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Mother's Day

I am now 8 months along in my pregnancy. I am 33wks 1day today. I have 7 more weeks to go! Our little girl will be here very soon and we are patiently awaiting her arrival. We have still so much to do before she comes so we are not in a hurry to give her the eviction notice yet. Other than loss of energy, I have been feeling pretty good and there hasn't been much pain or leg cramps or swelling that I had with my first one.

I did, however, have a major scare on Friday. I woke up from a long night of tossing and turning. I had a sore back, probably from Corey having his elbow in my back all night. He usually sleeps well in his room but that night he got scared and we kept him in our bed. I also woke up with a pulled muscle on my left side around my rib cage. Corey and I went through our usual morning routine and throughout the morning into the afternoon, I realized I had not felt the baby kick at all. I drank some sweet tea which usually gets her going but nothing happened. And I laid on my side for a few minutes before I started work and still nothing. I finally called my Dr. office and they recommended me to come in. I got there and they put me on a machine to monitor her heart rate and contractions. I was not having any kind of contractions whatsoever so that was a good sign. They found the heartbeat pretty quickly but after 20 minutes, she still was not moving. The nurse finally gave me Pepsi to drink and she finally started moving. The doctor thought that was good enough so she sent me on my way. I got back home to start work but I was still not feeling her move. I took the rest of the day off per my supervisor. I rested as much as possible. Finally at 11pm, she started kicking and moving on her own. She made me so scared.

Now-today, a day later, as much as she wasn't moving yesterday, she is skipping, dancing, jiggling and swimming in there today! She likes to play tricks on her mama already. I am so happy she is doing good and still active. She thought it was funny but mama sure didn't!

So, tomorrow is going to be my 4th Mother's day. I have to say, I love being a mom. I would not trade this for anything in the world. From the time my son wakes up in the morning until he goes to sleep, he keeps a smile on my face and he makes me laugh so much. He brings joy to me no matter what he is doing. Yes, motherhood is a challenge sometimes but the rewards are far greater. This is all very cliche but you don't believe the cliches until you are living it. I can't wait to be a mother of 2. I know its not going to be all smiles and rainbows, its definitely going to be overwhelming but I'm sure we are up for the challenge. I couldn't do it without my amazing husband, my awesome mother in law and my own beautiful mother.

I want to take a moment to let my mother know just how much I love her. She is my rock-my best friend. The one person I could tell everything to and I know she would not judge me. We didn't get along in my high school years and I left home at 19 to move in with Chris and we just weren't super close. Somewhere around us getting married and having Corey things changed and she has been by my side through everything. She has been my biggest supporter (besides that amazing husband of mine) through everything. I am glad we can joke about the times we didn't get along now :) She is also a really great Nana. Corey loves her and loves camping with her and Pawpaw. I can't wait to see her with her granddaughter soon though! I know she will just be smitten with her! Mom, I love you and again, thank you for always being there for us! You are truly a wonderful, beautiful, amazing person and I only wish I can be the same kind of mother and supporter to my kids as you are with me!!

Life right now...

I can't believe I have a 3 year old. To me, Corey is still my 'wittle wittle baby'. When we look back at pictures, I tell him 'Corey, thats you as a 'wittle, wittle baby!'. It's cute when he repeats it. He is so smart. I am not being biased. I have had a lot of people be surprised at how much he knows. He can spell out words when looking at the back of a cereal box or driving in a car. He will look up a signs and spell out 'W-A-L...'. He is inquisitive and loves to teach and always telling me about numbers and letters and colors. He LOVES to sing. He is always singing songs that are on the radio and jingles from commercials and from his favorite cartoons. I am amazed everyday.  He's always asking questions. Being 3, comes with the WHY? questions. They can be a little exhausting but I know I have to be patient and teach him the 'why's' of the world. It makes me so happy he wants to learn and that he is a happy little man. And he makes me laugh all the time. He has been in the 'repeat everything I hear' phase for a year now. He used to cuss a lot until we started watching ourselves and now he is even telling people, 'Don't say that word!'. And he scolds us when anyone else says it. He's turning out to be a great kid. And I know he is going to be a great big brother soon.

