24 - 24 - 24 - 24!!!

We FINALLY made it to 24 weeks! I am so excited. I had an appointment and my doctor gave me a hug because we made it this far. At this point, if I were to go into labor, the doctors would try to save the baby. That is so much better than with James and Hudson when we knew there was nothing that could be done. The baby is still breech with his feet down low - the ultrasound showed him kicking my bladder which was funny because I could see it and feel it at the same time. I have one more appointment in 2 weeks with an ultrasound and then they will put me back on a normal schedule. We are so excited to make it this far - now every day gives this baby a better chance.

Christmas Is Closed!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. The girls colored a beautiful Strawberry Shortcake picture for me and decroated the envelope and everything. Most of our digital camera pictures didn't turn out this year because a setting on the camera must have gotten changed and now everything is blurry (didn't this happen to us last year too??) Anyway, we need to figure out how to fix that.

Sydney got a Cinderella dress that she has barely taken off - oh and Cinderella slippers too...
Raleigh loves her new Posh Puppy that she had been asking for months for!

Sydney keeps asking James if she can dance with the "Handsome, Handsome Prince"

And...in Ceci's words...CHRISTMAS IS CLOSED!! We even found a new place for the Christmas tree until we find a place to dump it!

Where did all of the snow go??

This morning James has been having a little too much fun - he borrowed a friends 4 wheeler and has moved all of the snow from our entire front yard into one gigantic pile in the middle of the yard to help the girls build a fort. He has been giving the girls rides and they do not want to come inside. It reminds me of 3 wheel rides with Dad on snowy days!

22 Weeks

Okay - I appologize for my last blog - sometimes you just need to get something off your chest...I may have been a little crazy...

Anyway, I had a 22 week appointment and ultrasound this morning. The ultrasound is mainly to check cervical length in order to make sure it is still long enough. I have always been 4.0 - 4.6 or more - even the morning before the boys were born. Anyway, today the lady took the measurement many times and it ranged from 3.3 to 3.7. They even did an internal ultrasound for a more accurate measurement. Anyway, as I was waiting in the waiting room for my appt. with the doctor I had convinced myself that my cervix was thinning and that I was going to be on bedrest etc... By the time I was the doctor I was practically in tears...I cry everytime I see her anyway...she assured me that 3.7 was totally normal, I am not even on the bubble of her worrying about it yet. She wants it to stay between 2.5 - 4.0. She did another urine culture for me this week as well. She told me to take it easy for the next 2 weeks just to get to 24 weeks (okay, I can do that). She would really like to get me further but I guess we can only take a few weeks at a time. She also did say that if the baby was ready - she wouldn't mind delivering him at 37-38 weeks just to avoid something happening in the last 2 weeks. I am not planning on that happening but I am glad she is open to it.

Sydney is 3!!

Sydney celebrated her 3rd Birthday this week. She got to help make the cake and her and Raleigh decorated it. We had a soup bar dinner at our house and Sydney and her cousins got to go sledding. Sydney has been having fun playing with her presents too.

We had lots of left over soup which has been great to warm up for dinners! There was some left over cake but nobody knew about it so I ate the last 3 pieces for breakfast the past few days:)

Sydney has been riding her bike around the loop for the past few days. She can go pretty well over the carpet part now too. James keeps threatening to stick it in the shed until spring because she has been riding it so much.

James got to go to Raleigh's school to make Gingerbread houses on Friday. Raleigh loved having her daddy there. The gingerbread house was really cute. It now looks like a frosting house because the girls (and James) have been snitching the candy of from it.

21 Weeks

Today we made it to 21 weeks! Baby James was born at 21 weeks and a few days so I am guessing this little baby looks a lot like him - probably nearly 1 pound and 11 inches long. We still have a LONG way to go. If I could skip the next month of my life (Christmas and all) I would not be sad. It really will be nice to have the next few weeks behind us. I think I go to the doctor again next week for another ultrasound - I am not sure if they will keep seeing me every 2 weeks after that or if they will make appointments a little further between after that time. Hopefully the next month is uneventful!!

For Becky - the elephant picture

I promised my sister Becky that I would post this picture. Raleigh wanted to keep the elephants away so she made a sign. I actually think the drawing is good...the Penquin picture impressed me too. Where does she learn this??

Oh, It's an Elephant!

I had my 20 week ultrasound today - everything went well. The baby appears normal and healthy. I was happy to find out that the placenta was not close to the cervix which it was with both of the boys. That could be a possibility of how the infection got in. I was also checked again for a bladder infection - I am going to be checked every couple of appointments just to make sure there is no infection left from before. And, the baby is still a boy - we are happy about that ! (Although I would be just as happy if it were a girl). The nurse who did my prep work before I saw my doctor said, "oh, your first boy, that is nice". James looked at me and rolled his eyes...

I brought the ultrasound pictures home and showed the girls. Raleigh was excited and Sydney saw one of them and pointed to it and said, Oh, it's an elephant!! (She wishes). In her defense, the picture looked nothing like a baby.

And for another animal story...this morning the girls were playing "Cheetah and Horse" Raleigh was the cheetah and she made Sydney be the horse. Raleigh knows that cheetahs are enemies of horses. They were growling at each other and playing around and then all of the sudden, the horse (Sydney) had the helpless cheetah (Raleigh) in a headlock on the floor. Hmmm...picture that in the wild. It reminded me of Missy and Becky. I wish I had a picture...