26 Weeks Pregnant

I am 2 weeks shy of my third trimester, which is completley mind boggling! I am definitly getting bigger, and I am seeing more and more restrictions in what I can do day to day. On the up side, Leo is getting much bigger and I can feel him moving all the time. He is kicking so hard at times that it startles me! Charlie finally got to fell him kick which was really special.

My next appointment is at 28 weeks. I'll have a glucose test and an ultrasound at that appointment so it should be an interesting one. They give you a bottle of red juice type stuff to drink before your glucose test. It's in the fridge now and Charlie keeps eyeing it, he thinks it looks yummy :) Thank goodness I remembered to tell him what it was before I put it in there! Can you imagine that phone call "ummm....my husband drank the stuff you gave me for the gestational diabetes test, can I have another one?"

I also wanted to mention a few babies that entered the world in the last few months. Our dear friends, Melissa and Sean, welcomed twins in March. Brynlee and Chance are two sweet little babies, and they are too cute!

From Babies

From Babies

Also, Doug & Felicia had baby Asher last week, who is also so adorbale!

From Babies

Happy Birthday Cynthia! (4/7)

I turned 28 this year and it was a very nice birthday. Charlie and I visited Scott at Trulucks for my birthday dinner. As always, the food was AMAZING! . Charlie had a boil with every type of shell fish imaginable and I had a lobster tail with stone crab. YUMMMMM!!! I was a VERY happy pregnant girl!

From Cynthia B-day 2009 (#28)

From Cynthia B-day 2009 (#28)

And here are pictures of Charlie and I all cleaned up for our night out.

From Cynthia B-day 2009 (#28)

From Cynthia B-day 2009 (#28)

The highlight of the evening was Charlie's gift for me. I was so surprised! If Leo is born when he is supposed to be, he should be an August baby and his birthstone will be a Peridot. Charlie got me the prettiest Peridot ring!

From Cynthia B-day 2009 (#28)

On Monday, as we do every year, Charlie and I went to the Astros opening game with Blake & Veronica. Unfortunately, the Astros lost, but we still had a great time. Before the game Charlie and I visited the IMAX to see Sharks:3D (pretty cool) and the Houston Zoo. I was happy to see that the Zoo looks better than it has in year's passed. If you haven't been in a while, it's worth visiting again.

From Cynthia B-day 2009 (#28)

From Cynthia B-day 2009 (#28)

From Cynthia B-day 2009 (#28)

From Cynthia B-day 2009 (#28)

Leo's Nursery

So, in the midst of my kidney stone fiasco, we did actually choose a beautiful crib set at Baby's 1st Furniture. It's solid wood, and so pretty!

The crib is convertible to a toddler bed and then a full size sleigh bed. We also purchased the nightstand, hutch and 5 drawer dresser (not pictured). The edges are actually a bit distressed giving them a nice red hue, but the picture doesn't show that very well. We will be able to use the hutch, minus the book shelf, as a changing table. A big thank you to Charlie's Mom & Mike for their help with the purchase.

The bedding is just adorable (if I do say so). It's a train theme, which wasn't what I went out looking for, but Charlie and I both just feel in love with this set.




We have decided to paint the walls green with a blue railroad track going through the middle of the room. Charlie is anxious to start painting, so we should have pictures of the progress soon.

20 Weeks and My Trip to the ER (3/19/09)

A few days shy of my 20 week mark I had my 20 week ultrasound. All ultrasounds are exciting, but this one was extra special because Charlie's mother, Tami, was in town and would be coming with us. Things have really changed since she was pregnant and she was so excited to get a sneak peek at her Grandson.

The ultrasound went great. Leo is developing perfectly. The tech struggled to get some of his measurements because he just wouldn't stop moving! It was so great to see our little guy and to know that he is healthy. It was also nice to have the sex confirmed again! (And he is definitely a boy!)

After the appointment, we did a little shopping, went to lunch and looked at nursery furniture. We took it easy for the rest of the day, and as usual I went to bed early.

Around 11:00 pm, I woke up with an awful pain in my lower abdomen and back, all isolated on my right side. After an hour of trying to go back to sleep and doing anything I could think of to stop the pain, I called the OBGYN's office to speak to the on call doctor. By this time I did have a very low grade fever and the pain wasn't getting any better. After telling her that I had a kidney stone about 8 years ago, she agreed that I should visit the ER to rule out another stone or a kidney infection. THANK GOD we had just seen Leo that morning. I think I would have been freaking out so much more if I had not just seen him moving around so happily that morning.

