The Dotsons

Here's my weekly update minus the belly picture!  We had a really busy weekend with house showings and an open house and we were actually in Magnolia a lot of the time.  Between cleaning house and being out of the house, I just didn't have time to take a picture this weekend.  I know it will bug me that it's missing, but it is what it is!  Not much has changed this week...


How Far Along: 21 weeks, 6 days

Size of baby:  weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. (according to www.babycenter.com)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I've gained 17 lbs total as of my 19 week appointment on 1/11.  I think I’m going to gain the most with this one!

* I took out “maternity clothes” and “gender” because obviously, these things will not change! 

Movement: Still the same - I feel her mostly at night or in the morning when I’m laying in bed.  When I’m on the go during the day, I don’t feel it nearly as much since she’s still very small with lighter movements.

Sleep: Not good!  I think I only sleep for like 2 hours at a time before I either wake up to turn to my other side or to go to the bathroom (mostly the latter!)

Symptoms: Overall, I’m feeling pretty decent.  I have felt the “aches and pains” earlier this time….even earlier than with Aubrey.  Since I’m not sleeping on my back or stomach, my hips are hurting from just sleeping on my sides.  This has happened with all my pregnancies so I know it’s just a part of it.

What I miss: sleeping straight through the night!  IN A MAJOR WAY.  I do not feel well rested in the mornings.

Cravings: Still craving Gringo’s!!  (Chuy’s or Lupe Tortilla would also do!)  We tried to eat dinner there on Friday night but the wait was SO long that we went somewhere else.

Best moment this week:  Feeling more kicks from our sweet baby girl!

What I am looking forward to:  Finalizing her FULL name!  She has a first name but we haven’t settled on her middle name so I'm not ready to share just yet!

I didn’t do so hot this week.  I missed two days!  Oh well, I’m gonna keep on keepin’ on….




{Sunday, January 20, 2013} - Aubrey has finally started consistently pulling up to standing all by herself!  She has a strange way of doing it that I need to video, but she gets up on her feet and at this point, that's all that matters!  Here, she was wanting Daddy to pick her up and put her on the couch...so sweet!




{Monday, January 21, 2013} - This was some pretty good "morning hair" for someone with hardly any hair!


*  I missed Tuesday and Wednesday - FAIL!




{Thursday, January 24, 2013} - Since figuring out how pull to standing, she's getting even more active and trying new things....like climbing up on the fireplace.  She never actually made it up there (b/c I didn't let her) but she definitely would have!  I'm really about to have my hands full with her!




{Friday, January 25, 2013} - The kids love jumping on the couch (or bed) so for safety purposes, I just threw some of the couch cushions on the floor instead.  They both enjoyed this!




{Saturday, January 26, 2013} - We had two house showings back-to-back (which were during afternoon nap time) so we headed to Magnolia for most of the day.  Some neighbors down the street have these two horses and Caleb loves to go feed them carrots.  I think this was Aubrey's first time to be up close and personal with the horses and she was not happy about it!  She was clinging to me and didn't want to be near them.  Right before we left, she warmed up a little and actually reached her hand out towards them.  You can see Caleb in the background walking towards us/them with a carrot already in his outstretched hand, LOL.

Well, we hit the big 20 week milestone – HALFWAY (or less) to meeting our sweet baby girl! (who is still without an offical name)



Oops, I forgot to do the “It’s a Girl!” sign.  I’d say by the 3rd time around, I’m lucky to do these pictures and posts!  Doesn’t mean we love this baby girl any less or are any less excited…..just a lot more going on nowadays with 2 littles! 

Also, I need to get my hair cut like YESTERDAY!!  I need to go back to the shorter “bob” ‘do I had when pregnant with Aubrey.  My hair is just too straight and stringy to wear it long (and the above is getting long for me).  I love long hair on a lot of other women, but I just can’t do it.  My hair is so limp that I’d look like a 70’s hippy – just need to add one of those bandana headband things and I could go to Woodstock 2013, LOL.  IOh, how I hate my hair.  Anyway……




How Far Along: 20 weeks, 5 days

Size of baby:  about 10 1/2 ounces; around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel  - the length of a banana.  (according to www.babycenter.com)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I've gained 17 lbs total as of my 19 week appointment on 1/11.  I think I’m going to gain the most with this one!

