As 2008 Comes To An End....

2008 has been quite a year for us.
-The Huz found out he would be starting his new Job at his first choice location.
-He graduated from College and started his career.
-We moved while I was 8 months pregnant. Ugh!!
-Alec turned 1.
-I carried a human life.
-I gave birth to a perfect baby boy.
-Alec entered the terrible two's stage..lol!
-My Mom got remarried.
-My Dad found out he had skin cancer, but is was successfully removed and he is a healthy man!!
- The Huz and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary.
-We've met new people and made new friends.

So many things have happened and our lives have changed so much in just one year. There have been lots of ups and downs. But in our family of 4 there have been many great things. It has been a wonderful year for us.

Happy New Year!! I hope your 2009 starts out wonderful!

On The Road Again...

Driving for the Holidays? We are, and I am not looking forward to it! Tomorrow the Huz is getting off work early (thank goodness) and we will be driving about 3 hours to my uncles. And it will probably take us longer than 3 hours! Then on Wednesday after Church, dinner and present time we will be driving about hour and 15mins, we probably won't leave until after 10pm. The next day no driving at all!! Then sometime on Friday we will be driving home. The Huz has to work Sat. and Sun. boo!! I really am looking forward to seeing so much of our family, but the driving won't be fun, especially since we have 2 under 2!

Happy Holidays everyone! And to everyone else out there driving, drive safely!

'Tis the Season

This year I have found myself really feeling the holiday spirit. Most years I am annoyed by all the holiday cheer that comes WAY to early! Usually I am not ready for Christmas or in the Christmas spirit until about a week before Christmas. But this year! I was ready to put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving. I found myself wandering down all the holiday decoration isles in the stores wanting to fill my cart up with new ornaments and decorations. Thankfully I was well in control and not buying in impulse (something I tend to do). Our home is decorated, our tree is sparkling and I find myself humming Christmas tunes.

I can't put my finger on why I am so excited and in the spirit this year. Maybe its because of my boys. This year is Damon's 1st Christmas and Alec's 2nd. They are not at the age where they understand Christmas or Santa...I can't imagine how excited I will be when they do understand! It is always fun though to remember and celebrate a baby's first Christmas. There is also the excitement of seeing family from far away. My family that lives in Kansas and Missouri will be here for Christmas this year and I cannot wait to see them. I don't get to see them often enough through the year.

We have almost all our presents bought and wrapped. Usually I just want to get the wrapping done and over with. But this year I enjoyed it! I took my time with the wrapping and decorated each package with colorful ribbons, they look so pretty!

I am finding myself feeling lucky about where I live in the US. Most areas are so affected by the economy, but where I live it isn't even as close to as bad as most of the US. Sure it has affected us here, but only slightly. And some more than others I am sure. (I don't want to say we arn't affected at all because we are.)

Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope the time with your friends and family is wonderful!

MASTITIS

One word....holy flipping hell this hurts!! Okay, so that was more than one word. But you got the point that something hurts right? (Beware! Breast and nipple talk ahead!)



This last week the nipple on my right breast had started getting a bit sore and tender and then proceeded to be down right painful! I went 48 and just pumped breast milk and did not let Damon nurse on that side at all. But today I was still in excruciating pain. It feels like someone is slowly peeling the skin of my nipple and pouring alcohol down it too. It has a horrible burning sensation 24/7. This is the most pain I have ever been in in my entire life. I would rather be in labor without an epidural!



Today I decided to go and see the doctor. I was thinking that I had thrush, but it turns out I have Mastitis. I always thought that mastitis was just an infection of the milk ducts, but my ducts are totally fine! I just have the infection on my nipple. So now I am on a really powerful dose of antibiotics 4 times a day. Yay. I have my self a big tub of yogurt so I help prevent getting thrush. I would probably cry if I end up getting thrush after all this.



I would never wish the pain that I am in on anyone, it is just horrible.

Black

Black. All I seem to be wearing lately is black, people are going to think I am going through a goth phase or something! Well no, its just that I have some extra baby fat to lose! Ugh!

I hate dieting! I am doing weight watchers and it is a great 'diet' for me to follow. I make healthy choices, but I can still have the sweet treat that I always seem to be craving. I wasn't very good during my pregnancy controlling how often I had that sweet treat.. and now here I am at 3 months postpartum with 20lbs to lose. So I wear black. And when I buy something new, its probably black. Well I guess I did buy to blue shirts the other day, but they hide my tummy.

I have been pretty good about exercising. I also spend about 30mins to an hour every day dancing like a goof with Alec. And that gets my heart rate up! Its easy to exercise when you are having fun and goofing off with one of the cutest little boys in the world! Alec's favorite thing to watch and dance to? The Wiggles!! Luckily for me they aren't too annoying, because Alec LOVES them.

I really wish that I could just do a crash diet and starve myself for a little while just to get the weight off. I am good at managing a weight, I just have to get there first. But that is completely out of the question. I am breastfeeding Damon and that would be really unhealthy for both of us. And I do not want to risk losing my milk supply.

So I am just putsing away losing about a pound a week. I guess thats not too bad.

Any one have any heathy snack suggestions for me?

Thankfulness and Sadness

My Thanksgiving post, just a little late. ; )

We had a really nice Thanksgiving this year we saw lots of family and thats always fun, especially when its family you don't see very often. And I got to show off my boys, what mother doesn't love doing that?

