Playing catch up

I feel like I could start every blog with a description of how fast time flies, so I will spare you guys this time :) The Hall house has been running around as usual!

First, let's go over our family trip to Willamette Pass a few weekends ago, which was really fun. Kyle had basketball Friday night, so we joined Rick, Sue, Tanner and Britney Saturday morning. Payton was really excited to see the snow, and for some reason kept commenting on the "big rocks". Ah, kids. After unpacking in our cute little cabin and eating some lunch, we decided to go to a sledding hill that they scoped out for us.

I'm ready to go guys!

Let's do it!

Weeeee! I wasn't too impressed with sledding though, only went down once or twice and then preferred to watch the rest of the time.

Uncle Tanner 

Tanner and Brittney!

Enjoying watching the action

Daredevil daddy

Grandma Sue got in on the action!

With Papa Rick too!

Making a snowman

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I got pulled in the sled too!

I snuck in one more sledding picture :)

That night we hung out, feasted on Grandma Joy's lasagna, watched movies, basically just relaxed. Payton slept great in the pack n play, we're grateful that she always does. It was so nice to get away, even if it was just for one night! 

This last weekend Payton hung out with Kyle and Grandma Sue while I travelled to Gig Harbor. Saturday was Jo's memorial, and Sunday Chelsea had arranged a bridesmaid dress fitting, neither of which I wanted to miss. It was weird being childless and having no responsibility, I really missed Payton. I'm not going to lie though, it was nice at the same time to just do what I want to do when I want to do it, and spend lots of unlimited time with my family. All too soon though, it was time to trek home again and start another week. So nice to see everyone though!

In case you missed my Facebook post...

We found out Payton is going to have a little brother! So crazy! It's still really sinking in for Kyle and I, we thought we were going to have another girl. We would have been thrilled either way with just a healthy baby, but we feel really blessed and excited to be able to experience one of each. I had a list of girls' names started that I liked, but of course no boys names, so we're not decided on that yet. 16 weeks today though! I had my blood drawn today for my quad screen, which will check baby's risk for neural tube defects and anomalies such as down syndrome. Hopefully I will get my results next week at my next doctor appointment, keeping my fingers crossed that he's a healthy little kiddo!  

At 16 weeks, baby is about the size of an avocado: he weighs about 5 ounces and is 4.5 inches long. His heart is pumping 25 quarts of blood every day, and he's even started growing toenails. In the next few weeks, he will double his weight and add inches to his height; he's getting ready for a growth spurt! I certainly feel the growth; I've been wearing maternity pants the last few weeks, they've just been more comfortable than my regular pants. Now they're definitely necessary! 

There's something in there! :)

I have a three day weekend coming up, it's that time again... Monday is Payton's eye check-up at OHSU. This is the big one, where they dilate her eyes to check her prescription. It will be interesting to see if there are any changes! Hard to believe it's already almost time to order her 3rd pair of glasses... 

Happy birthday to Grandma Joy, Connor, and Aunt Pam!

Hello 2nd trimester!

Hello and welcome! It's definitely good to see the second trimester begin; 14 weeks tomorrow, very exciting. I had a friend say it best once when she said "pregnancy seems to go by so quickly... except when it's yours". I couldn't agree more! It seems like time goes so slowly, watching the weeks tick by. The good news is I'm feeling quite a bit better, and my headaches aren't as frequent, but I'm still really tired all the time. I'm not sure if that has to do with pregnancy or with taking care of the child I already have though! I've been fighting a bit of a cold, just a sore throat and runny nose, nothing too bad. I'm just so thankful the flu (knock on wood) has passed by Payton without getting her sick. 5 kids in her class were out the last week with the flu, so I was really worried she'd get it!

