Antique Tractor Pull!

This is the weekend of the Maries County Fair! I always look forward to going, just because everyone comes out and you get to see people you haven't seen in a long time.

Anyway, tonight is the night of the Antique Tractor Pull and Andy is so excited! He is entering an old Farmall tractor. He has been working on it for the last couple of weeks. I don't know how well it will actually pull, but it will be fun to watch Andy give it a try.

Here is him riding on the tractor he is entering!

A Sad Loss!

I started my blog at around the time I found out I was pregnant. I like to read other women's blogs who are pregnant as well and are due around the same time. I have been reading this one family blog (I am not going to provide a link to their site, for their own privacy) for some time now. Even though when you read blogs, you may not necessarily know who they are, you tend to build an attachment to them and curiosity of what is going on in their lives. This particular blog is of a cute young couple who already has a 2 year old boy and was pregnant with their second child due around 3 weeks after me. I had noticed that there hadn't been any post on their blog for the last couple of weeks. And it wasn't until a little while ago that I found out why. Their second boy had been born prematurely at only 30 weeks and died 4 days later on August 24th. I have been sitting here at my desk unable to work because of the tears rolling down my face. They had even posted pictures of their final moments with their little boy (which I assume are just prior to or just after his death because there are no tubes or medical equipment hooked up to him).

I could not even begin to imagine what this family is going thru. To lose a baby this far into a pregnancy would be unthinkable. Especially after you hear the heartbeat, feel those first kicks, somersaults, hiccups and to see their little face on the ultrasound, you would think you are all in the clear for a healthy pregnancy. God works in mysterious ways, and while I don't understand the reasoning behind taking a child before they have the chance to live their life, I do know that what little time they are here (born or not), they have placed their little footprint on all those around them and everyone's lives will forever be changed.

So I ask you all today to pray along with me for this family and all the other families that have dealt with a similar loss.

Cardinals Win 5 to 3!

The game was awesome last night! We had such a great time! The game started off slow with us loosing early on, but we rallied back in the eighth inning to take the lead and win the game. It was really intense, but that is what makes for a great ball game. I really liked the seats we had. The section we were in was called the Casino Queen Party Porch. While it was sort-of high up from the field, the environment was unique. There was a huge bar that you could sit at and watch the game from T.V.'s (if you didn't want to sit in your normal seats), there was also a couple of concession stands designated only to this section (so you didn't have to wait in line or fight the normal crowd), there were also numerous T.V.'s above us that showed the Fox footage of the game. That was really neat, because you could watch the replay after seeing it live on the field. All in all, it was a good time had by all and the Nachos were awesome!

Andy & I

Kevin & Kelly

Andy's Birthday message I had put on the scrolling sign!

Here is Hunter watching the game!

Tonights Plans!

We are going to a Cardinals Game!

Weekend Recap!

Saturday: I made a trip to Rolla to do a little shopping. My main reason for going was to pick up some items I had purchased at Walmart.com and had shipped to the store for free. I got confirmation that 3 out of the 5 items I ordered were in. Before heading that way, I checked the status of the other 2 items to see if they would be there as well. The item I was really wanting was the baby travel system (Car seat and stroller) and as I tracked it, it said it was in transit from the St. James distribution center to Rolla. Which made me really excited thinking it would be there for me to pick up. Well I was wrong, but I was able to pick up the other things.

The main highlight of my trip happened as I was pumping my Jeep full of gas. While I was standing there patently waiting as the pump was sucking all of my money, there was a car full of guys driving past hollering and whistling at me. I KNOW....I couldn't believe it either! I must of had myself positioned just right for them not to see the belly. It is the little things in life that can builds one self esteem! Andy didn't find this story as thrilling as I did!

Saturday Evening: Kevin, Kelly, Holly, Andy and I headed to Columbia for some HuHots! You may think we go there a lot…which is true but we make a point to go once a month. And guess what…next week is a whole new month for us to meet our quota. This was Holly’s first trip to HuHots, and it can be pretty overwhelming trying to decide what to put on your plate. But I think she liked it, even after her first plate was too spicy/hot for her to eat. After leaving Columbia we headed back to Jeff City for some Cold Stone!

