progress.report

Just a quick post...I'm so sleeeeepy.

I went to the Doctor today and am finally making progress!!!! I am dilated to 3.5cm..still 50% effaced. She said that she is confident that I will have the little man with in the next week!!! (and if I don't for some reason make anymore progress, I am scheduled to be induced on Monday February 9th) I am making progress in other parts of the pregnancy...but I will spare you the details! Lets just say things are moving right along! hehe.
Keep your fingers crossed...because I am uncomfortable as ever!!

xoxo
Tay

the waiiiting game

Our Boy! :)

Can you see him? Its like he is looking right at you? It kinda looks like he has a little pigs nose...I hope not..but I will still love him the most anyways! haha!

So the Dr yesterday went pretty good! Eli's bladder is perfect, no obstruction!!!!! :) So they are assuming he was just holding in his pee last week! When I told my mom she said "Thats good..that means he will be easy to potty train!!" ha!! Lets hope!! We got a few more pictures. I just cannot wait to see this little guy!! I remember looking with Steph, at Carters ultrasound pictures and laughing that he was going to have a huge head and the chubbiest cheeks ever...and he didnt at all! Its just weird with all of the shadows and angles they catch stuff at in these ultrasounds.
Unfortunately I am still only dilated at 2cm...but making progess in the effacement department and went from 25% effaced to 50% effaced..so that is SOME progress. I have still been having some contractions...some pretty painful ones this morning actually, but they went away. At least my body is trying, I guess.
I saw the nurse practitioner yesterday, instead of my Dr. and she said that if nothing has progessed next week that we will talk induction. She said she thinks she would probably induce me February 9th (my intial due date) if I hadn't gone by then. I kind of have mixed feelings about being induced..I hate the idea of "forcing" him to come, but sometimes its necessary! I hope to talk to her and get induced that friday before the 9th.....which is the 6th. That is only 2 weeks and a couple of days away though...I can seeeee the end! :) If i actually get the choice, I would rather do it on a friday so Zach has a full week at home with us (as opposed to going in on monday and be there for 2-3 days, then only having him home for 4 days with me...)...but we will see how it really works out. Its just playing the waiting game now...blah.

Dad plays LN again tonight. Hopefully I can throw myself into labor from the excitement of this game...hahaha! :)

Have a great weekend!

xoxo

Tay

luckydog

SO. If you know me, you know that I can tend to be a bit of a procrastinator. . .in fact, I'm really good at it--so I like to think!

Story: On my 25th birthday I completely spaced the fact that I was supposed to get my license renewed..."no big deal, I'll just go tomorrow"...is what I thought. Well tomorrow turned into the next day and the next day turned into "I'll get it done eventually." Now, considering I could have a child anyday, I figured I should probably get this done, so little Elijah doesnt see his mom carted away b/c she is an idiot and was too lazy to go to the license branch.

This morning I woke up and felt motivated to get stuff done....finally! So I called the license branch and talked to this lady and told her I was stupid and had an expired license..she laughed...then told me (while still laughing) if it was over 6 months from the expiration date of my license I was going to have to retake the written test: panic attack...NOW. It has been 6 months...almost to the day. I hung up and text Zach freaking out. He text me back and said "Well go do it now, missy. We don't need Eli telling people his mommy doesn't have a license." hahahaha! (I should NOT BE LAUGHING! I know.)

So I got there, and she told me I had just made it by 8 days (6 months from my birthday is January 29th)...so I didnt have to take the test. Thank you JESUS!
I had to pay $26. And because of the new rules, when they took my picture (which they had to take a few times, b/c I have a big head and they couldnt get it to fit in the box perfectly. hahahaha. ridiculous!) I had to take off my glasses and I could "kinda" smile, but I wasn't allowed to show my teeth. The lady next to me, also getting her picture taken, kept blinking and they couldnt get her in the picture box b/c she was too short....we were laughing so hard, it was hard not to show our teeth. Stupid rules! They are just sucking the fun right out of world by not letting us show our pearly whites for the coppers who pull us over! :) The nerve!


And just let me add...it made me angry sitting there listening to how much people had to pay for plates and titles and other stuff. Some guy had to pay over $500! It just made me so mad! I was thinking, but refrained from saying....Why do I have to pay YOU, $500 when I just bought a $20-$30,000 car, to drive on the roads that I already pay taxes to help keep chuckholes out of, that you cant even fix! Just a pregnant rant. Thanks I'm done. ::smiles::

On a lighter note...I've been having contractions....far and in between (about every 20 or 30 minutes), but they are there! We go to the Dr. tmw again...for another Ultrasound to check on Elijahs bladder, and to see if I've made any more progress. Lets hope. I'm feeling pretty fracking miserable.