Our little girl is coming closer and closer. I'm 23 weeks and 4 days along. I am feeling great for being 6 months along. I love my belly and everything that comes with pregnancy. I am very uncomfortable but I tell myself as long as I feel her kicking, I know she's ok in there. We had an ultrasound with a really good ultrasound tech that looked and measured every single body part. She took about 10 pictures and everything looks great. It was a huge surprise to not see a 'boy part'. With Corey, I saw it right away. So, I kept looking for it and finally I said, 'I don't see a boy part, do you?' The tech replied 'No, because its a girl!' She is an absolute surprise because I was all for another boy. She was 99.99% sure. Well, hoping she was sure because we have been shopping a lot for her.

It didn't hit me for a while that we were having a girl. It took me awhile to like the pink stuff but I went shopping with my mom one day and she was excited for all the pink and she picked a few things out for her room. Now I am finally excited for her to come. I even bought some headbands and hats in all different colors and starting on tutu's for her.  I'm on pinterest.com everyday to learn how to make bows for her hair because I know she will have a lot. Chris is excited too. He picked out two outfits for her this past weekend and looked at all the clothes for girls and ooo-ed and aww-ed over the Carter's line at Kohl's. He wanted to buy a lot for her but at the end, only bought 2 outfits and said he will buy her more when he knows what size she will be when she comes out. He is an excited daddy!

Right now, we are decorating her room. Looking for the right shade of pink and brown. And the right shade of gray for our room so we can finally get carpet for all the upstairs rooms this spring. I can't wait for my gray, white and yellow room! I love decorating. It kind of feels like scrapbooking to me. I am also helping plan my cousin's wedding in July so I am really busy right now. It seems like I don't have enough hours in the day sometimes but it makes the time go by so much faster when I have all this stuff to do. It's crazy how we only have 17 weeks left, yay!!

Boy or Girl?

As it gets closer and closer to finding out the baby's sex, I find myself daydreaming about this little one growing inside of me. I am so excited to find out and start buying baby outfits, shoes and blankets. I want to make sure the baby is healthy first and foremost at the ultrasound next month but the ultimate goal is the sex. I can't wait and it will be so much more special to have the most important people there with me. Chris, Corey and my mom.

With that all said, I am going further into my daydreams and what it would mean for us for having a boy or having a girl.

What it would mean if it's a boy:

Corey would have a playmate. Someone to be his little shadow. Someone he can look out for in school if his little brother gets picked on.  Someone to gang up on mom with and play tricks on her. Someone to play football, baseball and basketball in the backyard in the summers.

Daddy would have a 3rd musketeer. Again they can gang up on mommy. Play sports together with Corey. Have games of tag and games of hide and seek. Have a 4th San Francisco 49ers fan. And teach him all he knows about sports.

Mommy would have 2 adorable baby boys that would mean the world to her. She would be just like her best friends, Marcee and Betty with 2 boys to each of them. It would mean finding a way to show them the best way to pee standing up. It would mean not having to send them to separate playdates or after school activities because they would be into the same things. IE: karate, JFL, teeball, etc. It would mean not having to share her girl things with like hair ties, make up and shoes...I stole all this from my mom and she hated it!


What it would mean if it's a girl:

Corey would be the ultimate big brother that will teach her to tie her shoes. Teach her colors and ABC's and 123's. He would protect her when someone picks on her in school. I see him going to a teacher and telling them that a bully is messing with his sister. He would be the only person that can pick on her but he would do it playfully not mean.  When they got older, he would be the one to beat up her ex-boyfriends.