Sunday: I headed back to Rolla with Shanda and Holly in hopes that my travel system had finally made it to Wal-Mart. And it had! I was soooo excited! As soon as I got home I was tearing through the box so I could put it all together. The pattern is so cute and it was really easy to put together. Hunter will be riding in style. Here are some pictures of what it looks like!

Andy's Diaper Bag!

Look what I found on E-Bay! Per Andy's request, he has really been wanting a camo diaper bag, and this one is perfect! It actually says, "Daddy's Lil' Hunter." What could be more perfect than that?

Baby Shower!

The baby shower was on Sunday and it was a huge success! We got so much stuff! And it is going to be so much fun going back through everything and putting it away! There was a large turn out of family and friends that came. And to my surprise, Andy came down to the shower and stayed the whole time! What a great husband and father-to-be. He didn't sit up front with me to open the gifts, but that didn't matter to me. I was just thrilled he was there to share in the excitement! Below are some pictures of the day!

Here is the cake that Beth made!

Andy and I posing with the cake!

Dad, Denise, Me & Andy

Denise, Dad & I

Belly Comparison!

Dad, Me, Andy & Mom

Mom, Me & Dad
I knew I couldn't make it through this shower without getting some Camo!

This is the best shower gift ever....Liquor! Thanks Kevin!Andy sitting amongst the women playing the shower games!

Here is the quilt Shanda made! Adorable! And the backing was brown with blue polka-dots!

Here is the afghan mom made!

Daycare!!!!

WE HAVE A DAYCARE!

This was a long and overwhelming process trying to find someone that first of all had openings and was good and highly recommended to watch Hunter that was at a convenient location for either Andy or I to pick him up. I am glad to finally check this off of my to-do list!

View From my Office!

Finally they are replacing our broken sign outside. It has been down for months! In addition they are upgrading us to a scrolling sign so we can be on the same page as the rest of our branches!

31 Week Appointment!

This mornings appointment was far from ordinary. I was first thrown off by not having one of the two nurses that have usually taken care of me. This girl seemed really young and wasn’t very social able! She took my urine sample, blood pressure, measured my stomach, and checked his heart rate, all while not saying a word. So I assumed all was well…not so much!

The doctor came in and said they detected something in my urine sample. I have no clue what it was called because it was a really long word. I just went with it because I pay them to know what they are talking about! She listed a bunch of symptoms that are associate with this “thing,” none of which I had. She said they wanted another urine sample so they could send it to the lab for further test. Until then, she prescribed me some antibiotics to try to flush it out of my system.

If that wasn’t enough, the doctor wanted to re-measure my stomach because the nurse measured me being too large for this state of my pregnancy. Meaning I could have too much amniotic fluid. But when the doctor measured me, I was right on track. The nurse must just be having an off day!

Since I had given them all I had to give in my first urine sample, I was dry docked! The doc said she would get me a cup of water to help speed up the process. She apologized that the only cup she had to give me water in was the ones used to pee in and assured me it was brand new and sanitary. While that was a concern I was more embarrassed about people seeing me stroll the hallways drinking from a pee cup and waiting for “the urge!” Seeing my point of view, she let me just chug the water and then go have a seat until I was ready! I am not sure when I will hear the results, I guess they will call and let me know if there is any concern.

Good News: The Glucose Test game back perfect!

Andy's Birthday Gift!

I ran to Rolla Monday evening to see if they had the Wii game I was wanting to buy Andy for this Birthday, and they did! I bought the last one! I gave it too him that evening and this is what I get the pleasure of watching at night now!

(Shown on the screen is him looking thru a gun scope at a Moose!)

I have to admit the game is pretty fun, except when a large Grizzly Bear eats you!

GAME OVER!

Weekend Recap!

