Still Learning...

Lessons learned in the last couple months: 

Man-sized baby toots, burps, snorts, and grunts are funny every stinkin' time.  At least, we sure think so! :)

Not being able to brush your teeth good for 8 months because it makes you gag is NOT a good thing.  Sugar bugs still find teeth when you don't eat much sugar.  (good thing David's going to be a dentist)

I hate lovenox shots more than hormone shots in the rear. And I really hated those.

I love the side-to-side and front-to-back baby swing. Thanks LB for the trial run with yours. In fact, if they had them in adult sizes, I'd buy two for myself.  And one for David.  And for birthday gifts.  I'd just switch out the mobile for a candy dispenser that can hold gummy bears. (again, good thing David's going to be a dentist) 

Binge eating on a bunch of sugar cookie dough and canned frosting is never a good idea after not eating very many sweets/sugar for the past 10 months.

The smell of formaldahyde from anatomy lab is really hard to wash out of Dave's scrubs.  Ewww! 

My name is Kabree and I'm a pickaholic. I'm obsessed with picking at Brigston.  Seriously.  I have a problem.  I get a rush from getting a big 'ole booger out, or a piece of dead skin.  Toe fuzz?  Delightful!  Eye sleepers?  Even better.

I got brave and went to the store for a prescription.  Brig was sleeping so I got bolder and picked up some groceries.  Got into the checkout line, had a lady in front and behind me.  I was just thinking to myself what a piece of cake this was when Brigston started crying.  I mean, he was sad.  And I was blocked in. Trapped.  He had a bubble, and I couldn't get him out of his seat and checkout at the same time.  I'm sure the looks I got weren't near as disapproving as I felt they were.  But my cheeks were hot, and I was about to start crying myself.  But I rocked his carseat like mad and he eventually fell back asleep (felt like it took a year).  Lesson learned:  NEVER get cocky.  That's when all heck breaks loose for a fragile minded new mom. 

I can't control everything happening inside my body, no matter how bad I want to!  Yep, found another blood clot in my pelvis the week was I supposed to be cleared to stop my lovenox shots. Boo. Have I mentioned how much I hate those?  Twice a day.  Three more months.  Yeah.  Pure hatred. 

I still cannot nap, even after an all-nighter with Brig.  Yes, craziness.  I need brain surgery to get rewired on that one!  Thank goodness Brig's usually an awesome sleeper at night. 

Even though I said I'd never be "one of those moms" who uses a pacifier, I've become one. (shameful look) Brig is "one of those babies" that wants to suck on anything, everything, and everyone when he's not eating.  So, to prevent him from constantly trying to eat David and me alive and to prevent future hickies, we've had to turn to the paci to satisfy his strong sucking desires. 

David gets to be the designated lawn mower from here on out while we're in Houston.  I love mowing the lawn, but after chopping up frogs, big spiders, and as of last week TWO SNAKES, David's the lucky one who gets the job.  I DO NOT do snakes.

I've decided that the best job I've ever had, and ever will have, is being Brigston's mom.  I get to wake up to this everyday.  Priceless. 

 

 Aunt Ky spoiled us and flew down for a visit this month. Oh how we miss her! We had a great time, went on walks, snuggled with Brig, even went to the Houston livestock show and rodeo.  Brigston loves his Auntie KyKy! Wishing she could stay down here forever, or come at least every other week. I better put my order in for that. Thanks so much for coming, Auntie!

He's Here!!!

Welcome to the world, our sweet Brigston Lynn!  Words can't describe our tender feelings as this little angel entered into our family, into our world.  I can't believe he's already 2 weeks old...I honestly don't know what we ever did without him.  We are soooo in love with this munchkin, and we couldn't ask for a better baby.  He eats great, has a stinkin' cute fiesty temper, poos like a champ, is super ticklish, rarely cries (he doesn't even cry when he's hungry at night), and already has nights where he sleeps for 5 hrs straight! (HEAVEN) At his dr appt today, his dr declared him perfect, and perfect he is!  What a blessing it is to be his parents. 

Brigston Lynn Sterzer ** Born February 10, 2011 ** 6lbs 14oz **
20in long ** Beautiful brown hair ** Love him!!!

 

 

                         Mama Blues

Today I have a case of the mama blues, a different kind of mama blues.  My mom flew back home today, so now I have the blues.  I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful mom!  I'm only hoping that I can become a mother just like her.  She helped me learn the beginner ropes of being a mom, and I know I'll be calling her with questions regularly.  Brig will definitely miss dancing and snuggling with Nana!  She helped us so much, and we already miss her terribly. (Especially this morning when Brig pooped 3 times in 10 mins when I was trying to get out the door for his dr appt!)  So grateful for the relationship I have with my mama!  Love you, Mom! 