Baby is about the size of a lemon this week, and their little hands and feet are about half an inch long. Baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and grasp. It's kidneys are producing urine, the liver is producing bile, and the spleen is now helping in the production of red blood cells. Baby is about 3.5 inches long, and weighs a couple of ounces! I had a doctor appointment last week, which went well. I saw another midwife I hadn't met yet, she was very nice. This office is different than my last doctor, because you don't choose who delivers you (unless it's scheduled), you just get whoever happens to be on call at the time (which is what happened to me with Payton anyway). Because of that, I have to meet all of their providers, so I see someone new every time. I think there are five midwives and five physicians, so I have quite a few to go! She said that when you go into labor, a midwife is usually who attends you and they only call in the physician on call if there's a problem. However, since I've had a c-section, if I'm in labor I have to have a doctor somewhere on site at all times in case we have to go to emergency surgery or there's any other complications. That made me feel better, because although I have nothing against midwives, I really don't want to repeat my last childbirth experience. If it's determined that it's not happening, I don't want to push for several more hours waiting for the doctor to get there!

I haven't gained any weight since my last appointment, in fact she said I lost a tenth of a pound. I've been trying to be a lot more conscious of what I'm eating this time around, so I was pleased about that. That puts my total weight gain so far to about 2 pounds, which isn't too bad. She tried to find the heartbeat with a doppler over my tummy but baby was moving too much, so she did a quick ultrasound to make sure everything was ok. She said "well it's moving, so it must be alive!" She gave me some orders for my quad screen, which is a blood test I'll do at 16 weeks to check the baby's risk of anomalies like downs syndrome, and my ultrasound order as well. She said they give it to patients so early because sometimes it can take a while to get in, but I'm not too worried about that :) She reminded me that if I want to try to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean), I have to make a "VBAC counseling" appointment to talk to a surgeon about the possible risks and what my odds of success are. She said there's even a computer program where they input a bunch of information about you, including the reason you had the c-section the first time, and it actually spits out a percentage, which are your specific odds of success. She told me that to be honest, I am not the best candidate for a VBAC, which kind of took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting a midwife of all people to say that to me! She said that women who are the most successful are those that had a c-section the first time for factors that were outside of their control, such as baby was breech, or wasn't tolerating labor well. She said that the fact that I got to fully dilated and pushed for so long and made no progress at all is not indicative of a successful second experience, although I had the fact that she was facing the wrong way and that she was a big baby working against me too. I've been pretty dead set on trying a VBAC, because I felt like last time I COULD have done it, it just wasn't in the cards for me... although I guess the fact that I ultimately couldn't do it should really tell me something too. I just always thought, "if I hadn't been so stressed because we were out of town, if I'd had some sleep, if my own doctor had been there and not some stranger, if Payton had been in the right position, if she'd been just a little bit smaller..." My body labored extremely well, but the end result was still not what I wanted. I guess this time it feels like cheating, if I were to show up at a prearranged time and say "give me a shot and cut this baby out of me please!" I think deep down, I'm hoping to rectify those feelings of failure that I felt after Payton was born. I want to feel the same success that millions of women have achieved for thousands of years. If they can do it, why can't I? Although as my mom says, "giving birth is not all it's cracked up to be, trust me!" :) I think I always thought too, maybe we got off on such a bad start breastfeeding because my body was so stressed, and it just wasn't ready. I don't know, it just made me think... maybe if I did have another c-section, and was able to come in stress free with a full night of sleep under my belt, maybe things would turn out a lot better this time. The lady I saw definitely gave me a lot of food for thought. She suggested I bring Kyle to that appointment, and then together we can make a decision about what we think is best for us and the baby. My biggest fear of a VBAC is rupturing my uterus, which would mean an emergency c-section followed by a hysterectomy for me. I would really like one more after this, so the thought of potentially losing my uterus is not an appealing thought at all. Kyle's aunt said that in almost 30 years of being an OB nurse she's only seen that happen twice, but that's in the back of my mind too. I'm not afraid of the recovery from a c-section, mine was super easy and I healed really well. Either way, I won't make a decision until I hear what my own odds are and talk to Kyle about it. There's just so much to think about... good thing I have six months to ponder it!

