Baby Weight

How is it already St. Patty's Day?

No really, how is my little girl almost 7 months old?

How is Jax already 3?

Why am I 25? 

Stupid time, it's kicking my butt.

Well as you can tell I'm going to be talking about baby weight!

I know that super fun thing all us ladies get to endure (if we are lucky) 

at least once.

Or 20 times!!!

Well the first time around I was super fit before so I lost it all super quick and just had a little bit I worked off.

2nd time around........

Let's just say it's not going quite so well....

So by the crazy standards of this crazy world I should be down to weight by now!

BA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA

Stop me at anytime.

I have really been trying but if anyone else has ever experienced this lovely 

Diastasis Recti they will know what I'm talking about.

I'm not going to sugar coat it because, frankly, why bother?

Essentially, IT SUCKS!

My stomach was utterly destroyed by Emmy!

My once almost 4 pack turned into a lame blob of no muscle whatsoever!

Diastasis Recti is basically when your abdominal muscles split during pregnancy.

http://www.birth.com.au/Emotional-and-physical-recovery/Abdominal-separation

It hurts, you have no core, you fall down and get hurt (a lot).

Doing any workout is torture, plain and simple.

TORTURE, I TELL YOU.

When I figure out why I'm having such a hard time after I had her,

I'm mad!

Like really mad.

I had worked out, I had gotten fit before I got pregnant, I had eaten as healthy as I could!

So WHY, WHY, WHY? - I yell to the universe like it cares.

I got so mad that I started working my abs like crazy!

I thought,"let's give it a month, then my abs should be back together, right?"

WRONG

SO VERY, VERY WRONG!

I worked hard but it didn't matter.

In that time I had brought the bottom layer of my abdominal muscles almost together again with like 1 inch of space in between the two sheets.

At least then I wasn't loosing my balance all the time anymore.

Before this I slipped and fell, like a lot, 

and let me tell you when your abs are split all the way down

yes, ALLLLLL..... THE WAY DOWN! 

You can imagine how much it hurts to slip and have your legs fly apart. 

OW, OW, OW!!!

I then thought, "ok It should take like another month to get the rest back together, RIGHT?"

WRONG! AGAIN!

So now I hate myself.

I give up a little bit.

I stop doing my exercises everyday, I stop looking in the mirror.

Sad! So very, very sad.

I do have a little bit of a harder time with muscle building than most.

I have a muscle disorder.

I don't have a name for it.

Essentially, I have to work twice as hard to get the same amount of muscle gain as a normal woman.

I also cannot take breaks from muscle building for any long period of time because my muscles deteriorate at an extremely 

fast pace compared to most women. 

I have talked to a lot of doctors and I have never gotten an answer about this so if any of you have info please, please, please let me know. :)

Anyways,

my giving up after 2 months of hard work has left me a little broken.

Then I look at some old pics of the husband and I.

I get mad again.

This time, I tell myself, it will be different,

I WILL BE DIFFERENT!

So this is a post to essentially keep me inspired, keep me going, and get me where I want to be.

GOALS:

1. Lose 20 lbs (really I want to be down 25 but I'm still nursing so it's not practical)

2. Get lean (build muscle to a point that a short workout everyday will keep me fit and strong)

3. Be able to do 15 minutes of cardio ( I know pathetic goal but I have HELLP Syndrome issues with my lungs and blood pressure so it will be a long time before I can really push myself that way.)

4. Get my flabby skin un-flabby! (I have no idea how to accomplish this so any suggestions would be welcome)

I will make it!

I will do it!

You'll all yell at me if I don't, right? 

Ok!!

It's January, when did that happen!

Wow! My kids are actually asleep before 9. This is a pretty rare occasion!

So since I have some time I can actually blog. What?

I know, I know I was surprised too!

Well here is a little story of our life.

Are you ready?

Well since I've had this amazing little girl,

Jax has continued to be an amazing big brother!

He loves little miss Emmy with his whole heart

He does anything to help me with her everyday!

I love him.

Jax is seriously an amazing child. 

He loves everybody, and tells them so.

He is growing up so big already 3ft. 3 in. and still 36 pounds. 

He got up to 40 but has some stomach issues and lost a few pounds.

(Don't worry we're getting the stomach issues settled soon)

He turns 3 in a few weeks.

I'll probably cry. 

Silly babies getting so big so darn quick!

