Saturday, February 16

Blessed

Bless The Lord over my soul, over my soul... This song weighs heavy on my heart lately. When you hear your two year old sing it, it makes you want to cry with joy! My two year old [Elijah] loves to sing! He'll say, "mama sing with me!" Or "Sing Mama" he's so smart & happy [most of the time] he has some horrible temper tantrums. I try to keep calm when he does such things, I try to explain that when he does those things that he's being mean, rude & it's not nice, that it hurts Mommys feelings. We hug, kiss & try to work past it. Gabriel on the other hand, my 5 1/2 month old, is so cuddly, lovely, mamas boy, kinda baby. I never would have thought that he would have been EBF this long. We've played around with a little bit but nothing serious. He does drink from a sippy cup, but that's all. Matthew actually bought me a baby bullet!! I am excited to use it, but scared at the same time. I'm so scared he'll like the food more than me, and my supply will drop, so tomorrow I'm making me some lactation cookies, because I'm having to pump once a day, hopefully twice a day, Matthew has a surprise date planned for me on Saturday, which he's not giving any details on. He's getting the sitter, blindfolding me, and planned it all! I'm excited & scared! (Scared because I'm afraid I might not pump enough)

Well, I must say I know this isn't a lot, but it's been 6 months since I blogged, so I thought I'd update a little. I'm really going to try to blog more often.

Thursday, August 23

Just One Week Short of Due Date

Well today not only did I turn 39 weeks, but my pumpkin turned 22 months old, and I had an appointment.

To start with my pumpkin has been acting out a lot lately. It makes me sad to see him act out the way that he is. But I keep disciplining him, he won't learn any other way. But I love on him so much! We laugh and have fun together when he's not napping or playing or acting out. People keep saying, "it's because he knows a change is coming" Well, I hope that is true, and that when the change comes he calms back down. I love him so much, and he's so smart, I hate spanking him, or putting him in time out! But, like I said he needs to learn.
He's so smart! He can count to ten, repeating me, say his ABC's, and says so many words, a few of his new words are, waffle, Buck, Bear-Monkey. I tell you he says so many things I can't keep up with him. He knows most of his body parts! Ears, Mouth, Nose, Head, Hair, Cheeks, Butt, Heart, Elbow, Shoulder, Feet, Toes, Knees, Finger, Hands, Eyes, Chin, Neck,Belly, Belly Button.... I think he has a crush on Minnie Mouse.... he adores her! He loves running around in the living room spinning in circles and then falling over! He thinks it so funny! He's using the potty more and more, now if we can get him to tell us when he has to potty, that would be great! any ideas? He loves making other people laugh! He's such a joy to be around, until he gets some wild hair, and has his moments. I can't wait to see what he learns this month!

My appointment today went ok. I've gained 26 pound overall! Which I'm sorry- to me, that sounds great! Fantastic even! He's measuring a week small, either because of low fluids, laying in an odd position, or just because he's going to be small. They aren't concerned about fluid being low, so I would rule that out, and say he's going to be small? haha! I'm still not thinned out at all, and he's still really high. She could barley touch him with a finger tip! Made me so sad. So, with that being said I couldn't get stripped today. I was really sad. I've been having contractions all week! And it doesn't seem to be helping me progress at all! His head is also positioned weird, his head is laying on my right side, instead of being in the center. I've been trying to push him over to get him to move over, he's moved a little since last week, but still mainly on my right side. :/ my blood pressure is good, always has been, no swelling! I'm still wearing my wedding ring for crying out loud! :O We did talk a little about induction today. She said if I go in where I'm sitting right now, she'd start cytotec (sp?) but if next week I haven't gone in on my own, and we set an induction date and I'm 2-3 CM she would skip cytotec and just start with pit. I told her, as much as I don't want an epidural again, if it's looking like it's going to be a long labor because my body isn't relaxing, around 6-7CM I'm getting the epidural just to let my body fully relax- but that will be decided when I'm in labor. With Pit I won't be able to get up and walk around anyways, so might as well be stuck in bed...
I've done so much natural things to get labor started it's not even funny. I'm always on my feet doing something, unless I am just down right exhausted. I relax in warm baths, I do squats, I bounce on my ball. I walk, and always more than a mile. I dance around the house. I get all these contractions, but that's it! I'm not progressing, and today when she checked me, and said 1cm I almost cried. Not because I'm super uncomfy, not because "he HAS to come out" but because I am so scared of being induced again.... I know "God is in control" or "he'll come when he's ready" but like I've asked Matthew, what about these ladies in third world countries- they don't have the medicine that we do- and they NEVER go into labor? Some women just don't go into labor on there own. It's known to happen. What if I'm one of those women?

