The Blaschke's

My Hubs and his Heart

2010-03-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

I have to tell this story...

Byron left last night to run up to Walgreen's. We needed more vapor pads for Ethan's humidifier, so he ran up there around 8:45 or so. When he returned he came in the office where I was with this huge smile on his face. He had just done something really nice and felt so good about it.

While at Walgreen's he was in line to pay behind a teenage boy. He heard the clerk tell the boy his total was $4.11. The boy slowly pulls out his wallet to find that he did not have enough money. He told the clerk sadly that he would come back. When he walked off Byron noticed that he was trying to buy a card that said on the front "Happy Birthday Dad". Byron immediately told the clerk to charge him for the card and ran out the door to catch the boy. The boy was completely shocked to find out that Byron bought this for him. He asked Byron why and he told him that he has a new son at home and was touched by this. The boy said, "God Bless You" and walked to his car. Byron went back in to pay and came home. He felt so good to be able to help someone out like that. Even if it was just $4, it made that boys night and Byron's too. It just plain feels good to do nice things for people! The world needs more people like Byron in it. I am so honored to be married to someone who has a heart as big as he does.

Love You Babe!

Great Friends

2010-02-28T19:36:00.000-08:00

We all need great friends in this world. I don't care who you are or what you do, everyone needs good friends. I am so excited to say that I have some really really good ones. I am not sure how I got so lucky, but my girl friends are the best and I want you all to know how much I love and appreciate all you do! I went to College Station on Saturday for a Wings n More reunion while Byron was in Austin for a bachelor party. Our sitter plans were changed at the last minute VERY unexpectedly and I was able to call on a dear friend to keep Ethan. This was the first time we have left him and we were just a tad bit nervous. Lyndsey is the best...she not only kept Ethan for us, she did not even give me the chance to call for updates. She text me several times throughout the night to tell me he was playing or sleeping or just plain ole happy. This was the best news I could have heard and it allowed me to calm down a bit and enjoy my evening out. The night could not have been better and thankfully Ethan did not show off his vocal cord ability at her house. He saved that for daddy when they got home!

The reunion was SO much fun. I have not been out with Kellye or Lacey since my bachelorette party and we were LONG overdue for some fun. We went to the reunion and then to our ole stomping ground The Tap. We had so much fun singing, dancing and catching up.

Byron had fun in Austin as well. His friend Daniel is getting married next Month and he really enjoyed getting together with him and some college friends to celebrate. We were both exhausted today and thankfully Ethan allowed all three of us to take a much needed two hour nap! Let's hope he allows us another eight hour nap tonight! :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

2010-02-23T09:58:00.000-08:00

Where does the time go? No one ever told me (that I can remember) how stinkin fast your life speeds up when you have children. Maybe it is the combination of busy work and busy home that makes it seem faster, but whatever it is, I wish it would slow down a bit. I mean, Ethan will be 7 months next Friday! What?

Speaking of Ethan...he has quite the personality. At almost 7 months he definitely knows what he wants and what he doesn't. It is really funny, yet really scary. I tend to see a little of his impatient mommy in him with his daddy's charm. Whatever it is it keeps us laughing nonstop!

Last week we were dealing with a second ear infection in two weeks. I have never craved warm weather so much. Both ear infections stemmed from nasty colds. His poor nose was so raw from us "blowing" it so much. He was in so much pain for about two days until the meds kicked in and helped. Bless his heart he could not sleep at night and was just plain miserable. His temperature also got up to 102. We kept him home Monday and Tuesday and by Thursday he was back to 100%. This mixed with the beautiful weather last Saturday and Sunday made for a very fun weekend. We had a lot of much needed fun family time that included E's first trip to the park and then a little shopping for him. He was in the best mood all weekend. It was so nice!

Our schedules have been jammed packed these last few weeks. Byron is taking a french class at Rice two nights a week and work has been crazy for us both lately. We are taking a break and getting away this weekend...not together though. :( Byron has a bachelor party in Austin and I have a Wing's n More college reunion Saturday night that I am very much looking forward to. (If you did not know I worked at Wings for 5 years in college.) This will be my first night out with my girl friends since I have no idea when and I can't wait. It will be a little scary though since we have never left E over night, but he will be in good hands!

Bad Day + Unexpected Care Package = Good Day!

2010-01-26T13:04:00.000-08:00

Today has not been a very good day for me. Ethan has been sick with a virus and I think it has made its way to me! I woke up this morning and just did not want to get up. Byron and I went to bed at 9 and I STILL could have slept in after the 6am alarm went off. Being the dependable worker that I am I got up and started my day. Turns out I should have stayed in bed. My two appointments canceled on me AFTER I drove over an hour to see them and so on, so on and so on. As the day has progressed on I am starting to feel more sick. I am currently running 99.7 temp and praying it does not continue to go up. Did I mention I am dressed like it's winter and still freezing?!?! Ugh, I HATE being sick. I have been sitting here at my computer working away and an unexpected package arrived at our door. Nonnie and Pappy sent everyone a care package!! Ethan got some cool new clothes and mommy and daddy got some chocolates! Well, maybe mommy got chocolates. If daddy does not hurry home there may not be any left! :) Thank you so much Dawn and Joe for brightening my gloomy day! You guys are so thoughtful!!

Where are you teeth?

2010-01-05T18:42:00.001-08:00

Just a few more pics...

2010-01-05T17:26:00.001-08:00

Little Boss Man is 5 Months Old!

2010-01-05T17:05:00.000-08:00

Our little boss man is 5 months old today! Can you believe it? Yea, I can't either! Just a few things about Ethan right now...

You are a laughing machine
You love to try and hold your own bottle
You love your baths...we might as well jump in with you since you get us so wet with your splashes
Your face lights up every time you see your daddy...even if it was just 5 minutes ago
You love watching football and napping on your daddy's chest
You help de-stress mommy's life by sleeping 10-11 hours each night! PTL!!!!!
You are such a little chunk...17lbs already! Whoa...
You are not totally sure about rice cereal yet. In fact, you have no interest...
As long as you are not hungry you are so happy out in public...you love people watching
You let us know real fast if we are not paying enough attention to you
You wake up in a good mood every morning (you must get that from your dad!)
Even though I cannot sing, you love that I make your life one big melody and sing to you all the time.
You can ALMOST sit up by yourself. You lean forward and sometimes roll over to the side.
You can roll from your tummy to your back
You want to talk so bad. Even though you cannot say words yet, we still converse all the time.
You love to play air plane and "fly" around
And lastly, by far my most favorite, you absolutely LOVE to be kissed and to cuddle!! I love how much your face lights up when we shower you with kisses. You love affection so much. I am totally taking advantage of this one since my days are probably numbered on him letting me do this! I am going to enjoy it while I can.

Here are a few pictures of him lately...enjoy!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-26T17:50:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! This was Ethan's first Christmas and it was SO much fun! I cannot wait until he really knows what is going on. Byron and I both have taken two weeks off and so far we have been able to do so much. We started off visiting Clay and Ashley at their new house and finally meeting Gianna. She is 12 weeks and so adorable. She is by far the most chilled out and relaxed baby I have seen at that age. Wow, Ethan was sooooooooo different. You could almost forget she is in the room she is so quiet. Natalie is getting so big and is very social. She wanted to visit with us so much that she did not want to nap. :))Their new house is perfect! We had so much fun visiting with them and eating Clay's shrimp dish. It was yummy! Thanks for having us over guys!