xoxo
Tay

p.s.yesterday was pretty awesome watching history made. People are beyond excited, or talking smack about how he won't be able to do it....but all I have to say is...Mr. President you have your work cut out for you...but I have faith :)

::you probably dont want to miss this::

Sooo...the little mans room is about...hmm..90% done. I just have a few little things here and there to get in there and finish. Sarah (a friend from our NC "family") and I were chatting a few weeks ago and I found out that she is like the crafiest lady EVERRRRR. (We called her Martha Stewart all day) She came over yesterda and we went to Target and walmart, found some things, and I put her to work. I am soooo thankful for Sarahs time, and creativity!! Mom, Steph(and Carter), and Aunt Kari also came and helped! Nana had the flu and had to sit this decorating party out! :( While Mom, Sarah and Aunt Kari worked on the room, steph and I went (back) to Target and got a mattress and a few other things! Carter tried out the mattress and decided he LOVED it....slept for like 30 minutes :) it was adorable! I decided to not do the little guys room in a specific "theme"....such as tractors, or sports, or fish, animals..or whatever. When he is older and decides what he likes, we can just redo it! So I tried to keep it a bit neutral. I mean, I know it has a theme kinda, but I was too afraid to do a basketball room and he not like basketball or something like that. ha! SO whatever, thats why I decided on such a "theme." So here are pictures of the "pretty much done" nursery. and for those of you that don't already know his name....It is obvious what it is in the pictures so I shall tell you...

Elijah Brycen Landis.

We will most likely call him Eli for short. I call him Eli-Eli-O, already. hehehe. (and yes....he is taking Zachs last name..for those of you who were wondering. I know that it was a pondering question for some.....that is now answered. so there!) That is the name we have had since around maybe...week 22 or so...I had a moment where I was questioning it, but it is just perfect for us. I love it. and I don't care what you think ::smiles!!!::

and PLEASE excuse these pictures being completely out of order. I had some serious issues with putting these pictures up for some reason. and became very frustrated....so deal with it! :) thanks!


This is where my rocking chair and
cradle will go.





The wall art in Elis bathroom. It keeps pealing off..angry face.

Awesome picture frame from Target that Sarah fixed up.

Carter testing out Elis crib! :)

Mom and Sarah working on the bathroom!

Our baby Eli's room!! :)

So there you have it! There is the "Little Mans" room! When everything is in there I will take more pictures! I hope to get a rocking chair (eventually) of some sort and my mom is letting me put a cradle that we have had forrreever in his room too! :) The bassinett is in my room and ready for him when he is! :)

I have been having small little contractions (i think) here and there. I get so nervous thinking I will have no idea when its time....although I hear I will know. I just feel crampy and weird. I'm getting nervous! Yikes!

And I'll leave you with this... My dads team (THE Marion County Champions..might I add) played at Southport this weekend for the Marion County title. And this was the sign outside of the school...weird? I find it to be extremely odd...

like people have been riding their Ponies to school? really though?



Thank you sooo much, again, to Mom, Aunt Kari, Hannah, Payton, Sarah, Steph and Amanda for help with Elijahs room! :) I couldn't have done it at all without you!

xoxo

Tay

Video

So I was able to figure out how to upload videos!!! YIPPPEEE! Some of you may not care much, and thats fine, but some of you may.I had to break up me video taping, the video tape of the ultrasound b/c my phone kept ringing and Manning kept bugging me. So if you hear my phone ring, manning whining and eating...please disregard. hahahaha. Enjoy!!!

The first video is basically just his profile, and face. You can totally see the lips and nose!! If you know what you are looking for! :)

In this part is all of his body stuff. ha! You can see his "oversized" bladder in this video too. It shows his heart, heartbeat, spine and head and all kinds of stuff. again..disregard the phone and manning :)

There is a bit more, but I won't bore you!

have a good day!

xoxo

Tay

Baby its COLD outside

Helllllo. I hope everyone is staying warm, its pretty awful outside. I've been inside most of the time "nesting"......cleaning the crap out of my house and preparing for the arrival of the little one. I will post some pictures of progress on his room and all that. . .and this morning i took some "belly" shots in one of the tanning bed rooms..hahaha.