Anyways, I cleaned the bathrooms today and when I say cleaned I mean super cleaned. I made a home cooked supper, and have been cranky all day- even before my appointment, so I think I'm just going to turn in for the night!

nighty night everyone! Keep an eye out, because God has a blessing in store for you! :)

Saturday, August 18

Sorry It's Been A While

Well hello everyone, I'm so sorry it's been so long sine I've been on here. I will update about the pregnancy, our family and our little almost two year old pumpkin! :)

Pregnancy to begin with: It's been a pretty good pregnancy so far. I've had my ups and downs this time, just like with Elijah, but nothing horrible. My feet are no where near as swollen as they were with Elijah, which makes me super happy! I can walk and do a lot of thingsthat I want to. Bending over, and changing diapers are a bit of a challenge, but that's to be expected- I'm 38 weeks pregnant... if I was comfortable I would be questioning myself. I've gained 25 pounds so far, which I'm in love with! Since my 20 week appointment Baby G has been measuring a week ahead, and the last two appointments he's been measuring a week behind, which I found weird... my midwife said he could just be smaller than Elijah. At first she thought it was because he was going further down into my pelvis, but he's not. He's still really high. :/ Also at 37 weeks I got checked and got my strep B test done, when I got checked I was 1cm, thick and high.... kinda sad, so I worked all week to try everything to get him to go down, and to get more dilated, and thinned out, go back at 38 weeks and my test came back negative, wooo hooo!! he's measuring 37 weeks, and she couldn't tell if he was head down or not, but went ahead and checked me, and I was still the same. :/ And... she couldn't feel his head... AT ALL so she decided to do a quick ultrasound to make sure he was head down, and he is, but he's on the right side of my pelvis instead of the middle. So, now I'm doing squats like crazy, rubbing my lower belly from right to left, to try to get him to move over. It gets painful at points. I've been bouncing on my ball, and I sometimes bounce for hours! I stay on my feet most of the time during the day cleaning, playing with Elijah, playing with Buck, and walking... the other day, before my appointment I was folding clothes on my ball, then I got up to put the clothes up and had Pandora on and some nice fast songs came on, and I started like bouncing, dancing around... It was pretty funny slightly uncomfortable, and it still didn't help, but I'm going to keep it up! I have too! At least I can say I tried to help things along. I can never get in the mood for sex anymore, which sucks, and hubby wont let me buy some Evening Primrose Oil Pills. Only because he does math and says that it wouldn't be worth the money to spend, because I'll have left over pills. BOO!! He's such a meanie. But, who knows if they would actually help or not.... Oh-- one other thing, my blood pressure was amazing at my last appointment! It was like 101/67! I was so excited! It hasn't been high or abnormal, it just hasn't been that low for a while. :).... If y'all have any other questions about Baby G or my pregnancy feel free to ask :)
32 weeks with Baby G

27 weeks with E

                                                      


36 Weeks with G


We/as a family have been doing pretty good. I think it's dawning on all of us that we are adding another little Flippen to our mixture! Matthew has started a part time job at Dollar General, just to get some extra money on the side, to try to put some into savings, and to try to pay off some debt sooner, and it's helping- I think/hope. It's hard for me to really get into the swing of things on the weekends though. He doesn't work on the weekends hes on standby. So, he was off this weekend- which was a nice change! We went to the fair, and had a nice time walking around, and looking at the animals. Elijah enjoyed it. We also have a nice new family friend, who happens to go to the same church as us. Her and her husband are a joy to be around! She's great with Elijah! And she's helped me with the nursery so much! She's helping with Elijah so much, helping potty train him, helping him with words, teaching him so much! She's like a second mom to him, which I'm ok with! She has a hard time getting on to him, but since he's starting to disobey her more and more, she's starting to put him into time out- which I'm ok