I hate it!

Emmy is doing great!

She is beautiful, and silly, and just adores her big brother so much.

She loves being doted on and loves being adored and sweet talked.

She's already such a princess, it's hilarious.

She is so much smaller than Jax it's crazy. 

By this time Jax was like 16 pounds.

She's like 13. 

I love having this petite little lady.

She makes everyday more adventurous and amazing!

Mainly because she doesn't let me set her down. :)

Oh well, this too shall pass, and she'll only be this little for a little longer. 

Kyle is back at school Booooo!!!!!!!!

So he's gone all day, everyday! 

So annoying this lame school thing.

One day he'll be a sexy pilot in his uniform and I'll be like

"Woah, that was quick."

Ok so maybe that's just wishful thinking.

And me!

I'm trying to loose all this lame baby fat!

Ok no really I've been doing lots of random projects.

One of which was doing the bridesmaid dresses for my sister's wedding.

Yes, my mother and I only had a little over a week to make 6 dresses from scratch (yes, dyed them and everything)

It was crazy! Especially because my mom was only down from Illinois for 18 days or so.

Oh, and the wedding was 2 days after Christmas.

Ha ha

It has been a very busy season for us. 

We had the wedding on the 27th.

then New Years Eve and my parents left the next day.

Then my birthday a week later.

Then Natalie left for Illinois the next day (which was a big deal because she'll be leaving from there for her mission).

We don't know where she's going yet but that'll be fun.

OH, and then yesterday was our 4th anniversary.

Did we do something fun, you ask?

Why no we did not.

Ok we did go out on Saturday night thanks to the newlyweds (Jacki and Sam)

Thanks guys!

but on our actual anniversary Kyle got me flowers (so sweet)

I made us an awesome steak dinner. 

Kyle skipped school.

And everyone but me was asleep at 8.

At least until Emmy decided to grace me with her presence at 8:30.

So yay, 4 years! 

In all seriousness I am so truly grateful for my amazing husband. 

He has blessed me and our family in so many ways. 

I don't know where I would be if he hadn't come into my life all those years ago.

If you didn't know we met freshmen year. That was like 10 years ago. 

Wow, 10 years and I still love this boy like we were 16 years old. 

That's pretty amazing if you ask me. 

Oh, well I told you all awhile ago that we are living in ASU housing. 

It's been interesting.

We like it. 

It has its issues.

But there are like 15 kids in our little area 

Jax loves to play with every single one of them.

It's hilarious.

No matter the weather, we have to go outside to play everyday!

We have to.

It's a capital crime in this house if we do not go outside (at least to Jax it is).

Well I know there's been a lot more going on but I'm tired so it's bedtime now. 

I hope you are all well and as happy as we. 

I bid you farewell.

P.S. here's some family pics and newborn Emmy pics. 

SHE'S HERE!!!!

Emmalynn Rae Chant

August 21, 2012

6 lbs. 13 oz

19 inches

She is perfect! And beautiful. And wonderful!

She is seriously a great baby!

Anyways, enough bragging!

Onto the real reason you're here...

The grisly detailed birth story

So I knew I had Preeclampsia again for like 2 weeks.

So I kept going to the doctor and hospital

waiting and waiting for the signs to be bad enough for them to induce me.

I had been trying to go into labor myself but nothing wanted to work.

I went for my checkup on Monday August 20th and the nurse takes my blood pressure,

and she gets that look on her face

you know

that "Uh, Oh" look.

And I'm thinking "Hallelujah, hal-le-friggin-lu-jah!"

That sounds wrong but I'd been feeling so terrible I knew I was sick again so I just needed to be done. 

The Doctor comes in and tells me my blood pressure is high and with my history

(I had preeclampsia with Jax too)

That I needed to go to the hospital right away.

I go home, of course, ha ha

We get all our stuff ready to go

My mom comes and gets Jax

And off we go!

Hallelujah!

They monitor me for a little bit, take my blood, etc..

The doc on call looks at everything and says...

Let's induce her!

Yipee!!!

I definitely cried when they told me that!

Seriously relief isn't a strong enough word for how I felt.

It's terrible when you know you're sick and the docs won't listen!

Anyways,

They get me into my room and do the first gel thing to ripen my cervix at 3:15.

Not much happened I ddin't feel too many contractions I only went from a 3 to a 4.

