Irregular Heartbeat

Yesterday I went in for another regular prenatal appointment. During which I found out I gained another 7 1/2 lbs. and my uterus is measuring at 30 weeks when I won't even be 27 weeks until tomorrow. After finding that out my doctor decided it would be a good idea for me to have an ultrasound in 2 weeks to check things out. Then she tried to find Ella's heartbeat...of course this was the time I decided to have Michael film her checking the heartbeat so we could have this wonderful memory. She had a really hard time finding the heartbeat and then when she did I knew right away that something was off. It didn't sound like it's normal bum-bump bum-bump. There was a hiccup to it! So my doctor decided to bump up that ultrasound to this week instead of next.

Last night I called the radiology office and got an appointment for Thursday at 1:30pm...not soon enough for a mama that is worried about her baby's health. So this morning I called to see if they had any cancellations and they did! Thankfully Michael is home so he was able to take care of the boys (I'd rather of had him come with me, but there was no way we could have found anybody to watch them with such short notice) and I picked my Mom up from her work in Seattle and she went with me.

The appointment was supposed to take 90 mins, but it ended up only taking an hour. The tech did all these measurements and listened to the different sections of Ella's heart and checked the blood flow. After that she went out to consult with the doctor and he came in to check things out again. They determined that Ella's has Fetal Premature Atrial Contractions. It was nothing that alarmed the doctor and I guess it's something that can happen quite frequently during the second half of pregnancy. Most babies do grow out of it by the time they are a month old without any intervention. As for my uterus measuring bigger by more than 3 weeks...they didn't really have an explanation for that, but they didn't seem concerned either. Right now Ella is approximately 2lb 12oz when she should only be 2lb 6oz. The doctor did a growth analysis and if she continues at this rate she will be an 8lb 8oz baby. That seems just find to me!!!!

I'm so thankful that my sweet girl is doing well and I'm glad we didn't have to wait until Thursday for the ultrasound. Patience is not my strong point. It was so sweet to see her and she was quite expressive during the ultrasound kicking all over the place and even doing a total flip.

Time With Family

This year instead of heading down to Oregon to spend Thanksgiving with Michael's family we decided to save money and hang out with my side of the family. My Aunt Jan has had a big Thanksgiving Day dinner for as long as I can remember. It was great seeing everyone and the food was excellent! I didn't really take many pictures on Thanksgiving Day. I haven't really been in the picture taking mood and I think it has to do with my cameras performance. My pictures just haven't been turning out very good lately.

We ended up spending the night at Ga-Ga & Pa's house on Thanksgiving night. The next day my mom and I went shopping and all the boys stayed home. Michael hung out inside with the boys while my dad worked all day on getting the Christmas lights on their house.


Once it got dark enough we bundled the boys up and headed outside to check them out.


Yes Jack....Mama's coming!

Pretty Nativity scene! Okay too cold time to go in!

There is nothing better than warm chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven! Yummy!

Sugars & Spice & Everything Nice

I am so excited to have Ella's room finished. I love completing projects and now we can move on to organizing the office. It's gotten out of control!

At first I registered for letters at Babies R Us, but then I found these at Joann's and I really liked the 'E' better than the one at Babies R Us. Plus Joann's is always sending me those those 40% or 50% off coupons. So I bought all 4 of these letters for $10.03 which is less than it would have cost to buy 2 of the letters at Babies R Us. The ribbon is something that I just had on hand and Michael helped staple it to the back and hang them up.

Let's look at the room from left to right. We ended up painting the walls this two tone color. I love that look. The paint is from Sherwin-Williams and the names are Irresistible and Mocha. I was trying to save money so I found all the decorations for her room in closets or I just took them from other places in the house. Those black mirrors are from IKEA and I used them in Owen and Jack's nursery as photo frames for kids dressed in animal costumes. The sconces were used in our spare bedroom.

Owen and Jack's crib ended up being recalled so after we moved Jack to his toddler bed we took apart the crib and sent all the hardware back and received a voucher for a new crib. I love this one we ended up picking out and it didn't cost us anything!!! All of Ella's bedding, curtains and the blanket on the chair I got on Craigslist for $40 a couple months back. I love the argyle pattern.

Here's her hutch...I still haven't put the fabric in covering up the inside of the lower part because we couldn't find our staple gun anywhere. So I guess I'm not totally finished....oh yeah and her closet still needs some work. More projects!!! :) More decorations I just found laying around and the rocking horse is the one that I made and it used to be in the boys nursery.