Wow, sorry to ramble! It's easy for all my thoughts to spill out onto my blog, almost like a diary. There's not much else exciting going on right now in the Hall house, we're just back into the swing of school/work/basketball. Payton is great as always, really doing well in her new preschool class. She still misses her old friends, but she isn't upset when she talks about them anymore. She wore underwear to school on Friday and kept them dry all day! They put a pull up on her at nap time, but we considered that a great success. We started swimming lessons again too, which she LOVES! She has so much fun. This weekend Rick and Sue rented a little cottage at Willamette Pass, which is about two hours from here, and invited all the kids. We're probably going to go Saturday morning, and come home Sunday afternoon. Payton gets really excited about the snow, so I know she'll have a great time! It will be nice to get away and relax a little bit, and just break up our normal routine. Sorry no pictures this time, but I'll be sure to get a lot this weekend!

Hello again!

Your eyes do not deceive you, I am blogging for the second time in a month (not a common occurrence lately). I decided that if I start a blog during the day, hopefully I can get most of it done by the time that I can barely keep my eyes open at night. I don't necessarily have a lot to report, but I'm going to blab on anyway...

My BFF Summer came over to hang out with me on New Year's! I got to see her baby sister too. I played a little with the baby, and thought she was pretty cute! Summer and I are representing West Albany basketball!

We're very close :)

Every time my mom took a picture, I wanted to see it and then said "again!"

Super cute gals!

Kyle officially goes back to school tomorrow, which I think he's excited about, but not. He loved having a break, but he's looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. He's got two games a week for the next several weeks, plus school, work, swim lessons, and practice; things around here are going to get very busy again!

Payton is growing up so fast, she officially moved from the toddler room to the preschool room at her school last week. She calls them the "big kids". When she comes home she says "I played with the big kids today!" I tried to tell her she's one of the big kids now, but I don't think that's really sunk in for her yet. It's a class made up of 3-4 year olds, so she's the youngest now, which is a big change for her. I tried talking up how fun it was going to be so she would be excited to go, but she always tells me she wants to play with "her friends" in the toddler room. She still misses them, which makes me feel sad for her, but I also know that most of them will eventually join her, not to mention she's exactly where she needs to be learning wise. Preschool is much more structured, which I think she'll do very well with. They also have show and tell, so Payton brought one of her babies and one of her stuffed kitties to school to show her class. She thought that was pretty cool! We're still working on potty training... or I guess I should say poop training. She's pretty much completely potty trained now! In fact we even went grocery shopping last week with her in underwear, and another night we went out to dinner and she wore underwear there too. She did great and told us when she needed to go, it was a piece of cake. However she still will not poop in the potty, doesn't even like to sit down. *sigh* We'll get there I'm sure... one of these days!

So, let's talk about baby #2! I think that's still sinking in for Kyle and I, the idea that we're going to have a baby around the house again. There's going to be just as many kids as adults in our house now! We're excited for Payton to have a playmate though, even though we know they won't actually "play" for quite a while. We've gotten a lot of questions on what we prefer for gender, and we couldn't care less. Just a healthy normal baby :) Kyle says he would like another girl, just because we have so much girl stuff already. Plus we both had siblings of the same gender, and we know how nice it would be for Payton to have a sister... on the flip side of that though, it would be neat to have one of each! So there's advantages to both in my eyes; like I said, we'll be happy with a healthy baby. Speaking of the baby, I'll be 13 weeks on Tuesday, so finally nearing the end of the first trimester. According to one of the baby apps on my phone, baby is about the size of a peach. Fingerprints are forming on the baby's tiny fingertips, which are starting to open and close. Their mouth can make little sucking movements, and the kidneys have begun functioning and are excreting urine into the baby's bladder. Crazy how all of that happens on a tiny baby only about 3 inches long! 

Have a great week!

New year, new adventure...

