38 weeks

38 week pics - I have like 2 maternity shirts that still fit, I've grown out of most of them. So it's on to wearing Marshall's clothes now :) Dr.'s appt is on Wed - I will update then!

Christmas

We hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas - we know we did!

Christmas Eve I hung out at my parent's house most of the day while Marshall went snowmobiling with Justin (my BIL), my mom & my dad. Avry was there and had to go get her kids halfway through the day. We decided that we were going to go to Idaho Falls so Avry could get a few last minute things. She also had to stop in Ucon to pick a few things up. After braving the weather, we decided not to go to Idaho Falls but ventured in to King's in Rigby. Talk about a store with every type of crap you don't need, lol. It snowed so much Christmas Eve, I want to say about 6 inches but I don't know if that's exactly how much it was.

That evening we had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner which consists of hoagies, cold shrimp & all types of finger foods. My dad then pulled out his projector and we watched home videos of Christmas past. I must have been a pretty annoying little kid because everyone is always saying, "Tiffany move! & Tiffany get out of the way!"

After that, we ventured over to Snedakers for about an hour where we set out Santa stuff for Chandler and just visited. We've stayed the night there at Marshall's parent's house the last two years but figured it would be better to sleep in our own bed this year. Chandler has been really cranky and overstimulated the last couple years and I think some of it is lack of sleep. We got up to our apartment to realize that nothing had been plowed out of the parking lot. We got stuck and had to rock the car back and forth for a few minutes before we could get out. Luckily Jeff (Birch) had shoveled out a couple parking spots so we were able to park. (Thanks Jeff!) If he hadn't, I'm sure we would have been stuck there on Christmas morning.

Christmas morning we ventured to Snedaker's at 6:30 am. Chandler was pretty impressed that Santa had brought him a Weebles Playhouse, A Woody Doll, and a Dinosaur.

Chandler checking out his new toys

Ashley & Danielle posing for the camera

Merry Christmas!

At 9 we went over to my parents house and opened presents there.

Geoff's new papasan chair we gave him
So uh - where does my chest end and my belly begin again?
Marshall's new headlamp

It was fun to see my mom open one particular present from my dad. A big beautiful diamond ring. Needless to say she was in tears and my dad did great - it's so pretty.

My dad in his Russian hat Geoff brought home for him

My oldest (cheesy) brother Jason & his anonymous friend

Christmas Spider

Chan came out of the hall while we were unwrapping presents with his pants off....this shows why :)

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Pregnant the rest of my life...

Or so it feels....I didn't get around to taking 37 week pictures so I will take 38 week pictures on Saturday.  I'm really tired of carrying this little guy around since I know he's baked well enough to come out.  I was really looking forward to my appointment today since I knew they would check me.  Weight was at 176, yay :)  

I had to take Chandler with me to my appointment as I do most times.  They go pretty smoothly if we are in and out but any waiting is just asking for trouble.  We only waited about 10 minutes in the exam room but it felt like an hour to me.  I had to take everything off from the waist down as the Dr. was going to check me today.  I had my nice little sheet covering me up and sat on the exam table.  Chandler proceeded to do everything he shouldn't do while in the room.  He jumped up on the dr.'s chair and started kicking the wall, leaving nice black marks from his snowboots.  He finally got down after I yelled at him a couple times and looked around at what else he could do.  He figured out that the exam table to could move up and down with some foot pedals on the floor.  I was trying to keep him away from that & keep myself decent at the same time.  He then went into the bathroom and started flushing the toilet and playing in the toilet water.  We washed his hands and I shut the door to the bathroom.  By now, my "covering sheet"  has a bunch of different rips in it and it's only been 5 minutes!  I sit back on the table, anticipating the dr. any minute when I notice Chandler getting into his squatting position.  Yes, he decided he needed to poop.  I must admit he is a very regular boy and I change 3-4 poopy diapers a day so I shouldn't have been surprised by this.  The small room started to stink really quickly so once again I jumped off the table, we went into the bathroom & I changed his diaper.  That's embarassing - a nice strong poo smell to welcome the dr. when he comes into the room, ugh.  Once I was back up on the table, Dr. Barton(thank goodness!)  He  asked if I wanted my membranes stripped if my cervix was soft enough.  I was all for it.  I was really disappointed but not too surprised when he said it wasn't favorable enough.  Still closed, thick & high.  I wanted to cry after leaving the dr.'s office.  I know our little guy will be here soon enough, I'm just scared that I'll have to have a repeat c-section because I'll never go into labor.  Thankfully Marshall will be coming with us to our appointment next week.  I'm hoping there will be no appointment next week though....

