Merry Christmas!

Tummy Time!

Noah is getting so much better at tummy time... he no longer screams bloody murder when placed on his belly. Thank goodness! He's also getting stronger - holding his head up for much longer than before. He's a rock star!

We are such proud parents! We love you Noah.

Guess who's 11 weeks old...

Happiness After a Diaper Change...

Visit with Santa

Noah met Santa at International Plaza on December 1st. Noah was so good, although he didn't smile for the camera... But, I guess no smile is better than tears!



International Plaza is so nicely decorated for the holidays. Santa's area is based on The Polar Express. It's really cute!

Meet My Friend, Mr. Gator...

Heart Murmur

Noah's pediatrician sent him for an EKG to see if he has a heart murmur. We had the appt on Wed and Noah did really well. Not only did he pass the EKG and oxygen tests, he was pretty content while we were there. He was talking and smiling... he is such a cutie... take a look.



The cardiologist said Noah has a heart murmur, but that it appears to be "closing tonight - it's THAT small." I was thrilled with the news. He has a follow-up visit in March to see if the tiny hole has indeed closed. Fingers crossed, all is okay.

Sleepy Time

Meet Noah Andrew...

Noah Andrew arrived on Friday, September 25, 2009 at 4:19 p.m. He was 10 days early... here's the reason why -

I had my weekly OB appointment the afternoon before he arrived. I ate chicken fried rice that afternoon for lunch (a rare craving) and then went to my appointment. The nurse took my blood pressure about four times because it was unusually high (REALLY HIGH). So they checked my feet - yes, they were REALLY swollen (but they had been for several weeks). And because I had a headache earlier that week, the doctor wanted me to be immediately admitted to Women's Hospital. Then he told me I would deliver my son the next day...

I started to panic. I thought I had about 10 more days to mentally prepare for labor! I literally just watched the birthing DVD the night before while Brian was at the Rays/Mariners baseball game. I couldn't believe this was happening. After I was admitted, medicine was given to begin the dilation process. I didn't sleep that night - due to stress and pain from the contractions... I just sat in bed watching Brian snore in the tiny recliner he had to sleep in that night. ;-) Late morning that Friday, I was in severe pain. Asked for the epidural and it took what felt like an ETERNITY for the doctor to come administer it. That was painful, but nothing like the contractions I was feeling at that point. I just wanted the pain to go away, so who cares about having a HUGE needle in your spine!

After dilating to 10 cm, there were several nurses telling me to push and push and push. I was scolded for not pushing hard enough... After an hour plus of that, the head nurse wanted to get my OB on the phone for an "evaluation." Her face was very serious and that worried me. Come to find out, Noah's heart rate dropped significantly every time I had a contraction. Given this, my doc came in immediately and ordered an emergency c-section. I was rushed to the operating room and was told I would have my son here in about three minutes. I started crying because I was worried for Noah. The doctors and nurses were so kind to me - they tried to comfort me and assure me Noah would be okay. Brian made his way to the operating room a minute before Noah arrived (he had to drop off our bags to my mom in the waiting room since the nurses wouldn't watch our stuff and we'd lose our room immediately). Sure enough, within minutes - Noah Andrew was here! And we were relieved to hear him crying.







Noah is such a sweetie pie! He rarely cries (unless he's been waiting for some time for a bottle to be made or he needs to be changed). And even so, he doesn't really cry - just gets fussy! We are very blessed to have such a wonderful baby. Words cannot express just how much we love our little guy!

Baby's First Chair

Don't you just LOVE it!!! Go Gators!

Level 2 Sonogram Update

The past week has been beyond stressful... ever since I received the call that my second AFP test returned positive (as the first did), I haven't been able to breathe, sleep, or relax. With support and many prayers from family and friends, we got through the week and had a successful sonogram this morning. All I could do is tear up whenever the technician told us "the spine looks good" or "the brain looks great."

It's amazing how much of our baby boy they examined, which I'm most thankful for. He has five fingers and toes on each hand and foot, heart and organs that look good, and bones/eyes/mouth/nose that looked good as well. What a sigh of relief!!! He was constantly moving, so it was a bit difficult for the tech to get the pics she needed, but she was very patient. :) She was able to capture all the areas she needed to and after the doctor reviewed them, we got the thumbs up.

