Sunday Funday!

We actually made it to church today! I've been wanting to go for a long time and we actually got out of the house in time today. We went to First Baptist in Henderson. Everyone was extremely friendly and Sasha already knew a lot of people b/c they are his patients. Our SS teacher, Rusty Phoenix, vollunteered in Kallen's class during the sermon. When we went to pick Kallen up, he told us that Kallen tried to take off his name tag but he said "Leave that on so we'll know your name." Kallen responded by saying, "But it's okay, I already know my name!"

Reasons I love my husband... qualities that stand out to me that I want to remember. I'll probably continue this kind of post in the future, but for now, I'm one handed (baby in the other) and can't type like normal. So today, #1-He cuts the kids' fingernails b/c he's better at it than me. #2- He's still kid-at-heart enough to actually climb through the play structure at McDonald's with Kallen. Kallen had a blast with his big-kid buddy named Dad!

We went to the SciPort museum today in Shreveport, LA

We bought this museum membership earlier this summer but today was only our second time to go to SciPort in Shreveport. It's only about an hour from my mom's house and I guess an hour and a half from ours. Kallen was a hoot! During the science experiment demonstrations, he was adorable loudly saying "pick me, pick me!" each time the guy asked for vollunteers. One time he even go so excited he ran up to the stage area saying this but the guy had just picked someone by that time. If he thought the experiment was going to be loud, he put his hands over his ears, which only left him talking louder. He was saying cute things like "Look Mom, he has fire!" He was definitely one of the youngest kids in the audience which just made him seem that much cuter.

Tonight before he fell asleep, Kallen and I played "favorites" where he tells me his favorite part of the day and I tell him mine. I told him that my favorite part of the museum was the baby alligators. He said that his favorite part was wearing the hard hat to build me my princess castle (the two story playhouse in the hands-on play area.) For a long time now, Kallen has told me that I am the princess and he's going to build me a castle. Then he usually follows by telling me everything that he's going to put in my castle for me. He's so thoughtful and creative.

My favorite Kolya moment for the day took place in the ladies' restoom at SciPort. I stood in front of the hand blow dryer while wearing Kolya on my chest (in my new Loveyduds baby wrap) pushing the button over and over while doing my friend Monica's baby shushing two step dance in an attempt to get Kolya to stop crying. As soon as I pushed the blow dryer button she instantly hushed...and the hush lasted only until the blow dryer stopped. So, she cried only in the short moments between the thing going off and my hand hitting the button again. After about 15 minutes of this, she finally relaxed enough to stay quiet. Thank goodness no one was in the RR with me to witness all of this. They would have realized how desperate I was to make her hush. You see, we're attempting the "no nipple confusion" regiment of no bottles (even with breastmilk in them) and no pacifiers. Kolya had been changed and fed until her heart's content and the only logical reason for her crying was because she woke up in her stroller vs. my arms. Once she got herself all worked up and I got her into the baby wrap, a paci could have really come in handy...but now I know that when paci is not an option, hand blow dryers in the ladies' room work wonders!

Adjusting

Well, adjusting from one "baby" to two is harder than I thought, I have to admit. Kallen has really done an awesome job at being a big brother. He's nothing but sweet to Kolya. He did tell me that he wanted me to put her back in my tummy though. When I asked him why, he said, "So she can still kick me!" That's a much better answer than the one I was expecting.

Kolya seems to be an incredibly easy baby. She sleeps so well at night that I actually got mastitis (plugged ducts in the breast that lead to fever and flu-like symptoms) because she wasn't waking up in the middle of the night to nurse. I guess there's no win-win situation in the sleep department. After the first few weeks of breastfeeding though, Kolya and I have learned together and figured out how to make this thing happen. I really want my breastfeeding attempt with Kolya to be successful since I was never fully confident with Kallen and he eventually weened himself at 6 months. Kolya only seems to cry if she's hungry or wants her diaper changed. Otherwise, she sleeps a lot or is wide-eyed taking in her surroundings. She's already started to smile at us. Three days in a row now she's looked me straight in the eyes and gave me a huge smile. She's such a pretty girl!