They wouldn't let me walk around because my BP was too high

Next gel came at 5:15.

I had ordered dinner and was going to try to start eating

BAM!!!

Holy contractions!

I couldn't eat, and wowzers they hurt.

According to the nurse they weren't even a minute apart

They felt like there was no time in between to me. 

So they finally let me get up and walk around at 6:30 to 7 to see if that will help calm the contractions down, at this point they were worried so many contractions would stress the baby.

So it takes me the entire half hour to walk halfway around my floor. 

Poor Kyle was so bored walking around with me. ha ha 

The storm did look pretty cool from the hospital window though.

We go back to the room and the nurse orders the epidural.

I get the wonderful, beautiful, pain meds at 7:15.

I was at a 6 by this point.

So now I try to rest and so does Kyle.

But of course I don't. 

Despite pain meds I'm still super uncomfortable.

At 1 a.m. the nurse comes in to check me.

I'm a 7.

What in the world?

I'm only a stinking 7, what have all these stupid contractions been doing!

I knew and the nurse knew that I just needed my water broken to get the show on the road!

So the doc comes in a few minutes later and breaks my dang water!

Within a few minutes I'm super uncomfortable but i just think it's because the epidural isn't making it to my left side.

By about 1:35 the pain is so intense and I can't talk that Kyle calls the nurse in.

She just says she'll check me, all non chalant.

Wha-What...

I'm at a 10!

Yep, I was uncomfortable because I needed to push!

Definitely just needed my water broken.

It took the doctor forever to set up everything and get there.

The nurse is just standing there by me telling me to breath through the contractions.

And I'm yelling in my head "You Son of a B****" 

( you'll get that better if you watch How I met your Mother) 

Seriously I just wanted to push gosh dang it!

Finally the doctor is ready and they say I can push. 

Well by now I'm all tired from not pushing so I just don't wanna.

Ha ha 

But at the next contraction I push anyways,

Her head is out.

Next contraction her shoulders,

And Emmalynn was here!!! Yay!

Kyle actually cut the cord (which was surprising)

And according to the doctor, I was singing once I got her in my arms.

I don't remember singing but maybe it's just one of those things only a baby doctor would realize is happening cause me and everyone else are all caught up in other things, like the baby, and not paying much attention to me. :)

So All in all I had a 10 hour labor from contractions starting, 2 pushes, and one beautiful, amazing, and gorgeous baby girl!

Jax came the next day to meet her! He was so darn sweet to her. 

He was all shy and then asks "Is that, Emmy?"

I just about died.

He is such a good big brother to her. 

He always checks on her and gets all worried when she cries.

He has been a great little helper too.

He helps put the laundry in the washer, and puts garbage in the trash, he picks up his toys and he brings me anything I need (even water from the fridge).

He has been amazing and I am so proud of him.

I'm doing good healing pretty well and feeling pretty well.

It hurts a lot more recovering this time than I remember.

 Such is life.

Little shoes I made for her coming home outfit!

The completed coming home outfit

Emmalynn Day 1

Jax visiting in the hospital

Kyle passed out after a long night!

All Dressed up to come home!

Hanging out with her super big friend Graysen

Grandma Chant, Jax and Emmalynn

 Just a few newborn shots courtesy of my good friend Sydney. Aren't they adorable? The headbands are available in her Etsy shop.
 http://www.etsy.com/shop/polkadottedelephants

Announcements should be going out soon so send me your address if you want one!

I bid you ado for now! 

I HATE THINGS SOMETIMES!

Right now I am hating a lot of things,

Medicare

Tailbones

Heat, with no fans

Sitting/ Standing/ Walking

Eating (weird right?)

Allergies

Thieves

Ha ha So I'm sure that isn't all I hate right now but that's all I can think of.

I won't go into the details about each of these but I'll sum it up for you.

Medicare, because they are doing everything possible to not have to pay for Jackson's surgery so he isn't getting it at the moment (frustrated, frustrated, frustrated!!!)

Tailbones, mines been dislocated/ fractured before and this little girl has decided to cozy up to it and push it out of place.... this explains my hatred for sitting, standing, and walking.

Eating; well apparently (according to the doctor) there isn't any room for my stomach so I'm supposed to have smoothies and eat like every hour..... I laughed at that.

Have you met my child?

Jackson?

He's awesome. 