The baby currently weighs 15 ounces and has a heartbeat of 148 beats/min.

We have another Level 2 sonogram in 8 weeks to ensure the baby is growing properly in utero. At that time, I will be 30 weeks along. I can't wait to see our little one again...

Thanks to each of you for your many prayers and positive thoughts. We couldn't have gotten through the week without your support. We love you!

Here are a few pics from today ~

Latest Ultrasound Pics

Last Friday evening, we had our 2nd ultrasound appointment. Since I was almost 19 weeks at the time, the doctor was optimistic we would be able to find out if the baby is a boy or girl... Lucky for us, our lil' one is NOT shy and bared all pretty quickly. So, the tech said she was 100% it's a BOY!





My belly is definitely expanding - quickly! It's cool to know that people know I'm pregnant by looking at me, and not just thinking I've packed on some poundage. Oddly enough, while my belly is getting bigger, I haven't gained any weight during the pregnancy (yet). I'm sure that'll change at our next doctor's appointment in two weeks. At some point, the scale is going to move up and up (especially with all the food I've been inhaling lately). My appetite has definitely resurfaced the last two weeks. I'm still pretty tired all day, every day. And I still LOVE taking naps and going to bed earlier than usual.

We are so happy to be having a baby and so excited that it's a boy!

Blessed & Overjoyed

Brian and I are over-the-moon to be expecting a baby this October! It is something we've hoped and prayed for - for a very long time. Just when we thought it was another failed month - Brian asked me to take a home pregnancy test. We had one left from months prior. I honestly didn't think we had conceived. Maybe I was just too bummed about our miscarriage a few months before, that I just couldn't believe I was.. Even after the HPT came back with the joyous words - PREGNANT - I still was afraid to get excited as we did previously. So, this time, we kept the news to ourselves - until we were about 10 weeks along and had our first appointment and ultrasound.

Given the positioning of the screen, I wasn't able to see much of anything until the tech printed some pics. I've included some of the pics below...





Brian was able to see the baby moving - boxing, actually. He's started calling our baby - "lil Chuck Liddell" - as in the UFC fighter. Ha-ha! I love seeing Brian so excited. I like to call our baby jellybean.

The tech tracked the baby's heart rate at 168 beats per minute. The tech thought it was too early for us to hear the heartbeat, so we didn't get a chance to hear the heartbeat until a few weeks later at my next OB appointment. When we actually heard the heartbeat, I was simply giddy with happiness. It was such a special day for us!

We are loving every minute of this pregnancy... overall, I've felt pretty good. Just a few battles of nausea. I've been really tired, so I take plenty of naps, whenever possible. My cravings have dwindled a bit. For a while, I was craving green olives on everything. And one time, I REALLY wanted a Whopper with cheese from Burger King. And let me tell 'ya, that was the best Whopper I've ever had! :-) I've had trouble sleeping, so I finally purchased a pregnancy pillow last week. It's been a tremendous help in alleviating the back and body aches I had while sleeping. What a fantastic purchase!

We are looking forward to what lies ahead. In a few weeks, we have another appointment. I don't think we'll find out the baby's gender until the appointment after next... we can't wait to find out! I think it's a girl, but we'll have to wait and see!

For Brian...

I LOVE this song... dedicated to my hubby ~

Plain White T's - 1, 2, 3, 4

Happy Valentine's Day!

Lucky

Happy Valentine's Day!

To celebrate this overly commercialized day, I decided to share my love of music.

Jason Mraz's "Lucky" has been one of my favorite songs the past few months. So much so, that it's Brian's ring tone on my cell. :-) The video is somewhat new. Although I don't think the video does the song justice, it's still okay.

Hope you have a special V-Day! Enjoy the song!

LUCKY video

National Chomp-ions!

It's Great to be a Florida Gator... CHOMP! CHOMP!



I am so proud of our Gator football team! They played a great game last night... Though I was stressed the entire game.

Time to check out Football Fanatics and see what goodies they're selling. ;-)



GO GATORS!