Our sleep schedule is horribly messed up! Kallen's bed time has changed from 10:00PM to midnight and not much seems to get him back on schedule. He's also waking up at 5:00AM every morning and coming to our room fussing. Some nights, he wakes more than once. Before Kolya was born, he was fairly easy to get to sleep and he slept the whole night in his own bed. Kolya sleeps well, but sometimes she doesn't go to sleep until 1:00 or 2:00AM. If you figure I'm going to bed at 2:00, dealing with Kallen's night waking once or twice each night and then nursing Kolya when she wakes up around 7:00 or 8:00, I'm getting some pretty chopped up sleep. I've ended up sticking Kallen in my bed in the mornings and turning the TV to Noggin so I can go back to sleep for a few hours. My poor child has fed himself breakfast and even gotten himself dressed several times in the past few weeks because I'm literally too wiped out to do it. I'm trying hard to drag myself out of bed in the mornings and get going for the day. It seems to help me if I plan an outing for Kallen to get us motivated to get up and dressed. Unfortunately, this means daily trips to Tyler or Longview since I haven't found anything fun for Kallen to do in Henderson other than play with our 3-yr-old next door neighbor. Our main day trips include: Pump It Up Jr. in Longview followed by Chick-fil-A for lunch and then playing in the play area or going to Tyler to play at the McDonald's on Broadway with the cool, indoor play area followed by an afternoon at the Discovery Science Place. We've actually been to DSP two days in a row this week. I'm still on the hunt for fun kid things for Kallen to do. I've called some local churches about part-time childcare for the fall just so that Kallen can keep on socializing and understanding school procedures and routines. He's told me twice this week that he misses his friends at Nana's Playhouse (his school in Beckville by the school where I taught.) I'd also love to find some kind of soccer, karate, gymnastics, etc. class to get him into just so he can have something to look forward to learning each week.

I keep saying "once we get back into a routine, I'm going to..." well, this list is getting long so let me sum it up:
Once we get into a routine, I'm going to...
1- work with Kallen at home on some type of school-like workbook/activities
2- help Sasha in the clinic
3- find more friends in Henderson
4- join some local organizations to meet more people in Henderson

Highest on my priority list right now is to start going to church in Henderson. I told my whole family that we were going to go this past Sunday, but then after a night of very few hours of sleep, I was the one who was perfectly content to sleep in come Sunday morning. Once these kids get on some kind of schedule, I'm sure I'll be able to muster up the energy to get us going in the mornings. I have to find that energy soon. And in saying that, let me add that with our move to Henderson, we've given up coffee and sodas and started buying as much organic food as possible. What a horrible time to give up caffeine!

Cute Kallen Quotes from Kolya's Birth

Upon seeing the long umbilical cord when Kolya was first born, he said "Wow, she has a really long penis!"

When we were talking about how Kolya can't talk or play yet, we asked Kallen what he wants to teach his little sister. We said, "You could teach her to crawl or play with toys." He replied, "No, I think I just want to teach her to mow the grass." Sasha said, "Now that's a boy after my own heart!"

Kolya’s Birth Story

After a long day of moving boxes and getting our new house more organized, my water broke at 1:30 A.M. on July 11th. Sasha and I hadn't gone to bed yet and ended up spending the rest of the night monitoring my contractions that were about 5 minutes apart throughout the night. We didn't call anyone at first since I really wasn't sure that my water had broken, and at first didn't believe that the contractions were real ones. They got steadier and stronger throughout the night and I finally called our midwife Thalia and my mom at about 6:00 A.M. Since we've already settled into our new house pretty comfortably, Sasha and I have felt more and more led to have a home birth instead of going to the birth center. So, our midwives Thalia and Diane and my mom, Steve, Sara, and Memaw arrived at our house within a few hours of me calling them. I labored quietly in my room for most of the morning with no IV's or pain medicines and moved to the tub around noon for the water birth. Kolya was born at 12:34 P.M. on 7-11-09 in the most natural way possible! She was surrounded by people who love her. Even big brother Kallen witnessed her birth. I expected her to weigh more than Kallen did (he was 6 lbs, 8 oz), but had no idea that she'd be one ounce shy of 9 pounds! She weighs 8 lbs, 15 oz and is 21 inches long. She's beautiful and has a full head of dark hair! Mama, Sara, and Sasha are doing a great job managing the house and taking care of Kallen for me since I've been instructed to stay in bed to heal for a few days. We are all enjoying every minute that goes by with our new baby girl.