Elijah is growing up really fast! It's starting to hit me. He's almost two- he was running a fever of 102.7 the other day, which really scared me, because he never ran a fever that high before, but we think we know why now! Matthew checked his mouth today- noticed his top two, two year molars have popped through! And his bottom two are about to cut through! He didn't get his one year molars until around 14-15 months! haha! These are the first teeth he's ever gotten "on time" or "before time" He's talking so well! He plays ok with others.. In the nursery he plays awesome with others, but here at home, not so much. But, he's learning so much! I need to start putting him on the potty more. He's so short! His 24 month pants are way to big on him because of his legs! His waist isn't big either. He just has chubby cheeks. I'm trying to teach him not to tear down his blinds. He's messing them up so bad. I have to get his curtain rod back up, he tore it down. We had to take his toys out of his room,because when we would put him in his room for time out, he would play with his toys, so they are all in his closest! Which he can open the door, but at least he can't see them when he goes in there. He was weighed the other day- 30.6 pounds! He's so strong, and muscular!

Friday, July 6

Life As It Is...... You Might Learn Something!

Well, recently I've come to conclusion that my due date is vastly approaching, and it's getting frustrating, because I feel as if nothing is ready. We still don't have the pack n play, or the bedding set. We don't have anything in the room set up. We still don't have all the clothes, and I'm getting nervous. I know God will provide, and I'm not afraid of not getting this stuff, I'm scared of how late we will get it. There are a few things I would like to have this go around that I didn't have for Elijah, such as a bumbo seat, extra pacis, two different types of bottles, Elijah was a picky bottle boy, and although I don't plan on using them early, I'd still rather be prepared.

I've started questioning why I even make registries. No one seems to use them. They rather buy from other people or thrift stores, and where I have no issue with this, but I was asked to make these things and they aren't even used! It's quit frustrating to a mommy. We take time out of our busy schedules to make these things and no one even uses them. Now, I will say thank you to a friend of mine who did use it, but someone already got me the same item, from a yard sell or another person, and I had to return my friends item.

We got a box in the mail the other day from a friend who sent me some clothes, two breastflow bottles, and an awesome summer swaddle blanket! It's so thin, we even swaddled Elijah in it, he wasn't happy about it, but it's that big that we can swaddle him! Plus she sent Elijah some fall clothes! They were all 2T, and we tried putting a pair of the shorts on him, and thankfully they had the adjustable waist on them, and we had to tighten them all the way, and they were still a little too big! My short stuff isn't ready for 2T clothes, which is totally ok with this mommy! He can stay in 18 month clothes until he's 2 for all I care, which if he keeps growing the way he does he probably will. He's getting so smart! He talks in sentences now. only 2-3 words, and completely understands most of what we say, repeats almost everything we say, which is crazy for us! He knows a lot of his animals, and knows how to say 1,2,3,4. He says his own blessing when he eats. We tell him to bow his head, and this is how it goes, he repeats after us: Dear Jesus, Thank you, for yummy, bless yummy, in Jesus Name, Amen! It melts my heart when he says bless! It's totally cute! He's very strong willed, and hates getting into trouble, but we have to discipline him, or he wont understand later in life. Yes, we spank him, and he gets put in time out, yes he cries, and feels embarrassed, but after he is done either pitching his fit, or is out of trouble, we ask him to come to us, and explain why he got into trouble in the first place, and that it wasn't nice, or that it was mean. Ex; if he throws his toys, he will get his hand popped, and his toy taken away, if that doesn't stop him from throwing another toy then he gets put into time out, after he's done crying, because he cries in time out, we'll ask him to come to us, then we will explain that it's mean to throw his toys, and that he shouldn't be throwing them. Then we ask if we can have a hug, and a kiss, he gives us one of each, then tell him we love him very much. That's just a view into what we do to Elijah. He loves to pretend to read. He will kind of pay attention to some movies, but rather be running around, playing with Buck or playing with his toys. He's such a joy to have, that is not a lie. I do get frustrated when he doesn't listen to me, but I need to stay consistent with how I discipline him. With the end of my pregnancy near, I really hate getting on to him. I just want to cuddle him, love him and let him get away with more stuff, but I keep telling myself if he thinks he can get away with it now, he'll probably think he can get away with it when Bubba gets here.

