Bits of Bransyn!

{sorry this is blurry & his eyes are half closed... but he took the pants off his head RIGHT after I snapped this pic, ha! I thought it was SO hilarious though, he did it alll by himself}

So I haven't done a post on Bransyn for a while & I'm feelin' pretty bad about that! You may have noticed I stopped doing his 'month day' updates when he turned 2. I didn't intend on stopping, but my blog kept getting further & further behind, & when I would sit down to do the updates, I couldn't even think of everything he had been doing! But this little fella is just so cute & so funny, that I have to share some of the things he has been doing in the past few months!
I definitely need to start writing about him more... he's my favorite thing to talk about! (:


• he is starting to talk SO much more & he is pronouncing his words more clearly! I can literally have conversations with him now, I love it! (:

• he's always saying 'bless you' if someone sneezes (:

• he also likes to say 'bless you' if you cough. haha he used to say 'you okay?', but somehow it got turned into 'bless you'

• he has climbed up onto the conveyor belt at stores a few times... he thinks it's pretty fun to go for rides on them ;) luckily the checkout people just think it's hilarious.

• he pronounces a lot (but not all!) of his 'Fs' as an S. he'll say 'fourwheeler' correctly, but he says food like sood, feet like seet, ect. it's so funny that there are just certain words he doesn't pronounce the 'F' in

• he's still not on a set sleep schedule. we've been trying since the beginning of the year with no luck. he is doing better at staying in bed & going to sleep when we lay him down, though. he's also taking earlier naps, when he will actually take one.

• he's so dang smart! he got a few sets of flash cards for Christmas, & when we go through them, I'll ask him what is on each card. he can tell me what almost every single one is! there are a few I don't expect him to know, like vase, yarn, nest, ect. but I can't believe how many he knows! I'll usually tell him what the ones he doesn't know are, & if we go through them again, he can usually remember!

• he love love LOVES cereal. I can't even tell you how many times he has gone to the pantry, sat on something random & just ate cereal straight out of the bag.

• he's still completely obsessed with chocolate milk.

• he loves all 3 of the Toy Story movies. he is constantly asking to watch either one of those, or cars. comes in handy when I'm on bedrest & he doesn't want to settle down ;)

• he has been saying 'papa' for grandpa & 'bahma' for grandma for the past while, but now he is starting to say 'damma' (like 'gramma' but pronounced with a d instead of the 'gr') & 'dampa' for grandpa. he's trying to say them right, now. makes me kind of sad :( I loved how he said them in his own way!

• he is very polite. he says thank you when I get him food/drink, a toy, or just do something for him. he'll say your welcome when I tell him thank you. he say's please when he wants something. I have had quite a few people comment on how polite he is (:

• he's finally interested in going pee in the potty again. he won't do it all the time, but he's definitely not refusing to anymore.

• if you ask him a question, sometimes he'll say 'ummmm' before he answers it. one of my favorite things he does, it's just so cute!

• he remembers his baby sister's name. the other day he even asked me 'where's my {baby's name}?' if I ask him where she's at, he'll point to my belly. sometimes he'll even give her a kiss! I'm reallly hoping that no one will take advantage of the fact that he knows it & try to get it out of him! (:

• he is not always nice to his baby sister, though. sometimes if I ask him where she's at, he'll hit my stomach, or if I ask him to give her a kiss he will say no. Luckily, he's nice more than he's mean (:

• he ALWAYS wants me to kiss his 'boo boos' if he gets hurt, he tells me 'tiss it better!' ♥

• he loves to help me put lotion on my belly.

• he loves when I put lotion on HIM. I started 'massaging' his feet when I put the lotion on them & he absolutely loves it! he will just lay there forever & let me do it. I haven't been the one giving baths & doing bedtime routine, since I've been on bedrest & daddy doesn't do it for him, so I'm sure he's missing it! :(

• he LOVES hot sauce! Ryan was eating some on his pizza one day (weird, I know) & B asked for some & didn't want to stop eating it!