Cute Things Kallen Has Said Recently

This week, I've been trying to finish up all of the sewing projects that I've started for Kolya...well, at least the ones that involve her bedroom. Since my sewing machine is at Memaw's for lack of space here, I've spent several days there this week. One morning this week as Kallen and I were driving out to Memaw's house, I heard Kallen talking in the back seat. I said "What is it baby?" not sure if he was talking to me or just into his imaginative play that he's just started getting into. He said, "Mama, I wasn't talking to you! My foot was talking to his brother (the other foot)!" He's so creative right now. I love to see things from his perspective.

Also this week, Kallen went into Mama's house in his pajamas to tell Mamady and Papa goodnight, which has become his ritual. Mama said "Oh Kallen, your hair smells like lemons. Did you get new shampoo?" Kallen turned around and held out the back of his pajama pants and said, "Smell my butt Mamady. It smells like lemons too!" So innocent!

Today, while I was packing for the big move and cleaning as I went, Kallen watched several of the Power Ranger episodes we have on DVR. On most of them, there were commercials for the new Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs movie. Every time he saw that commercial, he said, "Mama, I want to take you to see that movie." It was like he was asking me out on a date. Since I realize that I only have a few short days left with him as an only child, I took him up on his offer. We went to get Kallen's hair cut so he could be all spiffed up for our date. I told him how handsome he looked. And between his haircut and the fact that I let him wear a belt today, he thought he was a big man. It's cute to see how 'big' he acts until I realize that he really is getting big. Three and a half years ago, he was the baby stretching out in my tummy. He was the one I anticipated and prepared for. Now, he is big. He's so mature about being a big brother already. He seemed to already know and understand everything that I thought I needed to prepare him for about getting a baby sister. He kisses my tummy daily, talks to Kolya, and asks "Mom, what time is our baby coming out?" on a daily basis. Even though my mom and I have both told Kallen he can pick out a new blanket (a "kish" as we say in our household) for Kolya, Kallen refuses. He says, "We don't need to buy a kish for her. I have an old kish and a new kish. (*New kish was purchased when I thought silly puddy had permanently ruined old kish.) I want to share with my sister. I'll just give her my new kish and I'll keep my old kish, that way, we can match." Both 'kishes' are light green, but Kallen rarely uses new kish. Old kish has been around since before he was born. It's his favorite and always will be even though he does like to have new kish on his bed too. I'm proud of my boy for wanting to share with his sister already...and we haven't even discussed sharing things with her yet really.

Well, today I'm 38 weeks pregnant. Last night I spent from midnight until about 3:00AM, having strong, but unsteady Braxton Hicks contractions. It kind of made me realize how soon this baby is coming. I mean, I had already started packing my bag and all, but it was kind of a "Hmm, I'm not sure what all I'll really need so I'll finish packing later" kind of job. So, today, I got pretty thorough. I think I'm all set and ready to go if the situation presents itself for real. We are supposed to move in 3 days so I would like to get moved and have some time in the new house to unpack before Kolya is born, but I realize, things may not happen the way I'd like for them to. It's all God's timing, not mine. She'll come on the exact day that he planned for her to. Until then, I'm frantically trying to get prepared. You can't imagine how hard all this "nesting" stuff is when you aren't even living in the nest yet! It's driving me bananas!

How we chose the name Kolya Mattilee...

KOLYA is pronounced like the boy's name Cole (which happens to be my cousin's name) plus "ya" at the end. It's the Czechoslovakian/Russian nickname for the boy's name Nickolai. It's European enough to tie into Sasha's Serbian roots and yet it's girly enough to work for an American girl. Plus, it starts with a K and has two syllables which were my criteria in the name picking debacle. I wanted two syllables because everyone else in our family has two syllables and I like that our kids will have the same first and last initial. Sasha and I first saw this name when I took my first trip to Chicago to meet his family. We went to a movie store and saw the title Kolya on the cover of a movie about a little boy who goes to live with this old man. Even then, before we were even serious about marriage, we said "one day if we get married, that would make a cute name for a baby girl."