A Man of Many Faces

Those of you that know my husband, know that he has quite the sense of humor! He ALWAYS has something funny/silly coming out of his mouth... That said - Brian has a way of making me laugh and smile all of the time. Even when I'm quite the crab-o. Even when I'm mad at him. One look at one of his many silly faces and I crack up laughing!











His motto for 2009 is "Nice in 09." Brian doesn't need this motto to be nice - as he's one of the most kind, generous, caring, loving people I know... I think the saying is more for me actually. He's trying to get me to not stress or worry as much as I normally do. This has been a bit of a struggle for me for some time now, so whenever the crazy Jolee comes out - he says "nice in 09, nice in 09!" While I know he stresses about work and stuff, he doesn't allow those things to bring him down. Oh, how I wish I could be more like him...



And then there's the annoyed, "stop taking pictures of me" face...



I married Brian for many reasons - but most of all because he makes me laugh. His humor brightens my life and I love him so much for all the smiles he continues to bring my way. I am a very lucky girl.

Gatorlicious

The day of the SEC Championship game a few weeks back, Brian replaced the bulbs that light up our front garage area with a blue and an orange bulb. It looks so adorable! Thanks Patrick for giving us the idea!

Our house is Gatorlicious!

New to the Pond

We returned from our trip to find a whole slew of animals swimming in our back pond... this is just the side closest to our house. It doesn't include the others that were swimming on the other side of the water.

Hmm...I wonder if the alligator made it's way to another waterhole...

Happy New Year!

I am happy to announce that I actually made it through the countdown last night and was up till 12:15 a.m. Last year, I was in bed by 10 p.m. Very sad, I know.

We spent Christmas this year in Phoenix with Brian's mom and brothers. This was the first Christmas all were together in a really long time, so it was definitely special. To everyone's surprise, the weather in Phoenix was much cooler than anticipated (30s-40s). The cold weather was a bit much for me at times, since I didn't really pack appropriately. I originally had several sweaters packed based on the weather forecast on TWC, but Brian told me I wouldn't need them... Who knew that The Weather Channel would on target with the weather forecast? :-) I guess they had a snow storm in Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon right before and during our time there.



















Overall, the trip was nice. We spent time together as a family and were able to meet Jeff's girlfriend, Krista. We played pool, ping-pong, went bowling, and ate plenty of cookies. I bowled an all-time high score of 150... YEAH! I really wish we went bowling more often. Prior to last week, we haven't bowled in over a year. Ping-pong was really fun. It was challenging to understand the rules of the game. It seemed as though everyone had their version of "the rules" so I never really knew what was going on...









Brian, Aaron and I drove to Sedona the day after Christmas. On the way there, we stopped at Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well. Both very interesting! Sedona was cool - just a lot of road construction. The signs and barricades made it difficult to see the area.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

On the drive back from Sedona, we approached this dark cloud... ended up being a snow storm. This was the first snow fall I've seen - ever! Brian pulled off to the side of the interstate so that I can truly see the snow and enjoy it. If you look hard enough at the pic of me below, you'll see snow on my red sweater... It was way cool!








On Sunday, we went to the Cardinals game since they were playing the Seattle Seahawks. It was cold outside, but it was much cooler inside the dome... The security at the stadium wouldn't allow me to enter with my camera bag since it was bigger than 12". WHAT? Where did they get this stupid rule from??? We've been to several stadiums and none of them required me to go back to the car to drop off my camera bag. And by the way, they didn't seem to apply this rule uniformly, given that we saw several others with backpacks and diaper bags that were bigger than my camera bag. Urgh! As expected, the Seahawks lost the game. I was disappointed with the stadium, the Cardinal fans, and the TINY jumbo-tron. The fans acted as though they were NFL Champs already - very out-of-line and crude. The Cardinals organization doesn't do much to get their fans excited, nor do the play the right music to get fans out of their seats. I guess I'm used to the atmosphere at the Bucs stadium... it's a "party" the entire time - regardless of score or team affiliation. And us Bucs fans are in no way shape or form rude and crude like the Cardinals. So, given that their fans don't know how to behave - I REALLY want the Atlanta Falcons to BURY the Arizona Cardinals this weekend in their playoff game. Go Falcons!