Hello Blog World!!!

Wow! My last post was on October 12th...that was 2 weeks before my little Brycen was born. There has been many things to happen in the last 2 months: #1: Brycen Conner McArdle was born and I had an AMAZING delivery #2 "Worst Week Ever" #3 Returning to work 4 weeks early #4 Parties, Parties, and Parties #5 Pinterest was born #6 Halloween & Thanksgiving Activities

Brycen's delivery was so awesome! I loved the nurses and my doctor was so great. No complications at all...much different than Bailey's delivery. One thing that did not go as planned was nursing. Day 4 I realized that I was making hardly anything and we had to start supplementing with formula because Brycen was dehydrated. I nursed for 30 minutes, fed the baby formula, pumped for 30 minutes every time...day 5, day 6, day 7, day 8...nothing. On day 8 I looked up Synthroid side effects and there it was - if your thyroid is really messed up while you are pregnant and they have to give you a lot of thyroid medication it can mess up your metabolism and cause the milk to never come in. So day 8 I washed up all the pump and packed it away and gave away all the stuff I bought for nursing. It was heart breaking. I think I cried from day 4 to day 10 constantly and it still hurts when people see the baby and ask "Are you nursing?". All I can say is "no" because I can't explain it. He is a healthy baby and is doing just great on formula so we are blessed. So one of my new year's resolutions is to find a new thyroid doctor. I wrote this out because it helped when I googled "nursing and thyroid" and found a girl that went through the same thing I did - it helps to know that it isn't your fault and you did everything you could.

So onto the "Worst Week EVER"...It all started the day Blake left for a 2 week trip to Puerto Rico - it was the same day as the Iron Bowl. Bama was beating Auburn by a huge margin and in the 4th quarter my mother went to take the Turkey leftovers to the outside frig and misstepped and landed on her leg causing it to BRAKE! Sheesh! What a nightmare! So dad and the neighbor help mom get into the van, turkey bones and grease are all over the ground, kids are crying, and mom is screaming from pain. Well her leg was definitely broken and she needed help during the day while dad was working. I thought this is so great that I'm on maternity leave because I can come over and help. I had lots of plans for us to do - I've wanted to help her go through all the pictures and categorize them as well as put them in albums and picture frames. Well on Friday I was on my way to pick up Bailey from school after spending the day with my mom and I received a phone call from my neighbor...our house had been burglarized. All I could think of was my dog, work laptop, and camera. She found Meiko locked up in the baby's room scared to death and they left my new camera on the kitchen counter, but everything else was gone. I had been working 5-10 hours a week from home on maternity leave so I had my work laptop on the kitchen table - it has everything on it but it also has a government issued password so there is no way in the world they will figure it out so my files will stay confidential. I miss those files so much and all the pictures I saved on it as well as the new picture CD we just got from having our family pictures done the week before...thank goodness I already uploaded them on facebook! They stole a few big things and went through our bedroom but in the end we are fine - it was overwhelming because I had no time to do anything and I wanted to be with my mom and I didn't have a computer to work on and to find quotes for. They stole my maternity leave from me because instead of being with my baby I had to deal with insurance stuff which was very time consuming. I was very mad that they took my security away, time from work, and time from my new baby...those things will never be replaced.

So life is getting back to normal now that I am back at work but one thing that is very different is that Blake is a stay at home dad. He is off orders with no orders in sight which means he is looking for a civilian job at the moment and the job pool is very shallow at the moment :( Life takes some really weird turns sometimes and hopefully he will find something in January.

Have a fabulous Christmas and I hope to update back soon with new projects!! My next post will be my New Year's Resolution List for 2012!! I love NY's resolutions.

Summer of Cupcakes #4

Today I am hosting the second "Zeta Crew" luncheon of the summer and I will be bringing these delicious cupcakes: Chocolate Peanut Butter with Chocolate Drizzle and a Reeses on top! I think these will go over well with the Zeta Lunch Crew Ladies. I did however cheat this time! I could not find a few of the ingredients to make the chocolate cake and the items were a bit on the expensive side...I need to go to a bakery shop and find these fine ingredients. So I made Dunkin Hines and it tastes amazing...love cake in the box. I have been trying to do everything homeade this summer but I couldn't this time. The icing is 100% homemade and Oh So Good!! The recipe was a lot! I packed on probably twice as much icing on each cupcake and still had leftovers...so I put it in a a Tupperware dish and will save it for dipping apple slices in later :) yum! Also...take notice in the quality of the picture because I got a new camera!! I'm so excited to be able to post quality pictures now! I needed a new camera before Baby #2 arrived so I am practicing with it on my cupcakes.