MATTILEE is my grandmother's first and middle name smooshed together. Her name is Mattie Lee Stillwell, but her siblings and my Popaw have always called her Mattie Lee...only in their Southern way of saying it, they smooshed it together to sound the very same as Mattilee. I can't be prouder to name my baby girl after such an amazingly strong and caring woman.

Just for the record...
Kallen's full name is KALLEN LAZO KECMAN. We just liked his first name when we found it in a book. Even then, I wanted a two-syllable first name that started with a "K." LAZO is Sasha's dad's name. I never met Sasha's dad because he died when Sasha was in undergrad.

If we were going to have a boy this time, or if we ever have another boy, his name will be something along the lines of KARTER LANGDON KECMAN. He'll have the same initials as Kallen. KARTER is still in question. I like it, but think it's a little plain. Plus, I don't like taking a common name and changing the spelling. LANGDON is my Memaw's brother Willard's middle name. He died when he was about 20, so I never got to meet him, but I've always heard great things about him.

35 Weeks Pregnant

Today is my first day off for summer, finally! I taught at Beckville Junior High until June 5th and then taught at Panola Kids' College from Monday until Thursday of this week. I have to say, that at 35 weeks pregnant, those kids at Kids' College gave me a run for my money! I'm glad to be home today, but don't really know what to do with myself. I need to pack for our big move to Henderson in a few weeks. I want to sew for Kolya. However, I don't feel like I have the energy or concentration to do either right now.

Oh, since I haven't blogged in a while, let me catch you up...we decided to rent a house in Henderson because we didn't feel comfortable buying a house that we knew would be temporary. We really just don't want to go through the selling process again any time soon. We found a cute 3 bedroom older house with all hardwood floors in downtown Henderson. I will be fine for the next year or two.

Another big change in our family is that I am officially a stay-at-home mom now. Sasha is at a point with his clinic that allows for me to be home with our kids, so I took him up on it. I got to stay home with Kallen for the majority of his first year of life and I just couldn't see missing out on Kolya's babyhood. Also, me being home allows for me to be more hands on in Sasha's clinic. I'll probably even bring Kolya with me to work in the clinic a few days a week once we get Kallen into a part-time mother's day out. I don't want him to go every day, but I know how social he is and I think he'd enjoy having some friends his age to play with a few days a week.

Anyway, we have a lot of changes ahead of us with moving, me staying home, and Kolya joining our family soon. I'll try to keep you updated as we progress through them.

Finally Seeing the Bright Side!

After 19 months of having our house in Humble up for sale, we finally sold it on May 6th! We actually had to bring money (a decent chunk of change at that) to closing with us, but we were happy to do it if it meant never having to pay another mortgage payment on that house that has stood empty for almost two years. A few days after we closed on the house, we sold my old Firebird from college. Since they weren't going to give us much for it at trade-in when we bought the Envoy, we've had it sitting in front of Sasha's clinic for a few weeks. So, we're finally seeing the bright side of things. Changes are happening and more are on the way! We toured a few homes in Henderson yesterday and are getting ready to move. We have mixed feelings about whether we should buy or rent, but either way, we know God will lead us in the direction that He has planned for us. Nothing can be better than His plan. Here's our thinking on the matter though...

If we rent for the next year to two years, we won't have the headache of selling a house when we are ready to buy/build the house that we really want. (I think we're a little gun-shy right now after the drawn-out selling process we just went through.) However, finding a decent rent house in Henderson is proving very hard. We finally did find a nice rent house yesterday, but the yard was not kid/dog friendly and there were going to be parking issues with the one car driveway. Should I suck it up and just take Kallen, Kolya, and Bob Barker to the park to play for the next year? (The park...ug, not the beautiful, safe parks of Humble, that's for sure.)The rent sounds reasonable to us, but my mom thinks that if we bought a small house, our mortgage payment could be the same as a rent payment and then later, we might be able to keep the small house for rental property of our own.

