Pregnant Belly..... 14 weeks

OK So I never did this with my last 2 pregnancies and part of my is glad but part of me is sad. Glad because I know I was huge and who wants to see a huge pregnant lady ? NOT ME! Sad because I have nothing to document that time of my life. So I have decided to post a picture once a month of my growing belly until I deliver, this way #3's life will be documented from the very beginning (well at lease close to it).

So without further ado, here I am all fat and by the looks of it not so happy at 14 weeks. No comments about the pissed of look on my face please! :) I promise to smile next time!

I wish I could celebrate half birthday's!

So on Monday my precious Jackson turned 4 1/2 why are we celebrating 4 1/2? Well his preschool believes that everyone should have a special day. So if their birthday falls in the Summer like his does, then he gets to celebrate his half birthday. I didn't want to make a big deal of it and really didn't talk about it much if at all at home. Instead I told him Monday that today was a special day and that I was going to drop him off and come see him during school. I arrived at snack time with a power ranger cake in hand and was treated to a wonderful rendition of Happy Birthday to You with cha cha cha's. He was so happy to have me there and told everyone see it's my mommy!

Here is my big boy, Happy 4 1/2 birthday Jackson! Now stop growing up so darn fast!!!!

The child care dilemma

A hot topic of discussion in our house recently has been childcare, as you may know we have a Nanny/babysitter Celia who has been with us since June. Celia will not be able to stay and care for the newborn as the steps in our house will make it to difficult for her to get around with the baby safely. However that doesn't make the conversation of letting her go or the task of finding anyone any easier.

We have had endless hours of conversation about daycare vs. a nanny vs. an au pair. All have the their pluses and minus and I am leaning towards a nanny in the home which would ease things for us with regard to the kids being pick up and dropped off at school but then the question is how do you find the right person. Celia was refereed to us by our close friends and neighbors.

Yesterday I worked from home in between appointments at the OBGYN and my son's preschool to celebrate his 4 1/2 year birthday (more on this tomorrow). While I was sitting at the desk in our home office I noticed that Dan had left me an article from the Washington post. It struck me because the picture associated with the article was of a newborn in the palms of someone's hand. I read on to find it was about childcare and was titled "Who Should Care for This Child?" check it out

I read this article and felt as if it were written just for me as a way to say "it is ok, it will all work out,stop feeling as though you are on an island alone because your not! " I felt compelled to send an email to Thank the author for her article. Something I don't' normally do. If I hear back I will be sure to let you know.

Now I know the blogshpere is made of both stay at home moms (SAHM) and working moms (WM), so to all of you I ask what do you think the pros and cons of day care vs. in home care are???

It's official I am in love again....

Ok let me be clear before I get a bunch of hate mail. I have always been in love with the idea of baby #3. However I have suffered set backs in the past and I don't like to get my hopes up too high before I know things are good.

So.... this morning I had my 1st trimester genetic screening and everything was great baby #3 (I really need to come up with a better name) was doing well and measured perfectly to my due date. The baby's little arms and legs were moving all around as if to say "Hi Mom and Dad how ya doing" It was a real treat to see the 3d images since this technology came along right after I had Jackson.

Below are the first of many family photos of Baby #3

I hope you all have a great weekend, I will be on the hunt for cheap maternity clothes again!

Clothes for the pregnant woman.....

Ok it has not been that long since I wore maternity clothes and not all that long ago I remember passing by the Liz Lang display at Target and thinking what cute clothes they have. I of course have no maternity clothes I gave them all away thinking for sure I was done. Ha ha!Honestly even if I wasn't done at the time, I don't know how much I would have used those clothes since some of them would be nearly 8 years old now and clearly out of fashion...because I am such a fashion maiden! NOT!!!!

Anyhow I have not been able to find any of those clothes I thought were cute and even worse I am at that awkward stage of.... my pants are too tight but the maternity pants are too big. I stand in my closet in disgust every morning wondering what on earth I am going to wear.

I went shopping last weekend and found very little that interested me probably because most of what I need now is winter in nature and what they are selling is spring and summer stuff. I also have the joy of having to find and fund 2 maternity wardrobes one for work and one for the weekend.

So I began the point and click on line at stores like Old Navy, Kohls, Anne Taylor Etc. found some cute stuff but now the frugal tightwad in me doesn't want to spend a ton because I won't be in these that long. So what is a girl to do???

EBAY!!!!! Ebay was not the place to find maternity clothes when I was pregnant eons ago (ok it was only 5 years but in kids years taht is a lifetime). As a matter of fact if you had mentioned ebay I would have been so grossed out because I would have naturally assumed you wanted me to wear someones used stuff, a strangers stuff no less. Well, I checked Ebay out and found there are people (I assume women) who buy new stuff cheap and then sell it to poor schmucks like me in lots (groups). It's like having a personal shopper granted I have no idea if the stuff will really fit but the upside is if it doesn't I too can sell it!