Pre Christmas Festivities

A few nights ago we took some holiday treats to our friends. I got Chandler these little reindeer ears from the dollar store and he loves them, maybe because there's bells on them. He also had on reindeer pajamas but you can't see them because of his coat.

Last night we had a Snedaker Family Christmas party. Chris & Natalie's family (Marshall's brother) are going to Utah for Christmas so we got together before they left to exchange presents between the siblings and have a good time together. We ate lots of food, played Christmas chimes & played a game. Oh and then of course we ate more... :)

Danielle (Marshall's sister) with her Chime

Chandler's animal book from Grandma & Grandpa

Chandler sitting on Uncle Chris' lap with Claire

Ashley (Marsh's sister) & Marsh getting ready to play chimes

Today Chandler and I went down to be with Geoff (my brother) My mom had a bunch of things to get done and he had nose surgery. He had the same surgery done 2 years ago before he went on his mission but I guess they didn't go up far enough so this time they straightened his septum and cut out a little bit of the turbinate... (or whatever its called) They also went up to expand the entrie way to maxilary sinuses and cut out more stuff. (Half of that was his description, lol) Many times I've thought I'd love go to school to do nursing but here is another instance in which I don't think I could handle it. He has gauze held in place by a band that goes around his head to help with the bleeding. The time that I helped him change it, there was so much blood and a huge clot. He was also throwing up a lot of blood when he first got home. I've never seen anyone throw up blood and I felt so bad for him. I had to tell myself to breathe out of my mouth as I rinsed out his basin, the blood smell was really strong. He's pretty doped up on Lortab & an anti-nausea medicine. Hopefully he'll recover quickly.
While we were there Chandler was playing with all of the singing animated Christmas toys my mom has. She only had 1 at the start of the season & now she has 4. Chandler loves them and thinks they are so funny. This reindeer is his favorite and this video is too cute, I had to post.


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Lastly, when I got home tonight there were more Christmas cards in the mail! WAHOO! I have a group of ladies online that I've gotten to know over the last 3 years. I got to know them through an expecting club forum when I was pg with Chandler so we all have kids the same age. We did an ornament exchange and I got my ornament today. I love it.

Update

So today was my 36-37 week appt. Group B strep came back negative, so I don't have to worry about that. I lost 3 lbs this last week which is totally ironic because between 36-37 weeks with Chandler I gained 9 lbs. LOL - what water retention will do to you! Winter is definitely the time to have a baby! He's measuring big and Dr. Allred really thinks this baby is going to be another big one. He said if I haven't delivered by 39 weeks he wants to do an ultrasound to try to estimate better how big the baby is. I'm going to laugh if he comes out a 7 pounder. Everything else looks good. I guess I'll stick to my current diet of candy and more candy since it seems to be working this time - weight today was 172.

On another note, Marsh finished up Fall semester last Friday. He's working full time during the break but it is SOOOO nice to have him home a little after 5 every day instead of 7 or 8. He will finish up December at EZ net tools and then have a week off before he starts his new job with the scroll. I think he ended up with great grades, all A's & a few A-, except his Economics class which he got a C+. I wonder if he even deserved that, lol. I didn't see him open his book once during the semester but that class wasn't as much as a priority to him and he didn't care too much for it. We were talking the other night about how his Comm teachers think a lot of him as he is a great student, is always in class, a good leader & makes good comments. I'm sure it was exactly the opposite in his Economics class. lol.