Here's a close up of another one of those IKEA mirrors. We ended up printing out Ella's ultrasound picture and using it as a picture frame. My black ink was running out so the picture ended up printing pink, but it matches the room!
After reading about this room...I really wanted to get this chandelier from IKEA for Ella's room, but now that I see the finished product I don't think it needs it. I really like it just the way it is. I think it's really hitting me now that we have a GIRL on the way....A GIRL!!! I haven't put any of her clothes in the closet yet so I think that will really make it feel real! I am so excited I get teary eyed thinking about holding her and smelling her sweet new baby smell. Now I just have to wait! :)

25 Weeks 4 Days!

- This picture was taken on Sunday...in my Motherhood Maternity top that I got for $4 at the Mill Creek Garage Sales. I love a good deal!

- Ella is starting to get so strong now. She's been pushing herself over to one side so I've actually been able to feel an elbow, or her head, or whatever part it is she's pushing out.

- I've had a few Braxton Hicks contractions already, but nothing big.

- I'm starting to grow out of some of my maternity clothes...sheesh!

- Putting on my undies is like Michael says, "Trying to dress an egg!"

- Owen talks about Ella quite a lot now. He says her room is beautiful and when I came home today after being out for a while he said, "Mama home....Ella home!"

- Jack is always wanting to lift up my shirt to rub or pat my belly and snuggle the baby.

- Ella's room is finished! You might wonder why I'm in such a hurry to get everything ready when we still have 15 weeks to go. Well Owen came 3 1/2 weeks early so I just like to be prepared. Plus it's easier to do this type of stuff when I have help and since Michael is home right now I'm taking advantage of that while I can.

My Boys

You might have noticed that I haven't blogged much lately...that's mainly because we haven't done THAT many exciting things lately. But it's also due to the fact that these boys have been driving their Mama crazy! I love them more than words can say...they are my blessings. However, with the change to our everyday schedule we are all just trying to find our way and make sense of it. The boys are used to Daddy being gone all day everyday. Now that he's home it's wonderful...really I love having Michael home. He is SO helpful! However, it does change the balance of our lives. The boys know something is up, but they aren't big enough to understand what that is. They are also trying to absorb all this stuff they keep hearing about their new sister so that's probably stressful too. Nap times around here have been awful and pretty much nonexistent. There's just been a bunch of changes and the boys have been grumpy, I've been grumpy and I just haven't been in the mood to talk about it. Shocking I know!

Thought these pictures were too cute to post. I love having photos to compare the boys!

Owen at 14 months!

Jack 17 months!

Playin' Guitar & Eatin' At Denny's

Last Sunday we headed over to Grandpa & Grandma Martin's house to hang out since we are going to see them on Thanksgiving this year. The last time we were there Owen had so much fun playing guitar with Grandpa, but I forgot my camera. This time I came prepared...

Owen has always loved music and he really enjoys it when we all sing Bible songs.

Love this cute mischievous grin!

Last time Jack wasn't too interested, but this time around he wanted to give it a go.

After hanging out at their place for a little while we went and visited Great Grandpa & Grandma who live just one street over. Then we went to dinner at Denny's. We had a buy one get one free coupon and it was kids eat free so we ended up getting four dinners (well breakfast for dinner) for $10!!!

We got the boys these cute baseball pancakes! All in all it was a really nice evening out!

More Photographic Proof That I'm A Dork!

Tonight while the boys were being watched by Ga-Ga & Pa, Michael and I got to go out on a little date. We went down to the new shopping area in Renton called The Landing and had dinner at Daphne's Greek Cafe...seriously yummy and inexpensive Greek food. Then we headed over to the theater and met up with my friend Carmen to see....

NEW MOON!!! OH YEAH!!!

I totally did not think I would be one of those squeally, excited fans, but I am. I didn't get all crazy, but I was pretty stoked!

I told Michael to look like he was in pain for this picture. He doesn't look that bad. He enjoyed the movie even though he hasn't read any of the books. It was definitely a good movie and they followed the book pretty closely so I was happy. The theater was pandemonium! I don't think I've ever gone to a movie theater when it's been that crazy.

No Worries (The Post Where I Use Too Many Parentheses)

Just the other morning I was taking a cup of chocolate milk to the dining room table for Owen and I was being lazy (that's been a trend recently). So instead of walking around the table I decided to just gently push it across the table. Bad idea! There was something sticky on the table so the cup ended up getting stuck and then spilled over. Isn't that just how it works....us Mom's tell our kids to be careful and then we end up being the one making the mess!