Welcome 2013! Hard to believe a new year is upon us already. Kyle and I are really looking forward to this year... we are excited to announce that we are expanding our family to a family of four! We are thrilled to be expecting another baby, and for Payton to become a big sister. We decided to keep it pretty quiet until the first trimester was almost over, and I am 12 weeks today. Baby Hall #2 is due to make an appearance around July 16, 2013. I'm sure it will be here before we know it! It didn't happen as easily for us this time as it did with Payton, but I definitely think there is a reason for everything, and the timing couldn't be better for us to have a summer baby. Kyle will be able to have a lot of time off, which is wonderful, not to mention both of my parents will be retired at that point, which will be a huge blessing to us too. It was a humble reminder to me to be patient, and that what's meant to happen will happen at the right time. I've been feeling ok, you know... the usual pregnant stuff! Fatigue, nausea, even some headaches with this one, which I'm told is common. I just feel "yucky" and tired most of the day, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I already have a kiddo to take care of. Before when I came home from work I could just lay around, put my feet up and relax, but now I'm going, going, going all day until Payton goes to bed. It's definitely been harder the second time around! I'm hoping that with the end of my first trimester approaching I will gain some more energy back, which is one of the main reasons I haven't really been blogging much lately. By the time Payton goes to bed at 8:00 I am exhausted, and I'm not far behind her! Especially with the start of Kyle's basketball season, I have been alone with her a lot of nights. I don't know how single moms do it!

Baby's first official ultrasound! This was taken about 3 weeks ago at my doctor's office, so it's done a lot of growing since then. More pregnancy details on my next blog! Very exciting!

Speaking of basketball, Kyle's season has been going extremely well so far. His team is 6-1! Payton and I have gone to a few of his games, Payton really enjoys going. When everyone starts clapping, she yells "go ducks!" I think she thinks every sporting event is a duck game :) She's always waving to her dad on the bench and saying "hi daddy!" It's pretty darn cute. It's been really fun to watch Kyle coach too, he does such a great job.

The one definite drawback of basketball season is that Payton has been acting out a lot more. At first I couldn't figure out why the heck she was acting the way she was, but then I realized it coincided with the start of Kyle's season. I think him being gone so much in the evenings is just a big change in her schedule, and she misses having him around. She's gotten better though, although Kyle's been on break the last few weeks and has been home everyday (which has been very nice). I'm pleased to report a very positive thing however; Payton has officially and successfully made the transition to a big girl bed!  We switched her over three weeks ago, and it went off without a hitch!

Mama can even get in for storytime!

Ready to sleep for the first time!

It's a really neat bed! Not the prettiest thing, but she loves it so that's all that matters. I liked it because the sides were high, so I didn't have to worry about her rolling out onto the floor. She LOVES climbing up and down the stairs, plus there's tons of storage space underneath, so I can put a lot of her toys under there and get them out of my living room. She piles all of her stuffed animals in there, it looks pretty funny. Every morning when I go in to get her up though, she tells me "I have lots of babies in here!" 

Christmas was very busy for us this year, but lots of fun. Here are a few pics of our Christmas decorations: 

"Helping" daddy put up the lights

The tree!

It was raining when Kyle took this picture, thus the artifact. Kind of looks like snow!

We spent the weekend before Christmas with my family in Gig Harbor, and travelled home on Christmas Eve. We had a great time! It went by too fast, as it always does. 

Playing with my toys!

Kyanne and Carissa got us Christmas jammies in honor of Grandma Book! Even a mini version for Payton :)

Grandma would have loved it!

It was so wonderful to spend time with everyone, we wish we could come up more often. Thank you everyone for all the gifts you gave Payton, she is one very blessed and lucky little girl! After we got home, there were more Christmas celebrations with the Halls, which is always fun. Not to mention Christmas morning with Santa's presents! 

Santa brought Payton a basketball hoop! She loves it!

2 points!

Christmas morning by the tree :)

Alright, I am about to drop! Way past my bedtime. I actually managed to stay up until midnight last night, but I paid for it all day today. This mama is tired! :) Blog again soon!

P.S. Happy birthday to the December babies! Kyle, Chris and Uncle David!

P.P.S. Congrats to my dad on his retirement from the Tacoma Fire Department! As his daughter I have always looked up to him as a hero, but for the last 30+ years thousands of others have too. Thank you for your hard work and years of service dad! Enjoy your retirement; you deserve it! :)