He was also released from the bishopric this last Sunday. I think it was a really bittersweet day for both of us, especially him. He's put so much into this calling the last couple years and he said if anything it makes him realize how grateful he is to serve in any capacity within the church. After he was released, he came down to sit by me and I think it was hard for him to keep his emotions in tact. As for me I didn't keep my emotions in tact and was bawling halfway through sacrament meeting. I think that could also be due to the fact that I'd worked the night before and was going on less than 2 hours of sleep. It was incredibly nice to have his help though and enjoy the meeting. I honestly think that if he hadn't been released, I would have had to have someone sit with me after this new baby came. Chan is good for about 15 minutes since we have sacrament meeting last and he's been playing for the first 2 hours. Anyways, I have to brag on my man for a minute - I can't believe how well he's been able to balance everything with his calling, work, school & our family these last couple years. He never ceases to amaze me and is such a great father and husband. Ok, now that you are all gagging from how corny I'm sounding, I'll move on.

Chan is finally putting more and more words together and it's so nice to hear him talking. He still really doesn't speak on demand but jabbers away when it's not expected of him. He knows all of the parts to his face but the other day he just started naming them off while he pointed to them. I think my jaw dropped as he named his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth & hair...maybe because he's never done it before :)

Today Chan and I are going to make some holiday treats for our home teachers & the girls I visit teach. Should be fun.

36 weeks

I almost think I don't look as big this week even though I feel like I've grown. Just depends on what I wear I guess

Snow

I can't believe how much snow we've gotten in the last few days!  I'm so excited and though it's no fun to drive on icy roads, I'm so happy that we will be having a white Christmas!  Monday I went out and bought some snowboots for Chandler and I.  Most of my shoes are slip ons that are backless so I knew my feet would be sopping wet the rest of the winter if I didn't do something about it.  Tuesday Chan & I decided to venture out around the apt complex and play in the snow.

He was mesmerized by it and kept trying to eat it.  Before we went out, I was trying to find gloves in case I needed to dig in the snow.  Most of our snow clothes are in storage down at my parents house but I did manage to find one huge glove of Marshall's.  I called him to ask if he knew where the other glove was and he suggested using an oven mit.  LOL - not a bad idea.  I didn't end up using it but if we go out to make a snowman anytime soon I just might do it.  We were only outside for about a half hour and Chan had windburn on his cheeks all day long.  Coupled with a horrible drool rash he has around his mouth his face looked pretty rough today.  

He's trying to get his last 2 year molar in and these molars have been the worst!  He's often rubbing at his cheeks and his gums are pretty swollen.  He's also sucking on his hand half the time too.  He was done teething from 14-23 months, so it's been hard to get back into teething these last couple months.

I had a dr.'s appt yesterday.  I had my group B strep test done and baby is head down.  Dr. Crouch said if I see him in a couple weeks, he'd start stripping my membranes.  Don't know if it will help, but it's worth a try.  I would love to have this baby before the 1st but I'm thinking that is wishful thinking.  Only put on 3 lbs in the last few weeks which is nice.  I was 190 when I delivered Chan & am only 175 right now so hopefully  I won't put on 15 lbs in the next 4 weeks.  I feel like I'm not retaining water like I was with Chandler though.  I'm measuring 37 weeks, so a little big but that could maybe also depend on how he is laying.  I start weekly appointments now!  It's crunch time!

Ward Party

Saturday night was our Christmas ward party. We had dinner, reading by the bishop and a dance. It was really fun and we had a good turnout. I took this video of Chandler and his friend Carson with their dad's spinning them in circles on the floor. They thought thought it was hilarious. Marshall felt bad after he saw how fast he was spinning Chandler in this video. Oh well, no permanent damage done...(we think...) Sorry I am breathing like a cow, I am congested 90% of the time due to small nasal passages and maybe allergies. (Who knows, I've never had allergy testing done) My dad, brother and sister have had their nasal passages widened and say they can breathe out of their nose much better. Maybe someday when we have the $$, I will have it done too.


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35 weeks

Here are 35 week pictures. I think I've grown a lot in the last few weeks and am super uncomfortable. He's probably not too comfortable either as he's starting to feel squished!

Maternity Shots

A girl in my ward took some maternity shots for me. These are a couple that I bought the proofs to. They were taken at 30 weeks.

2 year pictures

We went up to the gardens this last week to try to get some good pictures of Chandler for a 2 year picture. They turned out ok considering I know nothing about photography :

)

Staying Busy...

