UltraSound findings...

Today I had my 15 week doctors appointment. The baby is doing well and it's heartbeat is 153! I was able to discuss with my Doctor the finding from the renal ultrasounds that I had done earlier this week. Good News....Everything came back normal, no fluids, stones or masses! YAY! I am so thanksful. She said that the back pain that I continuously have is probably pregnancy related. I guess it really is true that Every pregnancy is different! She said that she wants me to go to physical therapy once a week to have my back stretched out to keep the pain down to a minimum, but I told her it would be really hard for me to do that because that would require Jason to take time off each week so he could watch the boys for me to go. So then she said that I should go buy a pregnancy yoga video that I could do at home 3-4 times a week! Score, I will do that! So now the search begins for a video that has both the streching and fitness yoga on one dvd. Figure I can kill two birds with one stone.

Couple other things, I am very happy that I am able to start eating real food again! She did say that I probably did have a gallbladder attack that weekend I went to the ER, but things look back to normal. She did say to take it easy on fatty, greasy foods, but I can start eating dairy again! YAY, I can handle the no greasy food but I am missing my dairy!
I am also very proud of myself when it comes to weight, I have only gained about 3/4 of a pound! But I still have about 3 more pounds to gain before I am back at my pre-pregnancy weight, so that makes me very happy! I am hoping that with continued diet monitering and moderation and now that I am going to be doing yoga and yoga fitness 3-4 times a week that I can maintian a low weight gain!

My next appointment will be to find out the sex of the baby!!! I am so excited!!! But I sitll have like 3-4 weeks!

15 Weeks

This week the baby is the size of a Naval Orange! Other than the back pain that I have constantly I have been feeling good. I was finally able to get a hold of radiology to schedule my ultrasound appoinments, the Kidney and gallbladder were yesterday and then an OB one was today. Yesterday the tech didn't say much other than the results will be sent to my doctor. I am really hoping there is nothing major wrong because if there is my doctor said I may have to do surgery. So fingers crossed if there is something wrong it can be fixed with medicine/diet change etc...

My ultrasound today was uneventful other than getting to take home a picture of the little pumpkin! I was really hoping that they may be able to tell me if it's a boy or girl...but the Tech said she couldn't get a good look of that area. Things were still a little to small.

I have my next actual Doctors visit on Friday. So I should know more about the results of the ultrasounds then. We will also be talking about the diet that I have been on since my ER visit. I am hoping that I can start slowley introducing things back into my diet, like Milk and cheese! It all just depends on what the ultrasound findings are.

Tomorrow I have a Phonix Spouse luncheon to go to, grocery shopping to get done, baking to do for the Pampered Chef Quarters Auction, and prep work to do for the quarters auction tomorrow night! So I have a busy day. I am just happy that I have been feeling better overall and a lot less tired during the day. I still get really tired come 7 or 8 in the evening but for the most part I can get stuff done during the day!

Anyways, I will let you all know how things go on Friday!

Bo overcame a huge hurdle!!!

For months now Bo will go pee on the potty! The candy method worked like a charm for him. Everytime he would pee on the potty he would get a piece of candy. Once he accomplished peeing on the potty we started to work on getting him to poop on the potty. Getting him to go was a chore, he just didn't want to go. I don't think he was scared, he would just rather hold it in until we put a diaper on him at night and go poop then. We tried candy, that didn't work. we tried telling him that once he went poo on the potty we could go to the toy store and get a new toy, that didn't work. Stickers don't work either. I was running out of ideas and this morning Bo asked me if we could go to Monkey Joes. Then I told him "If you go poo poos on th potty we can go to Monkey Joes!" He said Ok, but I didn't think anything of it because he told me ok when we offered other things to get him to go on the potty and he doesn't go.
Well Bo was sitting on the floor playing Legos and all of a sudden he jumps up hold his butt and yells "Mommy, Mommy I need to go poo poos...." and he takes off running for the bathroom. I ran in there thinking he probably already went in his underwear. But I sat him down on the potty and he had not gone in his big boy underwear! YAY So then I asked him if he wanted me to leave the bathroom He said yes. So I stood outside the door and just waited for him to call me when he was done. I hear lots of grunting, and little whines like he was scared to let it come out and then all of a sudden he Yells "Mommy I went Poo poos...SEE...you wanna see" Sure enough he had gone! I praised him and told he did a good job and I was proud of him. I got him cleaned up dumped the potty and wiped it out and then Bo says "Mommy I got to go poo poo again, I went big poo poo now I need to go little poo poo." I was like OKAY....are you sure cuz you just went and there was a lot of it. I let him sit back down and no joke he went again! I was shocked and yet so proud of him!
We have been trying to get him to go poo on the potty for months and I guess Going to Monkey Joes was a big enough incentive for him! I am hoping now that he has gone that he will continue to go...We won't be going to Monkey Joes every time but I will have to fill up my jar of candy to give him a little reward for when he does go!
YAY BOAZ!!! Way to Go!!!

