Baby debuts on Mom's Blog

 

 

 

He's too sweet, so how could I not have posted any photos of him for so long? To quote Ellen Pompeo, like her baby Stella Luna, James is like a chicken nugget. So cute you could just dip him in sauce and nibble him.. or something of like that. This is photos of him on his first birthday. Yes, I have a one year old now. Wow!

Snow Falls in Collegedale

 

I haven't posted ANYTHING in AGES, so I apologize. It snowed this week for the 6th time this winter, and for some reason or another I was inspired to take some photos outside, and to subsequently half freeze to death. Enjoy!

36 Week Update

I haven't written on here in awhile, so I suppose an update is due! (excuse the pun). 12 days ago my midwife put me on bed rest because of hypertension. They were fearful of it becoming preclampsia, which is very serious, but thankfully they have now ruled that out. I just have pregnancy induced hypertension, which isn't quite as serious. I'm just taking it easy and trying to stay off my feet for the best part of the day. Fortunately, she let me go to my shower which was on Sunday, the 16th (a week ago). We had so much fun, even though I had to sit in a glider rocker the whole time. I'll post pictures from that whenever I can gather them from the people who took them.

Sunday my parents came over and Dad worked on putting up the wall that is going to divide the upstairs in order to create a bedroom for James. We moved our living room into the big room downstairs, thus making from for the baby. I'll post pictures of that, and of the nursery when it's all put together. It's reassuring to finally have progress being made.. for those of you who have done home remodeling, you know the progress can be so slow when you are low of funds, and have to work full time jobs. Anyway, but it's looking great, and I'm so grateful to my parents for their help.

It won't be long now!... I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to seeing friends who have come from far and wide, and of course it's not the real meaning behind Thanksgiving, but I look forward to some great eats. I have been very slow to put on weight, so Donna (midwife) gave me blessings to eat all I want this holiday! WohOoo! This may be the best Thanksgiving ever!!

Baby Shower (work) Photos!

 

Cake for Hayden Herthel & James Mason

 

Me and Christal at our shower

 

CCU Got James a Car Seat!

 

My friend Elizabeth cross-stitched something for James' room :)


Charles and I opening adorable gifts...


Dear work friends--Donna, (me), Christal & Debbie


Cute picture Donna took of Charles and I (she's a professional photographer)

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!!

I would like to send out special Happy Canadian Thanksgiving greetings to all of my friends/family who celebrate Thanksgiving on the wrong day (just kidding). I have been talking to Martha about the pros and cons of having Thanksgiving this early. One, is that the whole Christmas season starts earlier (which, if you enjoy this like we do, is a pro). You can have your Christmas decorations up longer, and you have more time to shop (and possibly more time to slow down and enjoy the actual meaning of the season). Another pro is that their Thanksgiving is on Monday, giving them a 3 day weekend. Many peopld could do this in America, but since ours is always on a Thursday, you may end up having to request Friday off work, and thus risk having that request denied. ha. A pro to the US Thanksgiving is that we get massive day after Thanksgiving sales which helps jump-start the Christmas purchasing. In Canada, they have Boxing Day, which is like the day after Thanksgiving sales, except you've already been expected to give gifts to your friends and loved ones by the time that this sale occurs. So thus for the purpose of saving money on presents, it's pointless.

Another side note related: I was on the phone with a member today at work, and mid-conversation he pauses and asks, "What part of Canada are you from?" and I of course said that I wasn't. And to curb his obvious confusion, I said that I was from TN but married to a Canadian. He said he could hear it in my voice. This just proves one thing.. I am a cameleon. ha!

Funny Camping

We have wanted to go camping for awhile, actually, since we got married. Seeing as I am 7+ months pregnant now, I figured that it's "now or never!" So this past Sabbath we threw everything in the car and headed toward one of my favor places to camp--Gee Creek, on the Hiawassee river. It was a beautiful weekend, and thus, there were lots of people up there. On the way up, it struck me that this might not be a great plan, as there is only one bath house there, and a limited number of sites near to the bath house. We both prayed that we would be able to find a campsite near the bath house (since I have to visit places like the bath house a lot more frequently than when I wasn't pregnant). Fortunately, when we got there one of the only available spots to camp was right beside the bath house! First prayer answered...

