Ryleigh Nicole

We had our anatomy scan and baby #2 is still a girl, lol! We haven't had our follow-up appointment yet, but it looks as if she is healthy and growing right on track. She is measuring a few days behind her due date, but Tanner did the same thing. He ended up coming 4 days early and weighed almost 9 1/2 pounds. I think she will do just fine. Right now she weighs 11 ounces. So tiny and cute. This is my favorite picture from the ultrasound today. I love her little nose and lips. She was stubborn, just like Tanner was. Whatever area she need to scan, she would move or cover with her hands. She is moving like crazy these days, and that is always a wonderful feeling of relief. There really is someone growing in there.

We have decided to name her Ryleigh Nicole. Ryleigh is a name that we both loved and agreed on. It was much more difficult this time around to name her. We only had boys names picked out this time. Nicole is after my sister's middle name. My middle name is after my mom's sister's middle name. So we are keeping that little tradition alive. Plus, Adam loved the name Nicole for a first name, and this way we could compromise. Here is little miss Ryleigh :)

It's a...

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are so beyond excited that baby #2 is a girl. I had a gut feeling the second I found out that I was pregnant that it was a girl, just like I had a gut feeling with Tanner that he was a boy. I had many people tell me they just KNEW it was a girl. Well, they were right! We are so lucky to be able to have one of each.

We went to an elective ultrasound that was not medical in nature, but more for fun and for bonding with baby. It was in a room set up like a bedroom. I was on a king sized bed with lots of pillows. The ultrasound was displayed on a 100 inch screen and there were several comfy couches for people that invite lots of people. They also had an area with lots of toys for the kids to play with. There were candles and music, it was so nice. If you are in Tucson and want to have this AMAZING experience, the place is called Already Adorable. They have several packages to choose from and they were so nice and accommodating.

Right from the start they checked her heart rate and it was 136, so that blows the "girls have higher heart rates than boys" right out of the water. Tanner was normally in the 150's. She was wiggling and moving everywhere! It was so cool to see her move her arms and legs, hands and feet. She was stubborn thought, just like Tanner and didn't want to show us her face. We got a few profile shots, so we were happy. After about 10 minutes, and me trying to see if I could see boy or girl parts, she went to look at the gender. She was still moving all over the place, but she finally got a good shot. Immediately, I saw three white lines and in my head screamed, GIRL! Then she said, "Well it looks like this baby is a girl!" and typed it on the screen. We were so excited! We got about 15 more minutes to watch her and take pictures. The entire session was recorded and put on a DVD for us. We watched it last night, it was so sweet. Well here are some of the pictures we got of her. 

 Trying to hide her face

 Checking out her hand

 Girl Parts!

 She fell asleep toward the end of the ultrasound, so sweet!

 Looking down on her

 Her cute little hand and fingers

 Rubbing her eyes

Enough pictures! :)

Baby #2 :) and HG :(

Well A LOT has happened since my last post.

On April 5th, we found out that we are expecting our second baby! YAY! So exciting! This time it was more of a surprise than with Tanner. With Tanner it took 2 years and fertility treatments. This time, it happened all on its own. Of course we were ecstatic, thrilled and happy. Then thoughts of my difficult, nightmarish first trimester with Tanner came flooding in.

With Tanner I had Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) for the first 14 weeks. HG is one of the worst things anyone can experience. It is painful, debilitating, exhausting and scary. It is unrelenting nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. Now, this is NOT morning sickness. This is throwing up upwards of 13 to 15 times a day. Throwing up blood and bile because your stomach is so raw and empty. Everything is absolutely disgusting and is an irritant to your stomach. It causes your body to become severely dehydrated and malnourished. Due to the nature of this disease, daily functioning is thrown out the door. I could barely lift my head without gagging. Needless to say, working, driving, cooking, cleaning, etc. is impossible. This is all stuff I learned after I felt better with Tanner. Only .5% to 2% of pregnant women get this, and 2/3 of those that had it in prior pregnancies will have it again.


I had some scares with this pregnancy and went to the ER twice both in my 6th week. I received to ultrasounds and a fetal pole and heartbeat couldn't be found. They thought I had a blighted ovum miscarriage. I was devastated. I had no other symptoms of miscarriage, yet each day I was getting increasingly sick and nauseous.  I was made a my body for "acting" like it was pregnant when the doctor's said they thought the baby stopped growing. I followed up with my OB and had an ultrasound about a week later because my beta kept rising. They didn't want to do a D&C without triple checking that their wasn't a baby in there. I had a third ultrasound and I couldn't see anything, but I never really could with Tanner's early ultrasounds. It was the end of the day and I didn't get to see the doctor after it, they told me to follow up the next week.

