Myrtle Beach!!!!

So I had every intention of posting while on vacation-- but you know how that goes.... so here is a recap.

We left Friday drove to TN.  The kids did great in the car; although Charlie did have some bad leg cramps.  I think we were all just ready to be OUT OF THE CAR!!!! Saturday we woke up to Charlie feeling a bit warm and not feeling great.  Although Tylenol helped perk him up a bit we could tell he wasn't fully himself.  We made it to our condo on Saturday, unpacked, visited with the Southern Stevens and off to bed to get ready for our 1st full day at the beach!!!!!

Sunday Charlie once again woke warm and thank goodness we travel with a doctor :) we thought for sure it was the strep that we thought Emmy had earlier in the week.  We got some medicine but the Rx did not seem to work right away like it normally does.  He was still a trooper and we headed out to the beach for some fun in the sun.  Although Charlie was enjoying the beach- Emmy was not as much of a fan.  She preferred the pool!! :)  I kept the kids in that night to eat at the condo and early to bed.   Charlie kept saying that his mouth hurt and didn't eat too much.

Monday- Charlie woke up with sores all through out his mouth.  Poor thing.  It did seem that the Tylenol was still helping him but I was worried that since he wasn't eating/drinking alot that he would get dehydrated being outside alot.  So we did small spurts of being out and coming back in to relax.

The rest of the week kind of all seem to run together so lets recap.
Charlie started to feel better!!! :) I think by Wednesday he was eating again and getting back to his sassy self.  We went to Nascar Speedway for Charlie to get his first go-cart experience.  He did pretty good driving himself for his first time- he made it around the track about 5 times.  :) He then got to ride with Daddy on an adult ride and raced the rest of the guys!!!  Emilee was not interested in riding them at all.  Of course this was after we had to buy her a ticket to ride! We then had the great idea of going to Myrtle Waves water park in the evening.  They offer a special Wednesday nights from 6-10pm, $10 entrance fee.  I think the entire state had the same idea to go; because I have never seen a line so long.  We convinced the kids it wouldn't be as fun as we wanted and back to the pool we went. 
We also took the kids for their first mini golf experience.  Emmy was not very into it; but Charlie LOVED it.  He got his first hole in 1 and couldn't have been more proud of himself.  The rest of the time was spent at the pool!!!!

Charlie found a new love for jumping in and being thrown.  Of course he is still wearing his floaty but getting more and more comfortable in the water. 

It was a great trip.  Although I was happy to be home and in my own bed; I was not happy to "be home".

This trip I actually got some extreme guilt when returning home- it was so amazing to be with the kids for the entire week.... there were definitely some challenging moments but it was so nice to be with them.  Thinking about having to go home and go back to work M-F was weighing hard on me.  It's hard being a parent and having to be practical.  Sometimes I wish we could just throw practicality out the window- crap if I could do that I would be a stay at home mom (or at least home 2-3 more days a week); have a new kitchen and bathroom..... then my lovely husband pinches me and brings me back down to reality.  So instead we do what we have to and make it work!! :) In the end it will all pay off for sure!

Best Friends!!!!!

Daddy,Em and Chuck

Emilee Noel

Aubree, Emmy & Audrey

Loving the Pool!

Enjoy some pictures!

Prego Mego Week 24

This week has been interesting.  I feel like my stomach once again doubled in size; can't imagine how big this thing is going to get.

My lower back is starting to hurt; not all the time but mainly when I first get up to walk and then if I have been walking for a long time.  It is manageable and seems to go away if I can stretch or sit and rest. 

I have never had a problem sleeping (even through the other 2 pregnancies)- but this week I did more tossing and turning than ever before.  We have the air on; and I'm still hot! Nothing can touch my feet because I feel like they will burn off (yes I know I'm weird).  I have found that if I sleep with an icepack it helps cool me down all night. 

Like I stated before Mike was able to feel the baby kick for the first time on Sunday!!! Emmy still requires me to lift up my shirt every night so she can talk to him and give him kisses before bed!! :)  Charlie will snuggle with me on the couch/chair and get cozy under my arm and just put his hand on my belly in hopes of feeling him kick.  The kids haven't been patient enough to feel him- Although Emmy swears she has! :)

The kids pick for baby's name......................DUDE.  Yes dude. 