He eats like a champ especially when I am eating

If I ate every hour so would he and well, I really don't think I should have to change that many poops everyday.  

Allergies and thieves are pretty darn obvious. 

Ok enough of my little rant....

I will post pictures of all my lovely little projects as soon as I am done with them. :)

Crazy Summertime Fun!

So we have been super duper busy!

But excuses are like butts and I just sit on mine a lot these day! 

Ha ha I wish I was kidding.

Moving:

We are all unpacked (it only took me about a week cause my sister is awesome and unpacked like everything for me the first day, and we had all 3 kids with us, it was awesome)

We love the new place.

Everything just flows so well for us here.

Jax has a ridiculously messy playroom, that he loves!

Kyle has his theater room.

And I have my sewing/crafting center in the playroom so I'm entertained while entertaining Jax all day.

It has seriously been fabulous!

Lately I've just been trying to get the house exactly how I want it.

Once I'm finished I'll post pics of all the wonderful things I've done. 

Baby/Pregnancy Updates:

So compared to Jackson's pregnancy I think I could have like 10 kids if all my pregnancies go this well.

I am about 30 weeks now.

I had no morning sickness, I've hardly gotten sick at all.

No swelling yet (I was a balloon by now with Jax).

I was sick for like 2 weeks at the beginning of the second trimester, just because by uterus popped up way too quickly for my poor little stomach to handle ( I lost like 15 lbs)

They (the docs) have had a few concerns with her.

So I've had to go to specialists, boooo...

First, it was for general genetic testing. 

All was well

Second, for her head size.

Apparently, she has a little head. But she should be fine just have to keep checking that little head of hers.

We aren't worried. I'm sure everything will be great!

Ok I have been anemic and OH MY GOODNESS...

it makes me so tired.

Poor Jax is so good though and lets his mommy sleep in. 

Seriously, he goes to his playroom on his own and only comes get me for food or if he's stinky. 

He'll even come give me kisses and hugs then tucks me in and tells me night, night. 

Sometimes I think I have the best child in the whole world,

ok who am I kidding, I think that all the time!

I got maternity pictures taken the other day and I've only seen 2 of them so far but they are so ridiculously cute!

Oh, and we've decided on her first name at least. 

Ready? We are naming her....

..................

.......................

...............

EMMALYNN

Isn't it adorable. I actually thought of it when I was prego with Jax and it just seems perfect for her. We have already taught Jax to call her Emmy. It's so cute when he does. 

Jax Updates

So he is supposed to get surgery on the 22nd of this month!

They are going to extend the skin between the thumb and forefinger to give him a bigger grip.

We are excited for him but super nervous.

I mean what do you even do while your child is getting surgery? 

Just sit there? Ugh!

He will have a cast covering his entire hand and up his arm past his elbow.

His is going to hate it.

He'll have it on for 4-6 weeks.

So by the time he gets it off we'll only have 2 weeks before my due date!

Ahhhhh.....

So I'm trying to get everything ready before his surgery.

How's that working out you ask?

Well, I'm so not even halfway done!

Other than the surgery he is growing and learning superbly! 

AT his last check up he was weighing 34.5 lbs. and was 37.5 inches. 

He's huge!

It's hilarious!

I love that boy. He amazes me everyday!

KYLE

Well he's actually pretty darn boring compared to me and Jax. :) he he

He finished his semester.

Is working like a mad man at On-The-Spot Chem-Dry Carpet/Upholstery Cleaning.

He's been doing pretty darn well with it. 

We are so proud of him.

He has also decided that he is going to be a pilot. We have the summer to figure out exactly the plan for doing that but I sure am glad he has found something he will love to do. 

AND NOW...

PICTURES

Being cute after bath time!

Shoes I made for Emmalynn

Getting warm after swim time with cousins!

Just being cute!

Weeeee!

My cute boys!

I'm so excited!!!!

All dressed up for church!

Playing at the playground!

Sweet new sunglasses!

Enough said! Bahaha

This ball is super duper fun!

Life As Usual!

I've been a really lame blogger.

So to all three of you who read this, 

your welcome. :)

Ok well I would hope you all know by now that I'm a big prego pants!

Which basically means I can't fit into any of mine.

I just going to give a quick breakdown of life as of late.