Thanksgiving tends to be a bit hard on me, I feel pulled two different ways emotionally. I know I should be thankful and happy for many things, including a wonderful husband who loves me dearly and my two happy and healthy little boys. But I also have feelings of mourning and sadness. And part of me wants to just mope around and be sad on Thanksgiving and the days following.

Four years ago the day after Thanksgiving I found out that my baby in utero had lost his heart beat and I went to the hospital to start the induction. It is something that I had been trying to prepare myself for, but none the less it was still a horrible and extremely hard thing to go through. But I was able to have a normally and easy delivery but emotionally very hard and I got to see my son hold him, cuddle him and kiss him. But all the while knowing that I would never be able to again. If he was here living with us today he would be 4 years old. For some reason it feels longer than 4 years.

So on Thanksgiving I am mourning the loss of my first born child, and the live I never got to have with him. But it makes me even more thankful for the two beautiful healthy boys I have here with me today.

Since Damon was born we have not had to deal with much jealousy from Alec. Just a little bit here and there. But today Alec is sick and has a cold, he just wants to be cuddled. But I will have to sit down and breastfeed Damon and Alec will come over and want to be held/cuddled. It makes me feel horrible. Especially since he is sick. And when I can't pick him up right away he is just heart broken and pulls on my shirt. It just breaks my heart. Today has been a hard day. It has been the first time I haven't been able to satisfy both boys easily.

I hope Alec is feeling better soon. This is only the second or third time he has been sick so I don't really know what to do for him other than love him and make him as comfortable as possible. He has been so healthy and never has had to see the Doctor for anything other than his shots and well baby visits. Well I guess for the screw incident too, but that isn't a sickness.

The husband has the next 3 days off from work so that will make things much easier!

Long time no post!

Well I am offically a crappy blogger! Last time I wrote I had just gotten results from my amnio, and my oldest child has swallow a screw.

Well now I am a mother of two very healthy boys. Damon arrived September 1st and 12:32pm. His heart rate was a little scary during the entire delivery taking lots of dips. I was so sure they were going to tell me we needed to do an emergency c-section. But I dilated fast and in the end he came out naturally and very healthy!

The first time Alec saw Damon I don't think he knew what to think exactly. And the first time he heard Damon cry he cried too! But he has been very good with the baby and not shown much jealousy at all.

Now Damon is getting close to three months and Alec is 22 months. I sure am busy, but having two children is not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I spent way to much time worrying about it while I was pregnant!

I promise to start blogging more!

"You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. If you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes."
Author: Walter Schirra, Sr.

Well a few weeks ago we got the results back from my amnio, and the baby is healthy! What wonderful news that was. We also got some other delightful news, we are having another boy!! We are SO excited that Alec will have a little brother. I can't wait to see them grow together, they will only be about 19 months apart in age! There are some very busy times coming in my future, but I can't wait!

This pregnancy is going great! I can't believe that I am almost half way through it! I my belly is growing much fast this pregnancy, and I have been feeling movement daily since about 15 weeks. Its unbelievable how fast time is going by! I wish I had a pause button for life.

Some other news in the Neva house hold... Alec swallowed a screw this past week! It scared me half to death. He found it somewhere in his bedroom, I have absolutely no idea where it came from! I saw him put it in his mouth, but before I could get it out he had swallowed it. We took him to the ER and sat there from 10:30-2:00, a very long time. They took an x-ray and we got to see it sitting in his tummy,(kinda cool to see). They aren't going to do anything about it now, we just have to wait for it to pass through his system. Which means we get to go through all his stinky diapers looking for it. (yay) If we do not find it in the next three weeks, we have to take him to his doctor for another x-ray, and who knows what else they might want to do. It has been about 4 days since it happened, and we have still not found the screw.

Staying in ND!

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

Last week Brad and I got wonderful news. We will not be moving far! It means so much to us that we will be staying near to our family. Knowing that we will be raising our children close to their grandparents, aunts and uncles means so much to us. We are ecstatic!!!

A Mother's Joy.

"A mother's joy begins when new life is stirring inside...when a tiny heartbeat is heard for the very first time and a playful kick reminds her that she is never alone."
Author: Unknown

Just a few days before the new year, much to our surprise, I found out that we are pregnant again. Just this last Thursday I say my Doctor and she gave me a due date of September 4th. That is the birthday of my 'Papa' my grandfather. He was one of the most important men in my life and not a day goes by were I don't think of him. What a blessing to be blessed with a new life due on the day he was born. I could not have a more special due date.


Also on Thursday my son Alec turned one year old. I cannot believe how fast the time went by, he is such a wonderful little boy. It was an amazing year seeing him grow, develop and change. I can't wait to see the person he becomes in the years to come.

The Beginning

The truth is ... everything counts. Everything. Everything we do and everything we say. Everything helps or hurts; everything adds to or takes away from someone else. --Countee Cullen

I am stepping into the blogging world. Something I considered doing, but never took the step forward. Well today I am taking that step! I have been tagged by a group of ladies from a Feb 2007 luv bug forum.

I will update this blog as much as I can with what is going on in Brad's, Alec's and my life. I think I will start off every blog with a quote that I love, there are so many.

Stay tuned!