Christmas Eve was spent at our house with my family. We had my sister, Mike, Emma and Madeline over along with my parents. Our family always orders Mexican food to go on Christmas Eve and then we open presents. We let Emma open all of Ethan's and she was so excited. Madeline is 17 months and was more interested in our coasters than anything, so we just let her do her thing. Ethan got some good stuff. My favorties came from the grandparents. Nonnie and Pappy gave him a Pottery Barn anywhere chair and Granny and Pops gave him a Pottery Barn kids back pack with his initials on it. He also got tons of toys that will keep him busy for quite a while. Christmas day we woke up and drove to College Station. We had Christmas at Nonnie and Pappy's house with David and Jenny. Pappy cooked steaks and we got to visit quite a bit and then open presents. Ethan slept through all the opening of presents, so we had to show him when he woke up what all he got. I think he was pretty excited! We left College Station and headed home around 6ish. Ethan is teething and has his "grumpy" moments every now and then and decided to have one on the way home. He fussed literally half way home. We pulled over once to try and calm him down, but he just did not want to be in the car seat. He finally got so tired from crying and fell asleep. I felt so sorry for him. I hate it when he crys in the car. I just want to hold and kiss on him and I can't. It drives me nuts. Anyway, we made it home and his first Christmas was awesome. We took lots of pictures that I will post soon. Today was a lazy day. We did nothing but go to the grocery store and it has been awesome. We also have no plans tomorrow and I am loving it. I just found out that one of my good friends that I NEVER get to see is coming over on Monday and I am super excited. Lissa lives in D.C. and we just do not get to see each other that much. I am very much looking forward to catching up with her. I can't believe we have all next week off too. Vacation time is wonderful!

I forgot to tell you about Graham's (our dog) present...my sister gave him a stuffed chicken for Christmas. I have to mention that we normally only ever give him bones to chew because he is such an aggressive chewer. Well, this chicken was so cool looking and we were excited about it. Byron named it Pookie and we were talking to Graham about Pookie all day and getting him excited. He was running around the house with Pookie in his mouth and wagging his tail all day. Well, this afternoon he killed pookie. I came out of our room and Graham was at the top of the stairs laying in a bunch of stuffing. He ripped a hole in pookie's head and went to town pulling out his stuffing. Poor chicken lasted less than 24 hours in our famliy. R.I.P Pookie!

Here is a picture that Nonnie took at her house when we arrived in College Station.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!!!

Chicken Salad

2009-12-15T17:51:00.000-08:00

Sunday night Byron and I were not that hungry since I made a bog breakfast and then lunch, so we wanted something light. I made Barefoot Contessa's Chicken Salad Veronique and it was so good I have to post the recipe:

2 whole chicken breast
Good Olive Oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 cup good mayo
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves
1 cup small diced celery (2 stalks)
1 cup green grapes cut in half

Preheat oven to 350
Place chicken breasts on pan and rub with olive oil and salt and pepper generously. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Set aside until cool.
When the chicken is cool, cut into a 3/4in dice. Place the chicken in a bowl; add the mayo, celery, tarragon, grapes, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper and toss well.

Hope you enjoy!

P.A.R.T.Y!!!!!

2009-12-13T12:02:00.000-08:00

Last night was my annual Christmas party and this year Byron and I decided to go. Actually, I was thrilled to go. This was our first night out of the house since before I had Ethan and my first night out where I was able to drink in who knows when. Needless to say I was ready! I needed a cocktail. We had a blast!!! Clay works with me, so him and Ashley were there and we have not been able to hang out with them in months since we both had babies. It was so good to catch up with them and dance the night away. Ashley, thanks for the fun time and great conversation!! I really do miss you! Please put pictures on your blog.
In saying how fun last night was I have to tell you we are SOOOO tired today. We live in The Woodlands and the party was in Sugarland. It took us a little over an hour to get home and it felt like the longest drive of our lives. Ethan was really fussy before we left, so we just knew he would wake us up. Sure enough 3:30 rolls around and he is awake. He has a dirty diaper and could not go back to sleep. I can't say I blame him...I could not sleep like that either. Enough said! We got him all changed and did not feel like putting sheets back on his bed and he was hungry so we gave him a bottle and put him his bouncy seat in our room. I normally would want to bring him in our bed to cuddle, but last night mama wanted to SLEEP and I am trying to not do that anymore. I realize that if I start that now I will pay for it later. He fell back asleep and slept until 7. I was still so tired, but had to get up. Byron kept sleeping, so since I am such a lovely wife I let him sleep, fed Ethan and made us breakfast. I have already had a nap and feeling much better. We really needed last night and are thankful for Nonni and Pappy for keeping Ethan for us.
Speaking of Nonni and Pappy...they brought Ethan one of his Christmas presents early last night. They bought him a big boy chair from Pottery Barn kids and it is so cute. He is obviously still small for it, but it will be so much fun to watch him grow into it. Thanks so much!!!
Tomorrow is Monday and normally I would have the Sunday blues, but since this is our last week to work this year, Byron and I could not be happier! :))
We are off to the mall...have a good rest of your day.

Blogging about it or Growth Spurt?

2009-12-10T17:59:00.000-08:00

Well, maybe I need to blog more about Ethan's sleeping habits. I wrote about his midnight parties and lack of sleep he was getting at night and last night he slept from 6:45 to 5:20 this morning. What? Are you kidding me? I am trying to control my level of happiness because something tells me it will be short lived. I will celebrate today though since I had an ALL day meeting that I needed to be focused for. Thank you Ethan! I wonder if blogging is the answer or a growth spurt? I am leaning towards the growth spurt. That little man is putting on some weight. He is turning into a little chunk. I LOVE it. I think fat babies are the cutest!
I have 6 days left this year of work and I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. I am celebrating and stressing at the same time though because I know what will be waiting for me come Monday, January 4th! I have made a promise to myself though that next year is going to be a good year for me in my career. I am not ending this year "with a bang", so next year I am going into my job with a positive attitude and ready to give 100%! I will let you know if I still feel this way by March! :))
Time for bed...it has been a looooooong day!

4 months and other news...

2009-12-08T13:42:00.000-08:00

Well, once again it has been a while since I have updated my blog. Busy is an understatement as how it has been over here. We have been having a lot of fun though. Ethan is 4 months as of last Saturday and he gets more fun everyday. He is beginning to "talk" to us, he smiles all the time, loves his baths, can hold toys when put in his hands, loves chewing on his hands and as of recently wants to party in the middle of the night (more on that later)! I love watching him grow and learn more about life everyday!
In the midst of all our chaos lately we decided it was a good time to redo our kitchen and some other things around the house. We added plantation shutters to our living room, painted our stair bannister's and changed everything in our kitchen except our cabinets. We are waiting on our kitchen window coverings and then everything will be complete. They should be in soon and then I will post pictures! It looks 100 times better. For those of you who saw our kitchen, you will be amazed. Looking at before and after pictures are crazy. It looks like two completely different kitchens!
I am looking forward to Christmas this year. Christmas brings out the kid in me. I love the moods everyone is in, the spirit, the decor...just everything. I cannot wait until Ethan is old enough to get excited with me. I got made fun of because I had our tree up a week before Thanksgiving. I just could not wait anymore! I would have it up year around if I could, but something tells Byron would not approve.
On to Ethan wanting to party in the middle of the night...what is up with that? Once we got his issues resolved he became such a good sleeper. We would put him down around 8 and wake him up for school at 6:45. Those days are long gone! Last night, for example, he woke up at 1am, the earliest he has woken up in a long time, and was so fussy. I finally got him back to sleep and he woke back up at 2! I am lost as to what is causing this. I am not sure how to tell for sure if he is teething, but when I lay with him in our bed or on the couch he is fine. Maybe he has seperation anxiety...I don't know. I feel like all my hard work on getting him to self soothe and fall asleep on his own went right out the window. If he wakes up now in the middle of the night he wakes us up!
Have any of you seen those "Fur"real animals? My neice wants the cat for Christmas, so I bought it for her. I have a feeling it is going to freak her out and I will be taking it back. It freaks me out and I am 30. They are supposed to meow, wave, roll back and what ever else a cat does to seem real. Well, let me just tell you that at random time when we aren't even in the living room we will hear that thing meow. I will be up in the middle of the night with Ethan and it will be downstairs making noises. Byron and I will be sitting on the couch watching TV and it is meow. I will be down the hall in the study and it will meow. FREAKY!!!! I cannot wait to get that thing out of my house! :)
Here is a picture I took of Ethan this weekend with our new camera. How can you resist this? Love him SO much!!

