Happy Birthday Tracie!!!!

So, the last two posts haven't had any Brooke pictures, so I thought I would catch up. Brooke has been a busy lady lately. She is getting more and more talkative and we really have to watch what we say around her now. She is starting to repeat what we say which can be cute, but I can also imagine quite embarrasing in certain situations. Her current favorites are "No Mommy!" , "No Baby" , "No Bella" ...can you sense a trend here? We may have a bossy girl on or hands :) A new one that I like, though, is "Oh Baby!" Not sure where this came from, but it is pretty cute..

Brooke was at Innsbrooke this weekend with Mom and Dad to celebrate Tracie's birthday (is it 23 or 24?...j/k). She had a great time on the beach and is slooowwllly warming up to the water...unlike her cousin Lily who (litterally) jumps in head first and is ready to go. There were tons of kids on our lake (or as Jack would say, "my grandma's lake"...nice grandpa) that Brooke loved to watch. I think that her and Lily will have to duke it out for the cute boys in the future :)

The countdowns begin...

I feel like this blog has turned into doctor update central..at least once every two weeks. I met with my doctor this past Thursday and really got the same news as on Wednesdays ultrasound appointment. He was pleased with the ultrasound results and said that it was my best one so far. He still did not mention anything to me about size and I don't know why. I know that it shouldn't bother/frusterate me...but it does. I am thinking that either they didn't get a great measurement on it or maybe it is longer, but thinner and they don't want to freak me out with numbers...or who knows why!! According to him, my u/s was good-not 'normal' yet, but good. He still fully believes that the clot will be absorbed by the end of this pregnancy-I REALLY hope so. I hate worrying about it ALL the time! I am not completely off bed-rest yet, but he did lift some of the restrictions. Instead of only going to work 1 day a week, I can go in 2-3 days a week. I can run to Target, but not if I have been to work that day. I still cannot lift anything over 10 lbs...so I guess my mom still have to help me with the laundry...oh well :)

The countdowns are really starting to kick in now. August 19th (my next appointment date) will equal 24 weeks. For those of you who aren't aware, 24 weeks equals viability. I in no way want to deliver a baby at 24 weeks, but it it was to happen on or after this date-we are at least given a fighting chance. Only 25 days to go!!! Then we will create the 28 week, 32 week, etc..but for right now, we are counting down to the big 24 week.

I am also feeling baby girl Fleming move around a lot more-it is every day now. I love this part. I cannot wait until Gary will be able to feel her move all around and Brooke too. Jack already told my sister that he doesn't want to feel the baby move and that he doesn't want another baby either-sorry Amy...:)

The one dissapointment this weekend was that it was my friends annual trip to Lake Springfield that I LOVE to go to. We have such a great time! Unfortuently, the doctor was not ok with my going so we are stuck at home. Gary took me out to dinner and a movie which did make up for it. AND I found a new PBK quilt for Brooke's room for only $20.00!! It was my first real 'bargin' find and I am SO excited. I think that by the end of August/early September I will start to get more serious about her new room-can't wait.

Baby Fleming Update

Well, not too much to say following the ultrasound appointment today. I am going to go ahead and say that no news is good news. I was a little bit dissapointed that my doctor wasn't there doing the u/s today. The other doctor that was there, though, I do really like and he is the best at reading u/s so that was a plus. The 20 week u/s is always longer as they are looking for anything 'out of the ordinary' and checking all sorts of measurements, etc. This always makes me nervous becuase you don't know why they are speanding so much time looking at the brain...is there something wrong or what??!! After about 45 min or so we were done. The doctor came in and said that everything looked good and he would see me again in 4 weeks. 4 weeks??!!! I am always and every two weeker! He said that Mama R was still there, but that she was smaller then last time. When I asked for an exact measurement, he said he didn't know..just smaller then last time. He told me that I really shouldn't get hung up on size. As long as I wasn't having any problems and the clot was getting smaller all while the baby is getting bigger I should see this as very positive news because he did.

I have another appointment tomorrow-this time with my acutal doctor. I should get a better vibe as to what he is thinking and whether or not they are going to lift any of the bed rest rules, etc. I am looking forward to hearing from him :)

In Brooke news, we decided to bring her with us to the u/s appointment today. We figured that she would be pretty good and she LOVES to say hi and bye to the baby and talk about babies and obsess about babies...all...day...long...so this would be fun! NOT SO MUCH. She totally was NOT into the u/s and had to leave the room 3 times with Gary. At one point, she officially got kicked out when another technician popped her head in to see, 'if she was ok.' Yeah-she was totaly fine just talking and being maybe a bit loud...She then asked if Brooke could leave because it was 'distracting' to the other patients. Well..I think that the other patients should get used to it-I mean they are hear because they are pregnant right?? What do they think is going to happen in the next few months?? AND Brooke is on the light side of loudness, etc...just sayin..

Onto the next appointment...!!

Friends & Play Dough

This is a short post, but I thought that I would share a few pictures of what we have been up to lately. We had Gary's brothers and their families over to watch the All Star game last week and baby Katie came too! Brooke was so excited to have a friend over :) We also recently purchased some play dough and it has become Brooke's new favorite activity. Maybe she will be a famous sculpter...

