We're Home

She is just a precious angel sent here from Heaven. Literally.

We're Off

I got a call yesterday afternoon that there would be a change in plans and I will be going in this morning instead of this evening. Kind of messed up my plans, but that's OK. She'll be here 12 hours earlier. So, I am up right now, the house is still quiet and dark. I will spend many nights/mornings like this over the next few weeks/months.

I had plans to make a nice dinner as our 'last night' together as a family of three but the change in plans changed that, too. Instead we dined with a $5 Little Cesaers Pizza and drank Crystal Light. I put Noelle to bed by myself, Daddy normally does it but I wanted to be with her. I laid there forever feeling her soft skin, smelling her smell, and listening to her breath. I could have stayed there all night. I cannot believe how big she is and how fiercely I love her. All I can hope is that she is this change is a positive one for her, that she loves having a baby around, and does not feel abandoned in any way.

Then Aaron and I got our blankets and got comfy on the couch, ate Oreos with milk while we watched a couple of shows in our DVR. Of course, I fell asleep, as always. Nothing special but typical of us, except the Oreos. That was a totally random purchase when I ran to the store for a couple of things. I wanted something random.

I just feel so blessed to have an opportunity to be in this situation. I really am blessed.

We will update as soon as we can!

We're Ready For You!

We've been like little busy bees today getting all of the last minute stuff ready. Washing car seat covers, putting together swings, all sorts of fun stuff! Aaron had a 'Honey-Do' list about a mile long and has been checking them all off like a champ.

It's like Old Mother Hubbard around here, we are about ready to leave and get our provisions for the next couple of weeks. I think I might even buy some frozen pizzas and burritos. *Gasp!*

As I am typing Noelle came by, hugged my leg and said, "I love Madeleine." Seriously? Precious.

Alright baby girl, let's go!

'D' Day

I saw Cooper yesterday. He wants me to come in Tuesday night at 8:00 for cervadil. I'm so conflicted. I want to go into labor on my own, labor as long as I can at home, then go to the hospital to deliver.

So, please say a prayer, cross your fingers, have a seance, light a candle, do a dance, ask Buddha, whatever method you prescribe to, that labor comes on its own.

Tonight I have a Manicure & Pedicure and tomorrow I am getting my haircut, so Saturday would be my day of choice. NOT that I am picky or anything. Seriously though, I would do a happy dance in between contractions if something happens before Tuesday night.

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Oh, and I have valances! And I love them! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Sorry they're so dark. Stinking camera, I could not get it to work. I will get better pictures up.

Knott's Horrible Farm

Due to do the fires, Knotts was bad and I mean BAD. When we got out of the car I turned to Aaron and said, "We've literally been dropped off at the gates of Hell." I now know what it's going to be like when I get there for bad things I have done and said. HOT, WINDY, SMOKY, ASH.

The 'picnic' part was sort of tolerable. But when we went to the actual park, things go really bad. The ash was pouring down on us. The crazy part was, the place was packed. People were swarming everywhere, walking around with masks and paper towels over their faces. Insane.

Aaron got in line for one ride, I called him 5 minutes later and told him there was no way we were going to make it. One ride took over an hour. Noelle and I walked some and tried to hide in the store.

But, we did get one picture. She actually wanted it. She went back and forth a few times, it just took her awhile to get used to him.

There Are Only A Few True Joys In Life...

Noelle has discovered one of them...licking the beater.

Bummer...

"It's shut like the gates of...the gates of...the gates of I don't know where." My cervix according to Cooper

I was really, really hoping for some progress but nope. Her head has moved down more, so that is good. Hopefully, next week will be different. He put me on his schedule for an induction on the 25th. I am not dead set on it, we will see how this week progresses. A scheduled induction is NOOOOOOOOOOT what I want.

Dr. Tamagna does, though, she's all for it. She reduced my PTU from 300mg to 200mg! Very good news. She wants to keep an eagle eye on things until delivery so I did blood work Friday, more today, and again next Friday, then I see her for an appointment on the 24th. Hopefully, we can reduce again this week. But, we need to be prepared for an huge up-swing after delivery and she told me not to hope for remission. My thyroid has been too resistant and the gland is still really big so, there ya go.

We're going to Knott's Berry Farm tomorrow courtesy of Ecolab. Aaron's group met their 3rd quarter goal in spite of this horrible economy, so they won a party. Couldn't you just give us the money instead? But, walking is good, right? We'll see how long I last.