Check Up

2009-11-12T13:16:00.000-08:00

Great News...I went for my four week check up after my surgery and there were no more traces of the tumor left on my ovary! I cannot tell you how excited I am to hear that. I do however have to go back every three months to be checked. I have a 1 in 1000 chance of it coming back. My doctor said that it is not too likely that we will see this again, but it's still possible. I can live with that news considering things could be way worse for me right now. I am very thankful that my outcome with all of this has been so good. There are many people out there who do not get such good news and my heart definitely goes out to them. Spending time in a cancer hospital no matter how big or small your issue is is definitely an eye opening experience. I have never thought much about MD Anderson before I became a patient there and now I cannot seem to get it off my mind...

In other news, Ethan has had RSV for the past week but is doing better now. He actually went back to school today. He still has congestion and a cough, but he is getting better. I do have to say though that he is the happiest sick baby I have ever seen. He must not feel that bad!

That is all for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Halloween

2009-10-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

Ethan had his first Halloween parade at school today. He went as a pumpkin and was so stinkin cute!

Off to school and back to work

2009-10-28T13:52:00.001-07:00

Maternity leave is over! 12 weeks came and went so fast I don't even know what to say. I feel like I blinked my eyes and I am already back at work. Since I am working again that means Ethan is in school. People keep asking me if it was hard dropping him the first time. My answer is yes and no. First of all I transitioned him last week. I took him for three hours everyday to ease him into it. Yes, it is hard because I love him so much and want to be with him, but no it was not hard because I need to be apart from him some to miss him. He is in the same school as his two cousins, so that also makes it a little easier. He seems to be adjusting really well. The first full day he did not sleep much...only two fifteen minute naps ALL day. Monday night his eyes were bloodshot and he was really cranky. Yesterday he took two one hour naps and was clearly in a better mood last night. He also has been sleeping through the night this week too! Sunday was the first time he slept all the way through and has every night since then. I think school helps with this since it puts him on a schedule and he seems to respond well to schedules. When I first started doing a bedtime routine he began sleeping better and longer during the night, so I am a big believer.
Today is also his 12 week birthday! I cannot believe he is already 12 weeks. Where does the time go? It seems like everyday he is doing something new and I love it. I love watching him discover his hands and it is so easy right now to make him smile and even laugh a little. He moves his hands really fast and kicks his feet in the air with excitement. I love seeing him so happy. It makes my day everyday!

I didn't forget my blog...

2009-10-18T06:10:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been quite sometime! I did not forget my blog...we have just has a lot going on. A REAL quick recap of the past 10 1/2 weeks for you...

Ethan screamed pretty much the entire time he was awake for the first 8 weeks of his life. We FINALLY figured out that he had acid reflux AND a milk allergy. We started him on Prevacid and I had to stop nursing. While I was not excited about stopping nursing so quickly it was a no brainer after I saw the way he responded to "special" formula...aka...very expensive stuff! He transformed into a normal happy baby. When baby is happy everyone is happy! We thought for a while there that we were going to lose our minds.

Once we got Ethan happy we got really bad news about me. During my c-section delivery with him my ob removed a good sized cyst from my left ovary. They sent it to pathology just to make sure that is what it was. Well, seven weeks went by and I had somewhat forgotten about it. I went to my ob for my follow up and he informed me that it was not a cyst, but a very rare tumor. A tumor that he had never seen in his 31 years of practice. Needless to say this is when I started freaking out! Thankfully my dad personally knows just the specialist I needed to see at MD Anderson and sent him an email with all my test results. That next week I was at MD Anderson having just about every test you can imagine done to see what we were dealing with. He told us that there is probably less than 100 cases ever reported of this tumor worldwide...that is how rare it is. The good news is that it typically does not spread and in my case it hadn't. The bad news was that there was still something in my ovary and no test could be done to determine what it was. So, the decision was made to remove my ovary and last Wednesday that is what we did. It was a relatively quick and easy procedure and they let me come home that day. I have been sore, but after having a c-section this was a walk in the park as far as recovery goes. Hopefully in a few days I will be back to "normal".

All this being said is the reason there has been no time for my blog! Maybe now that will change. I can happily say that everyone is doing well physically and emotionally now and we are just enjoying our time with Ethan. I have one more week left of maternity leave and then it is back to work I go! :)

Here is a picture of our little man! Enjoy!

Eye Opening Experience!

2009-09-02T11:29:00.001-07:00

Finally I am ready to take pictures with my eyes open!

Nap time

2009-08-31T16:00:00.001-07:00

Where does the time go?

2009-08-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go? It has been two weeks and two days since Ethan was born and I sware it feels like I was in the hospital yesterday. I guess this is why people say to enjoy this time because it flies by! It sure does!

These past two weeks have been pretty hectic around here. We had my mom here for a week to help us out and then Byron's mom came for a week to help. We appreciate both of them very much for that. They are both now gone and we are officially on our own! I do have to say that Ethan is a very good baby EXCEPT when the gas bug hits him. Thank goodness for Mylicon! The first couple of days home with him was wonderful. I was actually thinking that taking care of an infant was pretty easy. Then...it hit. You do learn their cries pretty fast and his gas cry is so obvious. It gets frustrating because you know they are in pain and there is not much you can do about it. Hopefully it will pass soon.

I think Ethan is an even mix of both Byron and I. I think he has my lips for sure and eye shape and he has Byron's nose and ears. His eyes are also blue like Byron's, but the real test will be if they stay that way. He is just perfect and so sweet and cuddly.

We had our two week appointment on Wednesday and he has gained his birth weight back plus and ounce and grew an inch. This makes me so happy. I am breast feeding and have not given him any formula since the hospital, so it gets me excited to know that I am directly contributing to his health. I will say though that breast feeding was a bit of a challenge at first. I can very much understand why people either don't try it at all or quit out of frustration. It definitely takes patients and practice. I do not think it would have worked out so well if I did not have my sisters help. The lactation consultant was a joke in the hospital and was no help at all. She came by once right after he had been circumcised and was not in the mood to eat. That was it! My sister came up every day and helped me. It made a world of a difference!

Here are some pictures of him...most of you have already seen these though! Enjoy!

Daddy went shopping

2009-07-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

This was the first weekend Byron has shopped for Ethan and we may be in trouble! Here are some pictures of the items he picked out. We did sizes big enough for him to wear this winter. Enjoy!