Daddy would have a little princess. She would have him wrapped around her little finger the moment he saw her, as Corey had him. He would again have a 4th San Francisco 49ers fan. He wouldn't let her out of his site when it came to boys and friends. You think he is overprotective with Corey now, wait until he has a girl.

Mommy would have a little shopping buddy. Someone she can teach to bake and cook...well, they could learn together.  Someone to be mad at when she steals her hair ties, shoes and make up. Someone she can put tu-tu's on with her jersey that Daddy put on. Someone she could share what she learned from her mistakes when she was growing up. Someone's hair she could play with and to learn french braids on.


Those were my little daydreams and wishes for this baby. I have dreamed of a family of 4, as perfect as that sounds. It has always been my dream to have a husband and 2 kids in a home with nothing but love for one another. A quote that comes to mind is 'We are family. We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.'  That's what I think about when I see this family of 4. I know its not going to be perfect but to me, this is all that I need. Whether it be a boy or a girl. This baby will make my heart completely complete!

Welcome, 2012!

2011 has came and went. It never slowed down and I see that when I signed in I only had 1 post from 2011. 2012 hopefully will be different but lets face it, I am bad at blogging:/

Chris, Corey and I had an eventful year. We visited family and friends as much as possible and we went to our favorite places as much as possible as well.

We are expecting our 2nd baby here in the early summer and can't wait until he or she gets here. We are wanting to know the sex beforehand so we can get the baby room set up. I can't wait to decorate. I'm sure to know sometime in February, so stay tuned. Our summer is going to be eventful with a new baby. We are excited.

I changed accounts at my job in May in hopes that I would be working back at home and December 19th it finally happened. I work at home and doing 2nd shift. So far it has been lovely, sleeping in and hanging out with Corey in the mornings. We like to have a big breakfast of sausage, oatmeal and toast with milk for him and OJ for me. I keep wanting to get up and cook some eggs and toast for Chris in the mornings but he gets up so dang early and can't muster up the strength to get up. Hopefully, I can get into the habit of it soon since my New Year's resolution is to cook more at home.


There are so many things to look forward to that I can't wait for but I feel like because 2011 went by so fast that this time/this year I want to tell myself to take a deep breath, slow down and enjoy each and every single day. I feel as a mother especially, I am waiting and holding my breath for the next milestone or special event. I need to keep telling myself to enjoy the little things because one day I will look back and realize those little things were the big things that I may just miss and wish I had that time again.

My advice for anyone in 2012 is remember the positive, forget the negative. Don't focus on the negative or you will never get to the positive of any situation. Keep a smile on your face, people will either love you for it and those are the people you want in your life or people will hate you for it. Either way, just keep smiling. Hold your head up high and focus on what matters the most to you. Most of this is me telling myself these things but I hope whoever is reading can take something from this. Oh and to blog more...another New Year's resolution for 2012:)

Loving Life

Life is so busy right now! Its hard to sit still. Life is crazy....and we love it!!

Corey is now 2 YEARS OLD!! We planned a small birthday party that ended up being huge:) But we were so excited that everyone was able to come!

I am now an independent consultant for Scentsy! I am trying to get my business up and running Right now I'm focused on trying to get my clientele up but its hard when all I want to do is buy all the products in the catalog, there will be no way I'll be making money at this.

Chris and I are really focused on Corey. We make sure hes healthy and happy. He has been sick a few time this winter but it was nothing we could not handle. With the help of Chris' mom, Frieda, he has become a very smart, intelligent, wonderful kid. He pronounces his ABC's really well. Kind of knows how to spell his name (we start out saying 'C' and he will finish 'O R E' and we finish with Y). He is a big ol' sponge! He loves to count his cars, though he has hundreds in a matter of months. 3 days before he turned 2, he spent the night at my mom, 'Nana's' house. With a matter of a day, she managed to get him to get rid of the pacie!! I was ecstatic. That is the start of many new 'big boy' things to come, though. We have potty training and getting him to sleep in his own bed at night. We have a good start as we took the crib part off his crib and made him a 'big boy bed'. He doesn't like that too much. We also have him running around in underwear sometimes but I get scared and hurry up and take them off before he has the chance to practice. I hope I can get over these anxieties so he is able to learn.

