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Happy 4th Birthday Camron!

I've already posted my birth story for Camron so I won't repeat it.
This year I decided to post a few pictures of my handsome little boy growing up.
Enjoy!

2 Days old and in the NICU

6 months old at Balboa Park with Mama and Nana

6 months at Balboa Park

12 months old - Christmas 2007

20 months old - Living at Nana's house

Almost 2 years old and right after his very first haircut!

Proud big brother - About a month after his second birthday

2 and a half years old - SD zoo

3 years old! (Wow, I look awful lol)

3 and a half - Enjoying the Summer weather, our new yard and the sprinkler!

Just a couple weeks before his 4th birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET BOY!

Birthdays, Babies and Besties

Tomorrow my oldest little boy is turning 4 years old! I can't believe it.. Not that it didn't seem like a lifetime ago that I gave birth to him... Because it really does feel like more than 4 years have passed by. I just can't believe that he's that old! Only 1 and a half more years til he starts Kindergarten. Four years ago it was really hard to imagine him at this age.

He and I have been through a lot in his short little life. I gave birth to him while my (ex) husband was deployed to Iraq. We had to figure out everything on our own for the first couple months of his life. (With the help of my mom of course!) Once my (ex) husband returned from Iraq it was still mostly just Camron and I on our own. He was gone most of the time... And I'm not talking about deployments... He worked all day and stayed out all night.

When my ex decided to leave us I was pregnant with Camron's little brother Brady. My baby boy and I started an all new chapter of our lives together. He wasn't even 2 yet. His little brother was born just 2 short weeks after his second birthday. Together we adjusted to a new home (my mom's) and a new baby in our lives.

Four short months later is when I met and fell in love with my (now) husband, Josh. He loved my boys and my boys loved him. We got married that year when Camron was almost 3 and Brady was 9 months old. So once again Camron and I (and now Brady) had to adjust to a new life, new home and new family.

As you can imagine it's been a looooooong four years for us!

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Now that it's towards the end of December we're almost through 2 of 4 birthdays. We celebrated Josh's last week and we'll celebrate Camron's tomorrow. Time is FLYING by! As I imagined it would at this time. Next up will be Christmas Eve at my mom's house. Christmas day with Josh's parents and my grandparents.

On Sunday we'll be taking down all the Christmas decorations... because on Monday I'll be bringing in all the baby stuff in preparation for Josiah's arrival! I'm so anxious to get started. (I'll be 35 weeks along next week! In the picture to the left I'm 34 weeks exactly.) I'm already trying so hard to suppress my nesting urge to rearrange the living room and the boys room and scrub every surface in sight! I can't wait to go through all the baby stuff and set things up the way I need them for J's homecoming.

Speaking of his homecoming, there's still a few things that we need to go buy for him. Kinda stressing about it because I realized that we weren't going to have as much money as I thought we would next month. Unfortunately it's only the expensive stuff we're needing. (Besides a few billion diapers of course!)

- A crib - Not only did Josh just break ours on accident, but it's being recalled along with all the other drop side cribs. It's only good as a toddler bed now. Luckily it's not something that we need right away since J will be sleeping in the bassinet that a friend gave me.

- A stroller/car seat combo - Ok, so it doesn't have to be a combo, but it would be nice. Main concern is a car seat that will fit along with the other 2 car seats in the back.

- A swing - Again, it's not something that I need, but they're nice to have around when you need to place baby some where safe while you take care of other things... Or other kids. ;)

- Bunk Beds - Ok so this one isn't specifically for the baby, but when we get the crib we're going to need to get bunk beds for the older boys. Otherwise there's no way that 3 normal beds will fit in their small bedroom.

Obviously my main concern is a car seat. That will be the first thing we buy... even if it's not a stroller combo. I just hope we can buy it soon so I can stop stressing about it!

