Two pictures to hold you over

Since I haven't had the opportunity to post ANY pictures this month and the other laptop has more issues than we thought, I thought I would leave you with two pictures we took at Christmas this year. This will be the last of pictures until I order my new laptop, so hopefully this will hold you over.

New Additions to the Family

Our family is expanding in more ways than one this year. Obviously, Taylor is due in almost 8 weeks, although I'm not sure we will make it that long. I go in for my 32 week appointment tomorrow morning and they will also do an ultrasound to see if she is head down and just to make sure everything still looks good in there. Honestly, I don't know if she is head down or not, because she wiggles and moves all the time. I personally think she is transverse, but what do I know.

In November, my sister-in-law, Laura, and her fiance, Matt, will be getting married. We are so excited for the two of them and can't wait until Matt is officially considered family. He has been such a huge part of our lives the past three years, that it already fills like he is a part of the family.

In other news, my parents have been praying and have been led to adopt a child or two this year. I have been waiting to post about this for over a week now. My dad started feeling the tug on his heart to adopt a child this past year and it was also placed on my mom's heart later in the year. It wasn't until recently that they both came together to talk about the subject, not realizing that God had placed this on each others hearts at separate times.

Last week, our family was informed of the news and we couldn't be happier. I have always wanted a little brother or sister and my parents have so much to give. They plan on going thru the official state of Texas adoption agency and have just begun the process. The application is filed and then they will take classes for 5 Saturday's in a row. A home evaluation and interviews will follow this step and then they will be licensed to adopt. It's about a 5 month process.

They have looked over many profiles online and keep coming back to a 13 year old boy named Austin. We don't know too much about him, other than what is posted on his profile.They can request to begin the process of adopting him, but nothing is definite just yet. They still have to receive his folder, have several visits with him, and he will also have a decision to make on whether or not he wants to join our family. If he does decide he wants to join our family, he will come to live with my parents and it will take about another 6 months to finalize the adoption.

I share this with all of you, because although I know my family does read this blog, there are several others that do as well. I ask all of you to pray for my family, for Austin, and any future children that will be welcomed into my family. I will be sure to keep everyone posted on any news or updates.

Paci Free

I have actually taken several pictures over the last few weeks and planned on posting them this past weekend. However, I have been using Adam's old laptop since mine broke back in June and now the AC Adapter no longer works. We will either have to purchase a new one or buy the new laptop. We still don't know what we will do. Until then, you will have to wait for pictures.

Mason is feeling a lot better! He started returning to his normal self Friday and has been the sweet little boy that I remembered. Most mornings last week, I would walk in his bedroom and find his paci on the floor. I'm sure it was due to the congestion, so I decided to take advantage of the situation. During his nap Friday, I decided I would lay him down without his pacifier. It went very well and he never even noticed that he didn't have it. The big test would be that evening. I don't know why I was so worried, because again he didn't even notice. We are going on day three without his paci. I'm so proud of him.

Btw, tonight I had my first weird but so delicious craving. I wanted something sweet and the only thing that sounded good was mixing chocolate, peanut butter and syrup together. So I made waffles with peanut butter and broke up KitKats and put them on top and then poured maple syrup all over it. I know it is super unhealthy, but it hit the spot.

Mr. Grouchy

Thanks for all of your sweet comments! Mason is SLOWLY on the mend. I say slowly, because he has a lot of things to recover from. His eyes are still red and a little puffy and giving his drops is NO FUN! The boy is so strong that even when Adam helps pin him down, he still wiggles himself around and moves his head back and forth. Luckily, he doesn't have the gook in his eyes anymore and he isn't rubbing them unless he is tired.

He is sleeping through the night, thank goodness! So that means that the pain in his ears is getting better. Unfortunately, he still has a very runny nose and a horrible cough from his upper respiratory infection. He will cough in his sleep and it just sounds so painful.