Moral Dilemma

I had about 20 errands to run. I was getting them accomplished but every store was a series of unfortunate events. Buckled Noelle in her car seat only to realize I walked out of the store without my bag. After going in and out of Gymboree three times finally decide to get the Christmas Dresses, then realize my coupon expired. Seriously. My brain cells are starved for Oxygen. But, I kept on going! I drove by Mervyns and realized I have a credit and since they are going out of business I would use it.

We walked around forever looking at 100 different things but nothing was really that good of deal. Total waste of time. Do the whole car seat thing, break down the stroller heave it into the back of the car, and realize I don't have my wallet. Search everywhere on the brink of tears looking for it. Praying I dropped it, we head back into the store. My back is killing me and I'm so upset. I find an employee and she is nice but is not much help. Find a manager, but no luck. No wallet.

I do one more sweep and I FIND MY WALLET! I am so relieved, I can hardly speak.

I look up to realize the original employee was there. Long story short, she asks me for a ride home. Crud! I have no idea what to do. It's 8:00pm and really cold outside. I tell her I still have to go to Trader Joe's and Target. She says that's fine because she still has to clock out and will wait for me out front. What do I do? If it were just me I would have done it, but I'm incredibly pregnant with a toddler in the car, it makes me really uncomfortable. I now have a major inner conflict. I just received a HUGE blessing by finding my wallet and now is my chance to be Christ-like and return the favor, right? But, by letting a stranger into my car?

Luckily, Target was a disaster, it took an hour. No way she waited that long. Whew! Dodged that scene.

I am at the light in front of Mervyn's again and look who is crossing the street in front of my car! The lady who asked for a ride. AHHHHHHH! What do I do? Honk, and tell her to get in? I just sat there with my mouth hanging open and let her walk home.

I have felt guilty for two days.

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We went on our hospital tour last night. Hopefully, I have a better experience at Northridge than I did at Holy Cross. Yipeeeee!

Fun, Relaxing Weekend...And A Good Size Baby

We were supposed to go out of town for Aaron's work this weekend but due to 'The State of the Union' they have suspended spending money so we stayed home. Auntie and Unc were sad that they were not going to get Noelle for the weekend so they asked if they could still have her Friday night. No problemo!

Aaron pretty much always lets me decide what we are going to do/eat. I MADE him choose this time, being that this is probably the last hoo-rah before baby comes. He chose Olive Garden...seriously? So many choices? But, I had to keep my mouth shut. I just had soup and the next day looked like I'd been injected with saline solution from all the salt. Then he decided he wanted Diddy Reese, free gas is so good! Driving to Santa Monica for ice cream is not a big deal. A basketball game just let out so the line was around the block. Argh. We waited for about 45 minutes. The cookies were extra tasty this time, so it was almost worth it.

Saturday morning we stayed in bed until 8:00, BLISS! Walked to Jamba Juice to use a gift card I've had forever. Then got ready and went to pick up Noelle because we had a big surprise planned!

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE was making an appearance at our local Toys'R'Us. She was excited from afar. Close up, not so much.

The Care Bear, she freaked out.

That's alright. See you guys on TV!

~~

Childhood at it's best! Hanging off the side of the cart while we run down the hill!

We had nothing else planned for the day...a miracle. We got home had sandwiches and all took naps, BLISS! Noelle slept for 4 hours. It felt so nice to have a Saturday evening to hang out at home. Bedtime was a rough but it was worth it.

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On another note my appointment with Tabsh went really well, after waiting for more than two hours. He said a 38 week delivery would be just fine but he wants Tamagna to reduce my PTU dose before delivery. Baby weighs 6.5 pounds! Gaining an ounce a day from here on out puts us at an 8.5 pound baby two weeks early. He asked me what 'Crazy Cooper' was up to and I told him he kissed me. "OOOOH! Dat crazy man! You know dat is da kiss of a father, right?" On my way out I hear all the nurses giggling, "Did you hear that Crazy Cooper kissed her?"

Jesus Heals!

About a month ago I posted this request for our friends who were told they had a very sick baby.

Here is a portion of an e-mail from Mommy directly:

.....Well my friends, prayer is real. Miracles happen and God is so good!