2009-07-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

Well, today I am full term! 37 weeks has flown by and we are getting down to crunch time. I think we have everything ready, but are you really ever completely ready for this? I can honestly say this past week has been very interesting to say the least. I don't want this blog to sound negative by any means, but I have to write about the things that have happened to me in last seven days.
I went to see a dermatologist because I was having some pain from a "spot" on my skin. It looked swollen and I had no idea what it was. I thought it was an irritated mole. She took it off no problem and sent it off to be checked...just in case. Well, a few days later I get a call that it came back as skin cancer! Yes, skin cancer. I have to go back after Ethan is here and have it taken care of. Don't freak out...it is not the "bad" kind, but it is really weird that it has come up now. This is the last thing you would expect to have to deal with and worry about during this time in your life. Not to mention it came totally out of nowhere.
My tire gauge light has been on in my car for a few weeks now and I have kind of chosen to ignore it. I know, I know that is really bad, but it has come on before and been a false alarm, so I just decided to worry about it later. Well, I was having lunch with a friend and she mentioned hers was on too and she had a nail in her tire and had to get it replaced. This got me thinking and worrying a bit so I decided the next day before I was driving in to town for a Dr's. appointment to walk around my car and look at all of my tires. Sure enough one of my back tires was almost completely flat! I drove straight to the express lube and had them check all the tires. The one that was low was supposed to be at 30psi and was at 10. Whoa Nelly I thought. He filled it up so I could get to my appointment and then to discount tire. Sure enough I had a nail and luckily they were able to repair it. I then went back to the express lube and had them do a transmission flush. They recommend this at 60,000 miles and I politely decline everything they tell me when I go to get an oil change. This gets me in trouble with Byron and he has been on me to service my car regularly and take care of it, so with pressure from him I decided to have this done. After fixing my tire and taking care of the service it needed I felt pretty productive and safe with my car. That was until Saturday when we arrived in Bryan for my shower. Byron went to move my car and it would not start. Battery dead. Are you kidding me? Am I in the twilight zone? Byron and his dad jumped my car to get it started and drove to the dealership for a new battery. When he went back to pick it up they asked if we had any transmission work done lately. He informed them about the flush I had done the day before and the guy said he had just saved our transmission. Apparently they did not put the cap back on and we had been leaking transmission fluid. Do you even realize how expensive a transmission is? Not to mention where I could have been when it decided to crap out on me? I was FUMING. How could the mechanic be so careless? God was completely 100% looking out for us. Had my battery not died randomly we would have never known. Needless to say I will not be taking my car back to that place EVER again for anything. This is why I hate paying money to have my car serviced. Who holds mechanics accountable? You don't actually see the work they do, so you have no idea really what you are paying for. I paid them $50 to potentially majorly mess up my car and possibly leave me stranded somewhere. Ugh, I get mad thinking about it.
Moving on to Sunday....we were at my sisters visiting since we missed my niece's birthday party the day before and as I was eating I cracked a crown. Yes, a crown. How do you crack a crown? Aren't they supposed to be permanent? Literally half the crown came off. Lovely I thought. I went to the dentist today thinking it was one of the newer crowns that I had done and it would be free since most dentist guarantee them for 5 years. Not so much. This one was older than that and is on me. I can now add this to my list of things I need to do after Ethan is born. Fix skin and get new crown.
On top of all these weird things happening we have not been sleeping well at all. Poor Byron is a light sleeper and wakes up every time I move. I slept on the couch the other night so he could get a full nights sleep with no interruptions. He really needed it. I am either tossing and turning, getting up to use the bathroom or wide awake because Ethan is having a kick boxing session in my tummy that is prohibiting me from falling back asleep. We are definitely getting a little taste of what sleep deprivation is like and what we have to look forward to!
I know I have typed a novel and seem like I am complaining, but even through all of the "weird" things that have happened to me lately I would not change one thing about my life right now. I am so thrilled and cannot wait to meet our son in 13 days. I already love him so much and know that all of these inconveniences will seem so minor once he is here.
Tomorrow night is girls night to celebrate Baby Patranella and then a weekend of nothing planned for us. We are pumped to be able to hang out around the house and do what we want when we want. Our time is quickly running out, so we are going to make the most of it!

3 Weeks Left

2009-07-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, where does the time go? 3 weeks from today we will get to meet Ethan! I went to the doctor today and it really began to set in. I have two appointments left and that is it. My doctor said that everything looks good and seems to be on track. Ethan has been VERY active lately and his kicks are getting stronger and stronger. That is a good sign that he is growing. Byron has been able to see and feel some good kicks and that makes me very happy! I love seeing him get excited about his son. I cannot wait to see the two of them interact.
We pretty much have everything done that we need to do...except hang drapes in his room, but that is not necessary for his arrival. I still need to pack my bag for the hospital, but just thinking about it flusters me. What all do I need? What will I forget? I started making a list, but that is as far as I got.
Byron and I said we were going to lay low the last couple of weeks and be lazy, but I don't think that will really happen. I have a shower this weekend in Bryan and then we have a birthday dinner for our sister in law. We probably will not get back until late Saturday night. Next week I have a dinner for a sweet friend who is having her second baby. The week after that is another dinner for two of my other friends also having their second baby. The next week is go time. When do we relax?? I think in a way I did this on purpose so I am not sitting around watching the clock. Time seems to go by faster when you are busy. I am torn with this because I am dying to meet him and have him here, but I am already missing being pregnant. I want it both ways!!!
I am however ready for a break from work. This has been a rough week and having 12 weeks off right now sounds heavenly!! I can't wait!!! I am not sure if it is my hormones in over drive or what, but work is WAY on my nerves at the moment. A break will do me some good.
I am also very much looking forward to working out again. We are going to join the YMCA by our house and I can't wait until I get the go ahead from my doctor. I miss the way you feel after a good run or cardio workout and can't wait to just sweat it all out. I do realize I have at least 6 weeks after Ethan is born before this can happen, but I am already thinking about it. It excites me!! Byron and Graham have gained some weight too, so we are all ready to get back to a healthy lifestyle!

The life of Graham

2009-07-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

1:45 on Monday. What a life a dog has!!!

Bye Bye 20's

2009-06-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

Well, today is my last day in my 20's. Tomorrow I will be 30 years old and 33 weeks pregnant. I never thought I would be where I am at this time, but nothing really ever goes as planned, right? I would not change one thing about my life. I have been very blessed. I have an awesome husband, a little boy due to arrive soon, a wonderful yellow lab and the best friends anyone could ask for. What is there to complain about? I can still remember turning 20 ten years ago and then 21. It does not seem that long ago. Where does the time go? I welcome my thirties with open arms and cannot wait to see what the next ten years hold for me and my family. I get giddy thinking about it! I am excited to say that I am thirty on a personal and professional level. Thirty just sounds older in a work environment. It's almost like you are no longer considered a kid or recent college grad. or something. I am not sure what it is. Byron turned 30 back in April and I have enjoyed calling him an old man since then. That will all change tomorrow!! Bring it on thirty!!
On another note, what is up with this heat?? I am in the air conditioning business so I like the summer time, but 104 degrees?? Are you kidding? It is stinking hot outside. Everyone said "Oh, you are going to be miserable going through the summer pregnant" and I thought they were crazy. I typically like the heat since I am cold natured, but I had no idea we would have record highs! I feel the need to shower again when I get home from work because I get so hot through out the day. You just feel gross. Monday I got home and actually felt sick from the heat. I chugged some water and laid on the couch for a while to rest. One piece of advice I can give is STAY HYDRATED!! It really makes a difference...pregnant or not!

32 Weeks Today

2009-06-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

Today I am 32 weeks pregnant! Where does the time go?? I went in for a check up yesterday and so far so good. I had a weird night Friday, but other than that I have felt great. Apparently I pulled a round ligament muscle Friday night and let me just tell you how painful it was!! I felt it happen at dinner when I laughed. I felt a sharp pain and silently wondered what it was. After that I could not stand up straight and I was cramping. By 2am I was on the couch wide awake wondering if I was having contractions. Not really knowing for sure what contractions feel like I had no idea. All I knew was that my lower abdomen was cramping really bad and it hurt. I think I finally fell asleep around 6am and called the on call doctor at 7:30. He said it was either preterm labor or ligament pains. He said I could go to the hospital to find out, but something told me it was not preterm labor. I saw my doctor yesterday and he told me I pulled a round ligament muscle. All I had to do was point to the area of the cramping and he knew what it was. He said a little tylenol and heating pad would make it feel better...now you tell me!!! I am still weirded out that it happened just by laughing...who knows?!?!
I have enjoyed recently just watching my stomach. I love to see Ethan kick and my stomach move around. It is hard to believe that in just 7 short weeks we will get to meet him!! I have a feeling that time is going to start moving slower and slower. I have been able to relax a bit now that we have everything we need for his arrival except the car seat. I have a coupon for Babies R Us that I am going to use to buy it, but have to wait until next Friday to use it. Can you believe that? They will not take their coupons early. I have never heard of that. Take the money today or in a week, what does it matter?? Bed Bath and Beyond will take a year old expired coupon. They just want the business. I guess Babies R Us just does not need the business that much. So next Friday we will have out car seat and be all set.
Well, Byron is almost home and dinner is not ready. Oops...

