in... pain.

so it's been just about three weeks since my pelvis started hurting.

i've done numerous things to try to relieve this pain... yoga, extra stretching, sleeping differently, going on more walks, soaking in a warm (lets be honest, hot) bath just up to my hips, hip rotations, chiropractor appointments.... nothing has helped.

thankfully, my doctor is back from her vacay this week and i have an appointment on tuesday to see just what might be happening "down there" or what is gearing up to be happening.

i've never been in this much consistent, nothing-you-can-do type of pain, so i'm eager to hear what my doctor says.

my cousin, the nurse, said that she's had a couple patients that have had this severe pain and it's just my pelvis opening up to get baby ready to descend. well, it's still quite a bit early, so i'm hoping that's not the case. she did also say that there's not too much i can do at this point--- urgh. like i said, i'm hopeful that my doctor is going to have some more information for me, cause this REALLY sucks.

also, i've started to have numerous braxton hicks contractions... greeeat.

...some really intense ones that knock me almost off my feet.

i'm not ready baby, stay in there a little bit longer. like a few weeks so we can at least 100% finish your room.

whats in a name?

so this is our dilemma.

we cannot agree upon a name.

such a simple task, some might say... nope, not in this house.

i think deciding on a name is like deciding you want to reproduce again. it's a HUGE deal, not something to take lightly. it's going to be what you call your child from birth til the end of your life. how do you just decide? you could go a traditional route, a unique route or something completely in between, but still. you. are. deciding. i just want a strong but somewhat unique name. something that flows well into our family names as well: dan, sam, gavin and..... what?

when i was younger i thought i had my whole baby name wishlist down to a fine science. of course my kids were going to be two boys and one girl-- so far so good-- and their names were going to be hunter, wyatt and addison. well, i don't particularly care for hunter at all anymore, wyatt is taken, and addison is dan's cousins daughters name... so nope, that's not going to happen. so then when we were deciding names for baby #1 we liked, gavin, mason, connor and trevor..... well we already have a gavin- no need for a gavin #2, mason is my cousins sons name, connor... well it's still in the running (dan's pick) and i can't tolerate trevor anymore, it just sounds funny to me, trevor schroeder. so here were are, again i say; dilemma. it would be fabulous if dan would just give in to my name........ jude, but so far it's not working.

we have the middle name decided and it sounds great with both names we've come up with but still, no luck in deciding.

it shouldn't be this difficult. with only two months left, i would like to get the babes room completely ready for him to come, which includes putting his name on the wall and i don't really want to wait till he's here to try to find time to do it.

so in the next two months we have to decide on a name. a daunting task. i bet we will have a unnamed baby in our arms for at least 30 minutes in february.

tis the season..

of busy mom and dad's running around with their little ones, spreading christmas cheer!

this past weekend the santa semi came to town... with frosty, rudolph, santa and a couple extra helpers! it was fabulous!

clearly, gavin was way more excited to look at the fire trucks and the big semi trailer than to take a picture with "fosty"

dan was so excited to show gavin the lights and santa and everything else the santa semi entailed. it was a proud daddy and gavin moment.

so thankful that santa semi came to litchfield, and for kinsella chiropractic for putting this on for all the little ones.

so the weeekend before seeing the santa semi we picked out our christmas tree at turks trees. it was eventful to say the least. gavin was kind of in a strange mood and did more "hiding" and running away than helping us pick out a tree. we had to pretend that the rabbits were chasing us around to get him to stay with mom and dad. it was so odd picking out a tree with no snow on the ground.

gavin still loves the chickens, but....

he hates the turkeys. i must agree with him though- they are not very cute.

this is gavin, chasing after me and the rabbits ;)

that same weekend my mom took gavin to the stockade for an old fashioned christmas. she said he was such a good little boy and had so much fun decorating this pine cone, you can kind of see it in the picture.. that after only 2 minutes in the car he looked like this. gavin slept for 3 hours after hanging out with grandma.

so tired.

the first snowfall.. where did the snow go? gavin and daddy went out and shoveled the snow, in the dark. he was having such a good time shoveling he started to shovel the snow in the grass, it was pretty cute.

all dressed and ready to go help dad.

that same day we decided to make homemade playdough. something i found on pinterest. gavin's quite the helper in the kitchen. and yes, he is getting a kitchen for christmas- i don't care what people say about it being "girly"... he has an imagination, might as well use it!

ready to be moms little helper.

cool huh?

we made green and blue and red. next up we're going to make purple. neon colors of course! yea, i felt like a super cool mom when he was so excited to make it. again, he's such a helper in the kitchen... i love it! you can find the recipe here.

next up: tonight is the santa train in eden valley... it's a little late (9pm) but i think he'll be so excited to see it that he'll stay awake! this weekend we're taking him to see santa in town, and of course, to see the fire trucks as well!

christmas is just around the corner, so dan and i need to get in a good night of finishing our christmas shopping. i can't wait to put the presents under the tree and see gavin light up :)

the babe update

well, we're on our 29th week of life together. is it over yet? just kidding.

i'm now finally, 100% feeling pregnant.. which is to be expected. i had my 7 month prenatal visit last tuesday, and dun dun dun, the dreaded gestational diabetes testing. ishh! my test was negative for gestational diabetes, which i am thrilled to hear and the babe, well he's low (surprise, surprise). and it's humorous to me that my doctor keeps telling me that he's "going to move up" but with only 11 (or fewer) weeks left, i just don't think it's going to happen. this baby is more active than what i can remember with gavin and it keeps me reassured that he's alive in there. he is super active around noon and around 10pm so if those are the time he's going to be up-and-at-em that's what i'll have to be prepared for. other than that things are going well. he's still growing and getting ready to make his arrival. i'm still going to prenatal yoga, which i would highly suggest for ANY pregnant momma. it's helped with all of my small issues i've had with my back/tailbone and is the biggest stress reliever a pregnant person could ask for. i will defiantly continue a yoga class with katerie once i'm done being pregnant.

we still have no name decided on this little guy. or even a couple that we can agree upon. i obviously have the name, middle name and a picture of what i think he will look like, but dan, not so much. the only thing we've decided TOGETHER upon is who the godparents will be and how we plan on asking them. we've finally gotten the room set up (kind of) and this week it's dan's job to start to paint the room so we can start a little bit more on the decor! i am thrilled that any of this will/has been done, since dan's so busy with work and his construction work after work.

last friday gavin, dan and i got the pleasure to watch little piper johnson for an hour or so while the rest of the clan went bowling. gavin loved every minute of it. and surprisingly even when piper did a little fuss when mom left, gavin wasn't too upset by it. gavin was very calm and gentle around the baby and slightly confused when piper left and mom still had a baby in her tummy- oh my little two year old.

also, i think every-single-mommy-to-be is having a girl, except this one.. and my friend kati. it's crazy!!!