Maternity Clothes: definitely

Gender: another sweet baby girl!

Movement: I feel her mostly at night or in the morning when I’m laying in bed.  When I’m on the go during the day, I don’t feel it nearly as much since she’s still very small with lighter movements.

Sleep: I think I only sleep for like 2 hours at a time before I either wake up to turn to my other side or to go to the bathroom (mostly the latter!) 

Symptoms: Overall, I’m feeling pretty good.  I have felt the “aches and pains” earlier this time….even earlier than with Aubrey.  Since I’m not sleeping on my back or stomach, my hips are hurting from just sleeping on my sides.  This has happened with all my pregnancies so I know it’s just a part of it.

What I miss: sleeping straight through the night!  IN A MAJOR WAY.  I do not feel well rested in the mornings.

Cravings: This week, I have really been wanting Mexican food but it hasn’t happened!  I specifically want to go to Gringo’s.  We ate there for the first time last month and one of their dipping sauces is amazing!  I think it’s a tomatillo sauce b/c it is green……sooo good!!  Their salsa is yummy too!

Best moment this week: funny story – I keep telling Caleb that he’s going to have another sister, but I really don’t think he fully understands.  I try to explain but how can a 3 year old comprehend that there is a baby in my tummy?!  Anyway, the other day I told him he’d have a new sister to play with and he’d have fun playing with her (someday) just like with Aubrey.  (trying to get him excited)  He pointed at Aubrey and said “That one’s old!”  Then he pointed to my stomach and said “I want to play with the new one!”  I laughed so hard!  It was so cute (even though he did kinda dis Aubrey – ha!)  No worries, though – those two love playing together…unless Caleb gets in one of his moods where he wants to shut Aubrey out of his room!

What I am looking forward to:  Um, still need to finalize her name!  I think we’ve got the first name but still undecided on the middle name.  We’ve been so wrapped up in house buying/selling stuff and the sickies (mostly Rhett with sinus crud) that we haven’t talked much about it this week.  I hope by next week’s post, she will finally have a name that I can share!  :-)

{Sunday, January 13, 2013} – Feast your eyes on Cousin Eddie’s RV!  These aren’t exactly the neighbors you want to live next to (for many reasons), but one of them is the fact that they have this giant, hideous RV parked out in front of their house.  It’s been there for probably 6 weeks.  Seriously?!  They do live on our street but thank goodness it’s far enough away that you can’t see this monstrosity from our house! 




{Monday, January 14, 2013} – This girl LOVES donut holes!




{Tuesday, January 15, 2013} – These two love playing under the table and chairs.




{Wednesday, January 16, 2013} – This particular morning, Aubrey woke up at 6:30am.  After we ate, we had quite a bit of mommy/daughter time before Caleb woke up.  I guess she was wanting him to get up because she eventually went and sat outside his door, LOL.  He didn’t wake up until after 8:30am.  I guess she was bored with me!




{Thursday, January 17, 2013} – playing trains together




{Friday, January 18, 2013} – We went to play at the Bercaw’s house on this morning.  It’s hard to tell but Aubrey was whining/fussing here because Ethan got the water bottle away from her.  (not sure if he took it or if she let go and he grabbed it).  She is very timid and sensitive when it comes to playing with other kids.  I don’t know if this is just a phase or the way she is wired!




{Saturday, January 19, 2013} – Not the greatest phone pic but here is Caleb showing his excitement over the HEB Buddy Bucks machine.  He was literally jumping up and down and shouting really loudly “Yay!  You got 5 points!” like the machine says.  It was too cute!

 

Well, I am a little behind starting these posts b/c I started belly pics at week 17 with the other two.  Oh well, I’m only two weeks behind.  Not bad considering I am almost 3 months behind on all my other blogging!  I figured I’d post my current pics and also pull up my comparison pics I did of Aubrey vs. Caleb – that way, I can see all three bellies together!  :-)

 

I need a hair cut something terrible – woof!  LOL

 

How Far Along: 19 weeks, 6 days

Size of baby:  about 8 1/2 ounces and 6 inches, head to bottom – about the size of a large heirloom tomato (according to www.babycenter.com)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I've gained 17 lbs total. I never recorded my monthly weight gain with Caleb but I know for a fact that I have gained more than with Aubrey.  Yikes!!