Got Milk?

2009-06-10T14:24:00.001-07:00

This is the look I get EVERY morning until Graham gets his milk. You just have to love him!!

What a weekend!!

2009-06-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend was crazy busy, but awesome indeed! I had my very first baby shower on Saturday. My friends Lacey, Kellye, Patrice, Jodi and Renee threw it for me and it was AWESOME!! Everything from the food to the decorations was fabulous. There was not one thing left undone or forgotten. I got to celebrate with all my close friends and family. We are so blessed to know so many wonderful people. The turn out was great and we got so much stuff. We are plenty stocked now on clothes, blankets, burp cloths, bath toys, rattles, etc. Ethan is going to be one well dressed little baby. If he does not like A&M then he is definitely in trouble because we got so much Aggie baby gear. It is actually perfect because he will be born right before football season. Let's just hope we actually have a team this year!! When I got home with everything Byron could not believe how much stuff we got. Thanks so much to everyone who came and for the hostesses who spent a lot of time planning the shower for me. It really means a lot.
While I was at the shower Byron played golf with his dad, brother and uncle. I cannot believe they played 18 holes with it being so hot outside, but they managed to finish. I don't know if I could have done it. Just walking outside I started sweating. It was really hot this weekend. After the shower me, Byron's mom and my sister in law came back to the house and unloaded the car. I then had to head to Houston for a "Celebration of life" party. For those of you that do not know Byron and I joined a Sunday school class right after we got engaged at First Baptist Houston that is called Newlywed or close. This is a year long class that focuses on marriage. Everyone in the class in a newlywed or engaged. Well, the class leaders have a celebration of life party for the girls when they get pregnant. There are 7 of us girls from the class that are either pregnant or just had a baby, so we celebrated on Saturday. It is so fun to experience this joyous time with so many of my friends. The party started at 4 and lasted until about 6. We ate, caught up and prayed for each of our babies and lives. Vicky also made us personalized prayer books for our babies. It is probably the most thoughtful gift I have ever received. Each prayer in it has Ethan's name, so when you are reading it, it appears as it was written just for him. (It is hard to explain, but trust me, it is pretty cool).
When that party was over I rushed back to The Woodlands to meet up with Byron, his parents and brother and sister in law for dinner. We ate at Lupe Tortilla. We got back home from dinner and visited until around 11. Everyone was so tired. I was so tired I could not think straight by this point. I had not stopped all day!! Sunday morning I was up at 6:45 since I can't sleep in no matter how hard I try and started making breakfast for everyone. We all went to church and then drove out to Conroe for lunch. We ate at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. Let me just tell you that if you have not eaten at one of these you are missing out. The BEST burger ever!!! The one on Conroe is on the water, so we sat outside over looking the lake and ate our burger. Byron and I said our good byes to his family, came home and fell into a coma. I cannot even begin to describe to you how tired I was. It was all worth it and so much fun, but I hope to rest this week and recoup from the weekend...isn't that backwards?? It was even hard to get up this morning. We were both so tired.

Here are some pictures of the weekend. Hope you enjoy!!

30 Weeks

2009-06-04T10:10:00.001-07:00

Today I am 30 weeks pregnant. I cannot believe how fast time is flying by! I have decided to have a c-section (I know people have opinions about this and that is ok!)that is sceduled for 9 weeks from yesterday! WHOA!!! I really feel like it was just yesterday I was taking my pregnancy test. I had my 30 week appointment yesterday and everything looks good. I have gained 26 pounds so far, which I am pleased with. The way I ate in my second trimester I deserve to have gained more like 50 pounds by now!! I will gladly take 26. My doctor said Ethan is growing and progressing as he should be. He is still really active. It is actually quite funny to see him kick. Some of the kicks are so srong that my whole stomach shakes. I love it and probably will miss this the most after I have him. My one complaint right now is my "acne". My doctor said it is not actually acne, but I do not know what else to call it. I am having some sort of reaction to a hormone either my body or Ethan is producing that is causing red bumps all over my chest and back. I have been to the dermatologist and have tried several things and nothing seems to work. I will just have this until he is born, I guess. Byron and I have been going to the pool every chance we get to work on our tans and my doc said the sun actually makes it worse...oops. I thought it was helping them to blend in, but what do I know?!?!

My first baby shower is this Saturday and I am really excited about it. So far everything has been a surprise...even the food being served. I know it is brunch and that is about it. I cannot wait to see what all has been planned. I am so excited to also see my friends and family that I have not seen in a while. We have been living in a bubble these past few months trying to get the house ready, so we have not been too social! After the shower I am headed to a Celebration of Life party that our old Sunday school teachers put on for all the pregnant girls. We sit around, drink tea, catch up with each other and pray for all of our babies. I am really looking forward to this. I have been to a few in the past for other people and it is a really special time. After that I will meet back up with Byron, his parents, David and Jenny for dinner at Lupe Tortillas. David and Jenny are huge Lupe fans and since they do not have one in Dallas they HAVE to eat there when they are in town. I cannot say that I blame them though!!! So, needless to say Saturday will be one busy day for me. I am sure after dinner I will fall into a coma! :)) It will be busy, but so fun!! I will post some pictures after the weekend.

Hope everyone had a good week!

Growing Pains and Chocolate Milk

2009-05-27T06:38:00.000-07:00

First let me start off by saying that I have NEVER been a milk drinker. I can only have it in cereal and I always pour out what is left when I finish instead of drinking it. Well, one of my friends is newly pregnant (I cannot mention her name because I am not sure if she has "officially" announced it yet) and while we were at dinner with them two weeks ago she mentioned to me that when she is pregnant she drinks chocolate milk like it is going out of style. That is all it took and I was hooked. For those of you that have been pregnant before you may understand this. I thought about chocolate milk all night and bought some the next morning. Byron and I BOTH had it done in two days!!!!! Our fridge is now stocked with chocolate milk and will be until my cravings go away or I have Ethan...whichever comes first. It is just so weird to me that someone can mention something when you are pregnant and that is all it takes to hook you in. I now can drink chocolate milk for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Currently we have 2 regular milk cartons and 2 chocolate milk cartons in our fridge and it is just me, Byron and Graham! Yes, we give Graham milk every morning. He gives you the stare down until he gets his!
Now on to growing pains...I have them in full force this morning. I woke up and the minute I got out of bed felt them. I was looking at myself in the mirror thinking, "where can I afford to grow anymore?" I am just not sure where my stomach can expand to. I know you always feel bigger than you actually look, but seriously, I don't know how much bigger my stomach can get and I still have 10 weeks left! If there is a will there is a way I guess!
Happy Wednesday to all!

Mimi and Paw Paw visit

2009-05-18T07:38:00.001-07:00

What a fun family weekend! We are winding down our upstairs remodel and were lucky enough to have both families including Mimi and Paw Paw visit this weekend. First my parents came by on Sunday so my dad could reset our upstairs toilets and base boards in the bathrooms (we re-tiled last week) and then Byron's parents came over to bring us a bed we are borrowing/storing for David and Jenny and a VERY special toy box for Ethan's room. Byron's grandfather "Pater" was quite a handy man in his day and made Byron a toy box when he was a little boy. Well, Joe (Byron's dad...aka...Pappy) completely refinished it and we are putting it in Ethan's room. Thanks Pappy!! I will post a picture of it soon. With that stuff they also brought Mimi and Paw Paw with them to see our house. What a special treat!!! This was their first time to The Woodlands. We got everything set up and had dinner at Landry's. Such a fun weekend!!