Help Whip Cancer Cooking Shows!!!

Happy Spring!
I am so EXCITED to share with you the Help Whip Cancer Pink Products that The Pampered Chef has to offer this year! There is a reusable shopping bag, Pink and white martini glasses, a pink tomato knife just to name a few!
In the month of May if you Host a Help Whip Cancer Cooking show, part of the proceeds will be donated to the cause!
I am looking to FILL my calendar in the month of May with Help Whip Cancer cooking shows! This is a cause that is very important to me and I would like to raise money for the cause. We all know someone who has been affected by this disease.

So to kick things off I am offering you your choice of the Pink Products FREE, when you host a show with me in the month of may. Plus I will provide the cooking ingredients for the recipes we will cook, I will send your invites out for you and I will pamper you and your girlfriends with some yummy food! All you have to do is give me your guest list and I will do ALL the work!!!
The first 4 People to pick a date for the month of May will be entered to win an additional $40 Free in product!!!
If your Guest sales are $500-$1000 then you receive an additional special gift from me!!!
Refer a friend to host their own Help Whip Cancer Cooking show and receive one of our new spices FREE!!!

As you can see we have several GREAT specials going on and I would love to help you get all the free product you want!
Contact me today to schedule your Help Whip Cancer Cooking Show!!!
Andrea Bindewald
www.pamperedchef.biz/abindewald

Feeling better

Since this past weekends episode, I am feeling much better! My stomach is not in knots and whatever was "eating it" is now gone. My back still hurts and is pretty sore, but that's what the medicine if for right? My diet has changed drastically, I still don't know how I am going to do this. but I must say that since I have cut out dairy, grease, fat, and spicy foods I have not had any stomach pains, which is a huge relief.
I am going to have to sit down and really plan out my meals. I have always done meal planning to some extent, but now I am really going to have to crack the whip. It is a little overwhelming but at least I feel better. If any of you have an recipes that will be good for the while family that are dairy free, low in fat, and aren't spicy or cream based I would love for you to share them with me!
I need to call my doctor today and schedule a follow up appointment and then I have the ultra-sounds this week. So I will know more after I talk to my Doc.
Today I would like to start packing my craft room. I realized we have just over 3 months left here at this Base. I want to be prepared for when it comes time to move. I am going to be huge and prego come August and I just don't want to wait till the last minute to pack everything and then completely stressed out and over exhausted. So I decided to start with things that I can "live without" for a couple months. Besides, I haven't been scrapbooking because I need to order and print pictures and get them organized, I haven't printed any since Joel was born, so maybe I can work on that and then work on my scrapbooks when we get all moved in this fall.
I also need to work on laundry today. I am just going to get it washed and dried and then work on folding it tonight.
That's all for now, I will keep you all posted!

Night and Day from Hell....

