Updates on page.

I put up a bunch of pictures finally. If you click on the picture of Kelly and I, it'll take you to the page with all our pictures for everyone to see.. I'm still working on it, but trying to keep everything up to date and easy to access so when baby gets here it'll be easy to put new stuff up.

Haha, so I've (Rachael) been doing the blog to keep everyone up to date and just found out last night that Kelly has been reading it too with everyone! I thought it was funny that he reads it but never says to put anything on it or anything about what I put up.. hehe, boys are so funny. :) This is a picture of me and one of my friends (she's 8 months preggo and the same distance around the belly that I am.. UGH, makes me feel sooo fat, but Kelly says it's all baby)

Tomorrow we are going to go tear out our baby's (puppy) insides.. I'm excited. Finally we are getting her spade. Which reminds me of a funny story to share. I was at work Saturday night and Kelly called me sounding paniced and asking if he could come to work and I could help him with something. I said 'sure what is going on'. I can't remember what he said, but it no where prepared me for what I was going to find when I got out into the truck (I wish I would have thought to take a picture of this). Chesty (the boy) had gotten the small loop on his metal collar stuck around his bottom jaw. It was behind his canines so it wouldn't come off. We fought with him trying to get it off without hurting him for a good 20 minutes before I thought to go ask the ER nurses if they had a ring cutter.. So I had to give them the run down on how dumb my dog is and they went to look for it. While a couple were looking for them one of them came and looked at the dog. And told us to bring the dog into the ER. Kelly came in wearing his slippers, sleep shorts and no shirt carrying the dog. To make it a little shorter, I finally pulled it off his jaw and we didn't have to cut it off.. And he is back to his normal, well manner self. These are the two puppies left.. Aren't they cute? And we need to get them gone.. Anyone want one? :)

So, I'm losing my belly button.. I'm wondering if it will pop out. No stretch marks.. (this is important) but Kelly and I noticed that it looks like I'm getting like spider vein looking things on the top of my bely.. I wonder if it's because that part of my belly hasn't stretched before? Or maybe my bra puts pressure on it.. *sigh* I don't understand this stuff. But I do try, don't I? hehehe. Everyone I work with say that I am going to be the most prepared new mom out there. I think it's more like I'm the most paranoid mom! And it helps pass the time while I wait for Mattie to finish cooking. :)

Which reminds me, I found this girl that had her baby at 24 weeks.. The baby is now a week old and it is so scary seeing what Mattie would look like if she came out now. Seeing this helped me deal with the terrible bout of heartburn and painful feet I was having last night.. Give me all the pain so that Mattie doesn't have to deal with it. :)

You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=AC94FA8727E087E2

This is the link with the videos of the puppies.. Only 2 left!

And here's the belly.. Getting bigger and bigger.. It's sooo fun and yet not so fun.. :) No stretch marks... YET. ;)

Bye Bye

So, we are down to 2 puppies left to sell. I'm so excited and happy to get getting them off to new homes. The first one we sold was the one we were debating on keeping, so that settled that question. Plus, did we really need a 5th puppy? I didn't think so! We got videos of them up on youtube.. I'll just have to remember to put a link on here so you guys can see how funny they are.. I guess you could look under Orman and chihuahua, it should bring it up that way, but I will try to remember to get the link up here.

Kelly and I had a fantastic morning. We went to a spay/neuter clinic to get Shiloh (the youngest) to get spayed before she started that nasty stuff (she's 9 months so it has to be soon). But we got up early because it was a first come first served basis. So, we sat around there for an hour or more with a bunch of other people and their dogs before I had to go pee (ah, love being preggo). I drove down the street to a Circle K because I figured they would have a bathroom.. yep, that had to be the nastiest bathroom I've been in in a long time.. There was no toilet paper, no hand soap and a roach ran across the wall while I was in there. But I HAD to go so there was no choice. Well, back to the clinic I went to find that they don't do spays on Friday's. So after all that, we got no where. So, we drove all the way back home to find out what we could do because their next appt they could get us in for was at the end of July.. HA, I'm not waiting that long and risking our puppy. She's only like 3 lbs so I don't know how she would be able to handle a litter of 6 or 8 (like ours have been). We finally found one that could get us in on Tuesday and it's only $75. I just can't see paying the $300 the vet wants to do it.. So, now we are getting the little one done in a few days and then a few days after that we want to get Foxy done so we won't have any more puppies.. I'm considering getting Chesty done too so maybe he won't lift his leg, but I hear that doesn't work.. Oh well.

Then we went to see 'Wanted', our first movie in a year. It was really good. I love Angelina Jolie but Kelly said it wasn't too bad. We aren't theatre people.. Too expensive, but we had free tickets and there were a hundred kids going to see Wall E so we went for Wanted instead.

Anyway, I'm getting fatter and fatter... I mean, Mattie is growing and growing. It's exciting and yet scary at the same time.. My belly button is getting more and more shallow, so I might end up with a popped out belly button! I think those look so funny, but I want to experience all the wonderful little things that go with being pregnant. I'm loving and hating it all at the same time. I have a hard time getting to sleep and feel like I'm huge all the time. But I absolutely love feeling our little girl kick around and dance (or I say she dances). Kelly and I are looking into taking some prenatal classes to help us prepare for the baby and labor.. I just can't have my big manly man passing out during birth or cutting the cord. :) And heaven knows we will have fun with diapers and feeding. I'm taking all the help I can get now because I might not take it after baby gets here.