Friday: Late that night, Andy and I made our way froggin’ around some ponds on the farm. It was a lot of fun! Andy is nice enough to let me gig some frogs myself, so I don’t have full time duty of holding the spot light while he has all the fun. I do make him take the frogs off the gig for me because I just don’t have the nerve to grab these massive frogs myself. I managed to get my fair share of the action, not bad for being 7 months pregnant! Also, as we cruised from pond to pond, we came up on a lot of deer (mostly does and fawns, but still exciting). When we were done we headed back to the house to clean the frogs…well Andy cleaned them, I was there for moral support.

Saturday (ANDY’S BIRTHDAY): That’s right my stud turned 29! I had previously bought some Cardinal’s tickets for Andy’s birthday present (but he already knew about them), so I wanted to get him a present that he could have on his birthday. I bought him a Cardinal’s t-shirt to wear to the game, but that is not very exciting, so I headed to Jeff City to buy him the Cabella’s hunting game for the Wii. Well needless to say they were sold out everywhere! Figures! So I told him he would get his gift on a later date!

Saturday Evening: We headed down to Donnie and Shanda’s to celebrate Andy’s birthday. We swam in the pool, had a frog/fish fry, played cards and watched a movie. It was a fun yet relaxing evening!

Sunday: I woke up early and made Andy some French Toast (his favorite) because I felt guilty about not having anything for him on his birthday, so I made him a delayed Birthday breakfast. We spent the rest of the day working around the house. I worked in the nursery hanging up Hunter’s name and other odds and ends. Andy worked outside trimming some trees. Below is a picture of him hauling off some of the limbs in his Ranger!

I also went over to Mom’s and got a bunch corn on the cob, Yummy! By the time I got home, Andy had got a bunch of tomatoes for us to can salsa! So I spent the afternoon canning salsa as Andy shucked the corn. I ended up filling 18 pint jars, so I believe we are good on salsa for a couple of years! After all of our hard work we crashed on the couch and watched the Olympics!

Nerve Wracking Evening!

Wednesday Night Andy and I were on the verge of getting ready to go to the hospital. I was having really bad stomach cramps that eventually began to spread to my back. They felt like my Braxton-Hicks contractions but they were accompanied with pain. Not a good sign! Andy at first was trying to down play the situation, but as the evening went on and the pain kept coming, he began to get concerned. I remember hearing that you could feel as if you are having contractions if you are dehydrated, so I began chugging water like crazy! Andy had to go into work early the next morning and he needed to get up at 2am. So because of that, I was trying to get him to go to bed so he could get some rest. This was a chore because he was concerned about me (ah, how sweet) and didn’t think he could sleep. I kept reassuring him that I was fine and if I needed him, I knew where to find him. After finally getting him to go to bed, I went and sat on the couch with my feet up and continued to drink my water as I read all of pregnancy books trying to diagnose what was going on. My doctor had previously told me that if I had more than 4 contractions in an hour, I needed to go to the hospital. Well…I was way over my 4 maximum, but something kept telling me that it wasn’t necessary and this all would pass. And it did…Thank Goodness! All has been well since then.

After this experience, I pray that I am part of the 15% of women whose water breaks before the contractions start, so I am not sitting at home wondering if I am really in labor or not.

3/4 Baked!

Nursery Letters!

About 6 weeks ago I had found a lady on E-bay that hand paints wooded letters that spell out your child’s name to hang on their bedroom wall. This lady is an excellent painter and can do anything you ask. I had e-mailed her a picture of the crib bedding set I had bought and told her to come up with something creative to match.

I finally got a confirmation e-mail that she had Hunter’s name complete to match the bedding. So she e-mailed me this picture of the final project. I love it. I can’t wait to see it in person.

(Skip Hop Mod Dot is the name of the bedding. I am not sure why she included that in the photo)

What do you think?

Weekend Recap!

Friday Evening: Andy and I headed to Jeff City. We went and ate supper at Pizza Hut. As we ate we got to enjoy the Cardinals game on their plasma T.V.’s. After supper we headed to the movie theater to the watch the new Mummy movie. It didn’t start until 9:55pm, so we sat in the Jeep and continued to listen to the Cardinals game. We finally made our way in the theater and we were the first ones to take our seats and there was only about 10 minutes left before the movie started.