We had a nick name for Elijah before he was born. He was pumpkin. It just fit him. He was due in Oct,  so it wasn't hard. But Baby G has no nick name. I was going to stick with hootie hoot, but it just doesn't feel right. Elijah will call him G or bubba. I'm ok with either one, but mommy and daddy can only call him by his name. Maybe after he is born we will come up with one. I sure hope so. I'll probably call him bubba! hahatheres is always over $200. My brother has no way of getting up here. Matthews siblings don't have the money to get up here.. But, it's still sad knowing I will probably be on my own, just like I was with Elijah, except this time I wont have just one, I'll have TWO!

Some may say it's my fault and that I shouldn't have gotten pregnant so soon, well, if you are one of those people then you're right! But don't you think I've already thought about all of that? Don't you think I've beaten myself up over things enough? I've had such a hard battle this pregnancy. I've questioned why God hasn't taken this child away from me, why I've been so healthy, why he's blessed me and not my other friends. I had two friends that had late miscarriages and a lady at my church as well! And I've asked why them and not me? I've wondered why so many times that it's made me sick! I think it's time to stop dwelling on what God hasn't done for me and what he has done for me. He's blessed me with a healthy pregnancy thus far, he's blessed me with a second child, that I've been able to enjoy moving in my belly, hearing the heartbeat, he's blessed with me people that want to help out with things that we can't afford-yes I said things we can't afford- we aren't in the best money situation, but if you're not a close friend you wouldn't know that, and you also wouldn't know that we are making progress to get out of the bad situation that we put ourselves in . We know that the reason we can't afford what a normal couple could is our fault, and we haven't asked for pity from anyone. I've complained and begged God to help us, and he has, he's shown us what to do, and what we need to do, and we've gotten on the right track, I think. We still have a lot more improving to do, but we are slowly working on it.

Now, our fifth wedding anniversary is in Nov, most people like to celebrate the fifth with getting away, or doing something special, we know we won't be able to do anything special and it's pretty upsetting to me, but it's something that I have to deal with. We still love each other and that's all that matters. I would also like to do something in Aug before Baby G gets here, but I'm not going to push it. A Drive in Movie, a small nice dinner, and getting more things in preparation for him would nice to do, but if we don't have the money or a sitter, or something than I'm not going to push it, I'll just tell Matthew he can make me dinner or something lol! And maybe a friend will take Elijah for a few hours so we can have some kid free time. :) That way it doesn't even cost money. We will see.

I am very blessed to have the few good friends that I do have. Elijah loves them! The ones we see most of the time, he knows by name. We see our friends Jared and Belen, and he calls her B, and knows her face, and voice. He loves her! He'll say "My B" He also loves seeing my friend Savana and her daughter Sophia. He loves Sophia more though I think. He calls her "Fia" He will ask "Fia? Where Fia?" It's so adorable! We all get a good laugh out of it, and he think he's cute too.

Well, I think he's about Elijah's nap time! He's getting kind of cranky, and needs some redirection to his room until he's in a better mood. ;)

Thursday, June 28

Not a normal pregnancy update

Be sure to check out the links at the buttom of the page to the bedset and pack n play we have picked out! :)

Well, I haven't had anyone bug me to blog, which kind of makes me sad, but also makes me feel happy... weird I know. At least I can blog when I want too. haha I haven't blogged in a few weeks so I figured this would be a good time to do it, since Matthew is watching some kind of movie on Netflix since we don't have direct tv anymore....

