Hannah is THREE!!!

This past weekend we celebrated Hannah's third birthday. I wasn't physically able to give her a huge birthday bash, so we kept it low key with a cookout with our immediate families. I don't think Hannah minded one bit...she had a blast being silly with Aunt Katherine and Uncle Jim and she always has fun with her cousins.

She really enjoyed opening presents this year. Mark and I gave her a dollhouse which she has really enjoyed so far, but I think her favorite is her turtle sandbox. She loves to be outside, so that was the perfect gift...thanks Grammy & Pappy!

Here are a few pictures from previous birthdays. It's just amazing how much she has changed from year to year!

04.04.2007

04.04.2008

04.04.2009

04.04.10

Thanks to our families for celebrating with us and making this a special day for Hannah.

William James Malueg is here!

William James Malueg arrived on Saturday 3/27/10 at 10:32 am. He weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. We are so thrilled that he has joined our family! He was born via c-section and it's a good thing that I had already decided to have a c-section. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck 4 times and the doctor had a hard time delivering him. A natural delivery would have been impossible. He got off to a rough start and was not breathing or moving when he was born. His heart rate was also very low. They gave him an Apgar score of 2. It was extremely scary for me to be laying on the operating table and not hearing my baby cry. After a few minutes, he finally started to cry a bit. He is now 3 days old and is doing wonderfully! He is nursing like a champ and the only time he cries is when we change his diaper or touch him with cold hands. Hannah thinks he is pretty awesome! She can't keep her hands off of him and she seems truly excited about being a big sister. Tomorrow we will go home from the hospital and the real fun will begin :)

Here are some pictures...

Pre-surgery

He's here!

More to come later!

Check out these FABULOUS earrings!!!

My sister just made THESE awesome earrings and added them to her etsy shop! She really needs to stop tempting me to spend more money...I have a baby coming in 9 days. Geez Katherine!

So things may be moving along faster than I thought...

...or maybe not. I've been having contractions for the past 2 days straight (although I know they aren't true labor contractions) and I finally called the doctor this morning since they just aren't going away. She had me come in for monitoring and a non-stress test. I'm 1cm dilated, which isn't that big of a deal, but I'm 70% effaced already. She gave me a prescription to try and stop the contractions, but if I do go into labor they aren't going to do anything to stop it. I'm going back to the doctor for another check on Friday and we'll see if I've progressed any since then. If I'm dilated more, I may end up on bed rest for a few weeks. All of this to say that the baby could come at any time, or he/she may be happy to keep cooking another few weeks. We shall see!

When a two year old is left alone...

I think we have been blessed with a very good, obedient daughter. On weekend mornings, she is usually up around 7am. We will get her out of bed to use the potty and then give her breakfast and sit her on the sofa to watch cartoons. Mark and I then go back to bed. She'll sit quietly and play with toys or watch TV for an hour or so by herself and then one of us usually gets up. During this "free time" she has never done anything bad, like coloring on the walls or getting the scissors and cutting things up (which reminds me, that I probably do need to move the scissors to a new place, just in case). Yesterday she spilled a little bit of milk on the table. She went and got the paper towels, tore 5 or 6 of them up into tiny pieces, and cleaned up her own mess. She even put the paper towels back where they belong. This morning, she did her own hair...I thought her 'do was hilarious! I feel blessed that we have a child that we can trust to follow the rules and who clearly knows the difference between right and wrong. What a sweet girl!

Do you need some new jewelry?

If you are looking for a great gift idea or some fun, chic jewelry for yourself, check out my sister's new etsy site.

Katherine Sinclair Designs

I am the proud owner of these fabulous pink pearl earrings:

If you don't know what Etsy is, it is an online community where you can buy and sell handmade items. It's a great way to support local artisans and there are so many unique items available, from jewelry to quilts to clothing...basically anything handmade!

Katherine designs and hand crafts each piece out of high quality materials like sterling silver, 14k gold, and swarovski crystals. Her jewelry has a beachy feel to it, inspired by the beach where she lives. Please consider supporting my sister! I promise you won't be disappointed!

Also, you can check out her work out on her Facebook Fan Page!

The countdown is ON!

30 days and counting until baby's arrival! I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by. My appointment this week was much better. My blood pressure was back down to normal...yay! I'm still anemic though and need to do everything I can to get my hemoglobin levels up before delivery. If I don't, then I may end up needing a blood transfusion if I lose too much blood during the c-section. The iron supplements I'm taking are really taking a toll on me. I feel awful and am having trouble keeping food down. They make me feel so bad that I can't sleep at night. Last night I only got 3 hours of sleep...I got more sleep than that when Hannah was a newborn!

Regardless, I'm very thankful to be pregnant and to have had a relatively healthy pregnancy. But I'm so ready to meet this little one!

Here we go again...

My most recent appointment didn't go as well as I had hoped. I could tell I (and baby) had grown a LOT in the past two weeks. I'm now measuring 35 weeks...yikes! My blood pressure is up considerably to 138/95 and I'm anemic. I have to take iron supplements in addition to my regular vitamin. The iron always makes me feel really nasty. But the anemia at least partly explains why I've been so darn tired. I also gained nearly 5 pounds in the past two weeks. This is exactly what happened when I was pregnant with Hannah and things started to go downhill. At least I haven't started swelling yet. Maybe it's all just a fluke and everything will be back to normal when I go back next week.