 

*Oh Boy!*

Well, we still haven't found a car yet.  You don't realize how much you rely on having two cars until you're scrambling trying to get each other to where you need to be (many times at 6 in the mornin), sharing the one. Kudos to everyone who does that!

David's having surgery on Friday.  Yes, that's right.  We found out 2 wks ago he needs surgery on his wrist to remove a ganglion cyst that's been hurting him/growing since Christmas.  Doc said it couldn't wait until spring break in March if he wants to be able to move his hand for school.  It needs done now.  Fabulous timing, eh?  Again, what luck we have! :)  Sooo glad it will be fixed so it won't hurt him anymore. 

My mom flies in on Saturday....YEEHAW! :)  Beyond excited for her to come and be here.  Nothing can make things feel like they'll really "Be okay" like a mom can!  She said she'd stay as long as we needed her.  I hope she packed her bags to stay here permanently...maybe I ought to give her the heads up? ;) 

Two weeks ago, when doc checked me I'd already started dialating and have been progressing ever since on my own.  Still battling with contractions whenever I'm up doing things, so I'm going crazy trying to "take it easy" and not put myself into labor.  We're crossing our fingers (and I, my legs, of course, and toes, and eyes, and everything else) that he doesn't try to come anytime sooner...especially not on Dave's surgery day (let me remind you we only have one car still), because we have the official date now!  I'm getting induced Feb 10, and we're so excited!  I've been eating like crazy to try to fatten him up because he was really small when they checked him a week ago, but this week he definitely grew (my bruised innards are proof), so it was an answer to prayers.  He's ready to go!

We can't wait for February 10th.  I walk in his little room or put things away we've bought for him and I just have to sit and cry.  We're so grateful for this sweet baby boy that's coming and so grateful we're going to be parents.  We're also really nervous, but so excited!  Pictures to come in the next post! :)

    

Our boy's going to share a birthday with this wonderful woman, Grammie Stokes!

Feelin' Lucky?

Sometimes all you can do is laugh about things, because otherwise the only thing left to do is bawl your eyes out. 

So there's the saying, "If it weren't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all!"  David and I are tempted to have this secretly tattooed on our rears.  Or maybe our foreheads?  We seem to gravitate towards having luck, but it's all too often the wrong kind!

WHAT ARE THE ODDS:  Our last week in ID, David got a phone call from the hotel we parked our car at before we flew out.  They proceeded to explain they had bad news, that there was a "car burning" the day after Christmas, and our car had been damaged.  That's all we were told, other than we'd have to deal with it when we got home.  We got in at 2am last Friday to find this: 

 

Yeah, we didn't get home until 4am.  Apparently some kid's car caught fire while he was driving so he pulled into the hotel parking lot and the genius parked RIGHT NEXT TO OUR CAR.  His car eventually blew up, and this was the result.  Don't worry, the kid didn't have insurance like he said he did.  His expired 3 days before the accident happened because he didn't pay his premium.  So now we're stuck trying to sort out the mess with our insurance. 

Our car issues come in spurts.  Two months ago, we had to buy 2 new sets of tires for our cars, and replaced the wheel bearings on our Jimmy.  We thought that'd get us through at least 6 months to a year 'til the next fix came about.  HA!  Guess we were wrong!  And yes, our brand new tire on that rear wheel is toast...literally!  Hahaha!  We can't help but laugh, otherwise we'll cry.  Seriously, what are the odds? 

In other news, Baby Sterzer's coming a little earlier than we expected.  Looks like I'll be induced either the 1st or 2nd week in February.  Umm, can we say panic time? :) He'll be here before we know it!  Can't wait!  Here's to hopin' we can find a new car before he gets here.

Taking the Bitter with the Sweet

Well the randomness of life never ceases to plague us! I wanted to write a Christmas post for December and talk about our most recent miracle with our sweet baby boy. I'm still going to, but I have some Christmas goodies to add to it now. This past week was a rough one. Sometimes it's hard to see why things happen like they do, but as we've learned a long time ago (and keep learning) sometimes you just have to take the bitter with the sweet.