Maternity Clothes: definitely

Gender: We found out on Friday that baby #3 is a GIRL!  I was actually right this time. (I’ve been wrong with both of the others)

Movement: I started feeling her move this week!  I mostly feel it at night or in the morning when I’m still and in bed.  I think I’ve felt a few movements here and there before this week, but this week the movements have been definite!

Sleep: Getting up for the bathroom probably 2-3 times a night.  A lot of nights I wake up fairly often, just tossing and turning.  I don’t ever just sleep straight through the night any more.  I do think I’m sleeping better than in the 1st trimester….then, I was tossing and turning A LOT!

Symptoms: Overall, I’m feeling pretty good.  I have felt the “aches and pains” earlier this time….even earlier than with Aubrey.  Two weeks before Christmas, Rhett and I went to Grapevine for a weekend away and we walked the mall for hours one day.  I regretted that!  I ended up buying a maternity support belt at Motherhood in the mall.  That helped, but by the time I got it, I was already in a lot of pain from all the standing and walking! 

Also, this isn’t pregnancy related but I have to document it…I came down with a stomach bug on Wednesday night (well, technically Thursday morning).  When we went to sleep around 11pm, my stomach had started feeling kinda weird.  I woke up at 3:45am and was hit!  Luckily, Rhett stayed home with us to take care of the kids b/c I was down for the count.  Conveniently (sarcasm), we got 2 showing requests for our house that day.  We accepted them and went to Rhett’s parents’ house to clear out our house.  Right before we left at 2:30pm, I got sick and that was the last time.  Thankfully, I still have nausea meds left so I took a 1/2 Phenergan and that put me to sleep.  I slept the entire 2 hours we were in Magnolia and then took another when we got home and was knocked out for the night.  I felt much better on Friday morning…thankfully b/c that was the big appointment day!  Unfortunately, Caleb got the bug on Friday.  Rhett’s mom texted us that he’d gotten sick while we were out for my appointment.  Luckily, he only did twice and seemed fine by about 3pm that afternoon.  We think it originated with Aubrey b/c when I went in to get her on Wednesday morning, I found that she had vomited during the night (maybe once or twice…not sure b/c I never heard anything over the monitor!)  She didn’t really seem sick, otherwise (other than a runny nose).  Miraculously, Rhett never got it!

What I miss: sleeping straight through the night!

Cravings: not really any that I can think of at the moment.

Best moment this week: finding out we are having another girl and hearing that all organs/anatomy appear normal & healthy!

What I am looking forward to:  choosing her name!  I think we have it narrowed down to two names, but we haven’t finalized it yet.  I am pushing to get it set, but Rhett is in no hurry. 

{Sunday, January 6, 2013} – This picture is pretty lame but I got to the end of the day after the kids were in bed and realized that I hadn’t taken a picture.  So, I snapped a picture of our Sunday school class semester planning calendar because we had a leadership meeting that night.  This was our last thing to head up as class directors before we move to the new Cypress campus.  (also, the lighting here is terrible because something was up with my flash)


{Monday, January 7, 2013} – doing a little coloring (notice Aubrey is multitasking….coloring while sucking her thumb!)


{Tuesday, January 8, 2013} – We got an offer on our house after just ONE showing! (which took place on Saturday after the house had been listed for 3 days)  This is a picture of my computer screen taken with my phone, which is why it looks so crummy.


{Wednesday, January 9, 2013} – I went to get Aubrey up and found that she had vomited once or twice during the night.  No bueno!  I never once heard a peep from her that night, but I feel bad if she did make noise and I just slept through it!  Despite what I found, she was acting just fine and enjoyed her out-of-the-norm early morning bath to clean up.  Her only other symptom of illness has been a runny nose.


{Thursday, January 10, 2013} – I was hit HARD by the stomach bug at 3:45am. We are guessing it came from Aubrey, but I got it WAY worse.  I did not fully recover for 24+ hours.  I felt better on Friday, thankfully.  This was all I could stomach – Gatorade and crackers.  I really didn’t even consume much of this.  I was so worried about getting dehydrated (pregnant and dehydrated is not good), but I just could not hold anything down until much later that night!


