Matt's Birthday

Last Monday was Matt's birthday.  The fun part is that his birthday is the same day as Mom's AND the girls are always here to celebrate.  Abbey wanted to plan a scavenger hunt...so she enlisted my help and Lynzee's help and we had a fun time with their Dad going through house finding clues.  We made a 3-layer chocolate cake and had such a fun time celebrating with Matt - as you can tell by the pictures.

Pregnancy Update

Here are some more maternity pictures...we're almost done!  This week is 39 weeks so technically we could be having a baby anytime.  I feel that we have been so blessed with this pregnancy - I haven't really had any problems, symptoms at all.  Whatever pains or discomforts or emotional issues that have arisen, we just keeping going and everything resolves itself eventually.  I am so excited to meet our baby girl and have her in our family and home!

27 weeks, 33 weeks, 35 weeks, 38 weeks

 

25 weeks

Here's the latest picture we have of our baby girl.  She was in the perfect position for this profile picture.  I wonder how much babies really look like they do in ultrasound pictures.  I know I'm her mother so I'm biased but she is so cute.  She looks like her dad!

Emotions

Since family left, I have been on a roller coaster of emotions.  Sometimes I just feel like crying and can't even talk without crying.  Last night I participated in a women's walking group and on the way home, cried part of the way home.  I stopped at the store for a few things and decided all I felt like having for dinner was cheddar cheese potato chips.  So, I bought myself a bag!  Yikes!!  I came home and talked/cried with Matt on the couch and told him what I had done re: the chips.  Then I felt like the worst wife because he had been busy since early in the morning and had recently arrived home as well.  He had not had dinner yet.  I wanted to get him something for dinner besides cheddar cheese chips.  I tried to explaining that to him and then I started crying that I just wanted to be a good wife.

Matt deals with me very well.  After several hugs and kisses and reassurances that I am a good wife, he heated himself up some soup, had some Strouds leftovers and all was well.  I ate my chips and had a can of guava nectar and went to bed happy.

Girls Weekend

This last weekend Mom, Jenny, Elizabeth, Becky & Maddy came out to visit.  We decided we needed a girls weekend.  Too bad the distance is so great that these can't happen very often...but, the cool thing is we get to have another one in two weeks!!

Mom, Jenny, Becky & Maddy drove out.  They drove across Colorado and Kansas on the way out and across Nebraska and Wyoming on the way back.  Including some time spent in Missouri, that's 5 new states for Maddy and 3 new states for Beck.  How exciting!


Earlier last week, we had sunny 80 degree weather.  Then the winter storm hit and it was 30's, 40's & 50's the whole time family was here.  The sun did not make an appearance until everyone left.  I was so disappointed, but we still had a great time.

Elizabeth flew in and we have a few hours before everyone else arrived.  We went to the art museum and then had fried chicken at a popular local eatery.

Saturday morning we all arose early to participate in the Kansas City Temple Run.  It's a 5K that some of us ran and some of us walked.  It was a cold, wet morning but we went and had fun.  The picture below is funny because Matt had a bright orange shirt on under his hoodie.  He was trying to lift up the hoodie to reveal the bright orange shirt but ended up revealing a bit more than he intended.  LOL!

Maddy and Elizabeth at the finish line.

That afternoon, we had pedicures and then we went for BBQ at Oklahoma Joe's.  Then we headed for downtown KC to watch The Piano Guys in concert.  It was such a great show and I think everyone really enjoyed it.

Sunday we went to Sacrament Meeting and then that afternoon we went walking in Shawnee Mission Park.  We walked for a few hours enjoying the green and helping Elizabeth identify trees.

Sunday night we went through 5 bags of baby girl clothes that Becky brought out.  I was starting to really feel overwhelmed with the clothes and where we will put all of them...and overwhelmed with a baby coming and not knowing how everything will work out.  But, a good night's sleep does wonders.

Monday morning we moved furniture.  Maddy asked if we were moving all the beds in the house.  It seemed like it!

I really enjoyed having everyone come out.  It was such a fun weekend and I really appreciated all the help. 