It's been over a week since I've updated and I guess I've just been busy, or am claiming that I am, lol.    We put our tree up before Thanksgiving and gladly Chandler has only knocked it down a couple times.  We learned very quickly after he broke a few of our bulbs that we can only have the top half decorated.  I also have a lot of glass ornaments, horses & reindeer that I've gotten from my parents every year for the past 15 + years.  I've opted not to put them on the tree this year as I don't want them to get broken.  I also have an absolutely beautiful Hallmark nativity set I got from my in-laws that I'm not putting up this year.  Too expensive and nice, I don't want to risk it getting broken.  I'll cross my fingers that by this time next year we will be in a house and I will have a safe place to set it up. 

Chandler was enthralled at the fact that he got to help decorate the tree and he continues to do so with his plastic animals, sippy cups, or anything else he feels so entitled to throw in the tree.

My brother Geoff came home from his mission this last Wednesday.  I was hoping to post pictures from the airport but I forgot my camera so I'm going to have to get some from my parents to post.  It was really fun to see him - he seems so much more grown up but is the same goofy brother I remember and love.  He served in Yekanterinburg, Russia (I probably spelled that wrong)  It will be fun to have him up in Rexburg as he starts school here at BYU-Idaho this winter.  He'll be living in the ward where my dad is bishop which will also be fun for him.

I went to the dr. this last Wednesday and had a good, uneventful appointment.  I've been having terrible sciatic pain on and off and it makes my left leg give out.  Hopefully it doesn't get any worse!  I've also been super clumsy lately and have fallen a lot.  You'd think I don't know how to walk!  I've taken 4 hard falls in the last month.  One being at our apt, one time at my mom's (which left some awful bruises for about a week), at bowling this last week & last night at work.  Last night at work was a little embarassing.  I went down to the snack bar to get an order for a patient.  They had a couple chocolate milkshakes and I tripped and fell getting out of the elevator.  The ice cream went everywhere and luckily I didn't fall too hard as I could feel Rowan wiggling around about 15 mins later.  I think the girls at work got a kick out of it :)  I would be worried about all this falling if I didn't have an extremely active baby to reassure me that everything is ok.  It's all starting to feel really close as it is now December and we only have 6 weeks to go!

Thanksgiving & Black Friday

Thanksgiving was great! As I mentioned in a previous post, we went down to Justin & Avry's in Syracuse for dinner. We went down with my parents Wednesday evening and got back Friday afternoon. It was nice just to lounge around on Thanksgiving and EAT! Jason (my brother) came up with his friend from Salt Lake and joined us. It was fun to see him too. Dinner consisted of Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, yams, cranberries, a relish plate, rolls, frog eye salad and of course pie for dessert. By the end of the meal I could barely breathe between my full full belly and Rowan taking up the rest of the room. Maeli was Chandler's only cousin there and is so unbelievably great with Chandler. She's an awesome babysitter and loves to play and take care of him. (She is 7) Chandler loves to wrestle and Maeli just laughs and takes it. We took this video of Chan mauling Maeli. Notice Avry's laugh in the backround - priceless :) Chandler kept saying "Oh Fun!" while they were wrestling too. He said it probably 8-10 times while they were wrestling and did it a few times in this video.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting After 5 hours of sleep we got up to conquer Black Friday! It's become a tradition for us to get up and go shopping. We scope out the ads on Thanksgiving, make a list, and decide which stores are most important for us to go to, lol. We went to Walmart first at 5 am and that was a joke. They had hardly any stock of their sale items and you had to wait in a huge layaway line to try to get what you wanted. Yeah right -we just left without buying anything there. Next was Target at 6. I'm a huge fan of Target. They were restocking items as people were grabbing them which was nice.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting This video is from all of the crazy people running into Target. Half the reason I go out on Black Friday is to laugh at everyone :) There was a girl who was trying to get into Target and jump the line. They had security guards making sure noone was doing this but this girl was determined to get in. I wish I had video taped it but the security guard told her quite a few times to go to the end of the line. She proceeded to tell him no and started hitting him. Needless to say, she was ejected from the line. We only went two other places, Walgreens & Kohls. Avry got in line at Kohl's as soon as we got there while the rest of us shopped. We waited in line for an hour & 20 mins there! We were done by 10 am and I am happy to say I am done shopping for Chandler & Marshall. I also have my shopping done for most of the other people on my list, except for my dad and father in law. They are tricky. Men are tricky to buy for in general. I think I have a few ideas though. I'd like to be completely done shopping in the next couple weeks as my back ached soooo bad after shopping today and I'm still 7 weeks out from having this baby. It's also nice that Marsh & I started saving for Christmas about 4 months ago, putting some money away every month. I don't think we'd be having much of a Christmas if we hadn't done that. I think we will make a habit of it.

