Charmed Life Chronicles

I forgot to mention that the other day, I had gone to my friend's, Heather's, house. She just had a baby girl back in the beginning of April. Kayliana loved this little girl. She asked to hold her and everything. She's going to be absolutely ecstatic when her little brother or sister arrives.



Lastnight, Addison was eating a banana and she came up to me and said "I took the yoyo off." Yoyo means yellow. I thought it was cute and funny! She meant the peel but I guess because she didn't know it was called a peel she called it the yellow.

Willie did finally buy the paint for the baby's room but he has yet to start painting. I'm not sure when he'll actually start on it. I wanted it done by June but that is definitely not going to happen. We don't have any plans this evening or tomorrow morning/afternoon so maybe he'll work on it then. He had mentioned that I was washing clothes too frequently because he no longer has room to put stuff in his dresser. The problem isn't that I'm washing too frequently it's that he has more clothes than most females do. He certainly has way more than I do! He had said that one way that he could get rid of some of the clothes is to do the painting in some of them and then toss what he got paint on. Then he said "Or, I could just paint naked!" LOL! He'll have the room closed off when he paints since he's the only one that knows the gender. The things Willie says sometimes crack me up.

Hopefully it'll be a pretty good weekend. I can feel my allergies hitting me, starting with my throat. I'm hoping Zyrtec helps significantly, but so far it hasn't. Might have to get some Claritin and start switching between them.

Between lastnight and today, I've had contractions galore. Nothing painful, and nothing consistent or regular. Well, some have been a little painful, but nothing compared to what real labor is like. I have a feeling this baby is going to be past due and that not only will I have back pain and pelvic pain, but I'll also have painful contractions that wont do anything for me. If I have this baby on or before June 29th, I will truly be surprised.

I was reading about doing the necklace/pendant test over top of your belly and how if you put it over your heart it should turn in circles for you being a girl, then put it over your belly and it'll go in circles if you are having a girl or up and down or side by side if you are having a boy. I was surprised to see that it actually did go in circles when holding it over my heart, and it went up and down over my belly - indicating a boy. This and the chinese gender predictor says I'll have a boy. I'm anxious to see if it's right, and ofcourse, Willie thinks I'm retarded. The chinese gender predictor was right with both girls.

I did contact a "psychic" for fun for an overview. Just something for fun, nothing I really believe, especially after the information she gave me. Here is what she had to say.

I am seeing you having another girl.

When it comes to your daughter, they show her having lighter hair color as a younger child and loves to have it long. Shes the one that loves to wear dresses and twirl around to show you how pretty. she loves anything with
stripes and is always really graceful. Shes someone who loves to throw tea parties, and is often bringing her dolls everywhere she goes. I am seeing her as someone who Loves dolls and is always asking for more. She will actually have her whole bed covered in dolls with her if you let her.

Shes someone who is easy to please and make happy. I am seeing her as someone who really loves anything and seems to be someone who when older actually really loves the 'older" stuff. Shes someone who is thrifty, really
good with money> Even when given money for her birthday would rather go out and head to a place to buy a doll that is not brand new so that she has more money to spend. Shes always really good with money, and is often someone who
can show her friends how to save and plan for a better financial picture.

Shes got a good sense of humor and can certainly "roll with the punches' Someone who has a goal in mind and if someone else is not on the same path as her, knows when its time to part ways. I am seeing her as someone who
does not like clutter and is always highly organized as she gets older.
Out of everyone in the house she has the room that is the most clean (although I do see her sharing her bedroom with her YOUNGER sister).

When it comes to career paths, they show her working in an accounting position. I do see this linked to working within a financial institute. I also see her having her own business and online blog that helps teach families how to save and plan for the future (I actually see her getting to be on TV!) When it comes to marriage I am seeing her closer to 23. They will have one boy and one girl of their own.

With that said, I emailed her back and told her it sounded like my oldest daughter, but she stands by me having a girl. I don't see this being anything close to being about this baby, especially considering I am NOT having another after this one, so I wont be having another for "her" to share her bedroom with "her" younger sister.