21 week update

I'm 21 weeks today.  In the past week I've changed doctors and hired a doula...all very good changes I feel.  I feel so confident and good about the care I will be receiving.  Baby girl is doing well.  At today's checkup, she was very active.  She kept moving around as the doctor tried to listen to her heart beat.  I couldn't feel a bit of her activity though a few time each day I will feel her little flutter movements.  The only thing is I keep losing weight with each appointment - down about 7 lbs now.  While normally this would be very exciting news, isn't one is supposed to gain weight while pregnant.  I am eating and haven't had nausea or been sick.  All is well with baby, though, and in all her sonograms she's measuring right where she should be.  The doctor didn't say a thing about it so I guess I can be happy about my weight loss.

Melony and baby movements

This morning Matt & I were making our daily smoothie for breakfast.  We put half a cantaloupe in the smoothie today.  When I tasted it I said, "Wow!  This smoothie is very melony tasting."  Matt responded and said, "I guess that's a name we won't want for our baby...Melanie."  I commented - that's a clever play on words but why wouldn't we want the name Melanie?  Matt, being a man, responded - if she has big boobs and she's named Melanie (Melony) that wouldn't be good.  Ha, ha, ha!

I think I have been feeling the baby move over the past week...feels like little beats down where she is.  Like clockwork, whenever I lay down in bed at night I can feel quite a few movements.  Occasionally I'll feel something that I initially think might be gas but realize it's not and is probably that little thing doing a somersault or rolling over inside me.  Pretty cool is what I have to say about that right now!  Also reassuring to know that I don't have to wait for doctor appts to hear a heart beat and know she's alive inside me.

Pregnancy Pics and baby pics

I had Matt start taking some pictures to track my pregnancy at 16 weeks.  Here are the pictures since then.  Mostly I think I look chubby, chubbier and really chubby and then finally maybe more pregnant than fat.

16 weeks

17 weeks - not a good week for me and pictures

18 weeks

19 weeks and really chubby

20 weeks

Saving the best for last...

Look at this cute little girl!  Looks like her Dad!

Spring Break 2013

For Spring Break this year, we flew the girls to Dallas and we drove down.  We were there for over a week total.  We had such a great time with the girls and with family.  Here are a few pictures of our adventures.

One of the days we took the girls to the new Perot Natural Science Museum in downtown Dallas.  It was packed...tons of people there.  I'm not and never really have been interested in science but Matt and the girls are.  It thought it was okay.  I think they thought it was okay too.

Matt, Lynzee and Abbey using their brain skills in the life science section of the museum.  Matt & Abbey are playing ping pong with their brain and Lynzee is trying to write her name viewing through a mirror.

 

The next day we drove about 2 hours south of Plano to Fossil Rim - a very cool wild animal park.  Matt and the girls have been there before but it's been a few years.  This was my first time.  It's about a 9 mile drive through the park and most of the animals roam free.  As we drove up and saw the animals behind the fence I got really excited.  I guess I must quite reserved around the girls because Abbey thought my exclamation of excitement was pretty funny.  Here are lots of pics of our adventures that day.  This really is the coolest place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a short drive from the wild animal park was a nuclear power plant.  Matt is fascinated by them and wanted to drive by it.  We could only get as close as the security gate so spent a few minutes in the visitor center instead.

On Thursday, we went to East Texas with Matt's mom and Grandfather.  East Texas is where Jody's parents are both from and where Matt's grandmother is buried.  I loved this trip because Pops was with us and shared so much great family history information.  There is a great cemetery near Winnsboro called Pine Hill.  This is where Nannie is buried and where up to 25% of the people buried there are either Pops's family or Nannie's family.  After Winnsboro and lunch, we drove down to Grice Texas where Pops's grandfather settled after serving in the Civil War.  He was from Alabama so he fought in the Confederacy.  Grice Texas is named for Pops's grandfather, John Jackson (J.J.) Grice.  I loved this trip so much.  We learned a lot, spent some great time together, felt connected with all the people we learned about and the girls even got to have some adventures.  We searched the Grice cemetery for Pops's grandmother Grice's headstone.  Lynzee found it and Abbey helped do a rubbing so we could make out what was written on the headstone.