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Besides birthdays, holidays and baby J's arrival I'm also counting down the days to when my Bestie comes to visit! She's coming here just 2 days before my due date... So I'm not sure if I'll already have a baby in arms or if I'll go into labor right after she gets here. Either way will be fine with me! I just want to hang out and gossip like we used to. Her guess is that she'll be a week late in getting here in time for the birth. Josh's guess is the 27th and my guess is (or at least what I'm hoping for) is a Feb 1st baby. That way we have time before the birth to hang out. She'll be able to be there for the birth AND I'll probably be out of the hospital before she has to leave again back to St. Louis. Win Win all around. :) (But do I really want to still be pregnant that long?! Not that I have a choice, but I'm pretty much already done with this pregnancy. I'm ready to meet my little boy!)

Is It January Yet?

Because I'm really feeling ready to have this baby. Not that I'm actually ready for the baby, but the end of this pregnancy has been really hard on me so far. I'll be 32 weeks tomorrow (12/5/10) and I just can't imagine going another 5-8 weeks. So what's bothering me you ask? Well...

Insomnia - For about the past month I haven't been able to sleep well at all and it's getting worse. Last month I was waking up at about 5am because baby was jumping on my bladder and I'd be up for the day. Not that big of a deal since the kids get up around 6:15 anyway. Last couple days though? 3:30am. I get up to use the bathroom and I'm awake for the rest of the day. It's awful. This morning I tried to lay in bed and go back to sleep. I laid there til about 5am. By that time I was SO hungry that I couldn't stand it any longer so I got up to eat. It's not easy to live on 5 hours (or less) of sleep when I have 2 little ones to take care of. And the worst part? I can't even try to go to bed early because I'll lay there awake feeling restless and eventually get up... making me stay up even later than I normally would have.

Heartburn - I thought I would get lucky with this pregnancy and not get it. I made it all the way to the end of my second trimester before I started getting awful heartburn again. Then suddenly, it went away for about 3 weeks in November! I was so excited to be able to eat food and enjoy it again! That didn't last. It's back and worse than before. Even drinking water causes it. It sucks.

Backaches/Chest Pain - This one is almost constant. Laying down. Standing up. Sitting up. My back always seems to feel like something is being pinched. Then depending on how I'm sitting or laying my chest starts hurting and I feel like I can't take deep breaths. Really? I'm only 32 weeks. Shouldn't this be coming on when I'm about 36 weeks?

Nausea/Short of Breath - This started about 2 weeks ago. Every.Single.Morning around the same time I'll suddenly feel very nauseous. My heart will start racing and I'll feel like I just went for a long run. Even when I'm not even doing anything! It will come on out of no where... even if I'm sitting on the couch. It only lasts about 30 min and I'll feel great the rest of the day. It's weird and very annoying when I have stuff do in the mornings.

Itchy Skin - No amount of lotion or baby oil will make my belly stop itching. I hate it.

Hunger! - OMG I've never been so hungry in my life! I am ALWAYS hungry. I don't remember being this hungry with my first 2 pregnancies. I remember eating pretty much the same amount that I did pre-pregnancy. I was the same way with this one up until about a week or 2 ago. Now I'm just starving all day long. Luckily I don't buy snacks... otherwise I'd be well on my way to gaining a good 50 lbs by now. (As of yesterday I'm up 19 lbs... Not exactly where I wanted to be at this point, but I'm ok with 19.)

and last but not least...

Braxton Hicks Contractions - This isn't something new for me. With my first 2 pregnancies I got them all the time. This pregnancy is no different. My stomach seems to hurt 24/7. It doesn't help when Baby J starts kicking and stretching when I get the contractions either. He is strong! He's actually made me jump and say "Ow!". I think I have a little football player in there.

So now that I'm done complaining I should say that despite how uncomfortable I've been for the past couple weeks baby and I are doing really well. :) Baby J is measuring about a week and a few days ahead... and I'm thinking he's going to be a big baby like his older brother. He's super active and gets hiccups all the time. All my tests have come back normal so far and I'm hoping everything continues to go smoothly.

So far, so good... but seriously, is it January yet?