We are in some serious need for a normal schedule. Here it is, past 11pm and BOTH of the kids are awake right now. Kayliana gets up pretty early, and neither of the kids nap, so you think they'd still be sleeping before 10pm. Once the baby is here, we will definitely be getting on some sort of schedule and I'll be making the kids get up early even if they are grouchy and have some sort of routine going for each day as well. Besides, it'll be good to get them on a schedule and everything and it'll be good for Kayliana to get used to a schedule right before she starts pre-school. Quite frankly though, right now, I'm just too exhausted and in too much pain every day to worry about it until after the baby is here. I know that sounds lazy but I don't know what the baby's schedule will be like either and I don't want to start something just to have to change it again in a few weeks.

Addison is laying here, bugging me to rub her back. This is something I've had to do since she was a baby. She very rarely can go to bed without her back being rubbed. Don't get me wrong, I love that she cuddles. She's definitely my cuddle bug, but sometimes I have other things I need to take care of (like now, I should actually be washing the cloth diapers). And, it would be so much easier if she'd actually stay still while trying to rub her back.

It looks as though I might have some work coming my way here shortly. I work for an outsourcing company of some sorts when they have work to do, and we've been idle with no work for over 2 months now. Any little bit of money will help since we have our Disney trip planned for the beginning of September. We'll have the money to pay for it regardless, but me doing this extra side work will let us put our regular income somewhere else (bills, debt, clothes for the kids, etc). And, it appears that my last session will be sometime in June before my birthday if that pans out. After that, I'll just be doing everything I can to help me go into labor. Regardless of the pain, I can totally see me walking a mile to 3 miles in hopes that it helps cause labor. LOL!

Not much happening this week though, the weeks are starting to slow down for me. I just want them to hurry up and go by so that I can meet my little boy or girl.

Well, not really a "Moody Monday" but certainly a tiring one. I didn't sleep well at all lastnight. I was probably awake every hour to two hours. Between having to get up and go to the bathroom and the coughing, getting any sleep was practically impossible. Though, I did notice I felt so much better after I took some zyrtec. I wonder if the cough is related to allergies at all now.

Yesterday, I was feeling pretty decent though, so I decided to go ahead and do some in studio maternity portraits. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked atleast 1/2 of them. Willie didn't do so bad taking the portraits for me either. I'm hoping to be able to get outdoors to do some outdoor maternity portraits just for a change and because I have yet to get a chance to do someone's maternity portraits outdoors, but if it doesn't happen, then atleast I have SOME maternity portraits of my last pregnancy.


You can view more on my photography blog if you wish.
http://www.chapmansphoto.com/blog


Oh, and today, I received my battery charger from Dell today. My old one had a octagon shaped plug in, the new one has a round one. We didn't think it would fit, but it did. Turns out, Willie's laptop battery charger ALSO fits. All week long I could have used my laptop but didn't because I didn't know that it would fit in my laptop. Stupid of dell to make them shaped differently. But, I'm using my own laptop now and I don't feel lost and confused.

Received a cocoon today for my studio as a prop. It's a turquoise color and I can not wait to try it on this little baby once it's born. I love getting mail, especially if it's fluffy mail (cloth diapers) or mail specifically for my photo props.

Yesterday did NOT start out well. It was Kayliana's last day of soccer and she didn't want to play. She was going to get a medal and everything at the end of her practice too. We ended up leaving since she was just clinging to Willie, and the coach did give her her medal but I was so angry with her that she wouldn't play her last day. I'm not sure if I'll be putting her in it next year because I am definitely not spending $100 for her to just sit there and cry. We'll see when spring starts again. Maybe school will push her into not being like this. I wasn't in a very good mood since I had gotten up at 6:30am again yesterday, so that didn't help at all. Later on in the day, we went to the in-laws for Willie's little sister's birthday party. The girls were bratty and moody the entire time we were there. I thought they'd pass out early, but that didn't happen. I was just happy when the day was done and over with.

Today is an uneventful day. The kids are in better moods, so that's a relief. They seem to be feeling a bit better too. I'm still coughing and sneezing like crazy though. Not sure how much of mine is allergies though since this is about the time allergies hit me pretty badly.

