Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Full Term

Well we have finally mad eit to the 37 week mark! I am allowed to go off the turbutaline as i had my last pill last night around 11 pm.  I have had some sporatic but strong copntractions this morning but have no idea if they will end up being productive or not.  I am nervous about having a baby now even though i know we are ready and if he is ready all is a GO! Our father-in-law starts his vacation on Friday so i am hoping little Evan will stay put until then but i am thinking he might have other ideas.  We will see....no matter what we will be induced on Monday may 9th yay! So we have less than 1 1/2 weeks until his arrival. 

I am thinking we have everything in order except a spotless house...i planned on cleaning today and then with the contractions i was told by my hubby to relax instead...so i will just have to deal with a dirty house! :) The bags are packed and the nursery is ready to roll....the carseat has been in the van for two weeks now.  I am still waiting on the blanket i ordered that matches his carseat to arrive...and i hope we get it this week.  It is coming from Canada so i am unsure how long it will take to arrive....maybe he will hold out until it gets here, lol!

I had my SIL take some maternity photos last weekend at 36 weeks and i think she did a great job.  I have never been one to document my pregnancies and i felt that urge with this baby especially knowing he is going to be our last, i think! So here it is...hopefully the next time we post i will have some breandnew little baby pics to show everyone! Keep us in your prayers!








Monday, March 21, 2011

32 Weeks, Preterm Contractions, and Bedrest

Well tomorrow i will be 32 weeks pregnant and i am so grateful to feel so great still.  Unfortunately we have had some complications but according to the doctor we are okay and most likely will still have a full term baby boy.  I had some preterm contractions in early February and ended up in triage and after a few hours they gave me a shot of turbutaline and the contractions went away.  We noted my file and doctor said most likely that was a fluke and no big deal.  Then on Tuesday afternoon i started getting a few braxton-hicks copntractions and they started getting more frequent as the night went on, finally by 8 pm i realized they were getting conssitently closer together and not going away.  So the doctor sent me back to triage and we went through the process again. This time they gave me another shot of turbutaline and a pill of something that is a smooth muscle relaxer.  The contractions did not completely go away but did lessen greatly afterwards so i got sent home in the middle of the night.  My doctor wanted to see me the next morning since i was still having contractions very close to menstrual cramps and wasn't comfortable.  We checked for signs of cervical change(preterm labor) and luckily everything looked very good so he gave me a prescription for the turbutaline pills to keep the contractions at a minimum and hopefully go away completely.  It took a few days on bedrest but finally late friday night they went away and for the past three days i have stayed on bedrest without any contractions.  The doctor said once they went away i could start back to normal activity but according to my family normal activity for me is go, go, go which is a no, no, no!

I am grateful that it is only preterm contractions and not preterm labor as it seems to be controlable at the moment with medicine and rest.  Also since we are this far along our baby is most likely around the 4 lb mark or bigger which means if the contractions sent me into preterm labor at least the baby would have less complications than if born much earlier.  The doctor says we are just working towards 35-36 weeks and that is a huge milestone where if born baby Evan would most likley have a short hopsital stay or maybe even get to take him home right away.  Hard to believe that we could possibly have a baby coming home in as little as 3 weeks...yikes!

I have almost all the necessities to bring a new baby home but i am no where mentaly ready for this little one.  I keep asking myself what i was thinking wanting a third child why did i feel such a life shattering need to have another child....the past few restaurant and shopping experiences have been pure disasters with them acting like total maniacs but then my son brings me a flower from the yard and a huge kiss and it reminds me exaclty why. I am excited to see how our family dynamics change and what this little boy will do to mix things up.  I am wondering if he will look like Grant or completely different.  Will he breastfeed for a year like Hailey or will he be a formula baby like Grant? Will he be a content baby or end up with colic? I am looking forward to seeing how we function and cope with being a new family of 5!. 