We are hesitant to try to buy another house for several reasons. First, there's the resell factor if we buy one that we plan to sell instead of keep for rental property. Second, we were told about 18 months ago, that we wouldn't be able to get a loan for a house in Sasha's name until he had at least two years of self-employment income taxes to show his salary. He hasn't owned his clinic for two years yet. Third, his CPA who specializes in accounting for chiropractic clinics filed an extension for our income taxes. I'm really expecting us to owe this year, but until he gets a move on, we don't know how much we owe. I've really started to put the pressure on Sasha to put the pressure on CPA man about that. And lastly, I really wanted to be able to put down 20% on our next house to avoid any kind of mortgage crisis that our whole economy seems to be in today, but with Kolya coming in 8 weeks, we don't have enough time to recoup that much after paying such big money to sell our house. (How ironic, I know!) Anyway, I'm not saying that it's impossible for us to buy a house, but it will be a lot more stressful if we try to. I've got Sasha on Mr. CPA's rear-end and next, I'm going to see about loan pre-approval just in case we do decide to buy.

All I know is that things are changing and the Lord has a wonderful master plan for us. Please keep us in your prayers as my family's lives continue to change in the next few months.

Whirlwind of a month...

Easter Pics:






I feel like I haven't been on the computer during the entire month of April so let me catch you up. We finally got an offer on our house in Houston at the beginning of this month. We went to Houston every weekend this month except for last weekend trying to get our house all packed up and moved out of. Even though we spent most of Easter weekend moving, we did manage to be home for the family Easter gathering on Sunday. Kallen had a great time hunting eggs with his cousins Barron, Sydney, Crosby, Miranda, and Dylan. During that last weekend in Houston, we spent the night with our friends, the Erbs, in Pearland and watched the movie Twilight. All of my 6th grade students have read the whole series, but before watching the movie, I just thought, "uh, there's no way I could get that into a book about vampires." Ha, boy was I wrong! The movie sparked my interest since it's not a story about vampires as much as it is a story about love. I started reading Twilight on the Monday after I watched the movie, finished it the following day, and moved on to the three other books in the saga. I cried my way through the first half of New Moon and couldn't put down Eclipse. This morning, I finished Breaking Dawn. It took me less than two weeks to finish 4 fairly intimidating sized books! Anyway, now I'm going through Edward withdrawals and finally getting around to checking the 157 emails that were waiting for me in my inbox. I'm 29 weeks pregnant today and just realized that last week started my 3rd trimester. Baby Kolya likes to kick and is about 2 pounds now. Oh, yes, that's her name by the way...Kolya Mattilee Kecman. It's set in stone and monogrammed on clothing. Speaking of clothing, I guess since I finished my books, I'll get back to sewing and bow-making again. This child already has enough clothes to fill a closet. And every single mommy-made outfit has a hairbow and bloomers to match! I'll take pics of everything that I've made once I get a few more projects finished. Until then, here are some pics of Kallen at Easter and some of him from a few months back that my cousin just gave me.

Here are a few cute pics of Kallen and another one of my Aunt Janet, mom, Kallen & I, and Memaw:

Kallen has an Imaginary Friend!

His name is BABY! Hmmm, can you tell he's excited to be a big brother? Kallen became friends with Baby before we found out that our baby is a girl. So to distinguish between the baby that I'm carrying and Baby the imaginary friend, we say "Our/My Baby" vs. just "Baby." Most of the time, Kallen helps Baby. If Kallen gets something, he asks for me to give some to Baby too. If Kallen needs to go potty, sometimes he'll stand in line at the bathroom door and say "I have to wait my turn. It's Baby's turn right now." Sometimes, I hear him having quiet and friendly conversations with Baby. It's really pretty cute. Up until today, Baby has not written on the walls (like my imaginary friend Polish Wilsons did) or misbehaved in any way. Today on our trip to the Shreveport Boardwalk, however, Baby couldn't get along with others. Mostly though, according to Kallen, it was Spiderman's fault. Today, Spiderman (the action figure) and Baby weren't playing nicely so Kallen had to put Spiderman in my bag for time-out several times. (Or maybe he was just tired of carrying him around!) According to Kallen, Spiderman was hitting Baby but Baby wasn't acting very nice to Spiderman either. Anyway, Kallen's creative imagination is running wild every day! He comes up with some pretty cute things to talk about with me.