Some sweetness: At our 1st anatomy scan, they found that our baby's heart wasn't at the right angle a normal heart should be in, and his little stomach wasn't quite right. Naturally, we were nervous and concerned. (thanks for all the prayers and fasting familia!) After seeing a pediatric cardiologist and having another anatomy scan, we were relieved to find that even though his heart is at a different axis, everything was still functioning fine as far as can be seen for now. After asking my OB if this was common, he told me he honestly had never seen a case where the heart was turned as our little man's is and there wasn't an underlying abnormality or functioning problem with the baby. He told me when our boy comes, we need to tell him he's a very special baby. Um, wow. So thankful! Miracle? I think yes. Very special baby INDEED!

Some bitter: Last Monday, my thigh was super sore and got progessively worse as the week went on. I thought I'd just pulled a muscle. I was supposed to start physical therapy for sciatica probs, but the morning I was to start, my entire left leg was swollen, purple, and killing me! I called my doc and ended up going to see him instead. I was sent over to the hospital for an ultrasound and admitted within an hour. Keep in mind that David was in the middle of finals and stuck downtown until at least 4:30 that afternoon. I had no idea what was going on for about 4 hours, so I was pretty much scared to death and wishing David or someone could be there with me. FINALLY I was informed that I had a blood clot in my femoral vein. As luck would have it, I've got the genetics to be more prone to a clot and pregnancy helped to make it happen. So much for all that walkin' I'd been doing! (By the way, this all happened 5 days afore we were to fly out for ID for Christmas)

Poor David while sick and feeling awful, stayed with me that night, but left really early to head to school for more finals. Right after he left, a nurse came rushing in to inform me that I was having regular contractions. (yeah, totally didn't even know it) I spent the morning getting shots and being monitored until they were able to get it to stop. Thankfully, they did. Supposedly the stress from the clot sent me into preterm labor. (REALLY?!) We know our boy's feisty though, because he kicked the tar out of the monitors whenever they were on my belly. The nurses turned down the volume on the monitor because it got so loud from him kicking. 'Ats my boy! Our sweet baby was and is just fine, THANK HEAVENS!

We miraculously got permission from my hematologist to fly under certain conditions, and after painfully going back and forth we decided to come. I'm on bedrest and have to be super careful from here on out. Don't know if it was the best decision, and it's been tough, but we're sooo glad to be around family and have help! I have the best nurse in the WHOLE WORLD. David is so amazing...I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful hubby who's taking such good care of me. He even gives me my shot everyday! It's times like these that make me swear I'll NEVER take him for granted ever! I lived in a wheelchair on the way over, and I have a grandma cane I've been using (yeah, I laugh about it, too). My leg's still swollen, but we're counting our blessings that it happened when it did and not after we got to Idaho. It could have been so much worse. And on the up side, I think I'm better prepared for childbirth now because this has been PAIN-FUL!

Pretty sure this pregnancy has been anything but fabulous, but I know he's going to be sooo worth it! I just keep telling myself, I can do this! It really could have been so much worse, and our baby's healthy and strong. My oh my, he is strong! :)

David finished his first semester of dental school and has done awesome. I'm so proud of him! His two weeks of 11 finals were painful, but he did it! And he still loves it. Him happy = Me happy

I'm so grateful for tender mercies and for my Savior, Jesus Christ and all He has done for me and my family. He is helping us through this new trial. What a wonderful time of year to celebrate the birth of our dear Savior! I know He lives, and He loves each one of us. May you all feel His love and constant presence in your lives! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! 

Lovelies I Love

I love David!

I love knowing that I have a Father in heaven who loves me
I love sitting by an open window with a breeze coming through, reading a book

I love going to see a friend I haven't seen in months and it feels like we were never apart

I love how said friends feel like sisters to me (you know who you are LD)

I love everything about my new little niece Saydee Pearl (is she not the cutest baby ever?!  LOVE HER!)

I love harvest time in Idaho

I love how Paul, Idaho will always be home
I love love LOVE David!

I love baby kitties

I love when pest control comes :)

I love getting into a bed with a heated mattress pad on a cold night, mmmm

I love the slower paced life of country living

I love drinking a steaming cup of hot chocolate, I don't care what flavor (I confess, I even drink it when it's 70 degrees outside and it's still fabulous)

I love playing in a big pile of leaves, especially when it's with my fam

I love vit B6 and phenergan and I don't care if anyone knows it (saying to myself, "My name is Kabree and I'm an addict")
I love shopping with my mom, and sister, and my auntie
I love home-grown food
I love being able to visit my family...the only thing missing this time was David being with me

I love driving my dad's big truck

I love when David gets home at night

I love the smells (and hopefully I'll enjoy the tastes) of the holidays

I love the excitement of what the future is going to bring for us

I love beautiful sunsets (that's an Idaho beauty right there)

I love cooked pumpkin seeds and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (that I can even eat, how 'bout that)

I love when our baby gets the hiccups

I love kisses and hugs and laughing

I love how blessed I feel

I just love being in LOVE!