• he will only give cheek kisses now. if you ask for a kiss, he will turn his head so you can only kiss his cheek. if you ask for him to give you a kiss, he will turn your head to kiss your cheek. haha. him & Ryan have a little 'game' where Brans will go to kiss him on the cheek & Ry will turn his head reallly quick so that he kisses his mouth, then they both laugh hysterically. it's so cute & funny!

• he is constantly asking me where people are 'where's daddy at?' 'where's damma at?' 'where's Tammy at?' 'where's bandit at?' 'where's Mack (the truck on Cars, haha) at?' the other day we were driving (had a diaper emergency, ha!) and he asked me OVER & OVER & OVER where daddy, grandpa, grandma, Tammy, Chelsea, Ryan, Camden & Amanda were at. He'd go through each of them, then start alll over. haha.

• I think he has been having nightmares lately. there's been quite a few nights where he'll wake up in the middle of the night crying. not just wimpering or fussing, like full-on crying! it's super sad :(

• he is terrified of bugs. a few weeks back, he ate some oatmeal & got it allll over himself, so I had to stick him in the tub. after rinsing him off a few times, most of the oatmeal was off of him & it sunk to the bottom of the bathtub. well, Mr. Brans saw the oatmeal pieces on the bottom of the tub, completely convinced himself that it was bugs in the tub, started freaking out & literally jumped out of the tub into my arms. he REFUSED to take a bath for weeks after that... he would always tell me 'nooo... bugs!' haha. luckily, we have a separate shower so he was able to take showers still.

• he always asks me 'what are doin'?' & he says it in the CUTEST little voice! I love it (:

• the other day I was laying in bed, & he was in there with me. he randomly started doing 'tricks' over my legs. I'd tell him 'be careful!' then he'd say 'I'll be okay. I'm okay. Watch dis!' & proceed on with his tricks. it was SO funny, I wanted to record it... but camera is not liking my memory card right now :( I was super bummed.

• he always tells me he wants to drive the car

• he gets SO excited when he gets to play with other kids

• he loves to jump off things!

• is getting better with his 'bullying' issue. he has been SO much better with biting, it hardly ever happens anymore. he is still a hitter & occasionally a kicker... but not as often. If he hits or kicks me, I will ask him 'do we hit/kick?!' and he'll tell me 'no, sowwy mama!' sometimes he will completely stop after that, but other times he'll do it again a few minutes later. I will usually give him 3 chances (since he is still learning) but if he hits/kicks 3 times, he goes straight to his room until he can be nice. before I let him come out, I will have a talk with him about why we do not hit/kick & he does good after that!

• he is such a handful some days, but he is so much fun lately!

• we are working on the whole whining thing. sometimes he'll whine if he wants something, but we won't give it to him until he stops. I'll usually tell him 'we don't get what we want if we whine' & he'll stop. so that's getting better.

• he always laughs when other people are laughing, even if he has NO idea WHY they are laughing. haha, it's hilarious.

• he is SO dang funny, he does & says the silliest things. He is always cracking us up & loves to do it. I absolutely love his age right now! (although, I could do without the tantrums :)


This little man is the highlight of my life! I just look at him & can not believe how absolutely blessed I am to be his mommy. We have our tough times, but I can honestly say I would not trade one second with this boy for anything in this world! I know every mom says this about their kid, but he is the most perfect little boy ever. Not to mention the cutest thing I have ever laid my eyes on ;)

Look what came today. . .

We have a double stroller! Ahhh, I can't believe I'm actually going to NEED a double stroller!

I'm super excited, cause this stroller can do SO much! You can change the seats 6 different ways and also take the back seat off & attach an infant carrier! I'm so excited to set it up & test it out, but it's going to have to wait... I have NO idea where we will store it until one of the closets in the baby's room is cleaned out!



I also got a bunch of clothes that I ordered from Carters! Ahh, this just got me SO much more excited for her to be here! (:

29 weeks!