Truthfully I think that the Old Navy's, Kohls and Anne Taylor retail stores should send me some free stuff to wear 9Size Large or size 12) and I will blog about how wonderful their clothes are.....seems like an even trade don't you think??????

No humpty dumpty's this weekend.....

Well, I am happy to say that we all made it back from our ski weekend in one piece. Not a broken bone or bruise to be had on any of us! My kids have definitely taken to the sport of skiing! Both of them were in Ski school for 2 days which allowed them to get some lessons and brush up on their skills while it gave mom and dad some much needed ski or down time. Yes I did ski, I am a very athletic person and the idea of me sitting at the house while everyone was having fun was not my idea of fun. I was careful and I must say I enjoyed myself....well except for the sicking in I had to do to get my ski pants on but still it wasn't so bad.

It turns out that Lauren is our speed demond and loved going as fast as she could downt he hill, yes she fell ....a lot! but she didn't seem to mind she was all smiles and not very happy that we had to leave. Jackson was my controld skier he never let himself get out of control or go to fast, my kind of kid!

Below are some pictures from our weekend, we went with 2 other families in our neighborhood and we had a blast!

And we're off......

Skiing that is. Last year we took a trip to Seven Springs, PA to go skiing over the long weekend it was a blast! So we decided to do it again this year and invited a few more friends so us and 2 other families will head out about noon today to hit the slopes for the weekend.

I'm bummed that I won't get to do all the fun runs everyone else is doing but I will still try to make the most of it. The kids are wicked excited about ski school. We had them go last year since they had never been skiing and they loved it and did very well I might add.

So I will be MIA the rest of the weekend, enjoy your long weekend and stay warm and out of the wind!

Below are the pictures form last year!

Is everything really ok??

I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed by this pregnancy and extremely worried, you would think since I have been through this twice before that I would some what of an old pro. Not at all.... I feel like a young new mother worried about everything all the time! I am struggling to remember what it was like the last 2 times. I am constantly worried that I have or will miscarry especially now that we have let the cat out of the bag. I haven't gained much weight only like 3 lbs but my body has changed (pants are a bit tight). Morning sickness is gone..thanks goodness but that to makes me wonder is everything ok.

I have a sonogram on the 20th and a regular OBYN appt on the 23rd those appt seem eons away and I can't help but worry. Please tell me this is normal and I am just over reacting? I am usually cool as a cucumber when it comes to stuff but this have gotten me all worked up and worried and I hate feeling this way,

So ladies I am turning to you my online wealth of knowledge to tell me I am nutty, normal or something in between.

This and that!

So the weekend was all a blur as seems to be much of my life these days since I am so flipping tired all of the time. I guess there is a reason why the man upstairs lets you forget how hard it can be to create a child!

We finally had a bit of a break from the cold weather this weekend and the kids were able to get out on their bikes for the first time in 2009. However my sweet Lauren realized that her head grew since the early Fall and is in need of a new helmet. Yet that didn't stop my little biker from getting on her (little bike and going for a spin with her brother and one of the neighborhood boys! Check out her outfit. Yea that is a bathrobe she is wearing! She and her brother had just come back from the pool when they saw the other little boy riding in his bike when we pulled up. so there she was!

My son who has not had a chance to try out his new bike from Gran that he received for Christmas was ticketed and so was I because he took to it very quickly my guess is that by the end of the summer he will be on 2 wheels not 4! Hopefully I will post a little more often once fatigue let's the death grip it has on me go. This week I plan to post about my maternity shopping experience, stay tuned.

Pictures from the retirement weekend

Our final shot with Dan in Uniform

The retirees

Dan taking a moment

The General speaking to Dan

The General Speaking to the crowd


Dan's Parents at dinner


More Dinner guests
Me and my best friend Magin
Our Dear friends the Andahazy's

A final shot to salute the Army!

Yelling....in my head!

Ok so the retirement ceremony and the retirement party went well. I have pictures to share however I didn't bring them with me to work so I will have to post them later.

I am so glad that I pushed Dan to have this party because I think he needed closure on the whole military experience. He hadn't been to work for the Army since Nov 19th and his first day of the new job was Jan 12th. So he had a ton of down time and no real closure to the experience. Now we have closure and can move on!!

However, I must tell you that there are day's were I laugh at him and his new corp life, because he thinks his commute and the daily riggers of corp life are so ridiculous. Yesterday was not a day I was laughing though....I had had a bad day at the office. I felt as pregnant as can be even though I am still barely showing I am told and I was just plain dead butt tired. We were talking about the kids at the dinner table after they had left to start their baths. He was saying he feels a million miles away working a nearly 40 min drive away and I blew up (in my mind). I travel an hour each way in traffic everyday and have for the last 4 1/2 years. He has done it for a month and I just wanted to shout "Shut up already! Suck it up and put your big boy pants on this is the real world."

Sorry I know that sounded a bit harsh but I do have pregnancy hormones running through my body! Hopefully he will get into the routine and I will be less hormonal soon otherwise I am afraid I might really yell at him next time.