Half Way to the Finish Line

I can't believe I am half way through my pregnancy! I will be 20 weeks tomorrow. Although my waist is definitely growing, I am still not feeling real pregnant. I guess the reason is that I barely feel the baby move. I have noticed more pronounced movements in the last week but I am pretty sure I started feeling Chloe move a lot earlier.

I have an appointment this Friday for an anatomy scan. I believe they will look at the chambers of the heart, kidneys, bladder, stomach, brain, spine and last but not least those darn sex organs. This baby has been so secretive about the sex. Although at 12 weeks we were pretty sure that there were boy parts present....at 18 weeks we just couldn't get a good enough view to say for sure. My doctor tried and then Dr Holli tried for more than an hour!!! Aunt Dr Holli let Chloe see the baby. She was interested for about 1 minute!

I am hoping that this Friday will finally confirm the sex of the baby. I am ready to start preparing the nursery. I found this bedding online that I really love:

Other than the bedding I haven't done anything else. If it is a boy I think I will try to find some kind of cover for the car seat since the infant seat is pink. Or I will sell all of my pink big stuff: stroller, car seat, pack-n-play, swing, high chair and buy boy stuff. I just haven't decided what to do yet.

Here is the only picture I have taken of the bump.

Heebie Jeebies

Last Sunday as I was sitting in my glider aimlessly wandering about the WWW I noticed a small pile of sawdust on the floor under the TV console. I thought to myself it was weird but I remember that B had been inside the cabinet messing with the surround sound during the football game so I didn't investigate the situation. Anyways, I forgot all about it.

A little history: a few months ago B got a new TV. This TV mounts to the wall so we were then in the market for a table of some sort to go under the TV. Many furniture stores and hours later B found the perfect one. Turns out this piece was very popular and was out of stock but would be in the store within the next month, but probably sooner. Although hesitant, B put a deposit down so we would get one when they arrived. After 2 weeks B called to check on the status. Anyway, to make a long story short, they sold us the one on the showroom floor just to get us to quit calling! The piece is perfect and it matches our other furniture very well.

So back to today: B and I are chatting about our day and B notices the small pile of sawdust that I never called attention to or cleaned up. "What the hell?" are his exact words. He gets on the floor to get a better look. "Holy sh**, there's a bug in there eating my fine furniture" hehe. He's freaking out, I'm freaking out and Chloe just wants to see. B gets his flashlight, a pair of tweezers (not mine!) and a small clear plastic bowl to capture this furniture destroyer! I tried to get a picture but couldn't really get a good one.

The dark thing in the hole is a bug that we have no clue what it looks like. EWWWWWW!! B gets all of the extraction tools ready and I am scared of what this thing is going to look like. So he grabs it, well half of it. EWW! He is then able to get the other part of. We quickly close it up in a clear plastic bowl so we can further check it out.

Yuck, yuck, yuck. It seriously gives me the heebie jeebies!!

I looked it up online to learn all about it. The bug lays eggs in the wood which then gets sealed in by stain. The bostrichid powderpost beetle bores tunnels through the wood before an adult exits. This can take up to 3 years! EWW! This bug has been living in the White house for like 2 months.

We have the bug in a container, still in 2 pieces. B filled the hole with some insecticide powder stuff. So weird and so gross!

Old Thyme

The other day B was preparing the deer meat so that I could cook it in the crockpot. He rummaged through all of the spices to season it perfectly. He came across this small glass jar of Thyme. The labeling appeared to be pretty old but there was no date to be found. He decided to do a little research. On the McCormick website there is a little timeline and guess what???? There it is--a jar that looks just like what came out of our cabinet. And guess what??? It is from the 1960s!! Crazy considering B and I were both born in the 70s! So guess what B did with this antique? He put it back in the cabinet!?

$.49-----what a deal!

The Last 6 posts are NEW

Because I am a serious slacker I decided to post everything from the past several months today. I will try to keep up with this a little better!

Got Him!

A few weeks ago we made a trip to the deer lease. I have to admit the 6 hour drive is really not so bad! I bought The Help to read on the way. Surprisingly, reading in the back seat almost the entire trip did not make me sick. Chloe loves going to the country (what we call it). This was going to be a special trip.....cousin Madison was going too!!

Madi, Chloe and MiMi

B was also determined to get that axis buck we had seen on the game camera. I went and sat with him many times.......and nothing! One morning he decided he was going to go really early and I decided I wanted to sleep in. Not too long after he left, he came back "wake up, I got him!". Of course I missed it. Had I gone the buck probably wouldn't have made an appearance.