Ohh, I forgot how much fun the third trimester is!
• can't breath
• can't sleep without tossing & turning half the night
• it feels like the baby goes all the way up to my dang throat
• can't lay down at certain times, cause my stomach feels SO full (of baby, not food)
• can't get out of bed on my own half the time
• little feet tap dancing on my bladder
• crazy pains from her 'big' movements
• feels like my stomach is stretched to it's max, but it's definitely not
• going pee every 30 minutes
• back is constantly hurting

Oh how I miss my 2nd tri ♥

Okay, it's not THAT bad... just sort of annoying ;)
Wouldn't trade it for anything, though & I am 110% fine with dealing with every single one of those things for the next 10 weeks! (:

Ahh, TEN weeks! Can you believe it?! (:

28 weeks!

Just a picture this week, since I haven't really had any change in anything! (:

28 week appointment

I had my very last MONTHLY appointment today! It's so exciting to finally get to this point in my pregnancy, although it is a teensy bit bittersweet! I will start going every TWO weeks now! Eeek! You know you're getting close when you have to go to the Dr so often ;)
Anyways, about my appointment.
Dr. Lunt was apparently pretty swamped with other patients, so I wasn't able to see him today. It's times like this that I am SO glad I have 2 doctors in the same office, that I love! Lisa was able to talk things over with him briefly before coming in to see me. They would still like me to stay on bed rest until my next ultra sound, along with drinking a gallon of fluids each day. They decided to let me go 2 weeks until my next ultra sound, because the fluid level is 'stable'. I'm not sure how I feel about that, I would definitely like to be seen sooner, just to make sure it's not getting any lower. But if they feel like it will be okay, then I'll deal. She said to just make sure I am feeling the baby move a decent amount of times during the day & if I feel like ANYTHING is not right, to call them & they will get me checked right away. I'm hoping that since I have 2 weeks in between ultra sounds this time, the fluid will increase more than it did this week.
I also passed my glucose test... YAY!!! I was seriously dreading having to drink another one of those nasty things & having to sit there for 3 hours & having my blood drawn way too many times. I honestly do not know how I passed, cause I'm always craving something sweet & sugary, and, of course, I always give in to those cravings when I am able to! haha. But I'm definitely glad I passed!
I also found out that I am, yet again, anemic. Surprise, surprise! So I get to start taking iron supplements. Hopefully that will help with the dizziness & make me feel a little bit better!
My uterus measured right on again! Which is a good thing, but it's kind of weird to me that I'm measuring right on, but I have low fluid? Hmm, I dunno. I hope that doesn't mean baby girl is HUGE! haha. (I only say that because if she is too big, I will need a c-section to avoid the shoulder dystocia problem I had while delivering Bransyn. And I would like to avoid a c-section as much as I possibly can!)
I asked when they start worrying about the baby being breech & she said it's not a huge deal until around 36 weeks. At that point they will try manually turning the baby, but I would have to look into that a LOT more before doing it. (figuring out how it's done, the risks, if it hurts the baby at all, ect.) I would really, reallllly love for this little punk to flip on her own, though! haha.

Anyways, that is pretty much everything! I go back in for my ultra sound and 30 week appointment on March 2nd!

My life lately.

Lots of laying down. Lots of watching TV.

Lots of movies.

LOTS & LOTS & LOTS & LOTTTTS of fluid.

Lots of books.

Lots of random tricks, due to boredom.

