Christian's LAST day of daycare!!!

I am beyond thrilled today...... I just dropped C off at daycare for the LAST time!!  No, I am not quitting my job... but  my mom is moving back to keep him!!  She has been out on the road with her boyfriend for a while (he's a truck driver) and we asked her if she would stay with us until I get out for summer break and keep Christian.  She is the most amazing mom in the world - always puts others first... especially her grandbaby!!  Then she is getting a place in Alma this summer so she will keep both the babies from now on... I am sooooooo stinkin excited!!  We had a good experience with the day care but nothing compares to his Nana keeping him!  I am relieved that I won't have to take baby #2 there so early... I was really dreading that.  I wasn't sure how I was going to handle it. :(  So, what a wonderful day this is and it's absolutely beautiful outside!!  I'm feeling great and have tons of energy, which is strange for the first trimester.. but I'm not questioning it!  I do get super tired in the evenings and have been going to be around 8! haha  Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!! 

Update on Surgery...

So, we went to the surgeon yesterday.  We really loved him... Dr. Seffense if anyone needs a recommendation.  He was very thorough and was worried about my health AND the baby.  That is really what mattered to me most.. I didn't want a doctor that was going to only worry about me.  He said we will be able to put the surgery off until after the baby is born.  PRAISE THE LORD!!  Seriously, I am giving this ALL to Him above!!  Just four days ago I was told that it had to come out immediately, pregnant or not.  We have been praying and praying about it and I am blessed to have some amazing prayer warriors as well.  The only negative part is that I have an insanely strict diet - ZERO fat. period.  If I eat fat, I will have a gallbladder attack.  Looking at this in a positive way though, I am going to be extremely healthy during this pregnancy and that makes me very happy!!  I am 4 weeks & 5 days today and have lost 5 lbs.  I feel amazing, I actually have a lot of energy, and no sickness so far!  Feeling very blessed today. :)

Christian Michael

That little boy is the sweetest thing in the entire world!! He has the kindest heart and the sweetest little personality!!  I just love him so much... I did not want to leave him today at all. :(  He grabbed both of my legs as I was leaving his day care this morning and said "momma."  It just broke my heart - I wanted to take him with me!  He is constantly talking now, even though we don't always understand what he's saying.. ha!  He says: momma, daddy, nana, papa, doggie, ball, see, drink, thank you, no, cookie, and baby.  We have realized he is not a "repeater."  For instance, we have really been working on animal sounds and he wants no part of it unless he comes out with it himself.  He has no desire to repeat things - I guess he just wants to do things his way on his time, which is perfectly fine with me! :)  He will count with me though up to three!  I think because his Nana has been counting with him since he's been born!  He's so good at putting shapes where they belong and stacking blocks and sorting... it just amazes me at some of the things he can do now and he's almost 14 months!  He really has no desire for coloring yet... maybe that will come later even though daddy says it won't! haha!!  He thinks he's ALL boy and really loves that.... Which bring me to, he will not even let me buy Christian a pair of TOMS!  Is that not insane?  He says they are girlie... So, Christian and I went shoe shopping over the weekend and bought him a pair of Nike's and New Balance - could have saved ya some money, daddy, but oh well! ;)   I think his favorite toy right now would have to be any kind of ball, his lawn mower, and his popper.  He loves anything he can push around and he LOVES playing with balls and playing catch!  He plays in his ball pit all the time now... It is so cute because I'll be in the living room and hear him jump in his ball pit in his room.. precious!  I just love that little boy so much... I can't imagine loving another one as much, but I know that changes when they put that baby in your arms!  Hope everyone is having a great week!!  I'm meeting with the surgeon tomorrow - please keep me in your prayers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gallbladder Attacks...

Come to find out, these "attacks" I have been having is coming from my gallbladder. :(  I didn't think horrible heartburn could ever feel that bad...  I had my ultrasound done a few days ago and the doctor said it needs to come out ASAP!  I have several gallstones in my gallbladder and one has found its way into my bile duct and is causing it to dilate - no wonder I have had intense pain.  I am now seeing Dr. Haraway since Dr. Torres has left and he has assured me that this surgery has to happen and that it will be fine.  However, I am terrified.  I don't want to take a chance of losing the baby and it scares me to death.  I know that I need to have it removed for the sake of the both of us but it is terrifying.  I can barely eat anything... even restricting myself to a zero fat diet is causing me to hurt.  I see the surgeon on Wednesday and I plan on asking him a lot of questions - please keep us in your prayers!!

It's Official...