You can see that the antlers are not branched much. Unlike white tail (which are currently out of season), axis antlers do not branch a lot. You can see his antlers start at B's waist and go almost to the top of his head. This was a large buck. He went right to the taxidermist when we got back to Houston. B was a little disappointed that the bucks right antler had broken off somehow, making it substantially shorter than the left one. He also had 3 broken teeth. So far we have had deer goulash (PiPaws recipe) and tomorrow a deer roast will be cooking in the crockpot. We have a lot of meat!

We also made a trip to Junction about an hour away to cool off in the North Llano River. There is an area of small rapids (only about knee deep) and a large area with shallow water. Madi was not so sure about this. Chloe had been once before and was loving it!

B and Chloe

Here are a few random pictures from this trip to the country.
PawPaw and Madi. By the way PawPaw had surgery in July to remove what was left of the cancerous tumor. He made out with a partially artificial femur and a monster incision! Happy to report that the pathology report came back that the tissue was 100% cancer free!! PawPaw is a cancer survivor!!! He is slowly walking, slowly putting more and more pressure until his leg can bear his full weight again. Everyone is so thankful that PawPaw has been healed!!!!! Now we just need to fatten him up :)

I just love humming birds!! And exclamation points.

You Crazy Bluebonnet! (last July event)

Near the end of July I had a bluebonnet bloom. It obviously didn't get the memo that blooming season was well over with! I have since had 2 or 3 more bloom. Crazy flowers!

August doctor appoinments

August 5th, week 12, I went and had a first trimester screen done. The ultrasound tech takes a bunch of measurements and then I had blood work done. They combine all of the info to get specific results. The results were great--no reason for any concerns at this point!! I had to go to Kingwood to have this ultrasound done because only so many people are trained for this level of testing. I picked Kingwood because this is Holli's office on Fridays. She got to be there for the ultrasound. She also sweet talked the tech to look and see if we could tell the sex of the baby. This is very early and is not usually part of this test. Luckily for us, B went with me, she tried really hard to tell the sex. The tech and Holli were pretty sure that the baby is a BOY!!!!!!!! Although I still have my doubts, we are very excited about this. Of course, a healthy baby is really our main concern. I have no idea why the pictures turned this way and I don't know how to turn them :{

This pic: view of the baby face up with hand to mouth

This pic: looking straight at the baby's face. Kind of creepy!

This pic: all curled up!

My next appointment was August 11th. This was a quick monthly visit. Check weight, zero gained!, urine sample and check the heart rate. I went to the Spring location because I had to change my appointment (normally I go to the Vintage location). Dr R's nurse listened to the heart rate. According to her---she is betting on a girl?! She is going solely on the heart rate. See why I have my doubts. This is why I haven't thought about the nursery or bought anything. If it is a girl-----I have EVERYTHING I could ever need, plus more! When Dr R came in for her part she asked if I wanted to take a quick look at the baby----well of course I do!!!! The first glimpse she got was between the legs. She too is thinking it is a boy. Just wanted to say that I absolutely LOVE my doctor!! She and Holli did part of their residency together at Hermann. Holli suggested that I go see her because she practices close to me. I liked her when I saw her in February and decided that I would see her when i did get pregnant. I was not very fond of the OB I had when I was pregnant with Chloe. This baby will be born at Methodist Willowbrook. Chloe was born at Tomball Hospital. Anyway, back to my appointment, here is a picture of the baby at this appointment. You can really tell a difference in the equipment at the doctor's office compared to the one used for taking measurements!!

EXPECTING!!!! (July 2011 Events)

Last year B and I decided that this summer we would start trying for baby #2. My birth control prescription ended in February but B thought it would be a good idea to get a new Rx even if it was just for a few more months. His reason was because I got pregnant right away with Chloe. So for 3 more months I took birth control. I am sure you can guess the rest! I took several home tests that came back negative. Guess I was just testing too early, because it finally came back positive! I was 5 weeks at that point. B and I were ecstatic! Good thing I took those few more months of pills, otherwise we would have another December baby. Baby #2 is due February 13, 2012.

Even though I knew for weeks, I kept this a secret from friends and family until I had my second doctor appointment. My first appointment was with an OB nurse. A million questions, lots of reading material and a trip to the lab for blood work. My appointment was at the end of the day and I was probably the last person to be seen in the lab. I went home without a definitive "you are pregnant---congrats!!". I was so doubting everything that I called and asked the nurse if I was really pregnant. She said "Mrs. White you are very pregnant!". I didn't feel pregnant. What I did feel like was poo. I had a horrible summer cold. Good thing they gave me 3 pages of medications that I could safely take. My next appointment was July 8th. This appointment would be my first glimpse of my little pea!