First I let Owen know that I would get him a new cup of chocolate milk so he wouldn't get sad and then I started singing this song that's on Owen's Elmo Potty Time DVD. It's goes...accidents happen and that's okay! Earlier this week the boys and I were at my mom and dad's house and I let them watch The Lion King for the first time (of course I fast forwarded through the scarier parts). But Owen loved the part with Pumba and Timon. While I was cleaning up the milk off the floor (with my super shammy I bought at the Puyallup Fair...AWESOME!) Owen just looked at me and said, "Hacoo Tata!"

Let me translate...Hakuna Matata...it means no worries for the rest of your days...it's our problem free...philosophy...Hakuna Matata! I have been singing that song a lot to the boys this week, (it's been stuck in my head) but I was so surprised that Owen used it in the right context.

Crazy Boys

Last night Owen was having fun standing on Jack's stool holding Jack's No-No (Pooh Bear Blanky). Jack decided he could make a game of this by grabbing his No-No and running away from Owen. Most of the time this would totally make Owen go crazy mad and yelling would happen and it would be awful. This time....Owen got that Jack was playing with him and they really were having fun. The greatest part was Jack would be running away, but he just kept falling before he could get to Daddy. It was just so funny to see his head at the end of the bed running one minute and then the next he was gone. Enjoy!

"New" Furniture

Last week my Mom and Dad bought new furniture at The Old Cannery and asked us if we wanted their old leather furniture in return for some work done on their house. We gladly accepted since we've been wanting leather furniture for a long time.

This is our old couch and love seat in the living room.

These are our two Queen Anne chairs in the playroom.

First thing we had to do was get the old furniture out. Easier said than done! Thankfully our friend Micah was willing to stop by after work and help Michael out. Michael ended up having to take the baby gate off the stairs and remove the front door. They sure don't make houses big enough for big furniture.

It was a tight squeeze getting the old couch out and the new couch in. The old couch is also a hide-a-bed so that added to the weight.

Here's the new furniture! The couch and love seat are both recliners so they were pretty heavy too! I think the color looks really nice with our area rug and they are going to be so easy to clean! YAY!!!

I went downstairs just a minute ago to get a snack and the downstairs smells different now. It smells like leather....I thought that was funny!

Here's the playroom now. The recliners were too big to fit both of them in here. One of the Queen Anne chairs is going in Ella's room and the other is just out in the garage for now. I don't want to get rid of it though. Yesterday Michael got Ella's room partially painted so I'm hoping by this time next week we'll have everything done and in place.

Jackanese

Jack is saying new words everyday. He is pretty much repeating whatever we say!

Ahbee = airplane - He will point up in the sky when a plane flies overhead and says this very excitingly.

Ambee = Ambulence

Lala = Ella

No-No = Pooh bear blanky he sleeps with

Av dat = Have that

Chow = McQueen from Cars (He says it this way because McQueen says Kachow in the movie)

Daaa = Doc from Cars

Foe = Flo from Cars

Maa = Mack from Cars

Nay-Nay = Mater from Cars

Gukee = Cookie Monster

Nernie = Ernie

Meemee = Mickey Mouse

Menee = Minnie Mouse

Dondald = Donald Duck

Goat = Coat

Soooo = Soap

Tuttle = Turtle
How = House

Choo choo = Train

Boo = Boot

Mmm eye!! = Mine (Thanks Ga-Ga! :))

Ello = Yellow

Dow = Down

Dant U = Thank you

Jack can now make the sounds for a cat, dog, monkey, pig and his sound for rooster is CACO!

He can point to his ears, nose, hair, belly, wee wee and his teeth. He can also beep his nose if you ask him too and give high fives. He's actually been able to do the high fives for a long time, but I never blogged about it before...at least I don't think I have! :)

Just today when Michael was walking out to the garage to get something he waved and said, "Bye bye Daddy!"

Welcome To The Club!

On Thursday Michael joined the many thousands of other people in America that are now unemployed! It's been a slow year all around for painting, but it still was shocking. Michael does have his own painting business, but that was just for side work...not full time. Michael is very optimistic that this is something that God is in control of and it's His way of closing doors in preparation for opening new ones. We aren't sure what the news doors will bring, but we are excited to find out.