I am having a hard time coping with the fact that our family is  now complete.  Not sure i totally believe it, even though i know three kids is more than enough for me to handle.  I still don't feel in my heart that we are done or our family is complete.  I will leave that final decision up to my husband.  He was content with two children and i never thought i would convince him we needed a third but somehow he decided it would be so.  Now the decision will be up to him again.  If he decided this is it-I will be happy with my princess and my two princes, more than happy, overly elated but i have always wanted a house full of girls.  I feel a pull for a daughter.  Not sure what route i want to try and go to make that possible.  Not sure i want to try another pregnancy, change it up and try foster parenting or adoption but i want to leave our options opened for the future, just in case my husband opens his heart to the idea of another child, hopefully a duaghter! ;)

Friday, March 11, 2011

Short Word Friday

Grrrrrr!

Poor Woody!

This little piggy went to the market, this little piggy....

Don't you wish your eyelashes were this long, i do!

Bubble, Bubble, Bubble....Bubble, bubble, POP!

Fingers and toes

See my car can fly!

Instead of coloring i prefer making hundreds of tiny holes in the paper instead!

If i give you the evil face long enough you will do everything i ask!

Cards from my great granny make me smile!

The wonder of an eight year old on her birthday!

I didn't do it, i swear!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

29 weeks and counting

Well, alot has happened in the past 2-3 months! I am already coming up on 30 weeks next Tuesday...hard to believe the time has passed so fast. It has been a busy couple of months and i have been ordered to relax and rest often. Back arouns 24-25 weeks we had a scary close call with contractions coming every 4-5 minutes and lasted over 8 hours before the hospital gave me some meds to stop them. Luckily the Dr. didn't put me on bedrest but he has advised me to use light duty as it seems my uterus contracts when i get up and walk for more than an hour at a time. Luckily i am not having any signs of an impeding labor and my cervix is closed and very thick at 5 cm. He thinks i am in good shape and should hold little Evan in to term...or later with my track resord previously, lol. If your wondering we have finally cam eup with a name, we picked it out on New Years Eve...seems so long agao now! Evan Andrew Steele. Evan after Jason's grandpa and Andrew after my dad. So our final child, our son will have a strong family name to pas on forever!

Our house had a healthy winter until about 2 weeks ago and then the nice weather started us on the yucky allergies and head colds. I ended up at the Dr. on Monday of this week with a sinus infection and allergy problems. I basically slept from Monday until this morning when Hailey ended up at the mec and she has strep throat. I am just hoping our house is on the mend and we get healthy soon.

The weather is gorgeous and i have shorts on, it feels so good and makes me wish we all were healthy and could play outside. I am ready to have the windows opened and fresh air coming in to blow the germs out of the house!

We have had birthday party after birthday party over the past month...and Haileys is coming up this weekend. Lots of GirlScout activities and me trying to get our scouts their cookie sale!It has been a challenege keeping up with all my volunteer activities. Everyone always tell me that i am a busybody but this pregnancy has made me slow down and it is super hard to do! I guess i like keeping busy and having to rest frequently and not walk much has made life super complicated. I know it is what i have to do to keep myself and m=out litle Evan safe though.

Our main computer crashed a couple of weeks ago and we are waiting for tax money to order a new bigger one so i don't have my normal photoediting software for my pictures. I have lightroom on my laptop but have never really tried to use it and understand it the way i should. I ended up taking some sexy maternity pics last week and used lightroom and i was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use for basic lighting issues and fun changes. I have told everyone it might just be my new best friend, lol! I will post a couple of pics here for you all to see. I really like them! Hopefully i will write again soon, but more than likely i will get busy and forget until after Evans born....guess we will have to wait and see!

They are a little racy, actually alot racier than i originally wanted. Then i found the beauty in them....it is a growing baby in there and it is beautiful!

Monday, December 6, 2010

2010 Christmas Cards

Family Story Christmas Card
Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.
View the entire collection of cards.