Kyle is working his little tushy off doing carpet cleaning and going to school Mon-Thur. at night 

(He's a little bit miserable but Jax and I sure do appreciate how hard he's working for us)

Jax playing on Daddy, he was saying "Yay!"

Jax is awesome as usual!

Learning and growing like algae (algae grows a lot faster than weeds :)

He weighs 36 pounds (yeah I can't lift that huge monster)

He is 36 Inches in height (3 ft. What? 2 more and he'll be taller than me)

In all likelihood he'll pass me up by the time he's ten. 

We went to the surgeon yesterday and now instead of 2 surgeries this year he will only have to yet one! Yay!

The are going to deepen and widen the web space between his thumb and forefinger!

It's very exciting because it will make it a lot easier for him to grip.

He hated getting the x-rays but it was really good for me to actually see what is going with his hand, wrist  and elbow. 

We may have more surgeries down the road and we don't have a date for his first surgery yet but we are extremely grateful for Child Rehabilitative Services and for the doctors that volunteer there. 

We would never be able to afford these surgeries or even doctors appointments on our own and I know Heavenly Father has been looking out for us and helping us to be able give Jax the best opportunities possible.

I'm 18 weeks along with our little girl!

I'm so excited to have a little girl.

This pregnancy has gone pretty well. 

I had a few weeks this past month that were unpleasant because my uterus jumped up a little too high a little too quickly so my stomach couldn't quite handle it. 

I lost about 15 pounds. :( It's ok I'm not losing anymore.

But now I'm all better and feeling huge but good. 

I've been trying to keep busy and get out a lot.

We have also been in the process of applying for student housing (nightmare).

We are hoping to move within this next month before it gets too hot. 

I've already started packing, ha ha. 

I'm very excited to  have more room and have a playroom for Jax.

 I'm already making stuff for it.

Inside of the sweet beanbag I made for Jax

Outside of my awesome beanbag!

I am getting a level two ultrasound on the 29th.

They are going to be doing a bunch of tests and checking for genetic stuff along with Amniotic Band Syndrome (That's what Jax had).

ABS is basically strands of the placenta that bread off and wrap around the baby causing a variety of things to happen. 

In Jackson's case a small band wrapped around his elbow very early on in the pregnancy. It restricted blood flow and made it so two of his fingers just didn't grow and made his radius be dislocated because it was stuck in the same position.

I doubt anything will be wrong with this baby but it is nice to be getting all the test just in case. 

That's pretty much all for now. 

I will try to keep up on this better but we've got a lot coming up so I'm not making any promises.

Results Are In!

So according to the neurologist our worries can be curbed a little bit.

The EEG and MRI came back normal with neither seizure nor stroke type activity! 

First, of all let me say, Hal-le-frickin-lu-jah!

I know all parents feel anxious and worried about their kids but 

to me, from my experience, unless there is something wrong with your child

"Don't Stress!"

I know most people are better at this than I am.

I tend to be an over-exaggerator. Or well I think in times like this I 

don't think I could handle the emotional trauma bad news would cause

unless I'd been preparing for it.

Weird, Right?

Well now that those tests are done, on to the next!

We have an appointment on the 10th to see the neurologist again.

This time she will be ordering/ explaining to us the tests for seeing if he has nerve damage.

That was always our best guess to what was going on but after being told it could be all these other things

I couldn't help but automatically predict the worst case scenario.

I know it probably seems really pessimistic but to me it isn't.

Maybe I'm just fooling myself but in my head if I imagine it's the worst case scenario and then mentally picture

dealing with said scenario then when I find out it is the worst case or a better scenario (which most of the time it is) I am either able to deal with it like I expect myself to, or I am completely elated that it isn't as bad as I thought it would be and the obstacles I know have to deal with seem like tiny ant hills instead of mountains. 

I hope all that made sense. Sometimes it's really difficult to explain all the madness in my head.

In other news, It's Jackson's second birthday on Friday. Huh? Yep, that's right ladies he is another year closer to be that eligible bachelor you've been waiting for! Just another 14-19 years to go. 

Also, We have applied for student housing at ASU Polytechnic! I'm so excited to have a playroom for Jax yay! 

Um... I think that's about it. Well even though like nobody reads this it is totally therapeutic for me. I do hope that it is somewhat helpful in making at least one person feel more sane than me. For some reason it is always nice to know there is someone out there who is crazier than you.

 End of Rant! Goodnight!