Chris the Cripple

Look at this handsome devil,

all excited to go into surgery :)

 

A few months ago, my love injured his shoulder while lifting weights

and has been waiting it out to see if it would heal and get better on its own.

Then a couple weeks ago, he had an MRI and they diagnosed the labral tear

and decided it would need to get fixed and scheduled the surgery right then and there.

 

He loves that I document everything :)



 

Obviously for me and my selfish self, not the most ideal of timing, being so pregnant.

He won't be able to pick up Scarlett for two months, which is very unfortunate.

But in a sense, we're glad it happened now and that he got it fixed before dental school started.

 

*His drugged-up cheesey smile



 

He has been such a trooper though.

And though this last week has been kinda rough with lack of sleep

and trying to take care of a recovering husband and a very teething/needy toddler,

I reflected today how incredibly blessed I am.

It's been a reality check of how lucky and spoiled I've been.

Chris is the most amazing and helpful husband that I could've ever imagined.

And I realized just how much he did for us now that he can't for the time being.

He did most of the cooking, helps SO much with Scarlett, and takes such good care of me.

I feel blessed to be able to serve him at least in some little way with our current situation.

(Tonight, I even made him scrambled eggs that were edible!)

 

One of the hardest things is that he hasn't been able to play with Scarlett as much,

and she misses her daddy like crazy.

But they've gotten some pretty good cuddles in while he rests :)

So, thank you, Chris!

For being so amazing: here's to a speedy recovery!!

 



 

PS- I was really just excited to see how he would react after his first

anesthesia experience.  I was a little heartbroken when I walked in and he asked who I was, but quickly got over it and saw a video opportunity. Sorry it's a little scandalous at the end.

 

Third Trimester and a Labor Scare

Officially in the final stretch!!  So crazy!

Things were pretty uneventful there for a while.

Heartburn, pelvic pain, waddling...

And happily loving baby's kicks, feeling his first hiccups, and dreaming of his nursery.

Then on Monday, baby boy decided to make his  mama a little worried!

I've had a ton of Braxton Hicks contractions throughout the pregnancy,

but I started noticing late in the night that they were getting more uncomfortable.

Being a good little labor nurse, I did all the tricks that I often tell my patients:

take a warm shower, drink lots of water, lie down and rest...

And I was still pretty uncomfortable.

I then started to time my contractions and they were coming every 3-12 minutes.

But they weren't super painful, so I was majorly torn.

I didn't want to look like an idiot going into the hospital being a labor nurse

only to find that absolutely nothing was happening.

But at the same time, I've seen quite a few scary situations of preterm labor,

so I'm probably more paranoid than the average person.

So after about six hours of consistent contractions,

I finally decided to go in and get checked.

I decided I'd rather look dumb and be safe than be sorry and not check if something were going on.

When they first put me on the monitor, nothing was really showing up as far as contractions

and I was starting to feel embarrassed.

(I'm delivering at a different hospital than I work at due to insurance so I

didn't have the luxury of being with my own coworkers)

But after a little adjusting of the contraction monitor, they finally started

to show up and I realized that I wasn't crazy!!

In fact, I was contracting more than I even knew,

for a while they were about every 1-2 minutes.



Excuse the no make-up and wet hair.  It was 4 AM.

So they did all the usual preterm labor workup.

My urinalysis looked perfect, my FFN was negative (indicating that preterm delivery is unlikely),

and luckily I was only 1/2 a centimeter dilated.

That's what I was most worried about.

And baby looked great too, that's also most important.

So they gave me a shot to relax my uterus, and that stuff is a miracle worker.

I hated it cause it made me feel like I was having a panic attack, but

it stopped those contractions in their tracks!

The next day I felt like a million bucks.

I didn't realize how uncomfortable I had been until it was gone.

I'm so grateful everything was okay, but I'm still paranoid that this little boy is going

to continue being a trouble maker.

I've had a few bouts of contractions since, but nothing consistent, so I'm happy :)

I guess he just wanted to remind me that he's there and that he's running the show!

You better behave, little one!

We've still got a while to go!!

To My Future Lillies: 18 months of Scarlett

Dear Miss Scarlett,

Your little personality is so cute and you're growing up so fast that I just

had to write down a few of my favorite things about you nowadays!

 

1. You are so polite and it's the cutest thing.  You say "peez" and "tank oo"

all the time.  You even thank me every time I wipe your bum!

 

2.  Your favorite foods these days are oranges and broccoli...which helps me

feel a little better about feeding you so much chicken nuggets and mac n cheese.

It balances out, right?

 

3.  You love everything music.  You dance and shake your hips to just about anything, you air-drum to the beat just like your daddy, and you beg for "more" whenever the music stops.