We had an appointment with the doctor for another ultrasound yesterday. I was hoping for the best, but trying to be prepared for more of the same bad news for our little baby boy. I have to tell you again faith is real and prayers are answered. As he looked at the ultrasound screen the specialist said that the change in our boy was remarkable, that if he hadn't seen us a month ago he wouldn't have known this baby ever had faced the problems he had. The umbilical cord is exactly as it should be. His brain is normal and growing. The problem in his intestine is almost completely healed. His heart appears to be slightly further to the left than it should be, but apparently this can be a common problem that usually fixes itself or is easily corrected. We do need to keep that in our thoughts and prayers, but we are so far from where we were a month ago....

When she received the diagnosis that her baby was so sick her brother said, "I don't know what those Mormons believe but you tell her that JESUS HEALS!" For whatever reason it lightened the situation and brought some comic relief. We have giggled about it and carried on the motto that, JESUS HEALS! Whether you believe in God or not this is an amazing miracle, one to be celebrated!

We love you baby boy, here's to a Happy and Healthy 4 more months!

Cutest Witch Ever

Halloween was a blast. Noelle loved every minute of it and so did we! Wednesday night we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. Noelle's green face was traumatizing, but she soon got over it. Friday night she could not wait for the 'green and sparkles.' Auntie and Unc came with us while she skipped from house to house saying, "Let's get some candy!" In barely over an hour her bucket was filled twice, our neighborhood is perfect for trick or treaters. The streets were flooded with little ones (and not so little ones). We went home finished the night off with some pizza, a bath, then crashed in bed. It was perfect.

Washing and Terrified

What am I doing this morning you ask? Washing all kinds of teeny, tiny, socks, sweater sets, receiving blankets and the like. How on earth was it that she was ever so small?

I saw Cooper yesterday morning. They've begun... He did the Group B Strep test and then when feeling my belly realized her head was no longer up where he could feel it. So, he checked me and she sure is 'engaged.' He's lucky we're still friends after that whole scene. I told him that you don't need to be a doctor to figure that one out, I could have told him her head was coming down. He said given everything I've got going on he would "be willing to do anything he could to help me get delivered by the 24th or 25th." That's exactly three weeks away. I'm officially terrified.

He told me to be happy that it's almost over. And that I looked 'all sexy with my new hair cut and ready to have a baby.' No, I have not had my haircut but thanks for the compliment? Sexy and I certainly do not belong in the same sentence, period. Especially coming from you. Especially when you are sitting there with the rattiest baseball cap, three pairs of reading glasses on your head, a scrub shirt, cargo shorts, no socks, penny loafers, and some weird 2 sizes too big fleece jacket with moose all over it. Luckily, he took off the baby blue scarf already. He says he feels bad because patients always give him all kinds of gifts and he never gets a chance to use them so some days he just puts on random stuff.

I see Tabsh tomorrow and Tamagna on Monday so we'll see how those two appointments go.

Election Day

As election day looms ahead everyone is all over the board...there is a palpable energy everywhere we go.

I have started this post over many, many times. Putting my feelings into a few sentences is not possible so I will say this:

Please don't automatically think those who support Proposition 8 are discriminators, haters, intolerant, ignorant, or have no compassion. There are so very many reasons that have nothing to do with sexual orientation or religious convictions including social changes, civil rights, fiscal ramifications, personal values, moral values, and so on.

I support Proposition 8 in order to preserve the definition of marriage that has been on this earth since the beginning of the human race. One man and one woman is the only union that can create a child...this should be the TRADITIONAL definition of marriage.

If you want to enter into a union with someone of the same sex you should be able to do that. You should have your own seperate definition.

In 2000 California voted on Proposition 22 to define marriage as between a man and a woman and it passed. The way the Supreme Court overturned this was WRONG......it should worry you that 4 judges would decide "that the peoples feelings or perceptions have changed." This is not how our judicial system was set up to work and it could lead us to dangerous places.

Seperation of Church and State

I believe in a higher power, in a creator, in God, a Father in Heaven who created a divine plan for those of us on earth. His plan includes a Mother, a Father, and children. This is not always possible or ideal, but it's what we should strive for.

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I am beyond BLESSED and GRATEFUL to live in this free country. We can complain all we want about this government (I have done my fair share) but truth be told it is the best government this world has to offer. I would rather live here than any other country.

May our Heavenly Father bless you, those you love, and your wonderful families with all you want and stand in need of. May this election bring great things to pass for us. May we find renewed faith and hope in the common man, for that is what we all are, common. May we learn to love, respect and understand each other better. May we learn to be more forgiving and less contentious.