My dad, Cathy and Kaitlyn happened to be in town this weekend and it was my Dad's birthday. What a surprise for him!! We met with Patrick, cousins: Amanda, Angie, Alyssa and Aunt Shirley to have dinner for my dad's birthday. I announced at dinner that I was expecting. I had called my mom earlier in the day, after my appointment, to tell her the news. I wanted her to be the first to know. As far as the rest of the family, I had a special way planned to spread our news. I had "save the date" cards made. I waited to mail these out until I got the go ahead from my doctor. She didn't say "mail out your cards", she told me the chances of miscarriage at this point were very low.

From weeks 6-11.5 were just miserable. For many of those weeks I suffered from a lingering cold. Add 24 hour nausea and indigestion. Just plain yuck. The second half of week 11 was like a new me. I no longer feel sick unless I go too long without eating. The indigestion went away, after I bought a whole bottle of medicine. I really sympathize for people with chronic heartburn, that is miserable!!

First for Chloe (July events)

Several months in advance my mom asked if she could keep Chloe during her vacation. Because Chloe had never stayed with MeMaw at her house in Waco without me we decided the whole week might not be a good idea. We would meet in College Station (1/2 way) on a Wednesday and Brandon and I would go to Waco on Saturday to pick her up.

I also took the week off. I thought it would be fun to take Chloe to one of those pottery painting places. I let her pick out the piece she wanted to paint. Of course the lady working there pointed out a princess bank and Chloe made up her mind immediately. I tried to persuade her to do something not so detail oriented and something cheaper but she was not having it. So, a princess she painted (mostly by herself).


I explained that we would not be able to take the princess home because they needed to cook her in the oven to make her shiny. It didn't even cross my mind that "cooking her in the oven" might upset Chloe. Well it didn't. She was totally okay with leaving her to get shiny!

When the princess was ready I picked her up. Chloe did not like her. She was now scared of her. The princess is forbidden from being in Chloe's room. She now sits on a shelf in the gameroom collecting dust :/

Back to staying with MeMaw. Wednesday came and off she went to Waco. Wednesday-Friday was so quiet at the White House!! On Wednesday I taped the butlers pantry and the downstairs guest bath (1/2 bath) so that I could put a fresh coat of badly needed paint. I painted from 3 until around 9. :( but it was done! B took off Thursday and Friday so we could knock out a bunch of rooms. We painted all 3 rooms to a Jack-n-Jill bathroom, the room that has the toilet in the master bath (I painted the master bath last year), butlers pantry and the guest 1/2 bath. I wish I wasn't such a perfectionist. It could have been done a lot quicker! It takes me forever just to make sure my tape lines are perfectly straight. The end result is well worth all of the analness. (spell check says that is not the correct way to spell that!)

We decided the new paint color would be very similar to the old paint color. I would describe the builder paint as a mocha color. In the past 5 years this crappy, flat paint became faded and almost chalky looking. So we repainted with Hotel St Francis Fawn (a color in the real Hotel St Francis--wherever that might be). The undertone is a happy color and the finish is eggshell--kid friendly!!

On Saturday we headed to Waco to pick up Chloe. She opened the door to Memaw's and immediately started crying and telling us to go away. Thanks, we love you too! She had so much fun with Memaw and PaPaw she did not want to go back to being with boring ol us! Needless to say, she is looking forward to her next visit to Memaw's!! Not sure if Memaw is up for it though. I think she needed a vacation from her vacation!

Family Pictures (May events)

We had not taken family pictures since Chloe was 18 months old so I put my foot down and insisted that we have some taken. B just loathes having his picture taken. Last year I let him talk me out of it, this year, no way! I did have Chloe's picture taken around October of last year, just not with all of us.

So anyway, I have a long lost cousin that I just met this year. Exciting huh?! He resembles my grandfather and I think that is cool. I don't have a lot of memories about my grandfather because he died when I was 6 but I do have lots of pictures so I know what he looks like! Ok, enough straying.....turns out my cousin is teaching himself photography. He asks if I would be interested in some family pictures. He tells me that he photographs nature but he would like to start photographing people. I check out his website and think this would be great! Experience for him and low cost for us. We decide on a weekend at the end of May and the location would be an old bridge in Waco that crosses the Brazos River.

This particular Saturday was so freaking hot and windy!! Wind+photos=crazy hair pictures. I just accepted the fact that mine and Chloe's hair was just going to be crazy. A couple of weeks later John sent me the disc with all of the pictures. There were so many great ones. Here are our 2011 family pics:








It is now September and I have yet to have any of these printed. :(