Pine Hill Cemetery

Nannie's headstone

The home that Nannie lived in Winnsboro

Downton Abbey Weekend

The third weekend in March, I drove out to the St. Louis area to spend the weekend with Matt's sister, Jo Anna.  We had been wanting to watch Downton Abbey together and Jo Anna had purchased the discs.  That weekend in March was the first we were both available.  We watched Downton Abbey all day...taking breaks long enough for lunch and dinner.  It was great!  On Sunday, March 17th, I was driving home and listening to some Irish music.  I was so excited to see Matt that I was going faster than I should have been going.  I was taking an exit off one freeway to the last freeway before I would be home.  I must have not slowed down much.  Speed in addition to wet roads (b/c of rain) caused me to lose control of my car on the exit ramp.  It was the weirdest experience...realizing that I had lost control and realizing that nothing I did would make me regain control and that I just needed to let the car do it's thing.  Luckily there were no cars around me and it was a rural part of the city.  The car was going off the exit ramp to the right and there was lots of grass and a slight hill.  I just let the car go and come to a stop in the ditch on its own.  I didn't hit anything and my car was fine...just dirty.  A couple in a sedan immediately stopped and asked if I needed help.  There was a couple of feet of muddy water just outside my door so I really couldn't get out of the car but I let them know I was just fine and would just drive out and be on my way.  They hesitatingly drove off and I tried to drive my car back onto the road without any luck.  Before I could do anything another couple in a Yukon stopped and asked if I needed help to get out.  My first response was "No, I'll call my husband and he can help me.  I live really close."  But the man said that he had the equipment in his car and could hook me up and pull me out.  So, he did.  I was very grateful and was on my way home before Matt had a time to get out the door.  (I had called him and told him what happened).  I am so lucky, blessed, everything...it could have been so much worse but it wasn't and for that I am very grateful.  My car fared the worst...lots of mud all over.  You can't really tell in the picture but there is grass and mud stuck in the wheel wells.

Kidney Stones...and the Atonement

The beginning of last month I had the worst pain in my right back.  No matter what I did, the pain was there. It started out on Sunday morning and we ended up missing Stake Conference that day.  The pain got quite a bit better and we had some friends over for dinner...as we had planned.  Then, after work on Monday the pain came back...bad.  So bad, we finally decided to go to the hospital.  We got there late and were the only ones in the ER.  We were there for about 2-3 hours and the best they could diagnose was kidney stones.  They had on IV pain killers and kept giving me doses because nothing was helping with the pain.  We had a long sonogram session as that was the only way to get a look inside.  We had lots of looks at the baby.  Anyway, after awhile they sent us home with a percoset prescription.  Thank goodness for a fairly close 24-hour pharmacy.  Matt was tired to start out with and was exhausted by the time we got home - between 1 & 2 am.  He had two inspections scheduled for the next day so I was worried about him.  My VT took me to see the doctor the next day but they really didn't do anything except confirm that I probably had a kidney stone.  She said I could manage the pain at home or go into the hospital.  The problem I had was that the pain pills wore off after a couple of hours and I was still hours away from the being able to take the next dose.  There were a few times I seriously considered going to the hospital because the pain was so bad.  Tuesday night it was so bad and I was still a couple hours away from the next dose that I asked Matt to give me a blessing.  While he was up looking for some oil, I knelt and said a prayer.  I have been learning about the enabling power of the Atonement and thought that it might be a good time to try putting it work.  In my prayer I said "I'm not asking that the pain be taken away.  But I am to the point that I can't handle this on my own anymore.  I need help in being able to endure this for as long as I need to.  Please strengthen me."  After my prayer I got a blessing from Matt and went back to my laying on the couch.  The pain did not go away or diminish but there was a  noticeable difference in my ability to handle the pain.  I made it to the next dose, took the pills, got ready for bed and went to bed.  I was able to sleep until about 1:00 when the pain woke me up again.  I had 2 hours until the next dose was due so I went down to the couch and had the most peaceful experience on the couch.  In spite of the pain, I was able to lay there peacefully and even fell back asleep for awhile.  I woke up at exactly 3:00 to take the pills and went back to bed.  By mid-day on Wednesday I was feeling much better.  The pain was gone but I was quite sore.  I went back to work on Thursday but at a very reduced pace.  By Friday, my pace was back to normal.

