No Missing Person Reports Please...

WOW.  Just wow.  I am officially the world's worst blogger!  My last post was when I was 24 weeks pregnant, and now Ryder is 3 months old!  A LOT has happened in that time!  A rough end to my pregnancy, and a very small but wonderful baby boy!  This is just a small note to say I will come back and fill in very soon! 

24 weeks

I'm 24 weeks now, so here's a little list of what's going on with me:

 I feel like a bloated bull frog. 

We're still waiting for Ryder to get a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger so Daddy can feel his kicks too!  He keeps trying, but no luck yet. 

My hormone's are severely out of whack, and I'm ready to feel like myself again.  I have turned into a big crybaby.  Seriously, my tear ducts are tired.

I pee all day, and a lot of the night.  I'm about to have my mailing address changed directly to the bathroom.

Throwing up is few and far between now! (Hallejuah!)  Sometimes foods still don't agree with me, but for the most part, Pukey McPukerson has left the building!

I'm getting bigger by the minute, there isn't a stitch of pre-pregnancy clothing that I can wear now.

I really love feeling Ryder move... it reminds me he's in there and makes it all feel a little more real.

Til the next time lovelies!

24 Week Baby Belly

Brain Fart

It's been awhile, I know.  Sorry about that.  Just add this blog to the long list of things I can no longer keep up with, due to lack of brain function.  My brain seems to have taken a hiatus over the last couple of months.  I have heard of pregnancy brain, but this is on a whole other level of ridiculousness.

One day I thought I was cooking dinner, until I walked back into the kitchen and found dinner in the pan, sitting on the counter, patiently waiting to be put in the oven.  Sorry guys, did I say dinner in 10min?  What I meant to say was 30min.  I go to the grocery store, and forget to pick up things that are actually written on the list.  One time that meant waffles... which in my house is ALL my 8 yr old wants for breakfast, so Mom caused a slight crisis.  I left a load of clothes in the washing machine for two days, because I forgot they were in there.  You just can't do that in Texas, especially when your washing machine is located outside in the garage.  Hot weather and wet clothes do not mix, and I had to wash that particular load of clothes twice to get the smell out.  Do you see what I am working with people?  Or rather not working with.  It's a miracle that I remember to wear pants when I'm going out in public.

But in other news... we had our 20wk anatomy scan of Baby Ryder a couple of weeks ago, and I am happy to announce he's still a boy!  HaHa I kid.  No really, from what we can tell he is a beautiful healthy baby.  I do have to have another ultrasound at this months appt. due to the fact he was laying on his back and they couldn't get a clear shot of the spine to check it out.  But on the plus side, I get to see him again this month!!   I had not felt Ryder move previous to the scan, but during the ultrasound we were watching him on the screen...and he rolled over and at that very same instance I felt a thump in my stomach!  It startled me so much that by reflex my hand flew down there and I stuck it directly into the gel.  It had been worrying me that I had not felt him, and that most pregnant women I knew had been feeling there babies long before 20wks.  Of course worrying, turns to the fear that something is wrong and then that just weighs on you heavily.  Now since the scan he has taken up disco dancing, karate, and soccer... I don't know what magic juju was in that gel on my stomach, but thank you Ms. Ultrasound tech! 

Ryder at 20 wks (maybe about to fist pump?)

A bit of an attitude maybe?  Can imagine where he'd get that from... *coughcough*

Jason and I have decided he's flipping the bird in this picture.

Stressed

I have been so overwhelmed lately with choosing baby stuff.  I feel like my head is spinning.  Cribs, diaper bags, bedding, strollers... and I'm just not in LOVE with anything I find.  I'm afraid my poor son will not even have a crib to sleep in when he gets here, because his scatterbrained, stressed out mother could not get it together.  The two things that I did pick out, a crib and a diaper bag are SOLD OUT.  Just kick me when I'm down will ya?  So now I have to start a whole new search for two things I thought I knocked off my list... just great.  Picking out the things he will need is actually a lot more stressful than I anticipated... hopefully things will start to come together soon, so I can actually enjoy shopping for Mr. Ryder.

The Bottomless Pit.