Friday was the first day of our yard sale and it went really well! I was extremely exhausted though Friday night. We went to Jasons vollyball game and then went to Thips Thai for dinner, because I was to tired to cook. I got Pad Thai and a Thai ice tea and all of us split an order of crab rangoon. After we finished eating I started to not feel good. I thought maybe I had just eaten to much and needed to digest it a bit. That was not the case. We came home and I was feeling like CRAP....I had major stomach pain and back pain. I tried to sleep but it was very difficult, it felt like something was eating the inside of my stomach and that was causing back pain from my lower back all the way up to my shoulder blades....Not fun. it hurt to lay down, it hurt to sit up....frankly it just hurt. I hurt more than Labor when I had the boys. Needless to say I did not sleep very well last night. This morning, I got up and showered. I stepped out of the shower and asked Jason to get me some OJ (the only thing that calms my stomach) and before he could put his feet on the floor I was over the toilet vomiting. My stomach was still in knots and my back was hurting even more because I did not sleep well.
I mosey on over to the garage sale and still feel like crap, but for those of you who know me being sick was not going to stop me. It should but it didn't. I help get the yard sale going and then just sit down manning the money station, all the while enduring the excruciating pain. Finally around noon I was starting to break down because I was in sooooo much pain, and my friends finally convinced me to go lay down and they were going to call Jason. Because I wouldn't....Do you think I'm stubborn? Jason get's there a little after 2:00 and takes me to the ER. While there they did some blood work and took a urine sample. While we were waiting for the lab to process everything they gave me a shot to ease the pain. I felt like a NEW woman! The pain was gone and I was able to relax. Exhaustion soon set in. The doc finally comes back and says that My gallbladder levels were elevated. So they diagnosed me with abdominal irritability and possible gall-stones. They put me on a NO dairy, fat, creamy, spicey diet and told me eat lots of fiber to clean all my systems. They also prescribed me Tylenol with codeine in it.
I am supposed to follow up with my doc on Monday or Tuesday. They are still going to do the ultra-sounds of my kidneys to make sure I don't have kidney stone....I hope not...
SOOO needless to say I think the Thai food put me over the edge, I guess my body can't handle certain things right now.

Anyways, please pray that this diet will help clear things out and that the pain goes away, because it is so unbearable. I must say that through all this Jason and the boys did great! They helped me out a lot and Bo is very good at empathy! I love my boys and my Husband!

13 weeks

Today marks 13 weeks! Overall I am feeling a ton better, aside from being tired, which probably won't go away. LOL. (TMI) I got the results from the UTI lab that was done and everything came back normal! YAY! My doctor wants to do another ultra-sound to see if there is anything that could be causing the cramping that I have been having. At my last doctors appointment she had to use ultra-sound to find the baby's heart beat and everything was looking fine then, so she expects things will be fine now. If everything is A-OK then she wants to do and ultra-sound of my kidneys and make sure I don't have a kidney stone. I have never had one but that just sound horrible. Another possibility is constipation, which I have had a lot of. UGH....She did prescribe me some collace to see if that helps, we'll see. Hopefully that's what is causing the cramping. She just wants to be on the safe side and do the other ultra-sounds. I am not going to complain, cuz that means I get to see baby!

Anyways, I am still down almost 6 pounds. I have really been watching my diet and trying to be good. Now that doesn't mean I don't indulge in some of my craving, because I totally do. If I do then I just know, that if I have taco bell for lunch then we are having salads for dinner, or grilled chicken and broccoli ect... I am very happy with my diet, I feel like I am getting the right amount of vitamins and nutrients, while still maintaining my weight!

Well that about does is it for this post. I will be busy with the yard sale all weekend and then we are hanging out with some friends on Saturday night, who are moving next week. So it will be a busy weekend! Ta ta for now!

Mothering frustrations...

I recently read this post about loosing the joy in mothering and it really hit home for me. I have been feeling that lately. I get so frustrated sometimes because I feel like things don't get done because I have been chasing after the boys all day cleaning up the stuff they manage to get into. For instance, literally 10 minutes ago I was on the phone with my friend Tami talking about yard sale stuff and I wasn't on the phone with her but maybe 5 minutes and I here Bo say "Oh NOOoooo" I get off the phone and walk into the kitchen and Joel had taken the box of tea bags I had in the pantry and opened them all up and there is Bo with my swiffer mop trying to mop it up without a pad on it. So now I have wet sticky tea and tea bags all over my kitchen floor. I tell the boys to go sit on the couch while I swept the mess up and then ran the mop to clean up any excess cleaner. It took me maybe 5 minutes to get it all cleaned up. I go back into the living room to "Chat" with the boys and there they were sitting in a huge pile of Cheezit crackers....Yup they took the box and dumped it on the living room floor, where sitting in the pile and breaking the crackers up. I just sat on the couch and started crying. It was all so overwhelming.