It's been a great day!

Today, we are in Houston visiting friends and tending to some business. Last night we spent hours and hours at a car dealership and FINALLY drove away at 11:00 PM with a vehicle that we liked at a price that we were satisfied with. Today, we enjoyed driving our 2008 GMC Envoy to our 3D/4D ultrasound where we found out that our baby is a GIRL! Even more special, we got to see her face and watch her kick and punch and suck her thumb. They made us a DVD of the whole ultrasound visit and set it to music that makes me cry every time I watch it. Anyway, here's a pic of the new car.

Our Baby GIRL!

So Sweet, So Innocent, So Adorable!

Yesterday as Kallen and I were getting an after-school snack in the kitchen, he said, "Mommy, can I pet your belly?" As he raised my shirt up and put his cheek up to my tummy, he said, "Mom, I want our baby to be a girl so she can be a princess like you and live in a castle." And as I was thinking how sweet he sounded, he added "...and wear panties!" Oh, the things that come out of a 3-year-old's mouth...so sweet, so innocent, so adorable!

And then today, Sasha was telling Kallen that we are getting a new car. Kallen comprehended this info for a while and then looked at me with a puzzled look and said, "Mom, Dad says I'm getting a new car...but I don't know how to drive!" He was so serious it was precious!

What's On My Mind Lately

Just three more days until my 3D/4D ultrasound! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. A large part of me, the creative part, wants this baby to be a girl. I'm finding myself surfing Etsy.com a lot lately looking for cute things to sew for a baby girl, and oh, there are some cute things out there. Appliqued and monogrammed onesies with matching blankets, bloomers with ruffles or bows on the butt, tutus, hair bows, grosgrain ribbon galore, etc. are all swirling through my mind on a daily basis. I guess it's not so much the sewing projects, but the brilliant colors in all the girly fabric that really gets me. Heather Bailey's and Amy Butler's fabric lines are just too great for making cute girl clothes. (See Heather's link. I can't get enough!...That's my favorite fabric design of hers in the picture.) Finding fabric for a boy on the other hand, is harder for me, especially with pink being my absolute favorite color- fuchsia to be exact. There's cute boy fabric out there, it just doesn't appeal to me as much as the bright fabric with all the girly colors does. And since I've already had a boy, I'm pretty much set on boy stuff. That means no, or very little, shopping to be done in my near future if this baby is a boy. (Well, Sasha will like that I guess.) Don't get me wrong, part of me wants a boy too. There is nothing sweeter than having a mother/son relationship. The sweet way Kallen puts his arm around me and pulls my head close to his while we're laying in bed watching Jack's Big Music Show at night, or the way he compliments everything I do, down to how well I put the milk in his sippy cup...I don't expect that a daughter will do that sort of thing with me. (I could be wrong though.) But, what will be really cool if this baby is a girl is to see Sasha in a Daddy/daughter relationship. He'll get to experience all the tenderness and closeness that I'm sure only a Daddy and baby girl have. Seeing that side of Sasha really gets me. Anyway, I guess we'll just have to wait until Saturday to find out. Until then, the not-knowing of it all will have me counting down the days.

From the Eyes of a 3-year-old

Today when Sasha was buckling Kallen into his car seat, Kallen said, "I don't want to go to school!" (He says this most days, but loves school once he's there.) Sasha said, "Kallen, you have to go to school so you can learn. You have to learn so you can be a doctor someday." Kallen replied, "Dad, I don't want to be a doctor. I just want to be a kid."

Kallen says such nice things!

Yesterday, I think Kallen told me he loved me a million times. He said it at about 15 minute intervals during some parts of the day. It never gets old though. Tonight, when I was getting him dressed after his bath, he said, "Mom, you are softer and better than my kish!" Wow! This is the ultimate compliment from him. His kish is his blanket that he's had since he was born. This blanket has brought him comfort during every nap and night time of his life. And he thinks I'm better! That just made my day.