Yesterday morning was my 2nd appointment for lovely blood work this week.  Dr. Torres wanted to make sure my hcg levels were at least doubling in two days to confirm the pregnancy since we caught it SO early on - 3 weeks!!  I was so nervous all morning for his phone call... for some reason it didn't seem real yet.  He called around lunch and told me I am definitely pregnant.  My hcg levels went from 13 to 40 in just two days!! :)  Such a relief!!  I have been really nauseous and crampy the past week but I have felt great today!! I'm hoping the sickness doesn't last quite as long this time around as it did with Christian.  I'm definitely making a conscious effort to eat better, drink a lot of water, and stay active.  Hopefully that will help!  I'm so sad that Dr. Torres is leaving but he assured me that we would be in great hands with Dr. Haraway.  Our first appointment is May 1st and we can not wait to see our little peanut for the first time!  I will be 4 weeks on Saturday!

  When daddy came home from work, he had this shirt on... The look on his face was priceless and I will never forget it!!  What a perfect, special moment!!!  Thank you, Lord...

Amazing Grace...

Today was one of the best days of our life.... We found out we are pregnant with Baby Iovinelli #2!!  I'm still in shock but so excited!!  We have been praying about another baby for a few months now... Initially, we had planned to wait until Christian was 2 to start trying, but we all of a sudden felt like now was the perfect timing.  I believe perfect timing is God's timing so we continued to pray.  Just a few weeks ago I went to a women's conference with our church and broke down about it.  I knew that God was trying to tell me something... it's just a feeling and when you feel it, you know.. there are no questions.  When I got home from the conference Corey and I talked about just letting God take control and whatever happens, happens.  We did a lot of praying and a lot of crying... All we knew is that we wanted to do whatever God had planned for our lives.  I had just got out of the shower and went to my closet and fell to my knees crying and praying some more, just asking God to help me understand why I was feeling so strongly about having another baby.  I had such a sense of peace come over me after that talk with God and I knew everything was going to work out perfectly.  After that we completely left it up to God and three weeks later... PREGGO!! I have complete faith in God's will for our life and His amazing grace.  We could not be more thrilled!!  

I have felt sick since last weekend.  It all started when I couldn't eat my favorite home cooked meal from my mom last Sunday night.  It made me so sick to even smell it.... then I noticed that everything smelled a little stronger and I was getting nauseous quite frequently.  I had been feeling the very same way I did with Christian.  I had taken a few (5 or 6... LOL) pregnancy tests through out the week (every day... ha!) and they were all negative.  Rightly so since I was taking them 2 weeks too early! haha.. Patience is not one of my strong points!  Anyway, I still just knew in my heart that I was pregnant.  Last night I woke up at 4 in the morning with the worst heart burn I have ever experienced.  So, I decided to take a test this morning.  It came up 2 lines but the one line was so faint that it was really hard to see.  I called Dr. Torres' office and scheduled a blood test because I knew if I was not pregnant - then something else was wrong.. maybe a virus or something?  When I got home I took the other test and the line was a little darker this time... dark enough that I didn't feel like I was seeing things.  Dr. Torres called me shortly after to let me know that my hcg levels were at a 13 - which means it is extremely early on... probably only a couple weeks pregnant at this point and that I need to come back Wednesday to see if they are continuing to elevate.  I will be praying hard until then.... praying that everything comes back just fine and we can celebrate being pregnant again with another sweet baby!!!

Spring Has Arrived...

Hello!! Good grief, I have to get better at posting more often!! Life is so busy these days with a toddler running around.. Christian is a walking/running machine these days!  He loves to go in his room and play... it's so stinkin cute!  I think it's his favorite place to be besides outside!  That little boy will go to the door and cry until we go out to play.  He has this little push mower that makes the mowing sound and he LOVES to push it around the yard!  He also has a little swingset/slide that he really likes to play on, but his favorite is going to the park!  We took him to the park for the first time yesterday since he's been old enough to play and he absolutely loved it!!  He went down the slide a bunch with me and daddy but his favorite thing to do was swing.  His daddy pushed him on the swing forever and he just smiled so big and giggled the whole time!  I never imagined life being so perfect. <3  It's in those moments that I have to stop and thank God.  We are so blessed to have a healthy, precious little boy to share our life with... blessed beyond measure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corey also mowed the yard yesterday for the first time this year!  That means Spring is officially here and that makes me extremely happy - besides the fact the temperature is already in the 80s!! What the heck?! What happened to having four seasons??  Seems like we only have two these days!  I'm learning to just embrace each day, whatever the weather, and be happy that God has given us another amazing day to spend together!  So excited we finally planted a tree over the weekend!!!  My daddy took me tree shopping on Saturday for a father/daughter date and we had such a great time!!  I picked out a huge Autumn Blaze Maple tree that is already 18' tall.  We planted it in the back yard centered behind our living room windows because when the sun sets in the evenings, it beams in and makes the house so warm!  Hopefully the tree will help a bit. :)  Now Corey wants to buy another one for the front yard.... we will probably look for one this weekend.  He also wants to pour a patio out back to connect to our deck - that man always has a project!  He just finished building me a dining room table that I wanted really bad.... it's quite impressive!  I'm so blessed to have a talented, hard working husband!

Well, that is about all for now...... I will try to write more often!!  Until next time, everyone have a blessed day!!

Kristen