While many of you that know me in real life, have already heard the news, I am ready to make my announcement on Blogger. We are expecting Baby #3, due January 8, 2010. As of today, I am 8 weeks and 2 days pregnant.
Even though I have not been writing about it here, I have so far been documenting all the details in a paper journal I keep by my bed. So I wanted to share a few of details so far here.
I had mentioned several months ago my desire to have a third baby, but that I was unsure about the timing due to school deadlines and Eric's employment situation. Eric and I spent more time discussing and praying and decided to continue to have faith that God will provide for us. I even had come to peace that when we did start trying I would stick to the window of needing to be pregnant by my August cycle or that if I wasn't, I would trust that the time was not right for us and focus on still starting school full time 2010 and deciding in the future if we would ever have a third child. But when to start?
I started charting my cycles again in January. I still had my IUD in,but mine is non-homonal (ParaGard rather than Merena), so I knew my cycles were not influenced. I was kind of thinking of maybe removing my IUD and starting to "try" in May or so, but after watching a couple months and having an anovulatory cycle and 2 cycles with only an 8 day lutal phase, I was beginning to get a little scared that my cycles weren't going to be regular enough to sustain a pregnancy. So, I talked to Eric in late March (3/23/09 according to my journal) and he agreed that I could make the appointment. They actually scheduled me really quickly for an April 1st removal. My cycle started on March 31st and on day 2, I had my IUD removed. Seemed a little fast and scary to me, because when we were chatting in March I never really thought we'd get everything done in time to make April a viable month to really start trying.
So, I charting in April. I also wanted to do a pregnancy test experiment this time, so I ordered some really cheap pregnancy tests online (seriously, I got 100 tests for $34 plus $6 shipping). I was getting kind of hyped up and decided to try using an OPK (Ovulation Predictor Kit) this month too. I started taking them on CD 14 and day 16 got an almost positive result, I couldn't tell about Day 17 and day 18 was negative again. My temperature rose on Day 19, so we estimated a Day 18 ovulation date. So, since I knew when I ovulated, I started taking HPT's at 1 DPO. I kept them all to see how early a pregnancy could possibly show up. I figured I had enough tests to last me until August if needed.
Of course nothing happened for a while, but on on April 22 at 5 DPO, I started spotting and cramping. Considering the last 2 months I only had 8 DPO before starting, I assumed this meant that I was again going to have a short cycle. The spotting and cramping lasted 3 days, stopping by Saturday when I was in Chicago for GWO. I had brought my tests with me and got up and tested each morning. Although, I couldn't let them sit the whole 10 minutes, since no one knew what I was doing, but i put them back in my ziplock to take home with me. So, Monday after GWO, 10 DPO, I was getting encouraged that my new cycle still hadn't started yet, and when I used my cheap test, I thought maybe I might see a hint of a line. I couldn't be sure though, so I used the same urine (the cheap tests require dipping in a cup) and used a digital test I had gotten on sale. I went to get some clothes from the basement while it was processing and when I got back upstairs it was staring at me saying "Pregnant." I have to say I was completely floored. Of course, I had hoped it would work, but honestly, I never thought it would happen on the first try again. Wow, we are so blessed.
So, at this point, we hadn't told anyone we had started trying except for Samara and I had told 2 of my coworkers that I chat with daily, so after telling them the news, we decided we wanted to keep it to ourselves for a little while.
I think Luke is waking up from his nap, so I will go tend to him, but I will write again soon about how we told our family and our symptoms to date. I have a new set in Flickr with pictures from this pregnancy, including now a "weekly" belly picture, which I was inspired to do by my friend Danialle. So far, believe it or not, I haven't missed one of those from 4 to 8 weeks. Please ignore my starting flab. :)
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Happy Birthday Luke!
I can't believe I'm 3 weeks late on this, but wanted to be sure to mark the occassion. My baby is 1 year old!
His actual birthday was marked with very little fanfare, just a birthday shirt, birthday shots :(, and an extra sqeeze when dropping him off at the sitter. He did have his one year checkup on the day and weighs in at a healthy 26 pounds 12 ounces. Although, he's down to 93rd percentile for weight and about 80% for height.
The following weekend we had his birthday party. Very low key. We just had a cookout and had Nana, Grandpa Gary and Grandma Christie, and Will, Samara, Ava, and Clara over for cake and presents. He loved the cake and was a great little host opening his presents. After opening he gave each gift his full attention and spent some time that day playing with each new toy! His favorite is still the drum from Nana. He's such a boy and loves to bang on things.
So now that he's one, we should probably discuss milestones! He had 4 teeth on his birthday (we've added one more since then). While he stands and cruises constantly, still no walking. Although last week (or maybe two...) he took his first 2 steps first at the sitters and then later that night for me. Since then, he will turn and let go alot, but then changes his mind and drops to his knees for quick crawling. He is getting very good at standing unsupported, so I have to believe eventually the walking will come. I know he isn't late yet, he's just taking his time. I think we were expecting it to be like Grace who was walking across rooms at 11 months old.