My doctor called the next day to say that baby had a heart rate of 104. I was shocked! For a week, I thought I was miscarrying. She scheduled another one for 2 weeks later. That is when the HG started to flare up. I went to urgent care twice and they told me they would send me to the hospital if I came again for fluids because I was severely dehydrated and wanted to make sure the baby made it. It is much faster at Urgent Care to get fluids so that is why we went that route. So when I was so severely dehydrated again, back to the hospital again. The doctor and nurses remembered me. My doctor at this point started the home nursing process for the Zofran pump and IV hydration. Insurance took 2 weeks to approve it! With Tanner it took 1 day. I was dying...literally. Myself or Adam called constantly to check and it was always "under review" UGH! FINALLY it came, the nurse came on a Saturday night to hook me and I thought I would feel much better right away. Didn't happen. She said it might take longer because it took longer to get it started. Much like taking a Tylenol after you ran a marathon instead of before. It takes longer for it to start working.

On the Friday that we got approval, we were actually at the doctor for the 2 week follow-up ultrasound and appointment. Right away I saw baby's heart beating away. It was awesome! Heart rate was 168 and baby was measuring right on track for our Dec. 13 due date. I was relieved!

Meanwhile, this time around with HG, I have lost 17 pounds in the matter of 2 weeks. With the pump, I have maintained within a pound or two of that weight. I haven't been able to work since the middle of April. I haven't been able to take care of Tanner. He has had to go to daycare because I can barely take care of myself. It is a horrible feeling, but I know he is having a blast over there. I did try to go back to work once last week. I made it 2 hours before some of my amazing co-workers said that I had to leave NOW, and they drove me home because I was not looking good. I miss my students. I miss doing normal things like taking a shower without feeling like I am going to pass out or need a 3 hour nap to recoup afterwards. Grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, taking a walk, walking up our stairs, etc. has been impossible. Adam is amazing. He has done anything/everything and worked full-time during an extremely stressful time at work. He has gone to the store for me, cleaned the house, entertained Tanner while I couldn't. He is AMAZING. My co-workers have helped me so much at work with IEP's, packing my classroom, teaching my students, picking up Tanner, having the kids send cards to me to lift my spirits. My mom and Adam's mom have come down to help with Tanner when I couldn't do anything. Tanner's daycare teacher Ms. Cory has driven Tanner home when I couldn't or shouldn't. She is amazing and so patient with me. I am grateful to have amazing people in my life.

I will be 11 weeks tomorrow and hope that the worst of the HG is gone, but I am not holding my breath. The majority of HG patients have HG until 21 weeks or longer. I hope I can get lucky and only have it until 14 weeks again, we shall see, but this time around has been significantly more difficult. It will all be worth it in the end...it will...it will...

That is all for now, hopefully the next update will be happier :)
Thanks for reading :)

Already April!?

I can't believe it is already April! It is crazy how fast time flies! First off, Happy 26th birthday to my sister Courtney! You are now officially closer to 30 than 20 :) Welcome to the club, it is a fun one, I might add:)

The weather here in good ole' Vail is fantastic. It is absolutely gorgeous outside. We have been trying to do as much as we can outdoors, because we all know the inevitable is coming...the evil HEAT! When everyone locks themselves away in cool, air-conditioned homes, and only ventures out for the bare necessities!

Here are some pictures of our little man playing outside. He just turned 21 months on Friday. :)

Tanner's "Big Boy" Room

During my two weeks of spring break, I decided it was time to redecorate Tanner's room into a "big boy" room. It was bittersweet. He is getting so big, talking in sentences, learning several new words each day, but it is obvious he isn't a baby anymore. :( We purchased a toddler bed and comforter after we moved to Vail, because he was able to get out of his crib. He had a mix and match of new decor and his nursery decor. Since I had two weeks off, I decided to finally make it match. He LOVES it! :)

 As you walk in. Sorry the lighting is bad.

 One corner of his room. I couldn't bring myself to take out the glider, we like to read books on it :)

 I made the frames using fabric swatches, ribbon and a hand print :)

 I found this wall map at Kohl's. It was easy to put up. I had a map in my room growing up and I LOVED looking at all the cool places. I learned all of my states and capitals that way :)

 I made this as well. They are 8x8 canvases. I decoupaged the colored paper and his pictures. I hot glue gunned the animals on. These are my favorite :)

 Up close :)

 I FINALLY got around to putting pictures in the frames...Yes, He is almost 2 years old.

Here is a picture with his rug in it. The rug is is favorite part of his room. He says, "My rug! My rug!" and runs over and lies on it. So cute! :)

Christmas Videos

Here are some videos on or around Christmas :)

Mom's Shoes!

Most of these videos are from months ago, and I am just now getting around to posting them. This one, he found my shoes and liked to hear them "click" on the tile. :)

New Game :)

This is a new "game" that Tanner loves. He sits on someone's shoulders and yells, "GO!" and then the person runs with him. He loves it! Adam got a nice workout from it too. Such an amazing daddy!

Thomas!

We surprised Tanner with a new toy. His friends have one and he loves it, so we decided to get him his own. It is so cute, as he is riding, he says, "EWWW, yucky!"He must have seen something gross, lol!