Bed Rest on July 4th Weekend

I had the worst feeling this past Thursday while watching Transformers 3 at the movies with Blake but thought it was just pains from being uncomfortable. The last hour of the movie (3 hours with commercials) I was having contractions. I knew the pains were long and sharp but they went away. After the movie was over I went to stand up and realized quickly that I couldn't. I couldn't because my stomach felt like it would burst and my body felt cinched together - there was no way to stand up. So I sat there and tried to breath and relax - I tried to recline in the chair as far back as I could go and after 5 minutes or so I was able to slowly stand up. It hurt so bad, but I tried not to panic. I went to the bathroom to make sure everything was okay and it was so we went home and read about contractions at 23 weeks. It is not uncommon and that dehydration is the main reason...light bulb! I had been sick most of Wednesday and Thursday and was not able to keep anything down besides my trusty staple: dr. pepper. So the rest of my four day weekend was spent on bed rest. We did leave the house a few times but other than that I stayed off my feet and rested. Cramping lasted for a few more days but no more sharp pains/contractions after Thursday. Thank the Lord. I drank as much water as I could over the weekend and had my regular appointment on Tuesday - everything is doing good and he is measuring right on time.

I realize after this happened that I do too much that week, but it's not because of procrastinating - everything I have to do always seems to be on the same day or back-to-back. I don't schedule it to be insane...it just happens. This week I have done my best to do one thing after work to prepare for the chaos this weekend :) I'd mention all the things but if my mother reads this she would flip out that I've over scheduled myself AGAIN.

All things Boy

I am thrilled about having a boy. It is harder than I thought to make things cute but boyish at the same time. I went to get some boy patterns at HL and quickly realized there are not any. So I bought a simple romper pattern but they only had it is sizes 1, 2, and 3. I have a few outfits I can compare to the size one and see where to shorten/take in...other than that there is nothing to make but some cute onesies with his name and a boyish applique. So to introduce his name to the world of facebook I made his first onesie. It turned out so adorable...but in a boy way. Also, here are some pictures of the Airplane Nursery! It will look so good once all the ideas in my head are played out. Blake is being a bit of a downer on all my ideas because it is "too much", but I suppose he is right...I don't need to have EVERYTHING in airplanes, he is too small for a growth chart, and childish airplanes with WW II airplanes do not mix.

It's a Boy!!

It's a boy! This pregnancy has been much easier on me because I stopped being sick after 3 months verses 8 months with Bailey. It has flown by way too fast. I have so much to do and no way to plan which makes it hard to make decisions on things and takes away some of the fun. You know what bothers me this pregnancy "Are you excited?" I do not like HATE that question - does it help you to know if I'm excited?! I know people are just being nice, but I get asked at least 15 times a week or day if I'm in a crowded area. Yes, I am excited but I'm also very hot, I'm gaining weight and my feet and calves are swollen. I do love my friends and family for their support and "congratulations" about it being a healthy boy - I know you truly are excited for me.

One thing to be excited about is - I'm done! After baby #2 gets here I will be scheduling my "no more babies" surgery. It's just not healthy for me and since it's a boy we feel like our family is complete. I really wanted a boy - I'm ready for the trucks and action figures. Meiko, our dog, is going to be thrilled eating and playing with boy toys. So although we can not plan for the next year it feels good to know that this is it! I'm done at the age of 26. I don't have to gain weight for another baby or save any baby stuff. This week I plan to go through all the 10 bags of baby clothes in my attic and keep maybe 5 of her dresses - the rest will be going in the yard sale. If it's pink and frilly - its out of here.

Another BIG Change in Plans

This year was going to be a big year of change for us because Blake was hopefully (finally) going to the pilot board, but as of last week we were told it would not be until November...putting it off 8 months from the original date. But before we knew it was going to be put off that length of time we decided to "give-it-a-go" in the baby making department and we were very successful. I had my first ultrasound yesterday and I am very pleased to say that there is just 1 healthy baby...no more than that...I just look like I'm 20 weeks instead of 11. We were planning on putting the house up for sale in July when we found out about his school but now...we just wait. I had plans of not returning to work until we moved to Texas, but now that won't do. Bailey's school is changing up as well so we are looking into other Pre-K programs for next year (just in case...but the way things are going lately...) and a new summer daycare since Blake will not be on orders she can not go on base like we planned. Blake has to find a new job during this waiting process but he can't do that until he finishes 15 more hours out of 40 to complete his pilot hours...which can take over a month to do as...meaning more $$ going out then coming in. It's also hard to apply when he has a 2 week flight scheduled at the end of May, but It's $$ and a trip vacation to Purto Rico so there are no complaints.  Since we were planning on moving before or soon after the baby arrived we were not going to do a nursery; now that we are going to be here longer there isn't room for a baby and a craft room/putting green in my house so Blake and I are giving up our shared room to make room for blues and greens?? (We are hoping for a boy!) So yes there is lots of change and my favorite even worse ...lots of waiting but God knows the big picture so I will just keep trusting him. It will work out better than I imagined if I don't mess up God's plans and try to make it mine so in the mean time I will be cleaning out my craft room and selling a few things I don't "need" to pay for baby furniture. It was a lot to take in and I was feeling stressed out about some all of the things, but mostly I was stressed thinking about the baby and would it be like last time and after the great check-up and seeing that he/she is fine I feel so much better and can finally start being excited and just laugh at all the change in plans, because nothing is in my control :)

I took Bailey this past Saturday to get her 4 year old pictures done and these turned out so cute. She has been very helpful now that I can't do everything I used to. Such a sweet girl.