HELLO THIRD TRIMESTER (28 weeks and 2 days) and welcome sleepless nights, starving, and kicks to the ribs! I wouldn't trade it for the world but I know I will be counting the days now to meet the lil guy!

Let's go in reverse order this time...

Lesley: As I said the third trimester is the best and worst part, mainly because of the anticipation! Things I have not got to yet is the swelling of feet and hands which was so bad with Lilly. AND I REALLY hope that either doesn't catch up with me this time or waits until the VERY END! I also haven't had carpal tunnel which was a weird pregnancy thing I got with Lilly.

GOOD NEWS #1: I passed my sugar test! Low iron but I did with Lilly too. I just have to take iron pills which could be a whole other post but too much information to share to some of you! :)

GOOD NEWS #2: I only had to use half day today because Putnam County got out at 11:00. Man, do I have a good team and a good sub that took care of getting my kids to the right place during that chaos!!!!! (Thanks!)
I am ecstatic with the news we got today about Levi.... :)

Levi: So we went to Chattanooga today. The first appointment was with the pediatric surgeon, Dr. Koontz. He was a very nice man. He just talked to us about all the possibilities. Basically when Levi is born, he will automatically have an X-ray and they will assess what 'it' actually is and see how much 'it' is affecting him. If it is necessary, they will immediately do surgery. If he is doing fine health wise (breathing), then they will wait and reassess at 3 months and we will keep going back every so often. Eventually unless 'it' does not go away then he will have surgery because it ultimately will affect his breathing, become malignant or so on. Once again, he said it is just a wait and see thing. He said he likes his job but he really hopes 'it' goes away and he never has to do surgery.

(Lunch break: We ate at the Urban Shack Burger Lounge. We enjoyed being kidless and the burgers were amazing!)

GOOD NEWS #3: Next up, the high risk doctor appointment with the every two week ultrasound. He loves to show that he is a boy but that's about it.....Of course Levi was being uncooperative and face down so the ultrasound lady first measured 'it' and she said like 1.3cmx1.2cm. We were like WAIT WHAT?!? She kept measuring and could not get a good measurement until the doctor came in and she could barely even see 'it.' She said it definitely seemed to be regressing! The biggest measurement was 1.2cmx2.3cm! IN CASE YOU ARE NOT KEEPING UP...that is 1cm LESS than 11 days ago! She said she wasn't sure but she definitely knew it had got smaller! BEST NEWS ALL DAY!

He also weighs about 3lbs 2 oz.

We go back February 3 in Cookeville and hope we get that same news or better news on that day!

Making progress on his room:

Lilly: OBSESSED with Dora! She wakes up saying Dora, backpack, map, and Swiper! She really has been so good and sweet lately! LOVE HER! Here are some sweet pictures...

CHEEESSEE....hanging out in the doll play pen with pizza face and pearls

Lovely hair after getting out of the bathtub,,,eventually it will get longer but for now just thicker

LOVES getting ready for snow...HATES the cold! We were back in after about 6 minutes. 

Oh and she won't wear gloves so don't harp on me for that :)

Only wanted me to hold her

Biggest complaint: With Levi, I REALLY hope to get him to lay in his bed and sleep on his own! I love rocking her and having that snuggle time but really 30min to an hour is just too long to be trying to get her to sleep! Anyone else have this problem? I need to just let her cry it out a few nights but I guess it is me being a little selfish and liking the snuggle time and hating to hear her cry and say MAMAMAMAMA.

Joel: Well a nice dry socket rounded out his wisdom teeth excitement. He is doing much better now though! He is such a good man to put up with me! I mean I am so lucky to have him as such a wonderful husband and daddy! Did you know he cooks almost every night? First of all, he is just nice but when it really boils down to it, he is a better cook! Yeah, I know I know! I blame it on the fact that I never had an Easy Bake Oven but really it's just I do not like to cook.
Joel was ready for also glad to get some good news today! He also backed into a car pulling out of a friends driveway Sunday leaving our bumper dented in. Yeah OH WELL...nothing that can't be fixed!

So to sum it all up, we are doing great..... thanks to all of your prayers! If anything this is really helping to me to TRY to not sweat the small stuff (sort of; if you know me I am a bit of a stresser). I just want to shout it from the rough tops how happy I am to have this good news today and will hang on that good news until the next appointment, Feb. 3.

Giving it a Try!……

So first of all, "I need a blog" and "I have time for a blog" are totally two different things! However, I am going to give it a try…..SO here goes….