So, how is everyone else doing? Sometimes I feel like I talk to myself on here, which I suppose I do.. :) Anywho, 24 weeks and counting. Oh yes, I get to do my gestational diabetes test next time I go to the doctor, so I'm extremely excited.. NOT! Ah, well, another one of those fun things.. :)

Tah Dah..

So, Kelly and I went and had pictures taken on friday for Father's Day.. I know late, but these days I can't seem to do anything on time. It was really nice to get to sit down with Kelly and get some nice pictures taken of just us, since we have no pictures of us together in the house. Actually we have one but thats the only picture of either of us in the house, its sad really. So, I figured for Father's day we could get pictures of us and some of the baby too. We are putting the puppies in the paper this week so hopefully they will go very quickly. I go see my oncologist this Thursday, which won't be very eventful since they can't do any of their normal scans and what nots since I'm pregnant. But I haven't told them I'm pregnant yet so hopefully they will be more excited than upset. I went to a baby shower yesterday, which was fun because I got to see a whole bunch of my friends that I haven't seen in a while. The girl is due in July and she is having a girl too, so it'll be nice to know someone with a baby that is close in age to our little girl.

I am feeling pretty good most days now, except sleepy. I am so tired, but I think some of that has to do with the benadryl that I am taking to help ward off the itchiness that I was having. Baby moves around quite a bit. Kelly got to feel her really move the other day. And he has felt her a few times now. But before he couldn't really tell if it was her or gas, but now you definetly can tell. She gets really active when I eat pineapple and spicy food. So, I guess she is a little of us both. I love pineapple and Kelly loves spicy food. :) I'm really excited to get to meet her and wish the time would go by quicker, but then on the other hand, I'm enjoying being pregnant. Besides the horomones.. They are crazy. I cry over nothing, get really angry at nothing and forget some pretty important stuff. So, that stuff I'm ready to see go. :)

No Pictures..

No pictures, but baby is fine.. They said everything looked good with the ultrasound they did last time and that the belly is growing at the rate that it should. So baby is good. Nothing wrong that they see. Since they refused to do an ultrasound we took pictures of our other babies to replace the ones I would have put up of our baby girl. Not much else to say right now, just wanted to put it up that everything is good and it is a huge weight off our shoulders.

Falling Behind..

Geez, so I am as air headed as they get.. I can't remember anything.. Poor Kelly is always having to remind me of everything. But I finally remembered to getting around to updating my blog. So, the belly has gotten outrageously big. I love it but it seems like I just woke up one morning and had this little girl that kicks hard and is sticking way out there. Or at least that how it feels. She likes to watch baby shows, that's why she gets real active and I think she is shy of everyone else because any time I try to get Kelly to feel her moving around, she stops. But I'm sure pretty soon she'll kick anyone around. :) Here are pictures of me at 8 weeks pregnant and then at 22 weeks (or well the other way is how the pictures are showing.) Ah, all seems like just yesterday when the belly wasn't so big.. But I'm loving it now that I can feel the baby move and know that she is okay.



The puppies are growing really quick, they learned how to escape the kennel. Kelly came down one morning to find three escapees. One of them had some how or another managed to get into Foxy's food dish and gone to sleep. They are so crazy and cute like that! So, now we had to flip it open so that is is bigger and they can't get out. This week we are going to start selling them so it'll be nice to get them out of here so we can have our kitchen back.



Yesterday my mom brought us some new furniture that they were going to get rid of so now we have a whole new living room set, which is nice because the old couch (which happens to be hers as well) was ready to be thrown out or redone. But Bob got to come sit and play with little Shiloh (his adopted daughter). I had to take the picture quck because she didn't want to sit still. Shiloh isn't very good at being around people she doesn't know. We didn't socialize her very much because she was the 4th one so she doesn't know what to do around new people. Unlike Kandence, the 1st one, she just loves new people because new people always pet her fat little hiney.

I think other than that there hasn't been too much going on besides sleeping and working. Oh wait there is more.. Kelly put in a remote start on my car so now I can start my car before I leave work or where ever and it has time to cool down before I get in it.. I'm sure this will come in very handy when it is 100 outside and I have little Mattie with me. Not to mention that I already sweat a ton even when I'm not doing anything so it'll come in very handy.. This was his 'Father's Day' present. It's what he wanted but I haven't told him that it's not his only present. How could I let that be his present? It wasn't even for him! But anyway, we are going to the doctor on Wednesday to see how all our test results came back. This is when we will find out if we need to get an amniocentesis done. They said that since I had cancer and with all the treatments they will base it on the ultrasound and the results of my AFP screen, if either test shows that there could possibly be a deformity or some type of birth defect, then we will do an amnio.