Did I mention lots of fluid?!
{red stuff is sugar-free crystal light}


Looks like SO much fun, right?!
Well, it's not :P

{Another} Follow Up Ultra Sound

Well it's been a week since I went on bed rest, so I had my follow up ultra sound today. I actually went in & did my glucose test before my appointment... & well, that was about as fun as getting my hand nailed to a wall. I just hope I don't fail this one & have to do the 3 hour one! Anyways, back to the ultra sound. After a week of barely getting out of bed & drinking over a gallon of fluid (water & sugar-free crystal light) every single day, I was pretty hopeful that we would see a pretty good increase in fluid. After the tech found all of the fluid pockets & measured them, she informed me that there really is not much of a difference. Last week, the fluid was measuring at 6.5cm. Today, it was only at 6.9cm. A .4 difference, is really not a difference at all. She said that with everything I did, we should of seen AT LEAST a cm more. It is a good thing that the fluid hasn't gotten any lower, but this 'change' is not impressive at all. She is still in the 'safe zone' but she definitely needs more fluid in there, especially as she continues to grow. The tech did all the measurements on baby girl to make sure she was still growing & measuring right. I am 27w4d today & little miss is measuring at 27w3d, which is perfect! I am so glad that her growth isn't being affected by this! (& I pray with everything in me that it continues to stay that way!) So as of right now, I will remain on bed rest & continue drinking WAY too much water. I have an actual Dr appointment with Dr. Lunt on Wednesday, so I will discuss everything with him then. I'm not exactly sure what he will want to do. The tech told me that he may want to send me to a specialist so that they can get a better look at my placenta & the blood flow through the cord, just to make sure everything is going okay in there. She said that from the outside, it looks like a perfectly normal & healthy placenta, but sometimes it can look okay on the outside, but something could be going wrong on the inside. I am hoping everything is okay in there, because there really isn't anything you can do about placenta issues! They will also continue having me come in for weekly ultra sounds... extra close monitoring is really important. It's just SO frustrating that I barely see my son for a week, I haven't even felt like a very good mom because I can't take care of him on my own. I stay in bed all day long except to go to the restroom & get myself breakfast & lunch, feeling like I am going to go insane because I am so dang bored. I drink MORE water than they tell me I need to, because I am so desperate to get this whole thing resolved & keep my baby safe. And yet, no change. And not only is it frustrating, I am worried every single second of the day. I know at this point she is still safe inside my tummy, continuing to grow & develop just like she should, but I am SO scared that the fluid is not going to get any better & they will end up having to deliver her early. I know I am not strong enough to watch my sweet little helpless baby fight for her life, have multiple tubes going into her body & having to live in a hospital for the first few months of life. And more than that, she doesn't deserve to start life out that way. I know I'm just getting WAY ahead of myself & thinking of the worst, but I can't help it. I try to stay as positive as I possibly can & I hate when I let my mind think like that. But I think it comes with being a mom. Whether I want to think about it or not, I guess I have to kind of prepare myself for what could happen. The ultra sound tech talked to me a little about it & I'm sure my Dr will as well, just so that I am aware it IS a possibility. I am just SO beyond thankful that we are not to that point & I am going to do every single thing I possibly can to make sure this girl makes it into this world as healthy as can be! (: For now, we take it one week at a time. Even just one day at a time. Every day that passes that she remains in there, makes a huge difference! Anyways, I will be sure to update about my appointment on Wednesday & my next ultra sound! Until then, I continue to drink myself sick (with water, silly's ;) and bore myself to death all day long. As sucky as it is, it is so worth it for my daughter!


Oh. And she is still breech.

27 weeks!

BELLY BELLY BELLY!

For some reason, it looks so weird to me this week!? haha

Here is a front view. AH, I can't believe I'm putting this up! *sigh* I never, ever post pictures of my tummy straight on, cause of my 'pregnancy service stripes' hahaha. But oh well, who really cares (:

Here is my VERRRRY outtie (& fuzzy ;) belly button! I think it is HILARIOUS. It looks so weird in person, this picture really doesn't do it justice, haha. It's pretty much all the way out at the top, but more in at the bottom. SO strange! It didn't pop out until WAY later with Brans! It's funny how it happened sooner this time!

This week has been alright, except of course being on bedrest. I haven't felt as dizzy lately - but maybe that's because I'm laying down most of the day?! haha. I got KILLER heartburn for the very first time in my life earlier this week. I actually had NO clue what it was & it was freaking me out, but later figured out it was heartburn. I literally felt sick all day because of it. Tums helped & they actually weren't too bad to eat, but luckily it only stayed that one day & hasn't come back since! (:
I'm going in to do my glucose test either tomorrow or Monday. I am definitely not excited for this! Just thinking about drinking that nasty stuff is already making me sick! I am crossing my fingers, toes & everything else that I do NOT fail the 1 hour test this time! Oh, and that the actual blood draw doesn't make me pass out, or make me sick! Ah, wish me luck! (:

Follow Up Ultra Sound.