Since I just started this blog today, I'll post the letters that I've been writing to our new baby for the last few months.

December 25, 2008
Hi Baby,
Well, today is Christmas Day and I am 11 weeks pregnant. This pregnancy is very different than my first one with Kallen. With Kallen, I hardly ever felt nauseous and I only threw up three times during my whole pregnancy. One or two of those times were probably more in result of a migraine headache than the pregnancy itself. With baby number two however, I feel nauseous every day! I have not thrown up, but I feel like I’m going to multiple times throughout the day…every day. I know it’s not a well-balanced diet, but for about the past two weeks, the only real food I’ve been able to stand is bread or other carbs, fruit, and milk. Today even, it’s Christmas, and I don't even want to look at the elaborate spread of food on the table.

I just weighed myself and although I don’t weigh regularly, I think I’ve gained 5 lbs. It is night-time right now, and I think I tend to weigh more at night, so I’ll try to remember to weigh first thing in the morning to see if my weight is the same as it was tonight.

One other thing that was very obvious tonight was how emotional I am. My hormones are in overdrive making this baby and every time I see something remotely sad or happy or emotional in any regard on TV, I immediately tear up. I try not to full-fledged cry, but some of these baby shows on TLC get me every time a new baby is delivered. I look forward to the rest of my pregnancy, especially when I will be able to feel kicks. I’m excited about bringing a new baby into our family.

12-29-08
I had my first midwife appointment today. I’m 12 weeks pregnant. Tata, Kallen, and Mamady came with me to my appointment. We all got to hear your heartbeat and Kallen got to hold a little rubber baby that is the same size as you are right now. It was great to hear your fast, healthy heart. It made this pregnancy seem more real.

1-28-09
I went alone to this midwife appointment. I told my midwife that I think I might be farther along than 16 weeks because I’ve been feeling you kick since about 12 weeks. I thought that was too early. I told her about how it doesn’t feel like butterflies fluttering in my tummy. It’s more like little thumps and always has been with you. You are a strong little baby! She said that everything still indicates that I’m 16 weeks, but we’ll know more after my ultrasound.

I’ve actually lost 2 pounds which is weird because I finally feel like I’ve gotten my appetite back. Before, I was too nauseous to eat. Now, I’m eating healthy, still throwing up some, but feeling a lot better. So far I’ve gotten sick 7 times in this pregnancy. My midwife said she’s not concerned right now, but if I haven’t gained weight at my next visit, she will be.

2-8-09 (17 weeks pregnant)
Tonight, I was lying in bed with Kallen watching Elmo and I told him that the baby kicked me. He said, “Mama, we don’t supposed to kick!” I thought that was cute. He’s said that before when I told him you were kicking, but I forgot to write it down then. I had to explain to him that it’s ok for you to kick me because it’s your way of saying hi to us. I demonstrated on his tummy with a little thump so he knows what I mean when I tell him you are kicking. He wanted to tell you “hi” back and asked me if he could thump my belly to tell you hello. I told him he could and he got a kick out of thumping my belly.

2-10-09
Make that 8 times that I’ve thrown up.

2-15-09
Now I’ve thrown up 9 times. Yuck! I had a migraine, threw up, felt better.

2-16-09
Uh, 10 times. Make it stop! Today, Kallen has a stomach virus. With my already sensitive gag reflex, I sometimes have a hard time tending to his tummy issues due to my own. Let’s just say that today was pretty gross!

2-26-09
I went to see the midwife yesterday in Tyler. Not much new to report though. I’ve gained about two pounds. I was concerned because I didn’t think that I had gained any weight this time. We listened to your heart beat and I got to see the little rubber baby that represents a baby at 20 weeks. You’re about the size of a mango… the internet was right. I am extremely eager to find out if you are a boy or a girl! I have two more weeks to wait until the 3D/4D ultrasound that I scheduled. The people at the ultrasound place said that really, any time after 25 weeks is the best time to get good pictures. I’ll only be 22 ½ weeks pregnant for my ultrasound, but there is no way I could wait any longer to find out the details about you. Besides, this way, I'll have my whole spring break to shop for my new little baby!