Overall it has been a pretty good week for the little one.  He is so excited for his first trip to the beach!! :) Not sure everyone else is ready for me/us to be there in a swimsuit but...... we will enjoy ourselves!

I can't believe I would even put this picture up but it is the only 1/2 way okay one we got yesterday. 

24 weeks

Random Wednesday....

*Emilee woke up fine yesterday.  No fever felt great- still took her to the doctor since we got the notice last week of strep.  They tested her and it was negative.  She was just fine all day. 

*This morning she woke up alittle warm but she still wanted to go to school with Charlie.  So off they went. 

*I really hope Charlie doesn't get sick!!!!!!!!! Fingers/toes/legs/arms crossed everyone

*Mike's van broke down/overheated yesterday so he had to take it to the mechanic. 

*Charlie was in heaven the other night because I let him help pack his suitcase for the beach.  He made sure all items where folded nicely and we brought all the right stuff.

*We have someone coming to quote our bathroom tonight.  I cannot wait for it to be done!!!! I need to post a picture of what I'm dealing with here..... I think this will be our last bigger project before the baby gets here.  Although I would love to be able to finish the painting that I started in our living room/hallway and trim a few months ago, so maybe we have 2 more bigger projects to do.

*Yes I said I started painting a few months ago and it still is not finished.... don't judge me

*I am hosing a Pampered Chef catalog party for my friend Kortnie!!! Want to check out the awesome July catalog, go to http://pamperedchef.biz/kortnietesdall
make sure to put my name in for the host so I can get credit.  I have extended an offer that anyone who orders something/anything will get a sweet treat from me!!! Either hand delivered or sent in the mail!!! :)
It is a great chance for you to try out something new in the kitchen that you have always wanted, upgrade some of your old items, and or think about gifts for someone.  It is never to early to start Christmas shopping!!!!

*I am so excited for vacation this year.  I think the kids are at such a fun age to run and play at the beach.  The kids are both equally as excited.... I just hope it lasts through the long car ride we have in front of us.

*Did you know they make chocolate filled twinkies??? I couldn't get myself to try one... anyone have one before?  Thoughts?

*Seriously, do people look in the mirror before they leave the house?  If so, do they think they look good?  I think to myself, I'm sure people would want me to tell them if they had food in their teeth, should I tell them that they look like crap and their clothes don't match? 

*I will have Mike take a picture of me tonight to do a Prego Mego post tomorrow for Week 24!!!

Hope you are all having a great day.

Jodi

Weekend WrapUp

Hope you all had a great weekend!!!

Friday evening we attended a Relay for Life which is coordinated through Mike's dad's bank.  Due to the rain, they moved it in to the high school's gym- which was very hot and stuffy- but still so inspiring to see all these people coming together for a cause.  I did however see 1 booth/camp area that really struck me... they all had shirts that on that back had a huge picture of a mom and her daughter- the mom couldn't have been more than 25-30 years old.  Her daughter was 3-4.  The shirt read "I'll be living through my daughters eyes." I tear up just thinking about it now.  What girl or any kid for that matter should have to go through life without their parent.  So horrible!!! I am grateful however for the many others that donate and continue to fight towards finding a cure for this ugly disease.

Saturday seemed like it went too fast.  Mike worked in the early morning; I had a photography shoot for a baptism (it was my first baptism and I will post more on this soon-- but check me out on Facebook at Jodi Lynn Photography).  Saturday evening we took the kids to Bass Pro Shop.  They normally have a bunch of tents out for them to go in and explore. This time was a bit disappointing.  Although they liked seeing the 4wheelers and boats, there wasn't much else for them to go in.  So dinner at Taco Bell per Charlie's request was in order. 