Joel and the 3 L's: Pretty clever, huh?

Joel: Well he got all four wisdom teeth cut out Friday. I quickly realize 1. I would struggle being a single mom.(bless you all!) and 2. I need to be more sympathetic! He has slept pretty much all weekend; to the point that Lilly will say "Da, asweep?" He has been up and at it more today and feeling better now that he has eaten/drank more than ensure! Coming from a pregnant woman, I have told him at least three times, I would be starving!

Lilly: Oh lord! She is the SWEETEST , WILD child you will meet! One minute I am thinking, she is so cute when she is saying "Hey mama!" and climbing in the dolls play pen…… (pictures to come)

and then other times, I think…one of us is not going to survive to three years old! She is in the "No" and "Mine" stage….OH HOW I HATE THIS STAGE! She is also in the hitting or kicking stage…more to be funny but still not okay. Yep, one of those things you say your kid won't do…OH YOU WAIT! I am not opposed to spanking but when we spank her, she laughs…LAUGHS!!!!!!! I mean I have swatted her, diaper off so hard that I felt bad and she still laughed! However if we say, "Do you want to go to your room?" or even act like we are taking her to her room and locking the gate, she immediately breaks down and stops!

LOVES: pizza, turkey hot dogs, Dora, Big Bird, Elmo, writing the number 5 and 6 (yeah random I know!), DANCING!!, Technology, hugs, sheeros (cheerios)

HATES: lots of different food…yep she is so picky!, being told no, having to wait, hair bows and headbands

Levi:  I am sure if you are reading this then you pretty much know what is going on with little Levi but here is the jist one more time. All was well until the gender ultrasound when they could not get a picture of his stomach because he would not be still! (This turns out to be a blessing in disguise!) So the next appointment they have to do another ultrasound. During this the ultrasound tech is taking longer than normal and seems to be skirting around something. Dr. Cole thought it was just a hernia but wanted to send me to the high risk doctor just to see. SO of course, I am googling hernia like crazy and freaking out but I thought …O a hernia no big deal, right? So I have to wait until December 23 almost a week. I went into the doctor's office as positive as can be and came out with a much worse attitude and idea of what was going on. The ultrasound was great because they measured everything and then Dr. Adair (an AWESOME doc) came in and gave us the news. He explained that it looks like a CCAM (Congenital Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation) which is like a tumor/cyst but not cancerous. So many things were going through my head at that point but I was trying to hold it together. He took me to the room to draw my blood for the chromosome deficiencies and in his words said "Don't worry, we are the doctors: It's our job to worry, not yours" and said" he would be praying for us." That is when I pretty much lost it. Then he gave me a tissue box as my Christmas present. I got in the car and lost it even more. Poor Joel! He knows I am a worrier and planner and obviously "this" was NOT in the plans. All I could think of was how would this ultimately affect Levi but also already beginning to freak out about money for the doctor's appointments, delivering in Chattanooga and what we would do with Lilly, missing school, and more. So I googled and some information made it better and some worse but get this….Dr. Adair gave me his email! No I have not emailed him but just knowing I could/can helps!

Fast forward after two weeks of worrying, I went back last Thursday and 'it' did not grow and Levi is doing great they say. He is SO active; even kicked the ultrasound lady and kicked her. He likes to remind me often that he is still doing good in there. We go to Chattanooga Jan 21 to meet with the pediatric surgeon, Dr. Koontz, and with Dr. Adair or Torres for my every two week ultrasound.
**This blog for now is a much easier way to update people about Levi and what is going on if you care to read. It also just lets me get some stuff out!

Lesley (the last L): Well it's much easier to type about them than it is me but here are some key points:
1. I passed the sugar test WOOOHOOO! Low iron but just have to take iron pills…no big deal. I did with Lilly too.
2. Already gained 13 lbs…not too bad but I know that third trimester gain is coming. With Lilly I gained about 34 lbs so hopefully I'll gain less than that this time. I have to weigh myself everyday to make sure I did not gain more than 2 lbs in a day or 5 lbs in a week because it could mean Levi is going through hydrops (you google it) so I think that helps a little with the weight gain. As I typed this, all I can think about is the blasted ice cream I got for Joel and his can't eat mouth.
I guess moral of my part is life is crazy and busy but this worrier and planner is doing pretty good!

Well that's my first post…. pretty long huh? Next time, I will try to not be so long winded!
Hope you all have a good week….YAY no doctor appointments this week!