Anyways-

I am 31 Weeks pregnant with Baby G! Everything seems to be going great! Appointments are every 2 weeks now! His heartbeat has been right around 140-150, my blood pressure has been great, and my midwife is really happy with my slow weight gain, I just hit my 20 pound mark, but that is from an appointment that was midday, water in my belly, food in my belly, and yeah.. I weighed myself the morning of my appointment and hadn't reached it according to my morning weight. I will continue to keep track of my morning weight! No swallow feet yet! Makes for a happy mama! Been walking more and more every day! Getting some cramps here and there, when Matthew and I walk I get a few contractions, which my midwife said is A-Ok! Hopefully it will help me not be induced! I'll let you in on a small little secret-I'm terrified of being induced again! I had such a horrible experience with Elijah, and so scared it will be nearly the same, although most people, including my midwife has said it won’t be nearly as bad! But, it's still a fear in the back of my mind. Baby G moves all the time! Almost nonstop it seems! Some times is not as pleasant since he's getting bigger and bigger! I was informed that if for some reason I have to get a C-section my midwife will be right with me! She also put on my papers to call her first-for those of you who don't know here in Warrensburg, if you go with a midwife and go into labor you get whoever is on call, and I'm just so comfortable and feel much better if Connie delivered Baby G, because she knows what all happened when I was in labor with Elijah, she knows about all my contractions I had around 20 weeks, and has like a mom away from mom to be! She's not afaid to share her faith with me, and I love that that! I'm hoping a big burst of nesting hits soon! I get a burst of energy now and then, but Baby G's room is awful! Nothing is put together, yes I realize I still have 2 months until my due date, but I like to be prepared! I also want to rearrange the living room, and, get our room ready for his pack n play! Which by the way I have picked out!

Well, my cravings lately conscience of: sweet tea, fruit, salads, pizza, and Ice Cream! Haha I've been trying to lay off the ice cream more and more! Which the past two nights I've done good by not eating any! WOO HOO! My sweet tea is less than a cup and a half of sugar, and deface tea! I love watermelon, strawberries, grapes, mostly any kind of fruit! We are getting back into rating salads before dinner, which helps fill me up so I don't eat a lot at supper, which with the amount of heartburn I've had lately I don't usually eat much anyways. Pizza needs a lot of cheese. I've been making my own or buying frozen ones, so we don't have to go to Pizza Hut or any kind of pizza place.. Which Matthew isn't afraid to tell me "no" anyways ;) which I'm happy for! Ice cream, any kind of ice cream usually works. We buy a big thing of Neapolitan from the commissary and I make milk shakes or just eat it out of the bowl!

I usually sleep ok at night, unless I talk about it, when I talk about it, I sleep horrible! Toss and turn, wake up with back and hip pain, I still end up on my back! As weird as that is! Sometimes freaks me out! I sleep braless and topless, because it seems more comfy now that I have started producing a little here and there.

I get annoyed yet again pretty easily this pregnancy. I wonder if it's a boy thing. I know other moms who get annoyed pretty easily, and they are pregnant with boys. I wonder if I have a girl how much different it will be. With both boys my hormones have been wacky! Matthew can just say the littlest wrong thing and I'll break out in tears! I try to hide my crying as much as possible, because I hate when people see me cry. I get sad a lot too, which I'm working on! My midwife told me to try to focus on the things I'm thankful for, to look at things God has blessed me with. She also told me to focus on working out, walking, which will help with me feeling down. So, that’s another reason I've increased my walking. I would like to go outside, but with triple digits, I don't think that’s healthy for me, Elijah or Baby G! This pregnancy I stay at home much more than I did with Elijah. I keep to myself, which kind of helps me to not get as annoyed, I really need to take a lot of people off my Facebook, but I am too nice to do it. If I took some of them off, they would be super unhappy with me, which most people say then that's not a true friend, but this people have done so many good things for me and my family. But the negativeness from there statuses, the cursing from them, the stupid things they post, just the horrible things they post. Yes, I know I can be negative, and I can complain at times but I don't all the time, I try not to post a lot during the day, at least I don't curse on my status. I try not to offend anyone, but I'm sick of walking on egg shells on Facebook. If I deleted most of the people I want to delete then a lot of the girls I started with in the Air Force would be gone, which is something that is going to have to happen. People are in your life for a certain amount of time, for a reason, and then sometimes it's time for them to go, and you to go out of your life because sometimes it isn't meant to be. I truly believe this!

Well I believe it's time to add some pictures, and get off this thing for the night! I hope this was enjoyable for everyone, because I don't know when the next time I will update-sorry