I had my follow up ultra sound today to check on the baby’s heart. Just to remind everyone, during my anatomy scan, baby girl was in an awkward position & didn’t want to move, so the ultra sound tech couldn’t see every part of the heart that she needed to see. Also, she discovered a calcium build up spot on her heart. So this follow up was to get the rest of the anatomy scan on the heart done & to check on that calcium spot. Of course, missy was being stubborn & didn’t want to move… again. So it took a while to get the right view of her heart. Finally, the tech got what she needed. She also re-measured the calcium spot & it is getting smaller, which is exactly what it is supposed to be doing! So that went well (: However, after checking on those things, things went a little unexpectedly. The tech noticed that the amniotic fluid was looking a little bit low, so she decided she better measure that as well. It was indeed low from those measurements. She bad me empty my bladder & measured again, just to make sure. Same result. She informed me that the fluid was only measuring at 6.5 (I can’t remember the measurement they use?!) which means there is only about 65% of the fluid that should be in there. She described it as ‘scary low’ & definitely something to be concerned about. She decided to go talk to one of my dr’s to see what kind of action we should take. When she got back from talking with her, she told me that they decided it would be best for me to go on strict bed rest, along with drinking at least a gallon of fluid every day. Of course, I gave her a look like she was crazy & told her I have a 2 year old to take care of! How the heck am I supposed to go on strict bed rest when I have Mr. B to take care of?! She said that at this point, this is the only way to try to get those fluid levels up, so I would have to figure something out with B. If the fluid gets TOO low, they will have no choice but to deliver her. Once the fluid gets below a certain point, it is no longer safe for a baby to remain in the womb. That is most definitely something we do NOT want to have happen, so I will be doing whatever it takes to get this problem resolved. I remember when I had to have fluid checks with Brans, it was always measuring at least 11. That is a HUGE difference & actually scares the crap out of me that this baby is living in such little fluid. I have been noticing that this baby does not move as much as Bransyn did. I just figured it’s because they are 2 different babies & she just seems to be more calm than he was. But the tech informed me, that if there is not very much fluid in there, it makes it harder for them to move around. She is also head-up right now, which I was really hoping she would of flipped by now, but obviously since it’s harder for her to move in there, that’s why she has most likely not flipped yet. Anyways, I will be on bed rest until at least next Monday, when they will check the fluid again. I am hoping & praying with everything in me that this will help & we can get an increase in fluid! Until then, I am only ’allowed’ to get up to use the restroom. No cleaning, no cooking, no laundry, no walking around, nothing. Of course, since I am by myself all day, I have to get myself food, so I will have to do that as quick as possible. I am also able to get Bransyn breakfast in the morning, as long as it is something really quick so that I can avoid being on my feet for very long. I am still trying to figure out what I am going to do with him this week, since I will not be able to fully care for him myself. I feel horrible. I don’t want him to feel like I am neglecting him, or just sending him away everyday. But I have to do this to keep our baby girl safe & healthy to avoid her being born 3 months early. So anyways, we’ll see how this goes I guess! I’m sure this is going to be the most boring week of my life, & I don’t know what I’m gonna do to keep myself busy, but it will be worth it for my sweet

