. oops. It's ok. Next weekend Lindsay and I are going to Wendy's for an overnight scrapbooking thing. I need to get caught up before the babe comes. I think we are celebrating with my dad, step-mom, et al on Sunday. This with them never get planned until the very last minute, so I'm still waiting to hear about that.

I'm still leaning towards the name Nathan Alan. We'll call him Nate. Randy isn't 100% on it, but I'm holding firm on this one. He pretty much named Ryan. It's my turn. He's so active. When I get home each night, I recline on my couch and watch my stomach jump all over the place. Wiggly little bugger.

Work is going ok. That company is supposed to buy us on March 10. My manager just got back from a trip to VA to meet with the VP of Mkt there. He came back with news that we do in fact all have jobs (at least the mkt folks). But eventually our positions will change and become more focused. I'm not sure I like that. I enjoy doing a variety of different things at work, and don't want to become pigeon holed. So I guess we'll see what happens. If I don't like it, I'll just find something else.

My Jewish Grandmother (Bubbi) past away 2 weeks ago. She was very sick and very old so it was kind of a relief. Ryan was such a big boy at the furneral. He was quiet, for the most part, but got really excited when he thought they were going to open up the casket and we were going to "see Bubbi". So he provided some comic relief. Bubbi left me $1,000 so I think I'm going to get a really nice digi camera that I've been salivating over for the last few months. I can't wait!

I think that's all for now. Oh, I'm up to 181 pounds. Not too happy with that, but I found a stat from my pregnancy last time that I was 191 pounds at this point, so I guess I'm doing better.