Of course, I was still freaking out, and I was in a ton of pain. Charlie was great, he really kept me calm. When we arrived at the ER they got us in immediately. A urine analysis showed blood in my urine and with my history, they concluded that I was indeed trying to pass another stone. We had another ultrasound that showed an enlarged right kidney, and of course, they looked at Leo again, who was doing fine. (YEA!) I figured he would have calmed down for this ultrasound since I had already had 2 doses of morphine, but he was still a little wiggle worm. :)

The ER doctor tried to send me home, but I refused to leave without seeing someone from my OBGYN practice (the on call doctor said I needed to see someone from there before I left). They admitted me to the women's floor where I passed the stone and started feeling much better! After visiting with the Urologist and OBGYN I was released and allowed to go home.

There is a chance of course that I could have another one, and since I can't have any X-rays done right now, I don't know if there are any other stones in my kidney. Since I passed the stone at the hospital I was able to have it analyzed and it looks like extra Vitamin C will help dissolve the type of stone I passed. Chances are good that I should be able to avoid another one during the pregnancy.

So Mommy and Leo are healthy and fine. It took me about a week to catch up from the sleep I lost that night, but otherwise I was back to normal by Saturday. The ultrasound at the hospital did report a low placenta (completely normal at 20 weeks) so I will get to have another ultrasound at 28 weeks.

Here are some pictures that Tami took of me while she was in town. I was about 2 days shy of 20 weeks in these.

From Belly Shots

From Belly Shots

From Belly Shots

Camping - Bethy Creek - March 2009

On a whim, Charlie and I decided to go camping one sunny weekend in March. It was so on a whim that all of our usual spots were booked up! After a little research, we (no really, I) found an open spot at Bethy Creek resort on the north side of Lake Livingston. And while it wasn't our usual type of camping spot, we had a great time! Bethy Creek is on the north side of Lake Livingston, about 20 minutes east of Huntsville. It's a privately owned camp ground, so it's a much different feel than the state and national parks we typically frequent. But for what we were looking for, which was to relax and totally take it easy, it was perfect. Our spot was right on the lake and the view was lovely.

From Bethy Creek

At the time of this trip, I was just shy of 18 weeks pregnant. The trip was quite relaxing for me, but I did start to notice my limitations. It's much harder to crawl around in the camper when we are breaking it down!

From Bethy Creek

The person who had the MOST fun though was Cooper. Since we were right by the lake we went to the camp store and found a water toy that floats. Charlie would launch the toy out there and Cooper would thrust himself into the water to retrieve it. That dog was so happy, but he was so tired too! By the time we got home Sunday night he was barely standing and I don't think we heard more than a peep out of him for the next 2 days. Here are a couple of pics and a video of Cooper retrieving:

From Bethy Creek

From Bethy Creek

To view more pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/cynthia.schreiner/BethyCreek?feat=directlink

Camping - Feb 2009 - Huntsville State Park

We took our first trip to Huntsville State Park in February 2009. Tish, Aaron and their two sweet kids joined us and we were all really impressed with the camp ground. We had a wonderful view of Lake Raven from the back of the camper



Huntsville State Park is located in the Sam Houston National Forest off of I-45 North. From Houston it takes about an hour to an hour and half (depending on the part of Houston you start from) to get to the park. The park is heavily wooded with a small lake and the camping areas are clean and the staff is quite freindly. We didn't catch anything, but the lake is rumored to have a ton of fish. Our favorite part was the trails. There was miles and miles of trails to walk or bike making the park great even for a day trip. Here is a picture of the whole family on one of the trials.



This weekend was also the first time I felt Leo move. I was a bit tired Saturday morning and decided to lay down in bed with my book. No more than a few minutes after I had laid down I felt him flip by belly button, it was truly magical! This is a picture taken shortly after:



Cooper had a blast too. Johnathan wore him out playing tug of war all weekend. We were so proud of Cooper. He played so well with both of the kids. It was so heartwarming to see him be so gentle with the kids. We know Cooper will be a great
Big Brother! Here is a picture of Cooper at the end of the day:


Charlie and I usually camp alone, so it was a nice change to have some freinds with us. Tish and Aaron were wonderful camping buddies; we had a blast playing Cards and eating. (There is so much good eating when you camp!!)

Here is a link to some more pictures of the trip.
http://picasaweb.google.com/cynthia.schreiner/Camping09HuntsvilleStatePark#

My Husband, My Hero - A New Master Closet

As many of you know, Charlie really loves to draw out plans for things. He gets grand ideas in his head and starts putting pencil to paper and draws out elaborate blue plans. They are actually quite impressive plans, and many are too complicated to implement, but he had a good one recently.

The story is familiar to most couples. We have a fairly large master closet but somehow we were always battling for more space for our clothes. Imaginary lines would be drawn on where Charlie's clothes would end and mine would start, but that line would often get moved. So Charlie started making plans for a closet organization system. He picked a Saturday and asked a friend for help (Thanks James!!) and the two of them knocked the whole thing out in an afternoon. We now have double rods in many places and more shelves. After everything was installed I found a few places were we can add more shelves, but it's already a vast improvement!

I have included a few pictures below. It may be hard to see, but I had to brag on my wonderful husband.