We begin the task of setting up our camp for the night. After we fought with the tent and got it set up, I started dinner and Charles started inflating the air matress. After a little while, he informed me that our brand new air matress had a hole in it--not even on a seam. I was so upset and worried because I so needed a good night sleep away from my dogs (!). More prayers for answers to this dilemma. We prayed that someone would have duct tape. No one had duct tape. I was about to dispair, when Charles looked down, and right beside our car was a big piece of duct tape that had been folded in half and left by a previous camper! That would have to do for the night. Were it not for the duct tape sent from heaven, and my loving husband who pumped up the mattress every hour or so I would not have had a decent night of sleep. Still, it was rough, but better than being awake all night.

One other funny thing was that we forgot to pack cutlery. Fortunately, I'm married to MacGyver, and he was able to whittle us some fork/shovels to eat our eggs with the next morning at breakfast. Overall, it was an interesting and funny experience.

28 Weeks Have Flown By!

Things are going well with the pregnancy–thanks to all of those who have asked. People are very kind and well-meaning, but sometimes I get tired of being asked how I’m feeling. I’ve been blessed to not have had much morning sickness (and have left that way behind since mid-year), and other than the persistent cold that no one wants to hear about, I feel great. I finally started to show a little bit around the 6 month mark, and now that I’m at 7 I finally have strangers ask me when my baby is due. (I guess they feel safe in asking now, ha!)

The baby is very active, and I’m sure he’ll be a handful once he enters the world. He occasionally gets the hiccups, which is weird. It’s like having the hiccups yourself, but not. It’s very difficult to describe, and even more frustrating to experience for more than a few moments at a time. Last night he woke me up with those about 3 am, and in addition to that, I think he was flailing all his appendages as well which created a very uncomfortable feeling. I was so wide awake that I feared I might never return to sleep with all his carrying-on. I prayed for deliverance and it worked! I somehow managed to fall asleep, and the baby did too. Sleep is a precious commodity these days.

On a different note, my dear friend Christal, who was two weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy, had her baby September 20. It was very unexpected, as he was only 29 weeks, but the Lord was looking out for little Hayden. He is doing well, though in NICU. I’m so happy that he is ok. Please pray for them as they are adjusting to this event not going quite as expected–and obviously there are a lot of changes that having a baby prematurely can bring to your life.

I will post more pictures soon (as I keep promising). I have taken so many lately that I need to organize them all and upload them to here and there.

A picture taken with my phone while at work. Please ignore goofy expression on my face. :)

Random Recent Thoughts

I can hardly believe I am well past the 6 month mark. The baby tracker on my emails says that today is 99 days till my due date. This is a little freaky to me, mainly because I don’t see things with the house progressing at a rate that will have things done by December 20. They are laying carpet in the office downstairs which will complete the things that the construction company had to do after our little flood back in March. Apparently we weren’t enough of a priority for them to get their acts together and finish the job before now, as it has been quite a protracted affair. Fortunately, we are almost done with them. Yay.

Things are going well with le bebe. I had my Dr. visit last week, and everything went well. I’m not gaining too much weight, and I don’t have gestational diabetes, which is comforting. Fortunately too, my iron levels are fine, which I say, “fortunately” because my grandmother has always questioned whether or not I am borderline anemic. Ha. I guess we can give the good prenatal vitamins the credit for that. That, and I’m trying to be healthier.

Now, on to some pet peeves that have arisen. I must say that as a result I have become a little more outspoken than usual (yipes!) And have had to make very concerted efforts to not say everything that pops into my head (just ask Charles). On the flip side of the same word-coin is the words that people say to me sometimes get under my skin. Why don’t you try hearing, “Wow, you’re finally starting to look pregnant.” Before that everyone would say, “You’re not putting on any weight, are you sure you’re pregnant?” Comments like these are actually just as detrimental as the, “You’re so huge” type comments, as they make mothers worry about whether or not their baby is growing normally. Other comments like, “What a cute baby belly,” as they reach out to touch my stomach without even asking, are quite common. In fact this happens to me daily. I guess this is normal, although I have known lots of pregnant people, and never had the urge to reach out and touch their stomachs. Priscila made me feel her baby when he was moving around a lot in church, but at least I was invited. Oh well.

I need to post more pictures soon. Promise. I want you to be able to see how cute I am now. Ha.