Becoming a Federal Employee

Yep you got it, after months of worrying, strateging, praying, and planning the US Coast Guard notified me that I was selected for a position. I will be doing the same as I have always done just now I am a federal employee. I begin in June and I couldnt be happier. I was so worried about my famiy and how we were going to do it but now we are beginning our house projects and some of the remodeling we had planned before all this chaos began with the job situation. I hope to keep everyone updated on the house/baby/Ava/life while in the process of getting to know my new supervisor/job duties/and different tasks that I will be given during the work day.

It should be interesting how it all plays out.

16 Weeks

So I am now 16 weeks, the sickness is finally gone that took almost 15 weeks and I am growing. I am still having a lot of anxiety issues, but the doctor doesnt seem too concerned unless they become bad and frequent. Right now they appear every couple of days and I just have to breathe through them and try to work them out. I still have not gained any weight but am finally almost back up to where I was before I got the sickness. I am in all maternity clothes now and even some of them are becoming tight. We have our 20 week ultrasound scheduled for June 3rd and the doctor says it looks like we will meet our little peanut October 21st at 39 weeks by repeat c-section. I left the doctor's office floating on cloud 9, just super happy. The hearbeat is strong and I am feeling a little bit of movement throughout the day. Nothing huge yet but little bumps along bottom of my belly.

Easter 2011

So Easter this year was a little more exciting! Ava really didnt know what what going on, bunny wise but she knew she had a basket full of stuff and it was hers.

She loved the chick that peeped when you hugged it, its one of her favorites. She kept digging until the basket was empty and we opened every egg to get the piece of chocolate out. By 7 am she had 4 reese cups and was wired for church services.

As usual she got a book.

Her Daddy went out to put the trash up and she didnt like that at all.

Here she is in her Easter Dress with her kittie kittie


At my dad's doing an Easter egg hunt with Aunt Jess and Emily

Winding down after a very busy day. Daddy worked so once we got home, she got a bath and in her pj's very early and we just relaxed and played the rest of the day.

Erika's Surprise Baby Shower

So in September my sister in law, Erika told me she had gotten herself pregnant. YAY! I went almost immediately into plan mode. I promised her I would wait until she was about 14-20 weeks along, she was very cautious about the pregnancy.

In December, I began emailing my mother in law and Erika’s mom to start the planning. I have always been a little OCD when it comes to plans and making sure it all works out. I figured the earlier I began, I could switch it up or change things as needed. She would send me stuff she was thinking about with the baby and I would make a mental note of themes or things that she said. She had no clue I was collecting information. At week 21 she found out she would be having a little girl! YAY!

I consulted with the mom’s and got their opinions then went to hard core planning. Anyone who knows Erika knows that she feels that she needs to know all. HEHE. So when she asked when her shower would be held I gave her the date 2 weeks after I was really going to throw it. She was satisfied for a while with that. Then her mom told me she began bugging her and believing it was this date or that date depending on stuff that I had said. So I stopped speaking about it, didn’t mention anything about it until the month before. Then I asked her if could go shopping with me for some maternity things and Easter presents for Ava and Emily. She was happy to have a girls day out. I also tried to play it out a little by using my morning sickness as an excuse and saying that I hadn’t done much to prepare and would probably need to buy a few items for her shower with her there. She said that would be fine and she was super excited for her shower. She was ready to get things for her baby girl then to know what she and her husband Kelly would need to purchase to finish getting ready.

The BIG day finally came. I left Ava with Kenny and off we went to Hagerstown. Kenny, my wonderful and sweet husband, helped set up tables and chairs and the Mom’s decorated and got the food out. It rained so bad that day and we had to run from store to store. I was so thankful we hadn’t wanted to go to the Prime Outlets because we would probably have been soaked. I kept a watch on the clock and after a few hours of shopping we were heading back home.

I texted Erika’s mom and Tasha and told them we were leaving Hagerstown and would be there in a while. We were a little late of course, the rain and people driving extremely slow. But we got there. Her face lit up and I was yelled at “I knew it, you are soo sneaky”. Well yes, yes I am. LOL

But she had a great time. Everyone loved the games, her newly married cousin Tina helped plan and coordinate the games, and thank goodness for it. I couldn’t have done it with my all day sickness that lasted forever. People won prizes and laughed with each other.