Update!

Well, it has been a LONG time since I last posted. We have been very busy around here lately. The weather is just too nice, not to be outside doing something fun. :)

We have taken Tanner to the zoo, different parks, on bike rides, to fly kites, and tons more. Our computer crashed and we just got a new one, so I am sorry for not updating sooner.

Adam and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. It was also the first time that I spent the night away from Tanner since he was born. Even when I had to go back to the hospital after having him for heart failure, the hospital made sure that he could stay with me and they worked with Labor and Delivery to get a bassinet and anything we needed. So needless to say, I was a little nervous for our getaway. Adam's mom and dad came and stayed at our house to watch Tanner. He had a blast with them and was beyond spoiled, I'm sure. I did Skype with him before he went to bed and that made me feel better. :)

For our 5 year anniversary we went Sonoita, AZ and stay at a really cute and quaint Inn there. If you are not familiar, Sonoita has a large number of wineries. We love our wine, so we went down there to try out the different, local, Arizona wines. We had so much fun. We ended up going to  5 different wineries. We bought a bottle of our favorite from each place and surprisingly we agreed on the favorites from each place, because I love white wine and Adam loves his reds.

It was nice to spend time together, but strange also. I kept thinking, where is Tanner? What is he doing? It is so amazing how much one little person can change your life. Two years ago, we didn't think anything of just packing up and going somewhere for the weekend or going to dinner. Now, we have to plan everything around him (which we love and wouldn't change for the world) :). It is crazy how much life changes in a short period of time.

My mom came down the weekend after our anniversary and stayed for a night. Tanner was so spoiled with his grandparents coming two weekends in a row. Tanner had a blast with her and we went to Reid Park and flew kites, blew bubbles, and rode the train. My mom is doing okay, she finishes up her radiation on Wednesday. It is starting to make her really lethargic and tired. She, thankfully, is able to take some time off of work to rest and relax, as the last week of treatment is the most intense.

I am on spring break now. We get two weeks in Vail and I love it. I taught the last four days for 3 hours a day during intersession. It was pretty fun getting to have new students for a few days. Now I am work free until the 26th! Tanner and I will be able to take day trips to fun places and meet Adam for lunch.

 He LOVES this sock monkey hat. He wears it all day and night if he has it, lol!

 Tanner stopped sleeping in his own bed. We put him in it, and then he would drag his blankets, pillows, etc. and make his own bed by his door. This has been going on for about a month now. Oh phases!

 Too cute not to take a picture. He found his hat and put it on himself, lol.

 Checking out the ducks and train at the park.

 His new face of the month. He is actually not in a bad mood when making this face. He does it to make us laugh. It is hilarious! He will do it to strangers even just to get them to laugh!

 His stuffed animals go in this tub, but he prefers to sit on them instead of play with them. It is probably pretty comfy in there, lol.

 His first ice cream cone :) I think he liked it :)

 Running after his dad at the park after he saw the kite start to fly!

 Just love this little guy :)

 The kid loves his veggies, lol!

 So sweet, hanging with dad. Learning how to fly a kite.

 So adorable :)

In awe of the kite! It was like magic to him. :)

P.F. Chang's Marathon!

My awesome, amazing, handsome, wonderful husband ran the P.F. Chang's marathon again this year. He trained so hard each week and we are sooooo proud of him for meeting his goal of under 4 hours. He did it! 3 hours and 53 minutes of straight running. We love you!

Can you spot him?

 What a stud! :P

Christmas 2011

Well, let me start out by saying that Santa was VERY generous to Tanner this year. He must have been a good boy :).

Christmas time is always a little crazy for us, with juggling Christmas parties, going to different Christmas celebrations on Christmas. Well, add living two hours away to that mix, and you get one tired family. Don't get us wrong, we had a great time, it was just tiring. We stayed with my mom on Christmas Eve and we went to Tom and Pat's(Pat is Adam's mom's aunt) annual Christmas Eve party. This is probably our most favorite Christmas party because a bunch of the cousins had kids weeks and months a part, so we have tons of kids running around, and kids are what make Christmas so much more magical.

some of his gifts at Grandma's house

Playing with his toys at Tom and Pat's Christmas party

 Over Christmas break, I found him on top of his changing table trying to change his OWN poopy diaper. He woke up from his nap and decided to take matters into his own hands, lol.

 Over break, I got to hang out with my besties from college. We went to sushi/happy hour and looked over pictures from our college days. Good times :)

 Tanner hanging out with his aunt Catie. The picture was supposed to show that he has a sock monkey hat and she had the matching scarf. He wanted to play with his new toys instead, lol.

We went up to Mt. Lemmon and let Tanner have his first go in the snow.

 Tanner riding his new bike that Santa brought him. As you can tell by his face, he LOVES it!

 

His downstairs toys...I would say he was pretty well spoiled this year :)