Nursery

2009-05-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

I am so excited that our nursery is coming along that I had to post pictures even though it is not complete yet! Byron, his dad and my dad have all put a lot of time and energy into this room to make it perfect for Ethan. We had the carpet installed today and wow, it looks AWESOME!!! Here are some before and after pictures...

I still think the pictures do not do all their hard work justice!! We have literally replaced everything in this room from the ceiling fan, blinds, door knobs, towel rack, etc. I cannot wait to see it all complete. Our furniture will be here (except for the back ordered crib) on Wednesday, so I will have some more updates after that!!! We are getting so close...then all we will need is our little Ethan!!

Enjoy!

One Year!!!

2009-05-04T06:14:00.000-07:00

Happy One Year Anniversiary to Byron and I!!!!

My first night in the hospital

2009-04-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

Well, it happened. I spent my first night in the hospital last night while the rest of the city was laying comfortable in their own bed listening to the rain! Here is how it all began...
I woke up Monday morning feeling a little more body tired than normal. I thought this was due to over extending it this past weekend. (My parents came up and my dad and Byron worked on the nursery while my mom and I shopped around. My sisters family came over too and I played host all weekend and was on my feet a lot.) So, moving slow, I took a shower, got dressed for work and had breakfast. I went and sat in my office and thought there is no way I can leave the house today. I was way too body tired. I called Byron and as we were on the phone I started to get nauseous. We got off the phone and on the couch I went. I was there pretty much all day. As time went on my fever was increasing and then came the body aches. My body ached so bad that it literally hurt to lay down. By noon I had lost my breakfast if you know what I mean! I was not sure if this was the flu coming on or yet another virus (I just had one a month ago). I called my doctor to let him know what was going on and tried to get an appointment with our family doctor, but they could not see me. I just continued to lay on the couch miserable. By about 6:30 I called my ob back because I knew I was getting dehydrated and could not keep food down so I was beginning to worry about Ethan. He ran through a bunch of scenarios with me and said if I could not keep liquids down then I would need to head in to the hospital. Ten minutes after we got off the phone I lost all my liquids I thought I had done so good to get down plus three saltine crackers. Things were not looking too well. I took two extra strength tylenols for my head and fever and dosed off for about an hour. At 9:15 even with the tylenol my fever was still continuing to climb. I called the doctor back and he suggested I head on in. So, off to the hospital we go. I called my mom to let her know and she was sick now too...lovely! Byron and I made it half way out of The Woodlands and had to turn around and drop him off at home because he was about to be sick....are you kidding me?? This virus is just flat mean! That meant I was going in all by myself! I made it to the hospital and was on my way to feeling so much better. I got put on fluids, they monitered Ethan's heart beat and did an ultrasound. He was very active and kicking up a storm. During the ultrasound we got to see him rubbing his eyes...it was really cute! We also were able to confirm that yes, he is definitely a BOY! Not that we had any doubts, but just to be on the safe side. When all the testing was done I took an ambien and tried to sleep. For those of you that have spent the night in the hospital I am sure you know their beds are not the most comfortable. Even with a sleeping pill I tossed and turned most of the night. It was all worth it though because I was feeling much better and knew that Ethan was ok. I checked out today around noon and headed home for a much needed nap on my couch with my pillow and blanket! It was so nice. My mom is feeling much better and so is Byron. I guess we just got a hold of something this weekend that did not like us. This is virus number two for me in one month and I have to say that I am slightly annoyed! Maybe this is my form of morning sickness since I did not get it in the first trimester...who knows. My lessons I learned from all this are you can never wash your hands enough and to stay away from anyone who has been sick recently no matter what. My immune system is obviously not up to figting off illnesses right now, so if you have been sick...stay away! :))

You Don't Get What You Don't Ask For!

2009-04-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

I had my 24 week appointment yesterday with my OB and this time came prepared! I had a list of questions for him and off I went asking away. Right after I became pregnant he bought a new 4D untrasound machine. We "played" with it at my 17 week ultrasound, but you can't really get a good 4D look that early. Something about there not being enough fluid in the baby's face that early. So, yesterday I asked him if he would do another ultrasound on me in 4D or if I needed to go to another company called Peek a Baby. He said they have not mastered the 4D yet, but would "experiment" on me with the machine. So, not only do I get another chance to see Ethan next Tuesday, but it is completely FREE!!!! Byron and I are really excited! Any chance to see him is sooooo exciting! It just seems so long to wait from 17 weeks all the way until delivery...especially for someone like me who is not the most patient of the bunch! :)) The appointment is next Tuesday at 3:00 and I will post the picture then!
Have a good rest of the week!

Rain Rain Go Away!

2009-04-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

Go figure...the weekend that we get into nursery mode and start to get things ready around the house it rains! We have had it planned for almost two months now for Byron's parents to come up, bring a bed that we are borrowing/storing for a while from David and Jenny and help paint two rooms upstairs. Since it will be raining that means they cannot bring the bed this trip and who gets in paint mode when it looks like night time outside in the middle of the day? I am crossing my fingers that this storm rolls out of here before tomorrow morning. As I look out my window right now at 2:21pm it looks like it is 9:00pm...it is DARK! I just read an article on chron.com that between now and tomorrow afternoon our northern area could receive up to 7 inches of rain...7 INCHES OF RAIN!!! That is a ton of rain in a short amount of time! Ugh, GO AWAY!!!! The only slightly positive thing about this is April showers bring May flowers! Ok, that is a little cheesy, I know!!

Ice Cream!!!

2009-04-13T06:57:00.000-07:00

I have never been a big sweets person until I got pregnant!!! Oh how that has changed now!!! Byron and I both have been on an ice cream kick lately and we found an ice cream that is so incredible that I felt compelled to write about it!! It is Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream!!! It consists of vanilla ice cream with chunks of fudge covered waffle cone and caramel!! Oh my it is sooooooo good. We have yet to put some in a bowl and eat it...we just eat it from the carton!! The fat content is so high that we only take a few bites and then put it away! I would suggest trying it first BEFORE you check out the nutritional content. It is definitely not a healthy treat, but man, it is soooo good!
On another note I encountered my first (and hopefully only) pregnancy nose bleed this weekend. I cannot remember the last time in my life I had a nose bleed. I was laying on the couch and felt my nose running. I got up to get a tissue and saw that it was bleeding. I was in absolute shock. It came out of no where! Of course Byron had just left for the gym, so he missed the action. I could not remember if you tilt your head forward or back while pinching your nose to get it to stop. I tried leaning forward first and that seemed to intensify it so I leaned back and eventually it stopped. It was weird. I think pregnancy definitely does the weirdest things to your body. Once I have Ethan I am not going to know what it is like to not be pregnant anymore. I am so used to it by now, but still wonder everyday what will happen next. It is like I have no control of my body...it has developed a mind of its own! It still could have been a lot worse for me, so I feel incredibly blessed that I have had it fairly easy so far.
One thing that did scare me a bit yesterday though was we were at my parents for Easter and me, my aunt and grandma were talking about pregnancy weight gain and baby weight. My aunt informed me that both of my male cousins were 9lb babies. My eyes were slowly getting bigger when my grandma chimed in and said my dad was a 9lb baby. I asked Byron how much he weighed when he was born and he said a little over 8lbs!!!!!! It hit me that I have never even thought it was possible I could have an 8 or 9lb baby!!! I just "assumed" that I would have a 6 or 7lb baby. I have to admit it scared me a bit. If Ethan comes in to this world taking after his dad immediately then I am in for a bigger baby than I anticipated! I guess I have about 17 more weeks to digest this information!!! :)) It is scary to think how naive I am about what lies ahead for me. I told Byron yesterday that when I reach the 30 week mark I think I am really going to start stressing! I have always been a little scared about the end of pregnancy. I love the cute manageable belly and eleastic pants right now, but I know the end is right around the corner and what that entails is the big belly that prevents you from bending down to tie your shoe, swelling and a whole long list of other uncomfortable things! Oh my...