Hanging out with my friend Katie!

(Brooke was walking around the house saying her name all day long waiting for her to come over...)

Loving on play dough..

Well, we are on our way to yet another ultrasound tomorrow and are hoping Mama Roja has gracefully made an exit-or at least become smaller...will update tomorrow!

On a sad note

This past Wednesday, my Grandma Buchheit (my mom's mom) passed away. She was an awesome woman and will be greatly missed by all of us. Brooke was lucky to have been able to get to know her. She and my Grandpa (who passed away four years ago) were married for 59 years, had 10 children, 32 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren...with two more still on the way. Pretty insane family size but some of the best memories were made at Grandma & Grandpa Buchheit's house-including..Easter Egg hunts, the 'Lower Room', spaghetti made with Sloppy Joe sauce (who does that??!!), TONS of food-especially pies, sitting on the front and back porch with my Grandparents-just talking and Christmas' so big that you would swear the walls were going to collapse with all the family packed inside-12 days of Chirstmas anyone??. Love you both and will continue to miss you TONS :)

Shopping

This weekend, we asked Brooke is she wanted to go with Dad to the grocery store. She said "YES!" and then ran off to grab just a few things. She came back with her purse and babies in hand. She was also nice enough to include Gary's cell phone in her purse-don't want him to forget it. Needless to say, I don't think that Gary was all too excited to bring ALL of this to the store...truly a girl.

Slimming down...blood clot style

We had a ultrasound appointment today just to check the measurements of Mama Roja. The great news that we received was that she had slimmed down a bit..just a bit..but I will totally take it. The last time (2 weeks ago) that we got checked, the measurement was 4 cm. Today she was 3 cm in size! This was great news. The only 'bad' news that we received was that I still cannot pick up any additional activity. So, until my next u/s (which is two weeks from today) I still cannot go back to work full time nor do I get to run any errands do grocery shopping, etc. I am disappointed simply because while lots of these tasks seem like something you wouldn't want to do...I SO wish that I could do them again!! He did give us 'worst case scenarios' which include full bed rest and/or hospitalization down the road, however, those are big IF's and only IF Mama R was to flare back up in a big fashion. I hope that by continuing to take it easy and follow doctors orders that neither of those options will become a reality. Fingers crossed :)

Brooke is still loving on the Wiggles. They recently came out with a new video on Netflix that you could watch instantly (don't have to wait to get it in the mail). She has to watch it a minimum of 2 times a day. What cracks me up, though, is that whenever Jeff comes on, she always yells out,"JOE." The only Joe she knows is her Uncle Joe. I don't see the resemblance, but maybe I am missing something...or maybe he has a secret life as the purple Wiggle that I never knew about...Brooke would think that was so cool..

Ice Cream Run

Last night I stayed up waaayyy past my 9:00 bed time and waited for Gary to get home from work. Yes, I did want to see him, but I also wanted to convince him to stop and pick me up some ice cream-nice right? Well, apparently there are no local McDonalds open at 11:30 p.m. so he was out of luck for a not-getting-out-of-the-car place. So, what does he do...drive home and walk through the front door empty handed?? No... He drives past a local restaurant (Napoli2 for those in town) and walks inside-even though they are closed-not for a cocktail after work, but to ask them for ice cream to go-who does that?? Gary. I couldn't believe him when he walked in with a Styrofoam cup filled with Vanilla-I am letting him sleep in right now :)

On another note...HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my FABULOUS MOM ETTA!!! She looks 1/2 her age and has more energy then I think I will ever have. She has always been an AMAZING mom, but lately has made my life SO MUCH easier with all of her help and ability to listen to me complain/cry/worry/etc...even at 12:00 a.m. Love you MOM-Happy Birthday! (maybe not 1/2 her age b/c that would officially make her younger then half of her five children and that is just weird..)

Mama Roja

I am guessing that Brooke is starting to have some cabin fever of her own. This past Friday, while I was working in the family room and Gary was in the basement, Brooke decided that it was time to do a little furniture re-arranging. I came to the living room and found that she had moved the buffet table in front of the door. She also decided that it was about time for me to clean out my purse and got a head start for me. Thanks Brooke...but I think that we are going to go with the original layout.


Another sign of boredom, letting Maggie and I play with Brooke's hair. We thought that maybe it was time for a 'real' ponytail-not just the crazy on top of my head style that we have been working with. I think that it is a good look!! I think that I need to pick up some new nail polish-the fun we could have with that...

In less exciting news, we have another u/s appointment this Wednesday. I am hoping for good news, but to be honest I am just not expecting it. Mama Roja decided to flare up again this weekend and I don't know if that is good news, bad news or just run of the mill when you have a blood clot news.

Who is Mama Roja you ask?? Well, my friend Lindsey decided that if we are going to talk about this dreaded blood clot then it needs to have a name. Many suggestions were thrown out, but I decided that I liked Mama Roja the best-thoughts??

So, lets hope that She has stayed the same size (again...going on 6 weeks this Friday) or has decided to slim down. I am NOT in the mood for a plus size Mama Roja (Linz-that is for you).