Yesterday we went to the Dr and had what we thought would be our last ultrasound. Everything went well for the most part, but they have a bit of concern about the little guy's bladder. During the ultrasound we noticed that it was rather large...and obviously the Dr. did too. Soo...we go back next week for another ultrasound to check it out again. The doctor said that she wasn't very concerned at all, she said that she would be more concerned if his kidneys didnt look good, but she said they looked perfect, along with everything else....so she is just assuming that it was a full bladder. But she said if there is a problem, and there is something obstructing him from going potty, then it is easily treatable after birth. I am praying the little guy was just holding in his pee. But I do realize this could be a lot worse...
Say a little prayer for us/him....
ON a lighter note: He is weighing in around 5.5lbs...which I thought was small, but she said its perfect, b/c they could also be off by as much as a pound! I'm thinking he is going to be a little 7 pounder, which is better than the 9lbs 13oz I was. (ouch. sorry mom) The first thing we noticed on this little guy were his lips, they are big and pouty...so stinking funny! He even waived at us. We only got 3 pictures...2 of which are really difficult to see. I will post the other one..and hopefully you can see what we see. hehe. It looks like he is wearing a pair of sunglasses and pouting his lips, with his little button nose. hehe. its cute! We even got to see his hair!!!!
Another good thing is I'm dilated at 2cm and 25% effaced!! YIPPPEEE. For my first baby, apparently this is great. I just had a friend have a baby, she was 2cm, and had her baby the very next night.....which is totally unlikey for me. . .I could stay at this for 3 weeks. So we shall see what happens next Thursday!
They say that the movement of the baby should slow down, but this guy is soooo active all the time...and he gets the hiccups like 5 times a day! Its insane! :)
I get nervous that he won't be cute..that I will not be a good mom...just so many crazy emotions! And last night I told my mom "Mom, what if he isn't cute??" She goes "well honey, there is nothing we can do about it now....we will just make sure to dress him in super cute clothes." hahaha. Gotta love my mama.

so here are some pictures. enjoy.




The before.....






Manning checking out the scene.


me and amanda sorting through tons and tons of clothes


Amanda helping!!! :) So helpful!


Manning wanted to help....so annoying.


Morgan "helping" by falling out of the chair :)


Finished painting!




Little Mans closet with clean clothes.


More stuff for me to go through.


Bathroom!!


Manning inspecting the bathroom!




The BEAST





a HUGE thanks to Mom, Aunt Kari and Nana!!! They painted the little guys room! Steph even came and helped too!! She brought Carter, and we put my dog to the test! He got an At! He did great with the baby, and was really concerned about him and making sure he was ok. It was funny. We are supposed to decorate this weekend, and hopefully we will be done :) We shall see.
Say a little prayer for the little man, that his bladder is ok!! I will keep everyone updated!

xoxo
Tay

wait....WHAT?!

So "they" fail to tell you, that you are pregnant for a FULL 9 months....making it 10. ANNOYING. hehe. I am offically uncomfortable. Zach tells me I'm whiney....and I am plotting how I'm going to make him think whiney. (I think he'll think whiney when I wake his ass up at 3am to feed this little tyke)
My back, hips and pelvis hurt like I have never hurt before. Cleaning tanning beds is KILLING me. I wake up in tears in the middle of the night...just tossing and turning...and it hurts me sooo bad. I FEEL great...I just hurt...if that makes any sense. I know, I know, the hurt I feel now is probably nothing compared to what I'm going to feel while giving birth, but for now, its the worst pain I know . . . and I'm allowed to whine, damn it! so leave me alone! ha!

and i thought this was funny...hehe.


So anyways 36 weeks pregnant, 4 weeks AT MOST, to go. I am excited/nervous/pumped/terrified. This little guy is defintely running out of room and has found comfort in my ribs :) But it doesnt bother me too much...it is reassuring to me that he is growing and healthy. My favorite thing to do now, is to sit and watch him make waves in my belly, from the outside. Its soo neat. :) I pee every 20 minutes or so and about every 2 hours at night..not kidding at all. And recently when I brush my teeth, my gums have been bleeding..its nasty..but whatev! I feel like I have gained a load of weight the last week or so...I dont have any pictures, maybe I'll try to take some this weekend...but I've definitely grown. The other day my mom goes "Wow. You look big!" I'm like THANKS MOM. YOU ARE AWESOME. But again, it just means my bean is growing and healthy!!
Overall, I have enjoyed being pregnant...weird symptoms...weird body things...but for the most part its extremely fascinating to think that there is life growing inside of me. I cannot wait to meet this little guy...to see what he looks like...and to watch him grow up. We are so so excited. I hope he has Zachs little nose and some good hair. (and by the amount of heartburn and acid reflux, he better have dreadlocks )hahaha! :)
Today and tmw Annette is moving out and we hope to patch holes and prepare the room for painting tmw night and mom, kari and nana are going to paint on sunday! I promised them Chili....and I am going to wash little mans clothes and do some other little things while they are painting. I cannot wait to see how this nursery looks...even though he won't be in it for a while, it is defintely going to put my mind at ease when its all done.
But my bags are packed, and even though he should probably stay in and cook a bit longer.. after this weekend....I'm ready when hes ready!!! :)
We have our last ultrasound on Wednesday...I'll be sure to post pictures! We're pretty excited!
I hope everyone is doing well!
xoxo
Tay

.....Countyourblessings.....