It is just our luck that of the grand total of 12 of us that were in the whole theatre, a group of 3 people sat in the row just in front of us. There were 100 other empty rows, but they had to sit in front of us. That wasn’t the big problem I had with them. What drove me nuts was the guy proceeded to rock back in forth in his chair throughout the WHOLE movie. It was so annoying and distracting. We tried to put our hands up on the side of our faces so we couldn’t see him, but this became really uncomfortable. I finally got up and sat on the other side of Andy. While sitting over there, I could still see him rocking in the corner of my eye, so I strategically combed my bangs to the side so it would block any view I had of him. Rrrrrr!

Saturday: Both Andy and I had half days at work, then afterwards we both hauled butt home to get ready to go to the river for Paula’s birthday party. We had a large crowd go on the float trip. It was really hot outside and the only way to tolerate it was to be in the water. It was probably about a 4 hour float, and by that point we were all starving. Luckily those who didn’t float with us had the grills going by the time we made it to shore. There was a lot of food. Andy and I had brought Marinated Deer Steak Wrapped in Bacon, it was soooo good! I also made a dirt cake, yummy! It was a long, fun, and exhausting day.

Sunday: Holly and Shanda came up to the house to help paint the nursery. It turned out really good. Even Andy commented on how nice it looked, and that means a lot coming from him! Once I get the furniture moved back in the place, and the curtains put up I will post some pictures.
Holly and I also went through some of my wedding stuff, to see if there was anything she would want to use for her own. After all of our hard work for the day, we went and swam in the pool for awhile. Kelly and Aubrey also came and joined us. Aubrey loves her pool time. She likes to kick and splash like crazy. She is so cute to watch!

Childbirth Preparation

It is official….I have signed Andy and I up for a Saturday Childbirth Preparation Class at our hospital, Capital Region. It was either dedicate one Saturday or 3 Wednesday evenings. So I figured we would just get it over with in one day. Andy is not too keen on the idea of going….well he doesn’t exactly have a choice. I may be the one carrying this baby but I need all of his support come delivery.

These classes aren’t like they use to be, meaning there are no Lamaze or breathing lessons. It is more informational on what to expect. They will give us a tour, tell us when we should come to the hospital, where to go when we arrive, what we need to bring, what to expect during labor, types of deliveries, recovery expectations, infant care/checkups and much, much more.

I like to plan ahead. So when it comes to going into labor, I want to be comfortable with where I need to go and what their procedures are. I feel like I have read a lot of books and articles and watched hundreds of the Baby Story episodes to prepare me for what to expect (except for the pain aspect), so I really want to go to this class so Andy is up to speed. Andy does not handle situations well in unfamiliar territory. Maybe if he has an idea of what to expect and can focus on being more supportive, he is less likely to be short tempered and pissy because he is scared and nervous.

The moment of truth will be here before we know it, and our lives will be more fulfilled than ever.

The one thing I anticipate to expect is the overwhelming love, joy, tears and excitement this little boy will bring to our lives.

29 Week Appointment & Glucose Test

Yesterday I had another doctor’s appointment. All was good. I had only gained one pound, so I was pretty proud of that. The baby’s heart rate was around 140 bpm, so he is still going strong! After leaving the doctor’s office I headed over to the hospital for my glucose test. This is to determine if I had developed Gestational Diabetes, which is a routine test now for anyone who is pregnant. I had walked in the hospital with mixed emotions; because of course you always hear the worst. The test consisted of drinking a bottle (a little larger than a can of soda) of a sugar substance that tasted like flat Sprite. I had 5 minutes to drink the whole thing, but I had the whole thing chugged in less than a minute. Then I had to wait around for an hour before they would draw my blood. So I sat in the waiting room and tried to entertain myself. I checked my blood pressure a couple of times on one of those machines where you stick your arm in the hole, I played Tetris on my cell phone, read some magazines and was ease-dropping on the old ladies at the receptionist desk. The time went by pretty fast. After my hour was up they called me back to draw my blood. It just took a couple of minutes and I was finally done.