Willie never did work on the baby's room like he was supposed to last weekend. He IS actually in there today though working on it. I have to admit, the not knowing is really starting to get to me now. I think the reason is because I seriously think I'm having a boy this time around and I've used nothing but he/him and the name Tristan when referring to this baby. I have not used she/her or Marina and if I am having a girl, I want atleast a few weeks to get used to the idea and using she/her and her name. I'd be happy with a girl or a boy either way, but my intuition is screaming "BOY!" and if it's wrong, I'd atleast like to prepare myself for that. I'm not caving in though. I'll continue to not know until the birth of the baby but it'll be hard to get used to the idea of another girl if it's not a boy since I've been thinking and saying boy for almost the entire pregnancy.

Yesterday I had my doctors appointment and it went well. Nothing exciting to report. The baby was very very active at my appointment so the heartbeat was in the 160's during my appointment whereas normally, the baby's heartbeat sticks around the 140's. The doctor asked if I had anything sugary before I came in. LOL! I only had water so the baby must be excited over water. I am weighing in at 146.8 which is a 21 pound weight gain from pre-pregnancy. Not bad at all. I gained 30lbs with each of the girls, so I expect to gain around 5 more pounds with this baby over the next couple of weeks until this baby is either evicted or comes on it's own. I go back in 2 weeks and will be getting a group beta strep test done. I am not sure if I'll be checked for effacement or dilation then too.

As far as today, we didn't really do anything. I woke up at 6:30am for some reason and I couldn't go back to sleep. So, I took advantage of not being able to sleep to get some things done around the house. I folded 3 loads of laundry, washed an additional 2 loads, cleaned out the dogs crate and sweeped and cleaned my kitchen floors. I did end up passing out again around 10am and since Willie works from home, he let me. Especially considering Kayliana keeps herself entertained when she's by herself and Addison was STILL sleeping even after I woke up around noon. I have not been feeling well today either. Looks like I've caught whatever cold the girls had, so that hasn't been fun to deal with. This evening, we went and took care of everything with the Focus so that's in the past and no longer needs to be worried about. On our way home, we stopped by the park and I was able to get a few pictures of Kayliana in her soccer outfit to put together on trading cards and stuff since she refused portraits with her team. We let the girls play on the playground for a little bit and then headed back home.

Let's see here. The week hasn't gotten too much better, but it hasn't been awful either. Bad things come in three's right. So, either my kids being sick count, or I'm still waiting for a bad thing to happen to me.

Tuesday I didn't do much during the day. I did end up going out to dinner with a good friend of mine and her friend. Originally the kids were going to come with me, but with them being sick, I felt it was best to leave them home so that they didn't get anyone else's kids sick.


I also turned 34 weeks pregnant on Tuesday, which means as of today, I only have 40 days left until my due date, and less than TWENTY days until I'm considered full term. It sounds like a lot less to say how many days left than it does to say how many weeks left because in reality, I still have 6 weeks left before my due date.



Yesterday (Wednesday) I had a hair appointment in the afternoon so the hubby got stuck with the kids again yesterday since I was practically gone all day long. The above belly shot picture was taken on Wednesday, so in that picture you can already see my newly cut and dyed hair. You can tell in the picture from my dinner night with my friend how long it was before and how much darker it was too. It's really short, way shorter than I have ever had it, and it's pretty blonde though pictures don't let it appear that way. Willie hates the short hair but loves the color so atleast it's not a total loss for him. Being 8 and 9 months pregnant though, this hair cut will be much easier to deal with than having long hair. With long hair and being hot, I have a tendency to want to put it up into a ponytail but with it being this short it wont go into a ponytail, but it's hardly touching my neck so the heat shouldn't be much of an issue.


After I had my hair done, I hung out with my dad and talked to him for a little bit and then went over to my sisters house and hung out with her for a little bit too. I got home right before the girls went to bed. Oh, and before I left for my hair appointment, my battery charger decided to sizzle and take a crap. So, I am out of a laptop and am currently using Willie's. I feel lost since all of my pictures, documents and programs are on my laptop. Hopefully within the next week I have my new charger in hand.


Today, I have a doctors appointment to go to in the late afternoon. Outside of the pain I've been having, nothing has really changed with that, so I imagine it'll be a quick doctors appointment. I will update later this evening with my appointment details.

Today wasn't an overly bad day. It was rainy, and both kids are still sick, but my pain is not so bad today.