Byron's Birthday Pics

2009-04-06T14:40:00.001-07:00

Byron's blowing out candles on his petite cake...30 candles would not fit.

Byron's birthday flowers I sent him at work along with some cards that came in the mail.

What a Week!

2009-04-02T15:55:00.000-07:00

PTL tomorrow is Friday! This has been quite a week for Byron and I. Starting from Monday...I went to dinner and then a concert with some girl friends Monday night. I got home and crawled into bed around 12:30 only to wake up at 2:45 sicker than I have been in a VERY long time! I was so sick I could not keep water down. After about an hour of this we called the on call doctor and he called me in some anti nausea medicine. Byron went to CVS at 3:45am to pick it up for me and it is my new miracle pill! It worked like a charm. He then drove downtown at 4:30am to get his lap top so he could work from home Tuesday and stay with me. We both fell back asleep around 9:30 and when I woke up I felt 100% better. I was still tired and week from being sick, but I guess the bad part had passed. Byron worked the rest of the day while I rested and then we disinfected the house so he would hopefully not get sick. What a Tuesday! Wednesday was Byron's 30th b-day!! I was praying all day Tuesday I would not get him sick on his birthday...what a present that would be! I had also set up for flowers to be delivered to his office, so I needed him to be able to go to work! He woke up feeling well so I drove him in for his birthday instead of him riding the bus. We went to lunch and few hours later he called for me to come get him....he was not feeling well. Here we go, I thought! We got home and literally ate and went to bed at 6:30! Yes, 6:30! I had bought him a little cake and had some candles for him to blow out, but we just could not celebrate. We both needed sleep. We slept from 6:30pm to 6:30am this morning! Maybe tonight we will do cake and candles!! I am so glad that tomorrow is Friday needless to say! If we are up to it tomorrow we are going to have date night and FINALLY celebrate Byron's birthday!!! He has not picked a restaurant yet, so I am not sure where we are going. I feel so bad that his day (and I guess week) was ruined by me getting sick! I am NEVER sick, so this was a complete shock to us. I do have to say though that Byron wins husband of the year award. I am so lucky to have him. He took such good care of me in my time of need and did everything he could for me. He waited on me hand and foot until I felt better! Thanks Babe!
We have some fun stuff planned this weekend and I think the weather is supposed to be nice, so that will be a nice way to end a rough week.
I took Graham on a long walk today since he has been neglected a little this week. I think he needed some fresh air. I have to admit I did. Yesterday as we were getting in bed at 6:30 he looked at us like we were crazy! He seemed a bit confused. He does like to sleep a lot, but I think we gave him cabin fever.
On a baby note, I am 21 weeks today. Where does the time go? It is going by so fast and I feel like there is so much left to do. We are in baby furniture mode right now. You would think that buying a crib and stuff is an easy task, but it's not for us. We have been looking around at different places trying to figure out what we need/want and what is in our budget. There is such a range of cribs out there that it is hard to decipher what is best. We are looking to purchase the beginning of May, so we still have some time.
Well, I think that pretty much sums up our week. Please pray that next week is a better one for us!!

20 Down 20 To Go

2009-03-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

I am half way done with my pregnancy!! Where does the time go?? I went to my 20 week appointment today and everything is going well. We got to hear Ethan's hearbeat and it sounded like a crunching noise. I asked the nurse what that was and she said he was moving around a lot right then. He appears to be an active little baby. He was moving and shaking during the ultra sound as well. I can sometimes feel him a little. I am starting to feel the "flutters" more and more everyday. They come at random times...when I am laying in bed, driving down the road or just sitting on the couch watching tv. I cannot wait until they are strong enough for Byron to be able to feel. My doctor also told me to try and only gain about 4lbs a month from here on out or 1lb a week....um, ok!!! I will give it my best, but right now I am hungry 24/7!!!! It is crazy how much my life revolves around meals and snacks! I try to eat healthy as much as I can, but sometimes you just have to splurge!!! Thankfully my cravings for certain things are not that bad anymore. That first trimester was pretty brutal when it came to eating. Only certain foods sounded good at certain times and not much of it was healthy!
I am starting to feel a bit overwhelmed at times when I think about everything we have to do before August. We still need to register with the hospital, take a birthing class, register (thankfully we are coming close to deciding on how to do the nursery), pick a school for him and so on. The list keeps going and going and going! We thought we had the school thing down, but we have changed our minds so many times. We have gone from Primrose to a nanny back to Primrose and now maybe First Baptist Church in The Woodlands. I think we are just going to have to take a day and go talk to people at these places. It is just really hard deciding who you trust enough to take care of your little baby all day everyday. It is a really big decision. I have faith that it will all work out though. I guess it is normal to start worrying about all these things...especially when you are staring at the ceiling at 3am and cannot sleep. What else are you supposed to think about, right??

Spring Time!

2009-03-22T16:26:00.001-07:00

We got around today to planting some flowers finally!! We started out small and just did a few since neither one of us has a green thumb. We wanted to see if we can keep these alive before we plant more! Hope you enjoy!

Twilight

2009-03-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

Has anyone read the Twilight series? I have to admit I did not know much about them until about a week ago when one of my good friends was going on and on about how good the books are. She read all four in NINE days!!! She said she just could not put them down. I have heard people say they were good, but I was closed minded about it and thought I would not be interested in a book about vampires. Well, I decided to give it a try and a week and a half later I am on book three!!! They are actually really good. The story is completely different from what I was expecting. It is actually a love story!! The author is also really creative. She knows just how to draw you in so you keep wanting to read on...(I guess that is why people say they cannot put them down). The first movie comes out on DVD this Friday and I cannot wait to watch it! I doubt we will get to it this weekend seeing that it will probably be sold out by the time we get there, but soon enough!! I mentioned watching it to Byron and he did not seem too thrilled, but maybe, just maybe after he watches the movie he will like it! I am keeping my fingers crossed!!
On to other news....we are so excited that the weather is going to be nice this weekend!! Byron is going to touch up the trim downstairs and I am going to help my mom entertain my neices on Saturday. She is keeping them by herself for five days, so she probably wants a little help! Sunday, I think we are going to go to church and then plant some flowers in the front yard. I know this may sound boring to some, but I am really excited about it! I have waited FOREVER to have a house with a yard to work in and I finally have it. I have just needed the weather to cooperate with me and it looks like it finally is. Today is the official first day of spring!! Bye Bye winter!!!
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Ethan's first outfits!!!

2009-03-16T18:21:00.001-07:00

Byron and I could not resist buying Ethan his first outfits this weekend. Just in case you are wondering Byron picked out the superman onesie!!