{Friday, January 11, 2013} – Thank goodness I was recovered from the bug so we could go to my ultrasound appointment!  We found out that we are having another girl!  Rhett’s mom watched the kids for us while we went and unfortunately, Caleb came down with the bug after we left that morning.  He only vomited twice and was much better by about 3pm.  He bounced back pretty quickly, praise the Lord!  (side note – Rhett never got the bug!  We thought he was coming down with it that night b/c his stomach was acting weird, but he never got it!)


{Saturday, January 12, 2013} – This boy is a goober!  If you look closely, you will see that he’d put some HEB Buddy Bucks in the front of his pants.  That’s what he uses for pockets when he doesn’t have any.  Also, he is saying “cheese” hence the goofy face!  He makes us laugh!

I’m way behind on posting this….WAY behind….but here is Aubrey’s (fake) 16 month picture!  She was actually 17 months exactly on this day, LOL.  Hey, I needed SOMETHING!  Rhett said it doesn't count but I can’t just not have a picture for her 16th month, so we’ll just pretend.  :-)

Here are some little notes I've been taking along the way to remember for this pregnancy!  I started out really well jotting stuff down, but then kinda fizzled mid-November.  I figured I'd post what I did write down anyway!  Sorry, no pictures as I still haven't taken any belly shots.  This is probably really boring for everyone else but me, but I'm posting it anyway.  :-)


* First positive pregnancy test on Friday, 9/21.  I woke up with some really bad sinus crud and I decided to test before I took anything....just to see!  It was actually pretty early to test but I still got a positive!  I didn't fully believe it though and we tried not to get too excited since it was so early.

* Second positive test on Monday, 9/24.  Yes, I only waited 3 days to re-test....I was so impatient!  Oddly though, as soon as I saw the positive, I also noticed that I was having some bleeding (sorry if TMI).  It wasn't a ton but still alarming.  This lasted for a few hours that morning and then stopped.

* Tuesday, 9/25, I had no bleeding throughout the daytime but noticed some more that evening/night.  It still wasn't much but I was also having symptoms like having my period (again, sorry if TMI but I have to document!).  I decided I'd call my doctor in the morning.

* Wednesday, 9/26, I called my doctor and she had me go for some bloodwork to check my hormone levels.  Luckily, we have a Labcorp just a few minutes away so I was able to go there instead of driving down to the med center.  Got my blood drawn and then waited.....

* Thursday, 9/27 - took another pregancy test just for good measure, LOL.  It was positive.  Until you've experienced this, you cannot laugh!

* Monday, 10/1 - called doctor's office because I was getting impatient waiting for the bloodwork results.  She said she'd call me back once Dr. Tran had looked at them.  She called back later and said my HCG was low but my progesterone was high.  The HCG being low was most likely b/c it was so early (I would have only been about 4 weeks) but the high progesterone is a good sign!  (oh, and no bleeding since Tues 9/25)

* Also on Monday, 10/1 - took another pregnancy test because I had one left and HAD to use it!  It was positive....starting to let myself believe I'm actually pregnant!  :-)

* Wednesday, 10/3 - queasy stomach started!!  (5 weeks, 2 days)

* Thursday, 10/4 - smelled some stinky trash and gagged, LOL.  Really started noticing smells!

* Friday, 10/5 - ALL DAY  nausea really kicked in.  Fun!

* Friday, 10/12 - went to my OBGYN for the first time this pregnancy.....mainly to get a prescription for nausea meds!  She did an ultrasound in the office and baby's heartbeat was good (don't remember what it was) and baby measured just right.  She did see one "off" thing and that was the gestational sac was scalloped instead of perfectly rounded.  She said most of the time when she sees this, it means that there has been a miscarriage.  However, everything else looked great so she said not to worry too much about it unless I started bleeding again.  I started taking promethazine every 4 hours (1/2 of a 25 mg tablet).

* Saturday, 10/13 - we went to pick up Rhett from the airport (he went to Nicaragua w/Living Water) and I was just a zombie all day.  Even just taking 1/2 a promethazine, I was just so sleepy!

* Monday, 10/15 (7 weeks) - called doctor's office to get them to call me in Zofran to try instead!  (hoping I wouldn't be so sleepy taking it)

* Zofran (8 mg twice a day) definitely helps, but unfortunately has another side effect that is not so fun (I'll go ahead and say it........it's constipation!).