Even though he is starting to play and laugh again, he is still being Mr. Grouchy! I never really had to experience this before, because the only time he is grouchy is when he isn't feeling well. I miss the days when I could lay him in his crib and he would just lay down and go to sleep as I walked away. Now a days, I get tears and lots of them, until he cries himself to sleep. I'm sure this is normal, but this isn't really Mason's normal. I have been fortunate enough to have two really good nights of sleep. One day I will be all caught up on sleep, wait I don't think that is possible with kids.

Today I started to tackle Mason's closet. I have been very good about packing clothes and toys as he grows out of them. I needed to pull out the swing, bath tub, and everything that Taylor might be able to use so that I could make room in his closet. That led me to go through all of his clothes and decide what to give away. He has SO MANY CLOTHES, that even after packing two boxes full of just clothes to give away, I didn't make that much of a dent. I'm holding onto most of his stuff, in case we have another boy in the future.

It hit me today that I really need to start getting things ready for Taylor. Nesting much?!?!?! She only has a couple of outfits and I haven't even ordered any of her bedroom furniture yet. I realized that I need to order everything soon, because the furniture could take up to 8 weeks to arrive. I don't want to spend the last two weeks of my pregnancy getting her room situated. I will be way too tired for that.

Diagnosis

I didn't get any sleep again last night, because I was worried about Mason and I never could get comfy. This morning I called our doctor before I got Mason out of his crib and made an appointment. Luckily, they could see us this morning and I didn't have to wait all day to get in. The verdict...double ear infection which led to pink eye in both eyes which led to an upper respiratory infection. My predictions were right, although I had desperately hoped they would be wrong. After we left the office, I dropped off his prescriptions and took my glucose screening while we waited to go back to Walgreens. After a very long morning, we headed home to eat lunch and get a nap. Of course, he doesn't have much of an appetite and didn't eat and gave me problems taking his antibiotics. Normally, he loves to take his medicine but I'm sure he is just too tired and in pain to want to do much of anything. He is finally napping and I'm hoping to take one as well.

Helpless

I feel helpless! Mason didn't sleep well on Thursday night, which led into the sleepless nights we have endured this weekend. Friday night, we noticed he was coughing and figured out that he must not feel that great. No runny nose or sneezing, just a bad cough.

We opted to have him sleep in our bed on Friday night, because I was worried he might get worse(This is the first time he has ever slept in our bed and I'm not trying to make to a habit of it, but for a tired and helpless Mom, this was my only solution). Of course the boy felt at peace and fell asleep right away. However, he wanted to lay right up against me the entire night. I couldn't move. For a pregnant girl, that meant an entire night awake listening to my son cough, and not being able to turn or move in fear of waking him up. I already have problems going to sleep and sleeping through the night since I can't get comfortable. Every time I decide to move, Taylor wakes up and starts kicking the heck out my belly.

Saturday morning, he was so lethargic and just wanted to be held most of the day. I didn't mind the cuddle sessions with him, but I was exhausted and needed a good long nap. Luckily, Mason was just as tired and complied to my request. I went to Katie's house for Bunco that night. After a fun time with the girls, I returned to a sleeping baby. That was until about midnight when he woke up coughing and crying. I brought him into our room and held him until he fell asleep. I can't lift him when he is dead weight, so I opted to let him sleep in the bed again. Only to have him wake up at 1:30am trying to play peek-a-boo with Adam. Adam was asleep by the way. I woke him up so that he could take our son back to his crib. I figured since he wasn't wanting to play, he surely could sleep in his own crib for the night. He slept a little bit and the rest of the night coughed and cried.

Originally, the plan was to send me to church this morning, while Adam stayed home with Mason. I haven't been able to attend Valley since before I left at the beginning of November. However, after no sleep for the third night in a row I opted to stay home. Today was a little better. Mason's cough wasn't as rough, but it was still there. Symptoms always seem to get worse at night.