Ethan James Blaschke

2009-03-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

Well, the wait is over....we are having us a little Ethan James Blaschke! I was able to move our appointment up a week so we found out yesterday. I had a feeling all along that I am carrying a boy, but I think I am still in shock that it is definitely a boy! This will be the first boy for my family. My dad is so excited!! With two daughters and two grand daughters, he needs a grandson to mix things up! I am not sure I have ever seen Byron so happy...ever! He finally confessed what I knew all along...that he really did want a boy. I think we both did actually. We would have been thrilled to have a girl, but there is something about a boy that we both want. We have talked about having a boy since before we even got married, so this is truly a dream come true for us. We went to dinner last night to celebrate and could not stop saying, "We are having a boy, can you believe it?"
Luckily I drank a coke with my lunch because when we got into the exam room he was moving all around in my tummy. The nurse knew right away that he was a boy. We watched him for what seemed like a long while move around and then I think he fell asleep. After about 30 or 40 minutes of looking at him I asked her to find "his parts" again (I wanted to see one more time) and she couldn't. He fell asleep and his legs were crossed!!!! I was so glad we got in there when we did and was able to see. I do not know what I would have done if we could not tell yesterday. I might still be crying! I believe having that coke kept him awake just long enough for us.
Not that this was not all real to me from the beginning, but now I feel like I can really start to bond with him and plan for his arrival! I have not been able to sleep through the whole night for a few days now and last night was no different. As I laid in bed staring at the ceiling at 3am I put my hand on my stomach and just thought about little Ethan. I thought about how much I hope he looks like Byron and what his personality will be like. I am really praying that he gets a lot of Byron's features...especially his eyes! Byron has gorgeous eyes that really stand out with his dark hair. Ugh, I cannot wait to meet him!!
We are going to take advantage of the crummy weather this weekend and start the search for bedding,nursery colors, furniture and registry items. My awesome friend Lacey has offered to help us register since we have absolutely no idea what we need. Thanks Lace!! Let the fun begin!!!

My Amazing Husband

2009-03-09T12:03:00.000-07:00

This post is completely dedicated to my amazing husband!! This weekend was our first weekend in a long while that A) Byron did not have to work and B) We did not have plans. I had one small function Saturday morning, but that does not really count. It allowed us to be here all weekend to get stuff done around the house. We started taping Thursday night so we could start painting Friday night and into the weekend. Since I am preggers I was not allowed to help paint. Byron did it ALL himself. He painted a cut out in the gameroom that we missed when we painted it, the guest bathroom and the guest bedroom and closet. He did all of this in 3 days by himself. I am pretty impressed. I helped him prep and then did all the running around. I was all over this town getting stuff...Home Depot, Pottery Barn, Kirklands, Target...you name it and I was there. On top of painting I had picked up new hardware like door knobs, towel bars and etc, so Byron put all of that on as well. I had bought us filets to grill Saturday night, but he worked so hard all day that we did not even save time to grill. We ordered pizza instead and grilled the filets last night. He literally showered and fell over in bed last night at 10:00 exhausted. We still need to pull tape off the guest bedroom and hang some pictures tonight. After that I will post some pictures! We are really excited about how it looks. Slowly but surely our house is coming together!!
I feel so lucky and blessed to have such a wonderful perfectionist husband who is willing and able to work like this all weekend while his pregnant wife sits back and watches! :)) I offered to help numerous times, but was denied. So Byron, this post if all for you!! Thank you for everything you do for our family. I love you so much and am incredibly lucky to be your wife!!

17 Weeks Pregnant

2009-03-05T13:40:00.000-08:00

I am 17 weeks pregnant today and am beginning to think my glory days of pregnancy are coming to a halt! Up until this point it has been a breeze for me. I did not get morning sickness and have not really had any major complaints...just small ones! :) Well, now let the fun begin. As I told you in my first post I had my first migraine last week and have had a nagging headache pretty much everyday since then. What is up with all these headaches?? It seems like the only thing that really helps them is to drink coke. Before I was pregnant I may have drank a real coke twice a year. I just did not really care for it that much. Now, I think about coke everyday!! Not good!! On top of getting up to go to the bathroom every couple of hours throughout the night I cannot seem to stay asleep because I can't get comfortable. I toss and turn ALL NIGHT LONG! The past two mornings Byron has given me a hard time because he wakes up and either has no covers or has no room....oops! Sorry babe. I am all over the bed trying to get comfortable! Somehow our queen size bed keeps getting smaller and smaller!! I have been told by many of my mommy friends that the sleep problem only gets worse. That is one thing I am not looking forward to. I need my sleep!! I don't really like naps during the day because you wake up groggy, it makes it hard to go to sleep that night and it is getting to be way too pretty outside to be sleeping during the day!! I guess these are the things we deal with in order to bring our pride and joy into this world!!

I still have not officially felt our baby move yet and wait for it everyday! I am praying it will happen soon. I cannot wait to experience this!!

11 more days until we find out the sex!!! This excites me soooooo much!!! Ugh, I cannot wait!!

Let the honey do's begin!!!

2009-03-03T15:57:00.000-08:00

Well, now that we just went to our last wedding on the calendar and have no commitments coming up we can finally start completing some things on our honey do list around the house. It seems the list keeps getting longer because we either have social commitments on the weekends or Byron has to work! I have one function this Saturday morning and after that we are going to be productive. We hope this weekend to mulch our front yard, plant some flowers and paint one of the guest bathrooms upstairs. I know it sounds like a lot, but I was thinking we could work in the yard Saturday and paint Sunday. The bathroom should not take that long. I am going to try and do all the prep work this week like taping and stuff. After that we still have to paint both guest bedrooms upstairs and the nursery once we find out of we are having a boy or a girl (or as my family would say "Bella" or "Ernie"). More on that later! My handy dad is coming over in April to do some chair railing and other wood work for us in the nursery, so we have to have the painting done by then. So much to do!! It is all fun and exciting stuff we just need a little time to get it all done. I cannot wait to be able to start buying stuff for the nursery. Man, these next two weeks are going to drag on!
So, back to Bella and Ernie. My 3 year old neice told me when she found out that I was pregnant that "I have a baby in my belly that is a girl and her name is going to be Bella". Apparently she has a friend at school named Bella and she wants that to be my baby's name. After she told me that the name kind of stuck in my family so we now all refer to our baby as Bella! Well, somehow since some of us now think we are having a boy we have started calling the baby Ernie. I think my dad started the Ernie name back when my sister was pregnant. If you know my dad you can understand how he came up with Ernie as a joke! Little does my family know that the Bella and Ernie names will absolutely drop when our baby is born! I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the names we have picked out and will not settle for Bella or Ernie!! :)))))
I have also been trying to walk Graham as much as I can now since the weather is finally nice outside. Graham and I both need to get out and exercise! I drive all day long so I am not that active during the day. It feels really nice to take a long walk on a nice afternoon. I am so ready for spring!! I feel like we have had a really long winter and I am just really over the cold right now! When I hear on the news in the morning that the highs are in the 80's it makes me really happy!
Well, time to start dinner. Chat more soon!

My First Blog

2009-03-02T14:57:00.000-08:00

So, a few people I know have started blogs and I find myself keeping up with them and really enjoying it. Life gets so busy, so you are not able to talk to everyone as often as you would like and keep up with what is going on in their lives, so reading their blogs is perfect! I decided to give it a go and see how it turns out!
As you know Byron and I were married May 3, 2008 and are expecting our first baby in August. We could not be more thrilled! We find out the sex in 2 weeks from tomorrow and the suspense is killing us! We did the "ring test" 3 times this past weekend and every time it has said boy. I have thought it is a boy from the beginning, so we are patiently waiting until our next ultrasound to find out. We will be happy with a boy or a girl...we are just hoping for a happy healthy little baby!! So far pregnancy has been a breeze for me. I actually thought something could be wrong in the beginning because I felt so good. I slept a lot, but that was about it. I guess I just always assumed that when I got pregnant I would be sick. Luckily, that is not the case for everyone. I will say though that I experienced my first migraine last week and it was not pretty. My head has never hurt so bad in all my life. I called my doctor and was given a prescription for caffeine pills of all things and it worked like a charm. I did not know you can take extra strength tylenol when you are pregnant either. Until now I have not taken medicine for anything...I have been too scared!
We also got some very exciting new this weekend. Byron's best friend (and my coworker) Clay and his wife Ashley just annouced they are pregnant and due a month after us. I cannot tell you how exciting it is to have good friends going through this time in life with you. I think about years from now when we are all having get togethers with our kids playing with each others and it makes me smile! Such fun times ahead!!
Well, I will write more later...I feel like I have so much to say! I am anxious to finish getting my blog profile complete!