Friday, December 3, 2010

16 weeks and counting

Well we are 16 weeks pregnant and know we are having a little boy in May.  According to my plan with my doctor, if everything goes on schedule and without complications, we will have an induction on May 9, 2011.  I hate to say it but i like having it all planned out and hope we can keep on that track unless baby comes early which i doubt considering my other two children both had to be induced. It works out perfect cause my father-in-law has to take his 2011 vacation by the end of this year, so he can plan to be off around baby time to help with our other two children and possibly my out of town family can make plans to be in town on the baby's arrival which has never been possible before.  Some people have been looking at me like crazy and think planning it out is crazy but hey i like my life organized and everything on the calendar..it keeps me focused.

So far this pregnancy i have had many ups and downs.  I was miserable first trimester and lost about 5-6 pounds from nausea and exhaustion.  Then i had a week or so of feeling okay then the heartburn and vomiting started while the other symptoms calmed down.  Currently this week i have been doing well and have had none of the above symptoms, knock on wood, but i am not holding my breathe that i am symptom free yet.  This child knows he is the last and wants me to remember it well. 

According to my Dr. apt yesterday i gained 3 lbs this month but i had just left the Chinese restaurant and ate 2 plates so full i could barely walk afterwards...i assume it was at least 2 lbs of extra stuff so i am thinking i am up a pound or so which is great...lol.  We will see what they say at my next apt. in January after eating well for the holidays! I would love to keep this pregnancy around 15-20 lbs total so i have been eating much healthier and being so sick has drastically changes the amounts of food i eat and frequency of my meals.  I still crave sushi 24-7 and anything super spicy but i am trying not to eat the spicy things later at night to limit the heartburn. 

I finally feel like i look pregnant but lots of people say i barely look pregnant, i assume they are just being nice cause i am overweight and it is hard to tell, lol.  Family on the other hand have noticed i have lost in some places and gained in the belly so i feel confident they aren't gonna lie, right?

I love that the kids kiss my belly and talk to my belly, i think it is adorable to see them kiss me and tell him good night when they go to sleep at night.  I think Hailey is starting to get excited even though she didn't get the sister she wanted so desperately.  She seems to understand when i tell her that just means i can spoil her more and we can have more time together just the two of us while daddy keeps the boys busy! After i told her that she sounded a little bit more reassured.

I have been organizing all my stuff and getting rid of the girl things and taking inventory of everything i have but won't really start shopping until after the holidays and Christmas since i have no clue what i will be getting and if any of it included baby stuff which i assume it will!  We don't need many big things except the car seat.  I need bottles, new sheets, a baby bath, and lots of clothes and a cool diaper bag but we have basically everything else already. 






I am excited for this holiday season and even more excited for the upcoming year.  The first week of January we get our 20 week ultrasound and will get confirmation on how our baby boy is doing and that he is for sure a baby boy...but we think the pictures are very convincing.  I have added a couple of pictures for your enjoyment taken by either my 7 year old daughter or my 2 year old son, so don't except perfection but they are still cute!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Drumroll please..........

Well it looks like our family is going to have one sex outnumber the other and i got the short end of the stick in that respect.  My dreams of ribbons, bows, tutus, and monogrammed little dresses are no longer an option.  Thats right folks we are having a little BOY!!!!! I am very stoked to find out it is another boy though.  Grant is such a great little boy at 2 years old and i can't imagine another one even 1/2 as cute as him.  It will be his buddy and they will be around three years apart.  I am excited the bunk beds we just bought will come in handy more now than ever and that they have the option of sharing a room.  In addition it will save me a little money on clothes with all Grants clothes being saved.  I am very happy even more so than i ever expected.  We took our boy list from 35 names down to 5 names last night but we are having a hard time getting it narrowed down further....well the hubbys having a hard time.  Three of the names which are my favorites are not common at all and he isn't sure he can handle an untraditional name even though he helped pick them out...i told him he could sleep on it, lol. 