Matt at the ER with me on Monday night.  He's so tired!

That whole experience was an interesting one for me.  As difficult as it was, it was also a very good experience.  I had several people tell me that they would rather have children that have a kidney stone.  So, my confidence in having this baby girl grew quite a bit.  My confidence in wanting to have her without pain meds grew somewhat as well.

There is a great article in April's Ensign about the enabling power of the Atonement.  This is an aspect of the Atonement that I have not understood well at all, let alone accessed in my life.  As we go around to the different wards for Ward Conferences, it's this enabling power of the Atonement I have been speaking of.  Now, I am able to share (in a small way) my recent experience with this power of the Atonement in my life.

Our Bailey Family Tree

Preparedness

We are having quite the blizzard going on outside.  Luckily both Matt & I are working from home today and if I can get the Relief Society visits for tonight rescheduled, we won't have to go out at all today.  Matt's comment earlier this morning as we watch the snow keep falling "At least we have our year supply of Cheetos."  Too funny!  Yes, I guess we are set if we are snowed in for the day.  (the store by us was having a 1-day sale on Monday so Matt bought 4 bags.  we never buy cheetos so this was a very rare purchase.)


Here's a picture of the snow a couple of hours ago.  The two little trees in the bottom right are now about 2.5 times more buried in snow.

Baby Girl Names

When we told the girls we are having a baby Abbey wasn't sure how she felt.  She had mixed feelings...not wanting to give up being the baby of the family.  It was pretty funny, actually, her reasoning of how awful it is to be a middle child.  We told her how much Jordan is enjoyed and he's a middle child, but that didn't seem to pacify her much.  So, we told her how much we love her and no new baby is going to replace Abbey in any way.  She sure makes us laugh with her creative ideas and her dramatic reactions.

So, Abbey's latest interest with the baby has been wanting to send ideas for names.  "let me know as soon as you do whether it's a boy or a girl" she said.  "I like coming up with names and want to send ideas."  She thinks it would be cool if we chose a name that ended in an "ee" sound - like Lynzee or Abbey or Rylie (their sister with their mom and Jason).  I think that would be cool so I told her we'll do our best.

This is the list Abbey texted me yesterday after we told her it's a girl:  Hallie, Avery, Kelly, Kinsy, Sidney, Carrie, Kylie, McKenzi, Jackie, Stephanie, Jessie.  Hmm - I have to admit that I don't really love any of those names.  But, I'm sure she'll keep the ideas coming.

Matt and I had a name picked out for a boy...Mahershalalhashbaz.  Good one, huh!  I'll be really impressed if anyone knows who that name belongs to.  Matt joked that we would call him Mahem for short.  So, yesterday I was trying to come up with some good girl's names to top this one for a boy.   All I can think of is Bathsheba.  We could call her Bathie and meet Abbey's request for a name that ends with an "ee" sound.  I'll text that to her and see what she thinks.  :-)

I did give Matt a name idea I had been thinking about for a girl this morning.  I suggested the name and said "think about it".  His reaction left me not very hopeful.

Utah trip in May

Last week Southwest was having an awesome fare sale and I was able to find a round trip ticket to Utah for $250, which is lower than it's been since before I moved to KC.  Realizing that if I don't head out there in the next few months I probably won't make it out this year I booked a trip for toward the end of May.  So, baby girl and I will be flying to Utah for a few days in May.  We're excited!!

We're having a....

...GIRL!!!

We got the test results back today - which is quite quick considering we were expecting end of this week or beginning of next week.

Good news!  The tests all came back negative for abnormalities.  Now, these are screening tests and not diagnostic tests but I think with that news we can feel pretty confident that all is well with our little baby girl.

We're excited for a girl!  Matt will be outnumbered.  I have to admit that I was kind of hoping for a boy but we are so happy for a girl.  Besides, I feel like there are more cute baby girl things than baby boy things.  So, YAY for us!  Now we can start thinking of little girl names. 

Happy Valentines Day!