Sick Day

Sweet Lillian Grace had to stay home from school today, and she was so sad about it.

She was running a low-grade fever last night, and really didn't have any other symptoms other than she wouldn't eat and was really lethargic.  She asked to snuggle and laid in my lap for a good hour.  While I was secretly savoring every second of cuddle time, I was so sad that she didn't feel well!  She was the most pitiful little thing.  I gave her medicine, and luckily it worked and brought the fever down within 30 minutes.  

Lilly's fever was gone when she woke up this morning, but I kept her home from school to be safe (the rule is that they shouldn't go to school until their fever is gone for 24 hours without medicine).  She slept fine last night, and still did not have any other symptoms other than the fact that she didn't eat hardly anything today (but she still drank milk and water).  I stayed home with her this morning in an effort to keep the germs as far away from Kinsley (and Carney) as possible, and although her fever was gone I could tell that she still was not feeling 100% - mainly because she spent most of the day on the couch reading books to herself and she never sits still for that long.

Her fever came back this evening but was still very low-grade, around 101.  When I spoke with the nurse last night (we have been fortunate to not have much experience with fevers over the past 20 months so I called to ask at what point I needed to be concerned in case we had a bad night since Dan was out of town) she said that fevers typically spike in the evening so not to be too concerned.  I am hoping that this is just some 24-hour thing and it's not just the beginning of some unknown symptoms to come.  Lilly bean needs to be healthy for our fun beach trip this weekend!

One last thing, I told Dan tonight that I think I learned what it must be like to be in a room (or on a car ride) with myself.  Homegirl talks NON. STOP.  I am not even sure what about, but as long as she was sitting still she wanted to be talking.  Hilarious, that one!  Additionally, she asked to go to school ALL DAY.  I was so sad that she couldn't go (and I'm so glad that she loves it so much!), especially since she'll miss Friday as well due to our travel plans.

I'll leave you with a pitiful (but still cute) snapshot of L's day:

Feel better soon, sweet girl!

Sarah 

BB2.0: 20 Weeks

I am pretty sure I wrote the same thing during Lilly's 20-week pregnancy update (just confirmed, it was actually the title of the post) but I have had Journey playing in my head as my background music all day (Woahhhhhhh we're halfway there...).  I seriously can't believe it, I feel like I just found out I was pregnant and then I blinked and here we are.  Honestly I am starting to get a little stressed, we have SO MUCH to do to prepare for Baby B 2.0.  Essentially our entire house needs to be cleaned out and reorganized (including Lilly's clothes SIGH), which was bugging me before but it's way worse with the impending birth.  Additionally, we have a construction project that requires a contractor (Daddy, are you there?  Hehehe!) so that Baby B 2.0 has a place to sleep.  Not to mention a crib.  Oh, and we need to figure out how to make our guest bedroom into a guest bedroom that also functions as a playroom (I don't want a murphy bed and Dan doesn't want a sleeper sofa).  Ideas welcome.  And lastly, I know that we will never agree on a name.  OY.  I'm going to have to panic later, though, because you guessed it...Mama's tired.  :-)  Now for the stats!

Size of Baby B 2.0:  Baby boy weighs about 8.5 ounces and measures about 6 inches from head to bottom, aka the size of an heirloom tomato.

Developmentally, a lot is going on this week.  In a nut shell, his brain is developing hardcore (mainly sensory development) and he may or may not be able to hear my voice now.  Kidneys are functioning, hair on his scalp (if any) is sprouting, and vernix (the nasty stuff that makes babies look like discolored aliens when they first come out) is forming on his skin "to keep it from pickling in the amniotic fluid (source: Babycenter)."  Ew.

Side Note:  Uncle Tracy has dubbed this baby "Terminator" and I think I kind of like it.

Weight Gain So Far:  Per my official weigh-in at the doctor, I am up 8 lbs from where I started.  Four of those have been gained in the past four weeks.  Whoops.  

Cravings:  Golden Grahams (seriously).  And still loving some soup (really any kind but this week tomato or lentil) and grilled cheese.  Re: Golden Grahams and grilled cheese, I think I might be trapped in a 12-year-old's (or maybe even 20-month-old's - L loves both of those) body. 

Aversions:  Nada.

Symptoms:  Same old.  Tired, pipes are clogged, peeing all. the. time.  I have also been experiencing some cramping this week as well as some headaches.  More on that in a minute.  Oh and also I can't remember whether I've mentioned the weird ring/skin symptom yet (forgive me if I have), but I haven't been wearing my engagement and wedding ring for a few weeks.  I think pregnancy has somehow made me allergic to jewelry (Whatever you do, DON'T tell Dan!!!!).  I have this nasty rash (it starts out as a rash, pretty much rubs my skin raw and then starts getting dry and flaky and gross)on my ring finger that develops when I wear them.  It seems to heal when I don't wear my rings, so I've been leaving them off, but it feels so strange.  I read that this is common during pregnancy, but I don't think I've met anyone else who has experienced it.  So weird.