I am impatient...i have already been on etsy and all the clothing websites checking out matching outfits for the boys and all the adorable little baby hats i can get made for him.  Luckily he has a super talented grandma who will be making some for him and has already mentioned making a special outift/hat for coming home from the hospital...i am very excited to see what she has planned!  Her work is amazing!  My first main purchase after picking a name are monogrammed diaper covers so i can get his picture taken after he is born...i can't wait for all our photoshoots we can do! My best little prop! lol.  Well i better go and get editing some of the pics of my latest 2 week old session Gavin, but in the meantime i will post my ultrasound pics.  You will see that it can't be denied that he is a boy!!!



 I told you!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

15 weeks and random things

Well this pregnancy is moving along very fast...and the end of the year is almost here! So much has been happening in the Steele household over the past couple of months and it just keeps getting crazier.  I am finally sailing into the 2nd trimester and i thought the 1st trimester bumps were over with and then the vomiting has struck me all over again....and worse than ever before.  I am miserable and wore out. 

We are in the process of rearranging the whole house to get ready for the new baby and it is a lot of work.  We are getting bunk beds this week for Grant's room and so the baby bed will be moving back into our room until the baby arrives.  I am a little apprehensive about him having a big boy bed where he can move around at night but he is such a good sleeper i am really hoping this works out to our advantage.

We should find out Monday the sex of the baby and i can't be more happy about it.  So many people say why don't you surprise yourself but i just can't do it...i am a planner and love to shop.  I want everything ready when the baby gets here, no surprises! So we have all the baby gear taking up a huge area of our room which also had to be rearranged to make room for the nursery in the front area of our room. 

In addition, with Christmas right around the corner we just got all 5 boxes of Christmas gear out and set up in the living room.  In doing that i had to move a HUGE amount of the kids toys out of the living room/playroom to make room for our massive tree and i still am not sure i have taken enough stuff out...but i have no room for anything else anywhere else.  With the new bunk beds going in Grants room i barely shoved and rearranged to fit all the extra toys in his room.  This should be very interesting with Christmas toys on the horizon.

I am freaking out just a little bit.  I feel like the house is in a frenzy and all 1/2 completed and i feel so tired and sick that i just want to lay on the couch and do nothing for awhile.  Unfortunately that isn't possible....but i am very happy and thankful for the chance to have all this chaos....yeah i know i don't sound like it...but you are where i can vent and release all this pent up blahhhhhhhhhhh!

I am excited for the Holidays and the big changes coming into our household.  I am so Thankful for a God who takes care of my family and friends and provides so much for us.  I am thankful for being sick and God trying to show me that life is not a box of chocolates 24-7 but we still need to be gracious and thankful even when it is the hardest thing.  I plan on celebrating this Thanksgiving giving thanks for all my blessings and i hope you do the same. 




I'll finish the post of with some recent pictures of some of the adorable kids i've had a pleasure of photographing this month!

I'll try to add some pics of my own kiddos soon and my photoshoot for my friend Missy's 2 week old little baby boy Gavin i'm taking this week. Happy Holidays!!!

Shutterfly 50 Free Holiday cards

Well it seems that Shutterfly has saved the day again this year.  All bloggers get 50 free Holiday cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards just for being bloggers, what could be better than that!!We got cards from them last year and i was truly amazed at how stunning they looked.  This year i planned on ordering them again and i saw this promotion just in time.

 All you have to do is go to http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/ for your submission form.  It is super simple and in a couple of days you can order your free cards. 

I just got the kids outfits completely bought and planned on doing a photo shoot with them this weekend for the "perfect" picture for the cards....soon enough they will be ready for you to see! I am excited and so should you, get on over to Shutterfly and order your Christmas http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards or Holiday cards today!!

Some of my favorites include:





Then again if you are not that interested in sending out massive amounts of cards for Christmas or the Holidays you can also get cards for other occasions like the birth of a new baby, birth announcements http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birth-announcements are always a big hit and Shutterfly makes the process even easier for all of soon to be new moms. Good luck and go order your announcements or cards today!

I know we are in the process of deciding if we need one for a boy:



OR



A BABY GIRL.....hopefully we will know in three more days!