Things like this happen allllllll the time and I do not know how to get in control of it. I have tried every trick in the book and nothing seems to work. They do this with everything...my make-up, fresh fruit, bread, games, movies, things in the pantry and even their dresser drawers. Now some of you may be thinking that I should put these things away and keep them out of reach of the boys. Well, I do. My make up is in a trunk on my bathroom counter, Fruit and bread are in containers on the kitchen counters, they open their dresser drawers and just pull clothes and blankets out (why? I have no idea) Movies are in a Cd type case in a drawer in the living room and yet they still seem to get into everything. When things like this happen, I get overwhelmed and once I fall behind in keeping things picked up I get even more overwhelmed and then don't know where to start with the mess and I just shut down. I know that shutting down doesn't help anything...When that happens is where I need to stop and deal with that selfishness. I struggle with that for sure and sometimes don't know how to move forward...Only by the Grace of God do I move forward and eventually pick things up again.

I do love being a stay at home mom, I just wish I knew how to manage and deal with the chaos when things like this happen, because I KNOW they are GOING to happen. It is just a matter of being prepared, patient and staying ahead of the game.

Spring Cleaning!

Today I woke up really tired, I even went to bed a little earlier than I usually do but I was still tired and had no motivation to do anything. Last night Jason and I worked on folding all the clean laundry, which was about 7 or 8 loads that we got washed over the past two days! So this morning I put it all in laundry baskets and now it is ready to be taken up stairs and be put away. I took a few things upstairs on my way to go shower and while I was in my room I was like "man I really need to dust". See, Joel somehow managed to rip the curtain rod out of our wall so my curtains were sitting there needing to be hung back up, so I had a ton of sunlight coming into my room and it showed me that probably 2 or 3 months worth of dust was waiting to be cleaned. So I grabbed my rag and windex and went to work. Once I got done dusting and cleaning off the dresser and end tables I changed the linens, put some clothes away and went through a few more things for the yard sale. So now my room is all shinny and clean! I just need to vacuum and bring the yard sale stuff down to the garage. My hope is that tonight, while Jason is working at the Blues game, I can focus on finishing that up and then get to work on pricing garage sale stuff. I am going to make it a goal to not go anywhere, turn the tv on, or "play" on the computer till I get this stuff accomplished!
So here is my list to do tonight and this weekend: (Hopefully I can do most of it tonight)
vacuum bedroom
bring yard sale stuff to the garage
finish putting away laundry
straighten up my bathroom
price yard sale stuff
and of course I need to do the dishes!

Things that need spring cleaning:
the boys closets
the guest room
the linen closet
kitchen appliances
front of kitchen cupboards
wash door handles and windows
(I hope to be working on these over the weekend and next week as well!)

What are some things that you do for Spring cleaning? Do you have any tips or tricks that you use?

Anyways, if you don't see me online very much over the next few days that means I am getting things in order around the house (which is good for me) and you should just call or text me if you need to get a hold of me!
Ta Ta for now!

12 Weeks!

So I will officially be 12 weeks and into my second trimester tomorrow! Wahoo! I am slowly but surely starting to feel better, but I am still tired a lot. I had my first doctors appointment on Tuesday and I have had a couple of ahha and Duh moments to fasten your seat belts this may be a long post....=)

I know last week I posted on having a lot of ear pain and pressure and headaches and eye pain ect...Well last week we went to Subway for dinner and as we were sitting there I had a major DUH moment. I asked Jason and realized that all the pain that I was having with my head is probably due to the stupid root canal that I need to have done. I mean come on I have an exposed nerve in my mouth....Duh... I had a filling fall out last November and due to the holiday schedule, traveling and a bunch of other stuff I was not able to get into the dentist until mid January. I told them that a filling fell out and I needed it fixed. They wanted me to come in for a standard cleaning and then go from there. So I did and thats when the doc said it would be easier to do a root canal and crown to keep it from happening again in the future. So I then scheduled an appointment for February, but in the process I found out I was pregnant and they had to wait until I could get the approval from my doc in order to do it....Good news My doctor says I can have it done! Thank the Lord! Hopefully that will take care of all the pain and pressure. So until I can get in, more like come up with the $600, floss is my new best friend, I carry it with me everywhere!