Movement:  I'm getting some more frequent movement but still not a ton yet.  The nurse at my doctor appointment yesterday assured me that this is totally normal.  In fact, she told me that if people say they are feeling a lot of movement at this point in time, she doesn't believe them (okay maybe those weren't her exact words but it's close enough).

What I Miss:  I was really digging the idea of a pumpkin beer last Friday evening when we were tailgating for our concert.  The weather was perfectly fall-like.  I had an O'Douls, which I like a lot more than I thought I would and surprisingly isn't too bad, but it's not the same.

Signs of a Bump:  Ah yes.  Large and whale-like in charge.  Although I feel like it is somehow distributed very differently this time.  Dan agrees.  My maternity clothes from Lilly's pregnancy don't fit very well, and in weird places.  The upside to that is that I get to do a little shopping.  Don't worry, I'm not going crazy (sort of).  :-)

BB2.0 20 weeks

Lilly 20 weeks

What I'm Thankful For:  A so-far great and very smooth pregnancy.  Although Lilly's pregnancy was still sunshine and daisies at this point last time around as well (for approximately 10 more weeks in fact), but let's not dwell on the details.  No worrying here!

What I'm Looking Forward To:  Two mini vacays in the next two weeks!  We are spending this weekend with Dan's parents at the beach since I will be there for work on Thursday and Friday, and then we are going to the beach with my family for a long weekend next weekend.  So much fun (and hopefully relaxation, and a tan wouldn't hurt either!)!

Doctor Visit Update:  Everything is fine and dandy!  My blood pressure is still totally normal and in fact is lower than it was at this point in Lilly's pregnancy (106/62 yesterday).  Once the doctor came in, he checked for the heartbeat, which he found immediately and was clear and strong at 150 bpm.  He said that I am "textbook" and was literally in my room for maybe 2 minutes and then I was done.  I mentioned my headaches just because they were a problem last time, and he said not to worry because tension headaches are common and every pregnancy is different, and since my blood pressure is perfectly fine he's not concerned.  Fingers crossed it stays that way.  All in all, an excellent pregnancy progress report for our little man, hooray!

Next Doctor Appointment:  I go back in four weeks, October 22, to meet with the nurse practitioner.  I'll also get info about my glucose test at that visit.  Blech.

That's all for tonight!  I think sweet Lilly bean may be getting sick, she has been running a fever this evening.  I'm bummed, because that means I can't send her to school tomorrow so she'll miss two days this week since we'll be out of town on Friday.  I'm sure she will not know the difference, but she loves school!

Today, my sweet Lilly is 20 months old.  And tomorrow is hump day.   HOORAY!

Sarah

Weekend Roundup

I have been trying to compose this post for over an hour now, but have run into one technically difficulty after another.  I was close to giving up, but luckily for all of us the stars aligned and things started working for me at the last minute. 

Side note: one technical difficulty I've encountered is trying to figure out how to make a photo collage (for free) on my computer (I took a TON of crappy iPhone photos over the weekend and a lot of them are of the same thing but I was having trouble narrowing so I thought a collage would be a good idea).  Problem #1: I am using my work computer tonight because it is a laptop and I wanted to lay in bed, and oh my gosh has the process been annoying because it won't let me download anything (basically everything is blocked for security reasons).  Understandable, but still annoying.  Problem #2: I finally found some sites that will let you create a collage online with no downloading, and they claim to be "free" until it's time to download your photos to your computer at which point they either watermark them (free option) or charge you money to save them without the watermark.  Sneaky a holes.  I finally figured out how to make a photo collage in Microsoft Power Point.  I can only put in four photos at a time but it will do for now.  Whew!

This past weekend was the last one we'll get to spend at home for several weeks, so we made the best of it with a lot of relaxation and some fun! 

On Friday night, we got a sitter for L and went with a group of friends to see the Alabama Shakes in concert.  And we tailgated before hand.  I am seriously so old, I can't remember the last time I tailgated.  Dan busted out the tailgating grill and we had some delicious kabobs along with various other appetizer-like dishes and it was delicious.  Of course I managed not to take a single photo to share, rats.  Lilly had fun with her sitters, Hannah and Chaney, too. 

Frankie came in town Friday and went to the concert with us, and for most of Saturday we just relaxed and spent time together.  We originally planned to go to Bugfest downtown, but we all slept late on Saturday morning (it was glorious) and just couldn't seem to get it together and get moving, so we just played around the house (now is when I will showcase some of my Powerpoint skills, ha!).   Disclaimer:  All of the photos in this post were taken with my iPhone and are pretty terrible quality.  Sorry bout it.

We played with bubbles.

I LOVE this picture. 

And we also played in puddles.  This series of photos was taken right before Lilly tried to put her face in the water and drink like Layla.  Lord help us, she must be her father's child.