So from the second I turned 6 weeks, til about a week ago I have spent my pregnancy with my head in the toilet puking up various vital organs.  But slowly I have started to feel better and now only throw up half the week instead of the whole 7 days.  Accompanying this new found freedom from the bathroom, comes a wicked appetite.  It's like I am trying to make up for the 3 months of food I either couldn't stomach or couldn't even bring myself to eat.  If you are serving me food, it's best you set the plate down quickly and get the hell outta dodge before you lose a finger... I don't know where this beast of an appetite came from or where it's been hiding, but I'm gonna have to reign this monster in or I am going to be nothing but fat rolls and eyeballs. 

Gender Reveal 2

Ok, so I somehow deleted my previous "Gender Reveal" post.  So after cussing the computer, blogspot, and myself, I am going to attempt to re-write it the best I can.  Here goes.

We wanted to find out the gender of "Baby Ray" by way of a Gender Reveal Party.  Well I wanted to and Jason just went along with it.  Since Jason and I have decided to only have one child, "Baby Ray" will be our only child together, so I wanted to make a big deal of this milestone in my pregnancy.  So spawned the Gender Reveal idea.

On Thursday 2/23 we had a ultrasound scheduled to find out what the gender of "Baby Ray" was.  I was so excited!!  When I first climbed up onto the table, the ultrasound tech instructed us to cover/close our eyes since she didn't know how he/she was positioned in my tummy.  So with all eyes covered and closed she lowered the wand onto my exposed stomach, and then told us to keep them closed while she tried to locate and take pictures of he or she's gender determining area.  We finally got to open our eyes and watch our sweet baby up on the screen for a few minutes.  After all the gel was wiped from my tummy, and maternity jeans hiked back up to their original position she sealed the picture showing the gender and handed it off to my friend Amanda for safe keeping.  She was my insurance of being able to keep the surprise in case I had a moment of weakness and an envelope in my hand.  Once we left the office the tech called the baker and told her whether she would be baking a blue or pink cake.  The wait to Saturday was going to be a long one, there were people in the world who knew the gender of my baby and one of them wasn't me!!

("Baby Ray" at 16 weeks)

Friday I was kept pretty busy running from store to store, stocking up on anything and everything blue and pink I could use for decorating my parents house, where they party was being held.  (Thanks again Mom and Dad).  I hardly slept Friday night, I kept jumping up thinking it was time to get up and get ready to go, I finally gave up the sleep effort at about 6:30 Saturday morning.  Then what seemed like 100 years later, it was time to get up and go!  I headed over to my parents to help set up and prepare for our family to arrive!  Then noon rolled around and everyone was there, we corralled the men into the house where the women were already crowding around the cake waiting for the reveal, then it was FINALLY time to cut the cake that held the answer I had been waiting months to know! 

(Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Oh How We Wonder Who You Are...)

My husband and I stood at the back of the cake and faced our family as we cut into it... I was the first to see (Hahaha!)  I tried to keep my reaction and composure under control as to not give away what the inside of the cake revealed.  As I got the piece cut we held it up for the room to see that beautiful BLUE cake!  I was so happy to know who my baby was!  I woke up Saturday morning not knowing who was sharing this body with me, and Saturday night I went to bed as Ryder's Mommy :)

(It's a Boy!)

(The inside of our cake!)

(Annoucing our little boys name, Ryder Richard Ray)

(Us with my Dad, Richard.  Excited that we gave the baby his name!)

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

On January 20th I had my first ultrasound!  My husband and I arrived to greet a waiting room of people there to support us, and get a first peek of our little "nugget".  We were the last to get there, because I am always running late.  As my troop and I headed back to the ultrasound room, I could feel the butterflies in my stomach... a mixture of excitement and nervousness. 

The technician instructed me to lay down and lift up my shirt, then she applied a gel to my naked tummy that surprisingly wasn't cold.  She placed the wand on my stomach, moved around a bit, and then there he/she was on a big screen at the front of the room.  I immediately burst into tears, and then had to pull myself together just as quickly, because the shaking of my stomach was distorting the picture of my beautiful baby.  I actually laid there holding my breath as much as possible so as not to mess the picture up. 

He/she moved and squirmed.  It rolled over, waved it's arms and kicked it's legs.  I have never seen anything so cool in my entire life.  I am totally in love with this little life inside of me, and I can't wait to meet you, my sweet baby.

("Baby Ray" at 11 weeks)