I had my first doctors appointment on Tuesday! It was really long...I was there for almost 3 hours. I am very happy to report that I am down almost 6 pounds! Which I am sooo stoked about. I am really trying hard to manage my food portions and what I eat in general. Like I have said before I drink a LOT of water and tea, so that is really helping with my craving/binge control. I am really hoping to gain no more than 10 pounds the whole pregnancy. The doctor I saw I really liked, she was down to earth, really nice, listened to what I had to say and overall encouraging! So I am for sure staying with her until we move. (TMI Alert) As with a first appointment they did a pap, full exam and a breast exam. Ugh. Glad that is over. I also talked to the doc about the abdominal pains that I have been having and she was concerned that I may have a UTI (urinary tract infection) So I had to take a test. It came back with a little blood in my urine so they sent it off to the lab to be cultured. I should here back tomorrow with the results. So I will keep you posted on that. Overall the appointment went well. Baby's heartbeat is strong and looking good! I have another appointment in 4 weeks.
I have an ultrasound photo that I will upload tomorrow.

I am very much a go, go, go person. I always seem to be doing something. That is not always a good thing. I think I have posted about this problem before? I always seem to feel ok in the morning and early afternoon, but once 2:00 or 3:00 roll around I am beat. I physically can't get things done unless I take a nap, so I have been indulging in a nap almost everyday. Then I get an energy boost around dinner time (unless I didn't get a nap) and then around 7:00 I am done. My problem, for sure, right now is time management. I need to learn to work around what my body is telling me and adjust to this new schedule. How long this schedule will last I don't know. I would hope not the whole pregnancy but ya just never know. I feel really overwhelmed right now with my list of things to do and get done. I am getting ready for a yard sale next weekend and I have piles of stuff all over my house that are for the yard sale but I don't know where to put everything. My pile of yard sale stuff in the garage is Gigantic and I can't add more to it. So i guess there are some positives...I am getting rid of stuff, We are downsizing for our move in August, hopefully this means my house will be easier to maintain! The down side is a very cluttered looking house for the next week and a half. I figured it will all be worth it in the end. SO FYI, if you stop by my house the next week and half it will probably look like a tornado came through....=) I have a few ideas that I have gotten from a few different friends that i am going to work on putting into motion this week to help "maintain" a clean house...well at least LOOK clean. Like I am going to put toilet bowl cleaner behind each toilet, so that when I notice it is looking dingy I can take the 2 minutes and swish it around and just keep it clean. I LOVE my Swiffer mop! My floors are cleaner in general all the time! plus it is fun to use! I have already put into motion the whole toy system, which I think I have already posted about. It is going well! I am not drowning in toys all the time! I am designating a drawer in this buffet thing we have by our front door for things that need to go upstairs, if it doesn't fit in the drawer it gets taken up right away. My hope is that between Jason and I we can empty it at the end of the day, but more than likely it will probably be once or twice a week. We'll see. But I am tired of things getting piled up that need to go upstairs, cuz they always seem to sit there for 1-10 days. depends on what it is.
I definitely feel like there are times I always fail in keeping up with the house. In some cases I have realized that the bathrooms are still going to be there tomorrow, cuz I don't want to miss out on things with the boys. It's a balancing act for sure, but I guess I am struggling right now though, esp...when I have a limited window of time to get things done right now. If I try to do to much, I break down emotionally, usually because I am so exhausted. I honestly think that once I can get all this "extra" stuff out of my house for the yard sale that it will help a lot with everything. I just need to make it through this next week. Nothing is coming back into my house after the yard sale, whatever doesn't sell will ALL be donated. Less stuff=less stuff to put away and clean!

Well those are my thoughts for this week. I hope that made sense...Sorry again for the long post I tend to ramble. =)