Sunday was a shopping day to get last items for our now Beach Vacation.  I say "now" because we were originally going to CO, but due to the fires we changed to Plan B since we didn't know when they would be under control.  The kids are very excited to go to the beach this year and I think it will be a great age for them to run and play.  Although I'm not looking forward to the drive; I am looking forward to the time away.  I had another photo shoot in the evening yesterday; and was definitely ready to get home and put my feet up for the night.  Mike was able to feel the baby kick for the first time last night! It was great! Never gets old no matter how many kids you have.
Overall it was a great weekend.  Although I think Emilee is in full swing of TERRIBLE TWOS. 

After I wrote this all yesterday I got a call from the school (daycare) that the kids go to, that Em had a 101 fever and needed to be picked up.  There was also a notice that went out last Friday letting us know that someone in her class did have strep- so off to the doctors we go today to get her checked out.  She is acting fine and I don't think she has a fever at all.  But last time she had strep this is how she acted as well.  So fingers crossed its nothing- but if it is strep lets get it all taken care of before we leave for vacation.  (although today I'm waiting for the call for Charlie to be picked up).

Hope you all had a great weekend and survived Monday with little pain!!!!

Jodi

Prego Mego

So since I am already 23 weeks along some of the earlier weeks might not be as detailed as going forward but I will try.... and I don't have early pics of my belly.  My goal is remember to take "growth" pictures more regularly, but no promises there.

2/27 - Positive At Home Test
3/21- Doctor confirmation
4/2- 1st Ultrasound-- got to see the little baby on the screen!!!! :)

Weeks 1-12:  SICK!!! That pretty much sums it all up.  If I wasn't actually throwing up; I was feeling like I was going to throw up.  Laying down and sleeping would help.  I was finally given some medicine to help with the nausea, and it did a pretty good job. 

Week 13-20: Started to feel a bit better but still had the off and on nausea. 

Week 21-23: Nausea is gone!! :) Although I am now starting to feel BIG.  The heat is not fun- but it hasn't been too terrible.  I can tell I'm really starting to show now, since people at work are starting to comment.  Most saying "I didn't know you are pregnant."
Week 23- Doctors appointment.  Heartbeat was 145.  Everything looked good!!!

Week 20 or 21

Sorry I'm normally not a picture in the mirror kind of girl- but this is all I have to show right now.

I will now try to continue weekly with these updates.

Have a good night!!!

O yeah we are Pregnant....

So I think that the real reason I stopped blogging before was because I wanted so badly to do this post but couldn't.  I wanted to be able to post about being pregnant- BUT it just wasn't happening.  Then I felt guilty because I know how blessed we are to have two healthy, amazing kids already and I know there are families out there who have been waiting on and continue to wait on those two wonderful lines!  I am not going to try to say that I know what those families are feeling, but I will share our experience in hopes that it might find someone that needs to know that they are not alone. 

So we started the process of trying for #3 in March of 2011.  Going off of past experiences, we expected to be preggo by the summer of 2011.  That wasn't the case.  We continued to try and finally gave in and bought some ovulation kits.  The first two months or so of trying the kits I was never able to get a positive result.  I went to my normal doctor to make sure everything else was okay.  It just seemed so strange to us that for our first two kids we only tried for 2 months max before being pregnant.  All my lab work came back fine so she recommended me trying some different day counting methods, and if that didn't work to contact my OB.  They didn't work so around the end of the year I made an appointment to see my OB.  She required additional lab work, tests, the whole work up on me.  In the end, she could find nothing that should be preventing me from conceiving.  She said I could try Clomid if I wanted.  We did try it in February 2012, and in March of 2012 we saw those wonderful 2 lines (and then that wonderful word PREGNANT-- yes I'm one of those that required her husband to go back to the store to get a digital one to just make sure we were reading those lines right)!!!!

I'm back!!!! :)

So I haven't blogged in FOREVER.  But thought I would try to start up again.  And I thought it would be an easy way for me to document the rest of this pregnancy & what is going on in our lives (there is A LOT).  I might find myself breaking it up into a few different posts-- so not sure how fast they will come but get ready!  

List of posts to come:

• O yeah I'm pregnant (our struggles, and documenting the first 23 weeks)
• Update on the Family (kids, vacations, work)
• 131 Projects
• Jodi Lynn Photography

Emilee & Charlie - July 2012