His eyes are watery and red, so I'm hoping it's just allergies and he doesn't also have pink eye. When we finally put him down tonight, he cried for 2 hours. I hate hearing his helpless cry. I know he is tired and doesn't feel good. I feel like we have exhausted everything possible, except for going to the doctor, which we plan to do in the morning. So right now, my assessment is that on top of his cough and sore throat, he probably has pink eye in both eyes, which leads me to believe that he probably also has a double ear infection. I know that seems extreme, but considering he hasn't slept well in 3 days (highly unlike him, even when he is sick) and the fact that if I prepare myself for the worse, it will make it better if I'm wrong. So here is hoping I'm wrong.

2008 to 2009

I know I'm a little over a week into the month, but I wanted a post related to New Year's Resolutions. I don't make them. Mostly because I don't feel like you need a new year to start things off right. I do make goals however.

First a look back on 2008:
* Left Katy, TX and moved over 1500 miles away from all things familiar to me to Bakersfield, CA.
* Moved into our first house and realized we forgot to setup the Gas. Oops! Did I mention that it was 40 degrees on moving day and we had no heat or hot water for two days.
* Mason went to the beach for the first time in Malibu.
* Celebrated our 2 year anniversary, and both of our birthdays within the first few months.
* Started attending Valley Baptist.
* Met some great friends through Valley.
* Drove to San Francisco to see Laura & Matt for a weekend.
* Mason had three double ear infections within the first 5 months.
* Took many trips home to see family and friends in Houston.
* Adam's brother David married his lovely bride, Emily!
* Mason celebrated his 1st Birthday
* A week later we learned we were expecting Baby#2!
* Brad & Jill flew out for a visit.
* Adam experienced Hurricane Ike in Texas with the rest of our family, while Mason & I were here alone in Bakersfield.
* Discovered Baby#2 was indeed a girl!
* My parents came out for a week long visit.
* Spent 6 weeks in Houston with family over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Looking ahead to 2009:
1. Read the Bible all the way thru. I started this journey back in September and I'm in Joshua now. My goal is to be finished by next September.
2. To add more time to my day. I'm great at multi-tasking and time management, but with this pregnancy, time management has slipped away from me. I make a to-do list almost every day and I would say a majority of things on my list get done, however, I always wish I had more time in the day. I do, I just haven't been using it. Mason naps in the afternoon and because this pregnancy makes me tired and I don't sleep well at night anymore, and I usually try to take a nap when he does. I can utilize that time. Or Mason normally goes to bed at 7pm and after that, Adam & I spend our evening hanging out, either watching TV or a movie, getting online or just talking. It is time we get together but there are several times that he has work to do for the next day and I could use that time to my advantage. My goal is to get up at 7am which gives me an hour before Mason wakes up. That way I can get ready and have time to do my time alone with God before I get him up. In order to have more "me" time in the morning, I have decided to take my showers at night. This is HUGE for me. My hair always styles much better after I have just dried it, so we will see how this goes.
3. I want to get back into running. I used to run all of the time and I miss it. I was in the best shape of my life when I ran. I don't like working out, I just like how I feel afterwards. It's a good soreness and pain. Obviously, this won't begin until after Taylor's arrival. I'm nervous, because it has been a very long time since I ran last and it's always hard in the beginning.
4. To read more. I love to read and it relaxes me. So far, so good. I have already finished Kate Gosselin's "Multiple Blessings" and Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture" in the past week and I have another I plan on starting before the weekend.
5. To be the best wife and mom I can be.
6. Continue working on our way to Financial Peace. If you haven't read Dave Ramsey's book, I recommend it.

Third Trimester

Last weekend marked the beginning of my third trimester. It's crazy to think how fast this pregnancy has gone by. I went for a doctor's appointment the day after we arrived back home. My last visit was the first week in November (due to my trip to Houston) and I was a bit nervous. When I left for Houston, I barely had a bump and had only gained 10lbs total. It wasn't until right before Christmas that belly popped out.