And did you know that there could be a link between childhood vaccinations and Autism? I am learning all sorts of new things now that I have a little one on the way. Who knew! There are some crazy things out there and I have to know them all to protect my little girl.. :)

Here is a pictures of Kelly playing with one of the puppies and Chesty (the daddy). They actually got a long okay, not well enough to leave them alone, but Chesty LOVES little puppies for some reason, it's really funny. The puppies just don't know what to make of him though. The last litter would really play with him once they got a bit older.

2 Weeks..

Not much to say today except that pregnancy hormones aren't always fun. I get soo moody it's rediculus and I feel bad for people around me. But I do have to say that at least I have gotten some of my personality back and can tease people again. But man, I can flip like a switch and as confusing as it is to me, I'm sure people I work with think I'm crazy, but that's alright. :)

Check out these nipples, looks painful to me. They aren't nearly as bad as they were when we had 8 of them though. She'd leak all over the floor and stuff. In two weeks, the puppies will be 5 weeks and ready to sell, so I am totally excited. And oddly enough, we have two weeks till our next doctor appt. I don't think they will have much to tell us except to check on baby. We are still waiting to hear teh results of my blood screen and the ultrasound, but I figure no news is good news for now. But I think I'm just trying to keep myself cheery. It doesn't really matter what the results are, Kelly and I have decided to keep the baby, unless there is a birth defect so bad that the baby won't survive being born even.

It's about a million degrees here. Why I thought being pregnant over the summer was a good idea, I'm not sure. It's H...O...T.. Been in the 100s. But that's one really good things about working nights, I don't have to deal with it a lot, but I do worry about my hubby working out in it. Well, I suppose I can try to go to sleep again. It was too hot in our room earlier and it woke me up. I was all sweaty, not a fun thing to wake up to. :)

Mommy and Me

I was trying to feed baby my sandwich, but it didn't work..

Yesterday my mom and I went shopping for maternity clothes and some little stuff for Manhattan. We ended up walking the mall to find out there were no maternity clothing stores in Scottsdale Fashion Square, which is a HUGE indoor mall. It's 3 floors and has a store for everything. I can't believe they didn't have one store for maternity clothes. And everytime we asked someone if there was one, they'd say 'yeah, down that way' or 'there are 3 on the left down there and one on the right' but there weren't. It was funny.

We found the neatest little restaurant though. It was Peanut butter shop. They had a bunch of different flavors and sandwiches. It was awesome. I just had to take pictures to show everyone the cute sandwiches we had for lunch. They had different types of bread and they'd even grill them.

Then mom and I went and tried on all these dresses, which only one was worth buying for me since I have such an awkward body right now. I just don't fit into normal people clothes. Baby sticks way out and these boobs are always in the way. I'm glad this is just a temporary change in body because I was soooo used to being the way I was. :) This is mom and I trying on the same dress but we had to be cool about it with our shade. ;)

Then after we decided we were done, I decided I was going to check out this new maternity store on the way home. Well, I ended up spending a ton of time in the store and buying a bunch of stuff on sale for a steal. I got new jammies that are maternity/nursing jammies so they will last and bought a maternity outfit for myself for once. I think it's my first or second outfit that I've bought for myself because everyone else keeps buying me clothes. But here is a picture of one on my new gown jammies and you can see the baby if I pull it tight.

This is 20 Weeks 5 Days.. Over half way now. We will be going back to see the doctor June 18th. So, I am very excited to see our little girl again.

As for Kelly, he's not really doing much lately. He's soooo happy to be done with the nursery that now he is bored like me. That was all we did for so long that now we are almost bored because we don't have all this work to be done.

However, there are a few little things left for Kelly to do in there and I need to clean this dirty house and care for our little puppies, which I am hoping to send to new homes soon. They are sooo cute though.

Finally, the puppies.

Okay, so now that the nursery is pretty much done, I have nothing to do. So I got up and played with the puppies this morning and got a couple of pictures of them. They are just so darn cute. They are fat and fuzzy. We will probably be starting to get rid of them in a week or two. They need to start eating food other than just nursing so they can survive when they go to their new homes.

The baby has really started to push out now. I feel like I am getting bigger every day now, so it is very exciting.

I have to go get some blood drawn today because the VA can't seem to get their crap together. This will be the 3rd time I've had to have one of the test drawn. It's my Quad Screen or AFP. It tests for abnormalities that could potentially tell you if the baby has a defect of some sort. But it has to be done during certain weeks in your pregnancy. And it has to be done before you are 21 weeks and I am 21 weeks on Friday so they are pushing it a little close. It's been months since I had it last drawn and apparently they are just now figuring out that they lost one of the specimens. And the other test I have to have drawn is to get my blood typed, which they should have done right after they found out I was pregnant, but they forgot and then the last 4 times I've had my blood drawn they forgot each of those times too. So, now I have to go an have everything drawn.

But other than that, everything is going fine. The puppies eyes are all open and they are taking a few steps now. So, we are getting close to having to having to find a way to keep them all in the kennel because they will crawl right to the opening and lay on the edge, it's cute but we don't want them to get out onto the cold floor and end up getting hurt. The diaper pail issue has prettymuch been solved. We have a blue one and it seems to work okay, but Kelly has found a way to make it work better, whatever way that is.