I don’t know when I will hear the results. Cross your fingers that I don’t have gestational diabetes, because this girl LOVES sugar. And if I would have to restrict my sugar intake for the next couple of months, I am liable to flip out!

One thing that was neat to watch was my OB doctor in action. As I was sitting in the outpatient waiting room, I could look out the window to the parking lot. There is a sign on one of the parking spots that says, “OB On Call Parking Only.” When I had arrived, there was no one parked in this spot…meaning no babies were being born at that time. But as I was patiently waiting, I saw a van whipping into the spot and out jumped MY doctor (who I had just met with 20 minutes prior at my appointment). She came sprinting across the parking lot and into the door next to the maternity ward. It was exciting to see her in action, I can only imagine what kind of adrenaline rush that would be. And as I was leaving the hospital, she was walking out at the same time to go back to her office.

All in a hard day’s work!

Weekend Recap!

Friday: After work, Beth came and picked me and we headed to Dixon for a garage sale. Beth knows this lady from work and she had invited some people to come up early and to go through all of her baby stuff. It wasn’t as extensive as we were expecting. I only spent $5. Beth walk away with quite a few things, but she was buying things for other people as well.

Kevin and Kelly had rented the volleyball court in Argyle for the evening. So when I got home from Dixon I began making supper so we could eat before we headed down to play. Well as soon as we sat down for dinner it began to storm like crazy. So needless to say, we stayed home for the evening and watched a couple movies.

Saturday: I was off of work and Andy was mandatory to go to work. Bummer! The sacrifices of being pregnant are starting to arise the farther I get along. There were a couple float trips on the Gasconade River going on that day that I really wanted to attend. But I knew there was no way I was going to be able to make it 4+ hours in a canoe in 90 degree weather. These float trips are unlike the ones we have on the Osage River. On the Osage the water is deep and smooth, and we are on floaties that keep us half way submerged under the water to stay cool. On the Gasconade it is really shallow with a lot of gravel bars and you find yourself having to walk down the river during the shallow parts because your floaty is scraping the rocks below you. So if the float trips would have been on the Osage, I wouldn’t have hesitated. But I didn’t’ think heat exhaustion would have been a good idea at this stage in my pregnancy!

Saturday Evening: We went over to Kevin and Kelly’s after they got done with their float trip. We ate some BBQ and sat around and watched the Cardinals game.

Sunday: Being unable to sleep and somewhat motivated, I got up early and made pancakes and bacon. We rarely eat breakfast on the weekends, because as soon as we get up Andy is getting ready to head to the farm and work for the day. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t eat down there. So on this day, I made took the initiative to not ask Andy if he wanted breakfast, I just did it!

That afternoon Holly, Shanda and I headed to Jeff City for the Bridal Spectacular. It was a good time and I think Holly got a lot of ideas. My favorite part was all of the samples of cakes! Yummy! My favorite was the Red Velvet cake with the Butter Cream Icing! I forgot how overwhelming these events can be, especially for the Bride. There are people pulling at you from every direction begging you to come to their booth so they can give you a presentation on why you should use their services at your wedding. They all ask the same generic questions as a conversation starter: When is your wedding? Where is your wedding at? Have you booked/purchased a photographer/DJ/wedding dress yet? Holly mentioned having a t-shirt made that included all of this information on it so you didn’t have to repeat it 50 times in one day. Not a bad idea!

For the evening we went down to Donnie and Shanda’s for some swimming and BBQ for a going away party for Abe (Holly’s fiancé). Kudos to Abe for joining the National Guard!!!! That is a huge decision to make, but I am so proud of him for making the sacrifice for all of us! He is leaving on Wednesday evening and will be gone for 8 months (except for a small break at Christmas).
I cannot image what Holly is going through right now. After just getting engaged, that has got to be so hard to send him off to the unknown for so long! I plan to do whatever I can to distract her and take her mind off of him being gone. Whether that is dinner, shopping, or going to the movies, because I know she would do the same for me!