After checking my blood pressure and weight, everything looked good. I had only gained 9lbs over the last two months and that brings it to a total of 19lbs. With Mason, I gained 30lbs total and by this point last time, I had gained 25lbs. So I was pretty proud of myself. Everything else went smoothly during the appointment and the only thing I need to do sometime this week is go in for my Glucose Screening. I'm not too worried about it. I was fine with Mason and the drink didn't bother me.



Last night I had the idea of bringing out our old home videos of Mason from the last year. I figured that if Mason saw himself as a baby, it might help with the transition of having a little sister in a couple of months. He just sat in our laps with a look of wonder on his face. I'm sure it was a bit confusing seeing his Mommy & Daddy on the TV and while sitting in our laps. I don't know if it helped, but I'm not too worried. He loves babies and anytime he hears a baby cry, he gets upset until the baby stops crying.



After a year, we have finally decided to paint the rooms in the house. I have been looking at paint samples and trying to decide on all of the colors. I'm still not sure what we are going to do about Taylor's room, but we have a couple more months to decide.

Home is where the heart is!

We arrived back in Bakersfield the Sunday after Christmas. It was a very long day of flying and driving. Our flight was supposed to leave IAH at 10:35am, but the flight was delayed. I wouldn't have minded so much, except that we were never notified until after our flight was supposed to be in the air. The staff at the airport weren't very helpful and once we did board the plane around noon, we sat waiting to taxi to the runway for over an hour. Finally a little after 1pm, our plane was in the air.

Mason is getting all four of his eye teeth at once and poor guy was not only in pain, but hungry as well. I had only packed a few snacks, because we were supposed to have a meal on the plane and he could eat whatever I was going to eat. However, they ended up not serving a meal and we didn't land until 2:30pm Pacific Time (meaning the poor guy didn't have a meal from 8am Central time until 3pm Pacific Time, that's 5 pm Central time). I felt so bad for him. Luckily, he slept for about 30 minutes of the 3.5 hour flight. Adam had to hold the wiggly worm, because I was already uncomfortable for sitting that long and my belly couldn't take the beating of his squirmy legs. We made sure to stop and pick up something for all of us to eat before we continued the drive home.

Also, when we got our luggage, it was soaking wet. It was raining in Houston before we took off and I guess they just let the luggage sit out in the rain until we started boarding. That also meant that Mason's car seat was soaked. I was pretty mad at this point. Finally, after we got our food, we were on the road. It's an hour and 45 minute drive from LAX to Bakersfield. We have an airport in Bakersfield, but it costs more to fly out of it and only two airlines fly into it.Once we made it home, all I wanted to do was unpack and relax. It was so nice to be home in my own bed.

The rest of the week was spent doing laundry, organizing all of the stuff everyone received for Christmas and to start Christmas shopping for our family. Adam & I decided to wait to do ours and Mason's shopping until we arrived back at home. We already had a limited amount of space and it would push us over the limit if we had to check any more bags.

Our New Year's was pretty low key. Our friends Ben & Selena had everyone over for games and snacks. We didn't plan on staying until midnight, but surprisingly, we were all still barely awake when the clock stroke 12am. It was a fun evening of catching up with friends, especially since it had been almost 2 months since I had seen everyone last.

I have been checking in on everyone's blogs but chose not to update until I had uploaded all of the pictures from our trip. Now that is done, my blogging is back on schedule. See the post below for all of the pictures.

Finally an update

I finally uploaded the pictures from our trip to Houston. I have listed the links below.

Hunter Cole Moore 12.31.08
Christmas Pictures 12.29.08
Marissa's Visit 12.19.08
Misc. Pics December 12.18.08
Laura Kaye's Graduation 12.7.08
Mom's 50th Birthday Pics 11.24.08
Before We left for Houston 11.14.08