Erika got a ton of stuff, or I should say Brooklyn did. At the end of the day, all the food was gone, the rain was coming down hard, and Erika had a car full of baby gear to take home and put away. I am so happy for her and Kelly. They will be parents in just a few short weeks and their lives will change forever. I cannot wait to see Erika as a mom and see how protective my brother in law becomes over his little girl. It will never be just them two again unless a grandma babysits to give them a little break! LOL

12 weeks

Well I have finally hit 12 weeks, not out of 1st trimester but certainly seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. My appointment went well. Little peanut was moving around so much it took a few minutes to nail down a heartbeat. But finally the doctor told me 164, yay! A nice healthy heartbeat. It was sweet music to my ears to listen to our 2nd child's heart beating so wonderfully. My sickness has gotten better, the bad days are no longer out numbering the good days. I am still having my anxiety attacks and hot flashes but the doctor told me that was perfectly normal, which I knew but wanted to make sure she was aware. I am still taking the unisom at night. I have tried to go without it and I have felt a little bad during the day so I have decided to keep using it for a few more weeks. With Kenny's schedule I cannot have a bad day when he is at work and I am alone with Ava. She needs me. I am in all maternity now, my waist is slowly expanding. I still havent gained all the weight back from when I was really sick but the doctor wasnt too concerned. Right now I am 6 pounds less than what I was at this time with Ava.

Feeding herself....

Ava has been feeding herself for months, but we have been doing stuff like dry cereal, snacks, fruit, but nothing too much, well these past few weeks as her cordination is getting better and she is getting older, we have let her go a little. She needs to learn one day how to feed herself the messy stuff so why not now. I figure it will be a little easier as summer is approaching because I can let her run around with her diaper on and just throw her in the tub once she is done. Here are some photos of spaghetti nights we have had and let her fed herself with the spaghetti in a bowl and a spoon/fork. It has been been fun to watch her.

Dizziness and Panic Attacks

Yep, they have started and earlier than it did with Ava. I tell ya this kiddo isnt making anything easy for me. The morning sickness has improved, not gone but improved. But last week I had my first of 2 Anxiety Attacks. Yesterday was the worse, I was dizzy from 6 am to about noon. Why? Most say its all the blood doubling, tripling in my body and NOW going to the baby. GREAT!! I love that everything seems to be going on schedule but being dizzy and pale for almost 6 hours while working on 15 files isnt my idea of a good day. Work has been busy, no time to be sick or not feeling well. I pride myself on the good and fast job I do but haven't been able to do it the way I would like to for about 7 weeks now. My poor blood pressure is dropping during the day and making me woozy, its already low to begin with and when it drops to even a lower number my head spins. These wonderful little dizzy attacks have started 2 whole months earlier than I experienced with Ava. Some say a boy? Some say another girl? I am saying maybe this one will have some Kidwiler in it. LOL I was a pain in the butt for my mom when she was carrying me, and everytime I call her about something she says 'you did the same to me'. Ava was not a breeze pregnancy just not high maintenance like this one has been. I didnt need to call in sick or leave work early or stop working to put my head in between my legs and make myself breath to keep from getting dizzy. Of course going into this I knew it would be completely different and have told everyone the next one would be my 'difficult' child and it is already proving me right. Dizziness is just scary. For anyone who has aniexty attacks because of any reason knows they are no fun at all. My mom had them with all of us and I expected to have them again with this one like I did with Ava. I think its just scarier having Ava around. She doesnt understand what is going on, she just rolls with it. Hopefully the hormone levels will even out a little bit and the blood will increase enough to let my body handle it. I dont see it happening but I hope. I keep saying a few more weeks and hopefully it will all be over but I dont think this one is going to let up at 13 weeks like Ava, I think it will be one thing after another and I will just deal. So far I think I have done well dealing with them, just need to keep taking care of myself like I have and keep chugging along.