*  I've had some random cravings this pregnancy!  One Sunday afternoon, I all of a sudden wanted a meatball sub from Subway so Rhett went and got me one.  It was like 3:30 in the afternoon, LOL.  Another weekday, I took a nap while the kids napped and I had a dream about pancakes.  When I woke up, I just HAD to have pancakes so we went to IHOP for dinner!

* I have been SO exhausted this pregnancy!!  I have ZERO energy to do anything.  Seriously, I feel bad about how messy our house is these days but I just don't have the energy or motivation to really clean.  I do just the bare minimum like loading the dishwasher and occasionally sweeping and vacuuming.  Laundry piles up on the couch, but I get that done about once a week.  Other than that, I don't do much else.  I definitely could not have company over to the house right now!  It's bad!

* I've been going to bed around 10pm......10:30pm at the latest.  This is very early for me!  Before, I was staying up until midnight or later. I'm a night owl but I just can't stay up late any more!  Several times, I have gone to bed at 9pm, which is just unheard of for me!

* Monday, 11/5 (10 weeks) - The nausea seems to be getting better.  I'm taking a Zofran in the morning and then a Phenergan at night, usually after dinner.  I can tell when the Zofran wears off in the afternoon, though, because I start to get nauseated again around 3-4pm.  I'm also starving and ready for dinner by this time so that doesn't help!  I push through without taking another Zofran, though, because it lessens the constipation if I only take one a day as opposed to two.

*  Thursday, 11/8 (10 weeks, 3 days) - I had my 10-week appointment today and Rhett went with me.  The nurse found the heartbeat right away and it was 161 bpm!  Dr. Tran wasn't going to do an ultrasound but I asked if she could since Rhett had come and also to check the gestational sac again (since it was scalloped at 6 weeks).  She said she wasn't worried about that since they found the heartbeat and I haven't had any bleeding, but she was fine doing the ultrasound.  The sac is no longer scalloped and everything looked great - praise the Lord!  The baby measured right at 10 weeks, so just a few days behind, which is ok.

*  Saturday, 11/10 - I feel like I've all-of-a-sudden starting "showing" this week.  However, I think anyone who doesn't know I'm pregnant would just think I had a bit of a gut!  I'm still fitting into my regular jeans, but I don't know for how much longer.  If it ever actually gets cold and stays cold, I'm going to have to buy some long-sleeved/cold weather maternity stuff this time around.  I haven't had to with the other two because I didn't need maternity clothes until the spring months.

* Gradually stopped having to take my nausea meds around 13-14 weeks!  Also started getting some energy back around this time.

Ok, so I’m going to attempt this “Project 365” thing again!  Last year, I failed miserably.  I posted through sometime in March, I believe, and then just couldn’t keep up with the weekly posts.  I continued to take pictures through the first of the summer but then I fizzled out.  I REALLY want to keep up with it this year, so let’s see how this goes!

I would love for these to be better quality photos, so in general, I plan to take them using my “good camera.”  However, since we put our house on the market on January 2nd, my camera was tucked away for a bit and I used my phone to take most of these.  I got my camera back out so I’m hoping to get back into using it!

One last thing… Last year when I attempted this, I tried to edit or touch up each photo and labeled each photo individually with the date they were taken.  That took a lot of time and was part of the reason it was just too much.  SO, I might do some touching up here and there but I will not be “writing” the date on each and doing all of that time consuming stuff.  {JanHopefully, that will help me with keeping up with the weekly posting!

{Tuesday, January 1, 2013} – Aubrey stood up on her feet ALL BY HERSELF for the very first time!!  (she hasn’t done it since, but this is a start!)


{Wednesday, January 2, 2013} – We put our house on the market!  (I didn’t take this picture….it’s from HAR so I have to give credit to our realtor’s assistant named Richard, LOL)


{Thursday, January 3, 2013} – SO weird to see the “For Sale” sign in front of our house!


{Friday, January 4, 2013} – Aubrey has started looking at books like this and pointing at things in the pictures.  I think she is imitating the way we read to them!


{Saturday, January 5, 2013} – We had a belated Christmas celebration with my family at my aunt and uncle’s “ranch” in Dickinson.