Chris and Corey love to watch tv together. They watch sports. Corey loves all things sports!! Wrestling, football, basketball...!! its great to see them watching all that together. It's their bonding time. We also watch Seaseme Street, Sid the Science Kid and Dora the Explorer.

They also like to cook together and the love eating and snacking. They are 2 boys that are gonna eat me (momma) out of house and home! Corey is picky when eating but when he likes something, he cannot get enough of it. Just like Chris.

This is just a little update on how we are doing. Thanks for reading:)

Our Summer

I am upset with myself that I have not posted anything since May. Not only is this blog for my friends and family to read but this is a good reference back when i am trying to record things for Corey. He's getting to be super big. Literally, 'a little man' is what I like to call him. He is 19 months now. Walking around like he owns the place. Going through kitchen cabinet drawers, mommy and daddy's dresser, underneath the bathroom sink, in and around my scrapbook room, up and down the stairs. Everywhere except his bedroom! He hates being alone in there but soon he will have to get used to it. Being almost 2 years old, he should be out of mommy and daddy's bed soon but we love cuddling him so, here he sleeps with us because it is us that need him for comfort. He's our little piece of heaven.

I am happy to report that Corey is up to date in all his immunizations until Kindergarten, which for me, is a great feat that I accomplished that for my son. I thought I would be the kind of mommy who says to herself, 'Hey, I'll get them next month or he doesn't need them now, I'll get them done before this or that' I'm a huge procrastinator, so this surprises me. Also not to mention all the people scaring me with the side effects. Corey did not have any!

This has been a really fast summer as always...it goes by so quickly. Because it was pretty eventful. May, we went to the St. Louis Zoo for the first time with Corey. He loooooved it. We had a trip to Vegas in May as well that we won from a radio station to see a group called Paramore in concert at the Hard Rock Hotel. The trip was great and the time we shared without our little guy was needed but by the end of the 4 days, we were really excited to get back to him.

June, we celebrated our 4th year wedding anniversary. Pretty uneventful as well but we know we love each other enough that we didn't need to make a big deal out of it. 4 years together, wow. Plus the 2-3 we dated and were engaged. Its been a long ride but i'm enjoying every minute as his wife.

July, Corey and I took a small trip to Branson with my parents while Chris took a trip with his dad to California. I stayed with my mother in law some of the days while they were away, to make sure she was ok. We had fun times all around.

August, we made a trip to Chicago for our nephews 7th birthday. It was actually Chris and my first trip to Chicago together. We've gone other times but never together and to have Corey with us our first time together was just great! We went to Shedd's Aquarium and Soldier field for family night.

September, we took Corey down the road to the Pumpkin Festival! We went all 4 days it was in town! We had so much fun and Corey loved all the rides he rode with his cousins, uncle, dad, mommy and friends. We had lots of good food. Hotdogs, ribeyes, pumpkin porkchop sandwiches, pumpkin chilli, pumpkin ice cream, lemonade shakeups, corndogs!! Yum yum!! We saw lots of old friends from school and Corey was a big hit with his big smile and huge belly laugh!

We have been hanging out a lot with our friends Kamron, 4 and Landon, 2 and their mom Ashley whom I work with. We have had a lot of playdates and go to places like the zoo and shopping with the boys. We take them to McDonalds and eat lunch of have dinner usually pizza! We love hanging out with them! Its great to have friends to just have a relaxing day together. The boys get along great. I am very happy we have them as friends.

I am happy that I have so many friends and family to share this summer with. It was a pretty fulfilling summer with lots of things going on. For all of you reading who has been a part of our summer, I am very grateful for you all.

Thanks for reading.