Anyways, we had to go to an auto body shop today to get a few of our things and some pictures of Willie's totaled Ford Focus. It was in an accident yesterday morning. Needless to say, the driver is very lucky that no incredible worse damage was done to her. Walking away with just a few bruises and scrapes is a miracle.


Pretty isn't it?


Outside of that, today hasn't been too too bad. My wool boardshorties for Addison came in the mail today. I was so excited to put them on her. For anyone that doesn't know, they are a cover for prefold diapers or fitted diapers. So far, they've worked wonderfully for us. I'll be able to give them a much better review though in about 2 weeks.

Disappointment... that is what my weekend was full of. Today, was no exception. It's never a good sign when a police officer rings your doorbell at 6am. I wont go into details but you'd think that after I've had so many "friends" screw me over in the past that I'd stop letting them borrow things from me. I have learned my lesson for the last time. I will never let a friend borrow something of mine no matter how bad their situation is. You never know who will surprise you with the things they can do. I guess the terms "trust no one but yourself" really rings true.

To make matters worse, I woke up hardly able to walk. On top of a sore pelvic bone, the baby thought it would be cool to give me sciatic pain at the same time. Poor Willie, he had to help me in the shower since I couldn't put any weight on one of my legs without collapsing pretty much.

I'm looking forward to the week though. I'm hoping that it ends much nicer than this past week has. I will be getting my hair done, hopefully having lunch with a friend, and I have my doctors appointment this week. Not to mention, I should have some "fluff" mail (aka cloth diapers) arriving to me this week. Fluff mail is always exciting to me, and since Addison LOVES choosing which diaper she wears each time, I'm sure she'll be excited about one of the items that should be arriving this week.

Despite the bad weekend, I'm keeping my head held high and hoping for the best.

I'm exhausted! Addison woke up at 3am this morning coughing and choking. Apparently she was very congested and her face was really red. I ended up getting her to take some Motrin since she has a fever now. I double checked on Kayliana, but no fever to be found since yesterday morning. Addison on the other hand has had one all day today minus getting it to go down with some Motrin.

We did end up going to soccer practice, but ofcourse, Kayliana had to be the strange child that she is, and cried when getting her team portrait done so we will not have a team photo of her from her first soccer season. Luckily, being a photographer, I'll be able to atleast get her in her soccer uniform and do my own trading cards and stuff as well with her. She has this thing where she will not even play soccer unless she thinks we are gone and have left. We tried hiding today but it didn't go well and I think for the first 15 minutes she just stood there. We ended up walking some more and eventually getting across the other side of the field without her seeing us and then she started to participate. Atleast I know that taking her to school in the fall for a few hours and us leaving her will not be a problem.

So much has annoyed me today though. The girls keep spinning around in Willie's computer chair and I have yelled at them numerous times to get off. They've already fallen out of it a hundred times. I'm about to throw the chair away and Willie can sit on the floor for work. LOL!

Pampers is also irritating me! I understand that they don't want people to bad mouth their company about their new product within their diapers causing burns on baby's bottoms and all, but there is no reason that Pampers should be bad-mouthing those that cloth diaper. We are not to blame for their poor decision in their product line. I'm banning Pampers from my house just because of how they are handling the situation. No pull-ups from Pampers overnight for Addison and definitely no infant diapers for when I first bring the baby home and use disposables for the first couple of weeks. Looks like my business will go to Huggies, or even off-brand companies. Not so sure why this bothers me so much, but it does.


On a good note, Willie is supposed to be buying paint for the baby's bedroom tonight. Ofcourse, he needs to get his butt out of bed and get to Lowes before they close first. Haha! But, I'm excited to finally be working on the baby's bedroom. I can not wait to see how it turns out when I come home from the hospital with the baby and get to see it for the first time.

The name is Heather! Everyone that knows me, knows that I have a blog specifically for my photography business. I'm a children's photographer in the Southern Maryland area. I only do it part time for the time being, but once my little ones are off to school, I'll become a full time photographer. But, for now, I live my life as a stay at home mom. I’m venturing out into the real world now, and opening up a personal blog for my friends and family. It’ll be a place where all of you guys can see what I’ve been up to, read funny stories, and view pictures of our life. I can’t wait to share all of my endeavors with all of you.