32 weeks

I'm a bit late posting this, but here's my belly shot from last Sat - at exactly 32 weeks.

Drumroll Please........

Wahoo! We've finally decided on a name. I thought we'd be in the hospital before we agreed on a name. So unless we totally change our minds which I don't think we will, his name will be Rowan John. I've liked Rowan to begin with and funnily enough where I heard the name was Rowan Atkinson. I think that's how his name is spelled. He plays Mr. Bean, Johnny English, Rat Race...lol. Kind of a goofy guy but I still love the name. I like the name because it's not too popular right now (knock on wood) and it's different but not weird.
We decided on John as a middle name because it's Marshall's middle name after his great grandpa and it's just a good solid name. Today Marshall told me he liked the name a lot and it was a go!
It's nice to know that this little guy of ours finally has a name!

Poseidon the Fish

Chandler loves animals, fish, bugs. He is just plain fascinated with them. About 5 weeks ago we got him a male beta fish that was red and blue. It was a really pretty fish and Marshall thought Poseidon was a fitting name for him. Chandler was really excited about the fish and loved it when Marshall would clean out his tiny little tank because that meant he got to tease him. I came home from work last night and Marshall said Poseidon was dead. I actually felt kind of sad, it was weird. I must have had some unspoken connection with our fish, lol. That mixed with the hormones and lack of sleep from working all night. Marsh said they flushed him down the toilet and Chandler was ok with it. Granted he doesn't really understand either though.

We've also been trying to sell our tv that magically shuts off and the tv cart with it. We were practically giving it away at $20. Marshall said he had a guy call last night that was interested and came over to look at it. Here's what Marshall told him about the tv.
"Our tv has a really neat feature. When you watch too much, it shuts off so it helps to monitor how much tv you are watching."
Nicely said Marshall.
The guy decided he wanted it and offered Marsh $18 for it. LOL - who does that when you are getting a good tv with a tv cart? Marsh told him no, $20, that's it.
He took it and now greatfully we have more room in our apartment & $20 for a night out on the town :)

Kisses

Another day, another blog :) Not too much going on - I keep trying to talk Marshall into putting our Christmas tree up and he keeps telling me to wait. Maybe I can talk him into it this weekend. I love Christmas, I'm way excited for the music, lights, and just the feeling of the season. I also must add that I am excited to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving, aka Black Friday!!! We are going down to my sister's (Avry) house for Thanksgiving. She lives in Syracuse, UT. I've never done black friday shopping in Utah and I'm really excited.

Chandler had his 2 year check up yesterday. He's had a nasty cough for over 2 weeks so the dr. gave us some stronger cough syrup. He slept 12 hours last night in his own bed and didn't get up once. How nice is that? It was also fun that they gave us a paper that told us how big Chandler was at each of his checkups. Height, weight & head. He was in the 95% for height and weight when he was born. He has stayed really high on the growth chart for height but his weight has evened out a lot. He was only in the 20% for weight when he was a year old, but is in the 65% now. Yesterday he was 29 lbs and 36.5" tall. I asked the dr. about him not talking much and he wasn't too concerned as he is great at following commands and problem solving.


Last news for the day - I found a new delicious candy that I'm sure I will be having a lot of. Hershey makes a white chocolate kiss at Christmas time that has peppermint in it. It's so yummy. That also means peppermint ice cream should be out in stores, I should go find some. My sister (Jeralee) gave me a good recipe a few years back for white chocolate peppermint fudge. These kisses taste a lot like that fudge. I ate most of a bag last night and will have to run out to get some more today :) Gotta feed the fat...I mean the baby, lol.