Visit to L&Dl

Well, it finally happened - I had my first trip labor & delivery this pregnancy. Something I was trying to avoid until it came time to deliver this little miss. By the time I was this far along with Bransyn, I had been in 3 times already! Glad I made it this far without having to go in (& hopefully the next time I am there, won’t be until it is time to meet her!) Anyways. Here’s the story: Last night, I was sitting on the couch, on the internet on Ryan’s phone. All of a sudden, my vision started getting really spotty & every once in a while, kind of like hmm… smudgy? I don’t know how to put it. Not really blurry, but things looked kind of smeared, if that makes sense. So I got off the phone, & sat there for a few minutes & it was not going away. I decided to go take a shower in the dark (with a night light so I could at least see) to maybe see if that would help. I thought it had helped while I was in the dark, but once I was out in the light again, it came back. I decided to just sit down & close my eyes for a while. After a little while, I started getting really light headed/dizzy. A few minutes later, I got a headache. I continued to sit down, trying to relax & see if it would go away. A little while later, I started feeling sick, like I was going to puke. Then, I just started feeling really, really weird. I honestly don’t know how to explain exactly what I felt like, but the best way I can explain it, is that I didn’t feel like I was fully conscious, if that makes sense? I was getting really worried, so I had Ryan google my symptoms. He found a few things about high blood pressure/hypertension & pre eclampsia. I decided to call my dr to see what I should do. It was around 10pm, so the office was no longer open. I got ahold of the on call receptionist, told her what was going on & she paged Dr. Lunt to have him call me. A while later, I got a call from him, re-explained everything, & asked him what I should do. He said it was really up to me, whether I wanted go to L&D or not. Obviously high blood pressure is something you don’t want to mess with & it is something that really scares me. He said that I could go in to have them check my bp just to make sure it was okay. He said it’s not very likely that I would have pre-e this early in the pregnancy, so that kind of helped ease my mind about that. But I guess it was ultimately up to me what to do. I sat at home thinking about what to do for a while, and I finally decided that I would like to just go get my bp checked, just to make sure there were no issues with that. If it was just me, I would of waited to get checked the next day. But when I have my child to think about as well, I want to make sure everything is okay & that it wasn’t something that would effect her. So I had Ry take me in. Since it was so late, we didn’t have anyone to watch Bransyn, so we ended up just taking him with us. Since kids aren’t allowed in L&D, Ryan stayed out in the waiting room with him, while he slept. When I got back there, I explained what was going on & my Dr. said I could go in to get my blood pressure checked, so that’s why I was there. The nurse then told me ‘Well, that’s not all we have to do’ Uhh, what does that mean?! She took me into a room, had me get changed into a hospital gown, give a urine sample, then get strapped up to the monitors in bed. Ahhh, so much for a simple blood pressure check, right?! It took them a while to find this stubborn little girls heartbeat, which normally would of worried me, but she was moving at the time so I knew she was fine. She just never wants to let anyone find her cute little heart! Haha. (never fails, every time they try to find it at an appointment, it always takes a few minutes! She is always in the most inconvenient positions, haha!) Anyways, they finally found it, then got me strapped up to the blood pressure machine. While that was going, she asked me about all of my symptoms & then a bunch of questions that had to be put into the computer. When the machine was done taking my bp, she told me that it was not high at all, it was actually a tad bit on the low side. It’s nothing to be concerned about, especially since it could even be normal for me (they didn’t have my file for my dr’s office, so they didn’t have a record of my bp) After a while of being monitored, she told me that the baby looks amazing - she had a good, steady heartbeat & was moving all around. As for all the symptoms I has having, she said that my heart is most likely just working really hard to pump all the extra blood, which was causing all of that to happen. She also said that it’s kind of like having a panic attack, but without the panic. But of course, not knowing what was going on DID make me panic. All of the symptoms are the same as high blood pressure, so the only way to know the difference between the 2 is to get checked. After confirming everything was okay, they released me to go home. Half of me felt like the whole trip was a waste of time, but the other half of me was glad I went in because you never know if there’s going to be something more serious, unless you get it checked. I also probably would have been freaking out all night long, not knowing what was gong on. So I guess in the long run, I was glad I went in. I don’t ever want to take the chance of something putting my baby in danger & not doing anything about it. I am very glad everything is okay, though! Ah, pregnancy is so stressful! haha

Follow up appointment.

Well, Bransyn was supposed to have his follow up appointment with the specialist today, but we are having issues with his insurance right now so I had to cancel it for now. Luckily, they said as soon as everything is figured out, I can just call in & get him scheduled to be seen! So I really hope it gets figured out soon, so I can get him in asap! He is still doing really well with the medication, he DOES still have a few 'episodes' every once in a while, but they are now few & far between! He only has about a weeks worth of doses left, so I'm not sure if the Dr will want him to continue taking it, or if he would like to see how he'll do off of it! I guess we will see! I'll be sure to update when I get him in the the dr.