After the puddles, we moved the slide into the grassy area in the alley behind our house where all of the garages back up to each other and had some fun.

Note: I made this collage using www.photocollage.net.  It is easy to use but the uploading took forever, as did the edits I had to make.

After nap time on Saturday it was raining so we played inside and had a low-key evening.  After putting Lilly to bed, Billy O came over and watched football with Dan while I was a book worm and it was glorious.

On Sunday, the only real plans we had were to go to brunch because I had a serious french toast craving (which started at 3am when I had insomnia and couldn't sleep).  We haven't had brunch at Irregardless in a while and it was fabulous (and luckily satisfied my craving).



Our plan after brunch was to change clothes and spend some time at the park before heading home to get ready for the week.  I have been wanting to take Lilly apple picking, and we originally planned to go on Saturday with the Aldridges but then the weather was crappy. Sunday was absolutely GORGEOUS so Stephanie texted me to ask if we wanted to go.  We originally said no, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go because I honestly didn't think we'd get another chance before apple picking season is over.  Coincidentally, in talking to his brother that morning Dan found out that they were going to pick apples at the same place we'd planned to go, so that settled it.  We swung by the house after brunch for a quick change of clothes and headed to Millstone Creek Orchards in Ramseur.  The drive wasn't bad - it took us a little under an hour to get there.  The orchards are cute and kid-friendly (Lilly loved the hay ride).  The apple selection was dwindling and a lot of them didn't look all that great, I guess we were late in the season but we still had a blast and of course it was fun to hang with the besties and Chris, Andrea and the cousins.  Below is a collage of the few million photos I could narrow it down to for posting purposes followed by a few of my favs from the day.  

For the record, when it was all said and done I got my lazy butt out of bed and headed to the desktop to make a Picasa collage.  I'm sure it's hard to see some of the photos but I am too tired to fix it tonight.

Of course I can't finish this post without sharing two of the (decidedly not iPhone) photos that Steph took of our sweet girls (MUCH better than mine for sure!).  I'm sure she will have more to post so hop on over to her blog and be on the lookout, I ganked these from her Facebook page.  :-)

Overall, the weekend was fabulous and I hated to see it end.  We had a blast at Millstone, so if you live in or around the Raleigh area I would definitely suggest making the trip next year (maybe wait until then, though, because the pickings were definitely slim in my opinion, but they do have a pumpkin patch which opens this coming weekend)!  I would say that it was definitely worth the price we paid last night for Lilly's shortened nap.  What can I say?  Homegirl is like her mama: she loves her sleep.

Happy Monday!

Sarah

A Week in Pictures

I just got home not long ago from the longest day.  I had the longest day yesterday as well and another long day is on the agenda tomorrow, so I am pretty useless right now.  I am surprised I found the brain cells to even type, ha!  I wanted to get a quick post in, though, since I didn't get to it yesterday.

Most of these were supposed to be from the "weekend roundup" post that I never got around to writing.  I'm on my way to soak in the bath with a bottle of champagne (I can dream right?) for a few before going straight to bed, so I hope you enjoy.  I still have the gender reveal post on my "to do" list but want to be able to devote some time to it and I just don't have the energy tonight.  

Nothing sweeter than my loveys snuggling together!

Diva on the way to school on Friday.  Could NOT get her to take the glasses off, so we wore them in.  And she talked to Hadley and then Mimi on the phone about school and Ms. Joanne.

Cheeeeeeese.  I think this is hysterical.

Enjoying a night out downtown at SparkCon!

Lilly was enthralled by the jugglers.

My Instagram friends (follow me! baumse) have already seen this, but we met a cat named Tuffy while we were out on a walk on Saturday.  Lilly saw him from across the street and said, "Mommy!  Pet kitty!"  I couldn't believe us but he let us pet him!  After about 20 (mostly unsuccessful) attempts by Lilly to tackle him he decided to run on home, and my sweet girl was so sad that she cried.  

CAUGHT IN THE ACT!  She was supposed to be helping me but instead sampled the cookie dough.

Dan picked these up somewhere and L has had the BEST time with them.  Except they're kind of gross because she puts them on the floor and they are now covered in dog hair.  Guess I need to sweep more often.

WE LOVE CHALK!  Dan traced our chalk family on Saturday.  I am wearing a sweet outfit and Lilly has no hair but is wearing a bow.

Tricycle!

"Helping" Daddy sweep up mulch after yard work.

A wheelbarrow ride.

Grocery shopping with Mommy!  I stalled her with apple samples on our way to the cookies.

I think this next series is hilarious.  1. Reading the list.

2.  I think we need to go to the cereal isle.

3. OMG CAN WE GET LUCKY CHARMS PLEASE PLEASE PPPLLLEEAASSEEEE?!?!?!

Hope your week has been great!

Sarah