I'm in a lovely mood and just wanted to document (maybe just for myself) what I'm loving today.  I feel so incredibly blessed. We all are faced with the struggles of life, but we're also given so many wonderful things! I want to do better about realizing the good, more than the bad. There's so much about life to love! Sorry if it bores you, but I hope it gets you thinking about what you love today.

So what do you love?

Baby Update :)

I've been asked to update on my pregnancy, so consider this my update of sorts...
For anyone who's struggled with not being able to get pregnant, they would understand how emotionally straining it is to look at one pregnancy test after another and get your heart broken. I did it so many times that when I finally got TWO LINES I took 4 tests just to make sure I wasn't going crazy. I still have days where I wonder if I really am pregnant, and think I might be dreaming. Luckily, I have an internal dialogue that lets me knoooooow I'm definitely pregnant. It goes somethin' like this:

Do people really like food?  Pretty sure if all the food in the world disappeared, I'd be ok with it. (WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?)
It's honestly pure torture for a person to hate food, but then need to eat all the time in order to not throw up.
I wonder if there's a record for how many times a person's gagged in a day. I just know I beat it!
I swear seafood never smelled horrific like this before! It should be outlawed.
Can a person really pee this many times in a day AND night?
For those who don't know, it's possible to throw up, even though you have nothing to throw up. Oh, and sneezing can make you throw up, too, I promise.
[In the middle of the night] Why am I not asleep...SLEEP body SLEEP!
I still wake up in the morning just sure that I swallowed a rock or mini basketball in the night. 
To Dave: "I'm pretty sure my tummy's going to explode any minute now. Wait for it....wait for it..." To self: (I knew I shouldn't have swallowed that mini basketball last night)
I'm not getting emotional about the things I usually get emotional about, like a touching story or moment.  But if I see a commercial where a teen gets to open THEIR 1ST CHECKING ACCT, it tears me right up! (don't judge me)
Will I ever like desserts or sweets again? :( (For reals this time, what is wrong with me?)
I swear these pants fit me just fine yesterday!
[Two weeks later...] Did I honestly used to fit into those pants before? There's no way!
OH. MY. GOSH. I fill up my bra now. (GASP, I know) Really, I do!  This has never happened before!
How do people grocery shop? It's gotta be the most disgusting thing EVER.
My body's got it all wrong...my rear seems to be growing more than my belly.
Will I ever be able to cook again?
Dr. Oz says a normal person should "expel gas" 12-15 times/day. After the pregnancy, I should be allowed at least 20-25 times/day because I'm pretty sure it's at -5 for me right now :( Yeah. Painful.
Dear whoever said ginger and Preggie Pops get rid of morning sickness: They didn't. The end.  

If you can't tell, I've been sick. At almost 21 wks now, I'm still not feeling great, and still throwing up. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones who gets to feel yucky for a long time and meds don't really work for me. I'm trying really hard to be positive and just be sooo grateful that we have a baby on the way. What a blessing! We're so grateful for good drs and modern medicine! And prayer works! We know Heavenly Father was in control, even though it was sooo hard to have patience and faith, we see now that I would've had to drop out of school because of the sickness, had our little one come in the last 2 years.
I do have things that I love about pregnancy: I am in LOVE with feeling this baby move. I've been feeling baby since I was 16 wks, and we're pretty sure it's hyperactive. It's constantly wiggling! Love it. Dave gets to feel it too, so we have fun giggling when we feel it :) I love that we feel so much love for somebody we haven't even met...I cry every time I think of our lit'l miracle! I love that my hair and nails grow a foot in a week. I love how my mom and dad take turns throughout the week calling to check on me, the baby, and daddy. Don't know what I'd do without "Nana and Papa's" calls! I love that David has been doing most of the cooking and dishes for the last 4 months and has never complained. Nor has he complained about my whining, or constantly askin' for massages. I'm a lucky girl! So, Baby Sterzer is set to arrive around Feb 26, 2011, and did I mention that IT'S A BOY?! We are sooo excited...beyond words! And yes I am growing. Slow, but sure. Maybe someday I won't be so weirded out about showing people picts of my belly. HA! Until then, just trust me when I say that he is definitely growing. :) 
OH and for those of you who know Bryce and Courtnie, they're inducing Court today so we're hoping our new little niece will be here this afternoon! SO EXCITED!