 

4.  Your favorite animals are cats, dogs, and monkeys.  You also love your stuffed animals.

Bedtime is not possible without Baby, Elmo, Monkey, and "Church" (your other baby doll).

And if one is missing, you ask for it by name until it is found and nestled next to you.

 

5.  Speaking of Elmo, you are obsessed.  You ask to watch Elmo all day, every day.

And your face is pretty priceless when I give in and let you watch a little bit.

 

6.  We are discovering that you have a pretty tender and sensitive soul.  If you get

in trouble or embarrassed or hurt, usually instead of crying, you just get the saddest frown, burrow

your face, and hide for a few minutes.

 

You love to play piano, and have to have a music book so that you can turn the pages

 



 

You're mastering your cheesey smile.

 

You're obsessed with brushing your teeth,

and hate when mommy and daddy try to help you.

I guess that's the daughter of a future dentist :)

 

You love bathtime!

And I love it too because I get to actually see how long your hair is.

 

 

Again, you love music.

You're daddy's little recording assistant.

 

 

First time trying pigtails!

Major fail; you hated it and they fell out after 30 seconds.

 

Daddy is your favorite person in the world!

 

 

But sometimes, mommy can make you laugh too :)

 

 

You make life so fun, little one!

My Funny Valentine

That frank Sinatra song has been stuck in my head for the past couple of days. That's the only line I know so I've been serenading Chris with made up lyrics- his favorite thing I do :)

But anyways, we celebrated valentines early since I'm working that night, and it was lovely getting to spend time with my one and only.

We had a spontaneous date on Tuesday to boondocks to play some games and have dinner. They got into the holiday spirit and made a heart shaped pizza, too precious!

 

 

 

Then yesterday Chris surprised me with a mani/pedi appointment! He's the best. It was so relaxing, AND when I got home the house was spotless, what more could a girl want?? Oh, chocolate obviously :) I hinted at that one.

 

 

 

Then I gave him his gift- a little something for the five senses: cologne, candy, a coupon for a duet recording session, a back massage thing, etc. I thought it turned out pretty cute. 

 

Then we got ready for our date! On an unrelated note- tunics really are a pregnant girls best friend. They are SO comfy!

 

 

We dropped the babe off with some friends and had a delicious meal at one of our favorite places, La Jolla Grove. 

 

 

I love Scarlett, but it's nice to get out just the two of us every once in a while. It was a perfect day with my love!

Suprise 1st Birthday Photo Shoot

Happy birthday to this cute 1-year-old!!

I was so excited to take this handsome dude's first year photos.

Is he not adorable?!

 

 

My favorite :)

Very own cake to smash into = pure happiness.

 

 

Happy birthday Landon!!



Happy V Day!! {24 weeks}

24 weeks- happy viability day, little man!

You can survive outside the womb at this point, and that is a huge milestone to reach.

 I don't know if I subconsciously try to avoid thinking about the reality of a baby

 until after this point just in case something were to happen,

but this week I've really gotten into baby mode.

Everything little boy has been on my mind:

 what I want his nursery to look like,

 the fact that I should probably buy him at least a few articles of clothing,

and most importantly, WHAT is this little dude's name going to be.

 I get so tired of looking at "top name" lists and reading the same ones over and over,

especially since I don't really want a popular name.

Suggestions are more than welcome :)

I'd like to say that I'm handling this pregnancy beautifully,

 but I gotta be honest, this last month has kinda kicked my booty.

 Mainly due to one annoying problem that I have which is pelvic pain.

I had it with Scarlett closer to the end of my pregnancy,

 but it's already worse than it ever was with her.

Some days I can hardly bear weight to walk.

I want to be healthy and tried doing a mild elliptical workout last week and that just about killed me. So then I get down on myself for feeling like a fat blob that can't do anything,

 as well as a bad mom cause I can't play with/pick up Scarlett nearly as well as I used to.

It's all very discouraging.

Especially since I went to a chiropractor yesterday only to be told that there's basically nothing I can do and that it'll only get worse the farther along I get.

Great.....

BUT, other than that I feel pretty good,

apart from the expected heartburn and clumsiness and pregnancy brain.

Baby seems to be doing really well and that's of course the most important thing.

It's going by so fast and that makes me happy because we can't wait to meet this little guy!!

Miller Maternity

I had the privilege of doing my first maternity photo shoot

of our good friends, Anai and Dustin.

It was such a blast!  It's probably my new favorite thing to do :)

Pregnancy is such a beautiful time and I was so excited to be able to capture it.

Here are some of my favorites!

Thank you, Millers, for putting up with the bitter cold,

and thanks to my wonderful hubs for doing most of the editing!