So a few sad things have happened this week....none of which have directly effect me, but I feel like I should write about it.

In July, a woman, Bethy Shelby, that my dad teaches with at North Central was plagued with the sad news that the son she was carrying had a disease called Trisomy 13. Trisomy 13 Syndrome is a rare chromosomal disorder in which all or a portion of chromosome 13 appears three times (trisomy) rather than twice in cells of the body. Some people claim that any child born with Trisomy 13 is "incompatiable with life." The majority of children born with this do not live past their 1st birthday. Well on Sunday January 4th Beth and Aaron Shelbys (www.shelbyfamily09.blogspot.com) little boy Jeremiah Parker was born and passed away a little over an hour after being born.
At some point during the school year my parents received a letter in the mail from Beth and Aaron stating their situation, and in it included the web address to their blog. It is an amazing blog, full of spirit and awesome amounts of faith. I dont know how they are making it through, but they are amazing people. On their blog they are taking donations to help with the funeral expenses of Jeremy, and for donations to the Trisomy 13 foundation. They are such amazing people....please keep them in your prayers!!


The other sad story...is that on Saturday I heard of a bad car accident that happened in Fishers. It involved a family that I knew of, but not personally. A young man, 20, Parker LaCross of Fishers was in this horrible accident resulting in his death. His little sister Taylor, is in Morgans class, and is also best friends with Zachs younger cousin, Karly. Their mother is a teacher in the HSE school district...So most people around here know of them. . .and regardless hearing these stories just make my heart break. I hate to sound selfish, but it just takes me back to 6 years ago, and Bryce dying...and being there to basically witness it. It breaks my heart because I know what they are feeling, and even though I can relate to every emotion, there is still not one comforting word to say to them. I just hope and pray that they take things one day at a time, and cry for 5 days straight if thats what they need to do.

Hearing these sad stories just make me count my blessings in life. It is pathetic that it takes things like this to happen for me to open my eyes and thank god for what I have, but whatever the case..I'm defintely thankful for everything in my life. You should be too.


....count your blessings....

xoxo
Tay

a few....

Happy New Year!! :) I hope everyone had an awesome new years.

We didnt (obviously) get crazy this year. And I told Zach it was only fair, since I couldnt go out, neither could he..but I would be his driver... :) He agreed and we actually had a fun night. We went to Stephanies parents house. They have a party every year...and each year the population grows larger!!.....because everyone is having babies!!And Amanda joined us this year too!! It was a good time. We stayed until around 12:30 and headed back to Zachs. Here are a few pictures.....

Brian-the miller hi life guy-Zach-Justin-Jamie-and Corey...not paying attention.


It is like PULLING TEETH to get Zach to smile in pictures..and the one time I do..I cut his head off...but I will cherish this of the one of the very limited amounts of "zach smiling" pictures. hehe.

Steph, Brian, Amanda and myself...looking large and 9 months pregnant.... (yes...they dont tell you you are preggo for a FULL 9 months...buh!)


me and the best


These little boys light up my life. Alex and Little Adam or "addie"


Love them.


my carter bean (stephs little one) he slept like this the entire evening! i hope i can be so lucky.....


On another note...I went to the Dr this week. Got a great report..made me smile, considering things have been a bit stressful in the pregnancy department. My blood pressure was great ...for me anyways. haha! Weight: didnt gain anything in the last 2 weeks and that included Christmas...I am very proud of myself. :) I've been very active...I think I have taken better care of myself since I've been pregnant than I ever did. My dad says when I actually have the baby he thinks Ill end up like super skinny..hahaha I can ONLY wish!! :)
I have been having some serious (not bad) umm...pregnancy related issues that I will spare you the details of. hahahaha! If you want to know, I'll tell you, but I won't be THAT honest on here! But because of these things, she seems to think I will go a bit early..which excites me because #1...I can't wait to meet this little guy..and #2 I am sooo uncomfortable. My lower back is KILLLLLING ME...I have bad leg cramps ....his feet or something have strategically placed themselves under my ribs....and yeah..I'm over this. hahaha! Only 5 weeks left at max is what I keep telling myself!
We have an Ultrasound scheduled for January 14th to make sure everything is still looking good and that his head is down...b/c we think he is laying....not the "correct" way. So we are excited..then its once a week until he comes. I am getting super nervous, but excited.
My roomate is moving out this week. She has been a huge help with bills and stuff..but seeing as though I only have a 2 bedroom condo and little man will be here soon...its time to make that room into a nursery. PLUS she wants to move closer to her job...don't worry, I didnt give her the boot! :) She is an awesome gal! I have really enjoyed her the last 6 months!
So next weekend will be "Nursery Weekend" come and join the fun!!! hehe.

Hope everyone had a great/safe/happy new year!
xoxo
Tay