Rant

Sorry this video is sideways. I uploaded it a few times and tried to rotate it and all it would show was black. Guess you are just going to have to kink your neck to the side to see it, lol. Who knows what Chandler was ranting about but Marsh and I both thought this was pretty funny.


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Big Boy Bed

So, since Chan has been climbing out of his crib, he thinks he can come sleep in our bed. I don't mind him in bed with me when Marshall leaves, but with the 3 of us and a queen size bed, there is just not enough room. Last week, Chandler got up 6 different times to come climb into bed with us. It wasn't a very restful night, lol. We finally decided we should move him out of his crib. My mom is replacing one of the beds in her guest rooms and had an extra double bed she said we could have. Although a double bed is way bigger than what Chan needs, it's free - no complaning, right? Chandler's crib converts into a headboard and footboard for a double bed but that didn't really solve the issue of him maybe rolling off the bed at night. So, instead of putting the footboard on, we decided to bag that and the mattress frame and just put the bed on the floor. We basically took the front off the crib and this is what we came up with. Chandler usually comes into our bed right before he goes to sleep to read books and "calm down" LOL. Now we can do that in his bed and lay by him until he falls asleep. If he comes into our room in the middle of the night, I take him back to his own bed and lie with him again until he falls asleep. I have to wonder if it isn't so much the bed but maybe he just gets lonely & knows that Marsh & I sleep together, so why doesn't he get to? Two nights ago, he got ups twice and last night he didn't get up at all, he slept in his bed 11 hours straight - talk about nice!! Let's hope it lasts.

Chan is also starting to show some interest in the potty. I know we are a LONG ways off, but any interest is good, right? The other night, he came out of his room and said, "Bleh!" We always say bleh while we are changing his diaper and he thinks it is pretty funny. He said it again and I wondered if he was poopy. Sure enough he was. The next morning while I was doing my hair, he lifted up the toilet seat and started tugging at his pants. I took his diaper off and let him sit on the toilet. He looked down like he expected something to happen, got off, and clapped for himself. He did this two more times yesterday and the third time he looked at me and said, "bleh?" as if to question where it was? Obviously there was nothing in there since he didn't actually go, but he wanted to flush the toilet anyway and clap for himself. We decided to pull out the "ROYAL POTTY" that my sister gave us. It makes noises to help praise the child who goes in it. LOL - whatever works! (Thanks Jer!) He thinks it is pretty neat. I know it's a long time coming, I'm hoping he's potty trained by 3 but I'm not going to push him into anything.

Today I also had my 31 week appt. Since I am 30 + 6 I am calling it my 31 week appt. I waited 50 minutes for my 2 minute appt :( Chandler was patient for about 20 minutes and then kept throwing himself on the floor, telling me no, and crying. Oh well. Weight was at 167, baby sounds awesome, and is measuring on. 7 lbs in the last 3 weeks - WAHOO! (sense the sarcasm here)

I am assuming he is head down because Dr. Barton found his hb the first place he put the doppler on and said, "Great, right where it should be." My appts are getting closer together, the next one is on Nov. 28th.

Birthday Party!

We had Chandler's birthday party at Grandma & Grandpa Nielson's house. We ate pizza and I made his ugly cake. I took pictures of it but I didn't want to post pics of that, you can see it from the side in some of the pics. Chan's really into Elmo and so I did some Elmo figurines on the top of it. The writing looked like a 4 year old had done it. LOL - oh well, guess I saved some $$ by making it myself. Chan got some fun new stuff including a bunch of plastic animals & a dinosuar book from Snedakers, an outfit & color wonder from grandma & grandpa Nielson, a baseball & bat toy from Chris & Natalie, and a little people's dinosaur set & playdough from Marshall & I. Although Chan was getting over pink eye and was getting a cold, he was a pretty good sport. It was hilarious to watch him blow out his candles. He would blow them out and then grin and clap for himself. He blew them out 5 or 6 times :)

Blowing out candles for the 5th time :)

Getting a birthday kiss from cousin Claire