We have completely switched to table food now. Luke LOVES meat. So strange to me, but any kind of meat product he will eat right up, bacon, sausage, ham, hamburger, chicken, etc. He's not nearly as adventurous on the fruits and veggies, but will still eat applesauce if you spoon feed him and does like bananas. He also is a huge fan of yogurt. We also switched him to whole milk. He drinks it fine, but won't take it completely cold, so we have to warm it up a bit first. I'm going to try to start warming it less and less, so eventually he'll drink it cold too. We haven't taken away the bottle yet, but probably could because he'll use a sippy cup very well and self-feeds the bottle. Mostly just didn't have enough sippy cups, so when we run out, I grab a bottle. I need to probably fix that soon!
His personality is still very sweet. He's definately adventurous and wants to get his hands on everything, but he does still want an occassional cuddle from his Mommy. He is starting to voice his opinions more than before (must be learning something from his sissy) and will cry if you tell him "no" or take something away from him or stop him from getting to something he wants. He definately understands alot of what we say, but doesn't say much yet. We get a Mama or Dada (unfortunately usually if he's mad about something) and now I think he says "dog" alot when he's pointing at Zeus. We used to think he said "Grace" but I haven't heard that one lately.
I think the most interesting thing for me to watch is how different boys and girls are. Now I'm starting to pick out true gender differences other than just differences between my children. Luke really likes toys that make lots of noise or have wheels. He would push things across a table, so we bought him some toy cars and he loves to roll them back and forth. I never remember Grace doing that. He also makes a lot of non-verbal noises. He grunts, growls, and screechs. Grace's noises all seemed more predictive of language. He likes to make noise, just to hear the sound it makes.
It's been a great year. It went by so fast! He's still an amazing little guy and I have to say I'm kind of excited to see how he turns out as a toddler. I think I may have my hands full! He's going to be sweet, but full of mischief.
Click on the picture to go to Flickr and see the rest of the pictures from party day!
His actual birthday was marked with very little fanfare, just a birthday shirt, birthday shots :(, and an extra sqeeze when dropping him off at the sitter. He did have his one year checkup on the day and weighs in at a healthy 26 pounds 12 ounces. Although, he's down to 93rd percentile for weight and about 80% for height.
The following weekend we had his birthday party. Very low key. We just had a cookout and had Nana, Grandpa Gary and Grandma Christie, and Will, Samara, Ava, and Clara over for cake and presents. He loved the cake and was a great little host opening his presents. After opening he gave each gift his full attention and spent some time that day playing with each new toy! His favorite is still the drum from Nana. He's such a boy and loves to bang on things.
So now that he's one, we should probably discuss milestones! He had 4 teeth on his birthday (we've added one more since then). While he stands and cruises constantly, still no walking. Although last week (or maybe two...) he took his first 2 steps first at the sitters and then later that night for me. Since then, he will turn and let go alot, but then changes his mind and drops to his knees for quick crawling. He is getting very good at standing unsupported, so I have to believe eventually the walking will come. I know he isn't late yet, he's just taking his time. I think we were expecting it to be like Grace who was walking across rooms at 11 months old.
We have completely switched to table food now. Luke LOVES meat. So strange to me, but any kind of meat product he will eat right up, bacon, sausage, ham, hamburger, chicken, etc. He's not nearly as adventurous on the fruits and veggies, but will still eat applesauce if you spoon feed him and does like bananas. He also is a huge fan of yogurt. We also switched him to whole milk. He drinks it fine, but won't take it completely cold, so we have to warm it up a bit first. I'm going to try to start warming it less and less, so eventually he'll drink it cold too. We haven't taken away the bottle yet, but probably could because he'll use a sippy cup very well and self-feeds the bottle. Mostly just didn't have enough sippy cups, so when we run out, I grab a bottle. I need to probably fix that soon!
His personality is still very sweet. He's definately adventurous and wants to get his hands on everything, but he does still want an occassional cuddle from his Mommy. He is starting to voice his opinions more than before (must be learning something from his sissy) and will cry if you tell him "no" or take something away from him or stop him from getting to something he wants. He definately understands alot of what we say, but doesn't say much yet. We get a Mama or Dada (unfortunately usually if he's mad about something) and now I think he says "dog" alot when he's pointing at Zeus. We used to think he said "Grace" but I haven't heard that one lately.
I think the most interesting thing for me to watch is how different boys and girls are. Now I'm starting to pick out true gender differences other than just differences between my children. Luke really likes toys that make lots of noise or have wheels. He would push things across a table, so we bought him some toy cars and he loves to roll them back and forth. I never remember Grace doing that. He also makes a lot of non-verbal noises. He grunts, growls, and screechs. Grace's noises all seemed more predictive of language. He likes to make noise, just to hear the sound it makes.
It's been a great year. It went by so fast! He's still an amazing little guy and I have to say I'm kind of excited to see how he turns out as a toddler. I think I may have my hands full! He's going to be sweet, but full of mischief.
Click on the picture to go to Flickr and see the rest of the pictures from party day!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
