This is what we are working with...

Ok i understand that i still have a few more weeks, so it is a little soon to be feeling this DONE being pregnant! And I am trying really hard to have a good/better attitude but this is what we are working with...

This stupid sciatic nerve is so bad! And it is magnified by the fact that I favor my left side (long time ago issue) So I do everything with my right side, which is the bad side! Lame. I have so much to do with Christmas and actually getting ready for the baby, i dont have time for this stuff. I went to the physical therapist and I am pretty sure that they just made it worse... but we will see.

All I do is sweat! Earth to california: '60 is not cold! There is no need for everyplace to blast there heat! Especially Dr Clayton. Really you have giant prego people in your office and it is blazing hot. Really.

Speaking of Dr. Clayton: Dear Dr. Clayton, I DO NOT need to have a 10 pound baby. Regardless of if i am having him vaginally or via C section. Sincerely Sheri. We had another ultra sound with the high risk doc last week and everything looks great! we are measuring 2 weeks in advance and weighing in at 6 1/2 pounds! Cool. Yesterday we had a check up with Dr Clayton and he finally acknowledged the fact that this baby is huge! I was hoping he would say that we would do the C section early but no, he just said, Good thing you are having a C section. NO I still have no desire to grow a 10 pound baby. I dont think that my back/body can handle it or stretch anymore! Well he went ahead and check my cervix because the baby is big and the Vandiver's have a tendency to go fast, I was dilated to a 5 with dex and had no idea, so i was hoping.... But nothing! I was very disappointed. When i left and called Matt to tell him the "No progress news" He just laughed, I hung up on him. I am so DONE.

Matt is taking all my complaining in stride, he really just laughs at me alot. I am not sure if that is helping or hurting the situation :) but I love him and am SO glad he is amazing!

On the plus side: We are actually feeling ready to meet this guy and for this next step! We have pretty much decided on his name: Quade. Middle name is still in the air we have it narrowed down to 2 options.

We have finished the bassinet. We sanded and re-painted it and I made the bedding. So now he has a place to sleep. Other then that we still have lots of organizing and cleaning to do. We made a deal with the lord, If we finish all the stuff we need to this week, then how about we have this baby next week? Dont you wish the gospel worked that way?

Dexter is the best kid ever! He is has no idea what is really going on, but i am so glad that he is a laid back kid! He always has been and i hope he stays that way! He is starting to really pick up on things. Matt always goes at him and wrestles with him and now dex will just start doing it when ever he wants to play. Unfortunately i cant play as hard has dad...

I can not wait to see him Christmas morning! All he will no is that he got lots of new toys but Matt and I cant wait to watch him!

Pictures to come!

The Wonder that is Dexter.

I still cant believe that we have a one year old! Dexter is so much fun!

We had his one year check up and the doc says he is doing great. (despite his refusal to eat). He weighs 25 pounds and is 33 inches tall. The doc came in and goes, Wow he is tall.

So what he is up to lately...

Dex smiles all the time!

Loves to walk.

He is not interested in eating. Really does not like to eat in his chair, he prefers to wonder.

Loves sugar! Especially chocolate. (His mothers child)

Still only working with 6 teeth, but he definitely has his moments where I think for sure he is teething, but nothing has popped up.

He can sign more and light, which is a popular one lately because of Christmas.

He loves dogs. If he sees one, hears the word or sees a picture he stats barking. Its pretty cute but i cant help but think, If you know that, then the word "No" which is said alot around here, should be totally understood, but it is not. He just thinks, Oh i better move faster, or, I better get this in my mouth quicker. Cool.

Dex loves other people and other kids and does not understand personal bubbles. He likes to get nice and close to you.

He is totally a sleeper, he still takes 2 naps a day. (Knock on wood) It is so funny when he gets tired, the kid can not walk straight. He is the most wobbly walker ever!

He knows where his tummy is and when he wants what you are eating he walks up to you and says. ahhh

He is getting very good at keeping things away from us when we try to take them from him.

He loves listening to the music on our phones. He holds it up to his ear and walks around. Very cute. Jimmy Eat World is his current favorite.

He cracks up when matt and I are play fighting and wrestling, he totally jumps in the middle.

Dex is getting so big so fast and he picks up on everything so quickly, it is crazy. It is impossible to think that in just a few weeks we will have another little guy, who we will love just as much!

So the other night before bed, we were all rocking out to a little Jimmy Eat World and dex fell when he was dancing and we looked over to see some cool new dance moves... he cracks us up.

Dexter took a fall (Dec 3, Friday) into the bouncer, of all things, and totally cut his eyebrow. We took him straight to the doc for stitches. Thank goodness it was small enough to glue because it took Matt, a nurse and the doc to hold Dex down to glue it shut.

This was on the way to the doc.

This was on that next sunday.

He got a little black eye. He looked so tough.

Walking everywhere. I just wish that he understood, Come with me. We are still working on that.

He was not a big fan of santa! It was after his bed time and he was a little grumpy, so we are going to chalk it up to that and give it one more try later this week.

He was cracking us up on sunday because he stayed up all of church. (Not by my choice) By the time we got in the car he was so tired he was falling asleep with out his usual sleep aids, we couldnt believe it! So we were trying to keep him up for the 5 min drive home and this was the face we got. Eyes half closed and almost out but he was trying to laugh. Toooo Cute!

Love those cheeks!

34-35 weeks! Cant wait for this kid to get here! Everywhere I go people say "Oh its a boy, isnt it" I have stopped asking how they know because their responses are always, "You are so round" Thanks. We go see the high risk doc and get another ultra sound at the end of this week, we are excited for another ultra sound. Plus they are stress testing and i am secretly hoping that they are like " Oh yep, this baby is ready lets go ahead and do the C section tomorrow" Yeah right. But i should not hope that because we have so much to do. This kid doesnt even have a place to sleep yet... so i guess we should get on that. Our TO DO list is getting longer and longer and all we want to do is hang out and have a nap :) Classic Matt and Sheri

A month of firsts!

Dexter is ONE! I can not believe it, he is sooo big! We love him to death and he is constantly keeping us busy and entertained!

Dex's 1st birthday, take one in Texas with the Vandiver's:

These balloons were a major hit!

Maddison and I were so excited for the presents and Dex was going in the other direction...

Dexter's First hair cut:

Bec did an amazing job on our squirmy little boy. The rats tail is officially gone! Thanks bec, you are a pro!

Oh and we spent lots of time at the park in Texas. Let me just say that Grandma is a trooper! I look up and saw this:

And then i saw her follow him right through that tunnel, lol way to go mom!

Dex and I were in Texas for the best week of fall weather! I have to remind myself that the summers suck, because I did not want to come back to CA where there arent really seasons!

Dex's First Birthday take 2 with the Hanson's:

Meg and Dex were Bff's this week. (They are like 2 months apart) Dex was always following her around and trying to touch her.

Matt and I made our First Turkey:

I must say, Matt is quite the chief! He did all the dirty work, he about gagged when he took out the neck. We got AMAZING recipes from my uncle Del, who is basically a food artist and my good friend Whitney. After those 2 recipes and a few tips from food network, it turned out perfect! Soooo tasty and moist. When we poked it juice actually quirted out every time!

Yowzer!

The High Risk Doc was very interesting! We went in for a 45 min, very detailed ultra sound. I dont know why they dont do this kind of ultra sound anyway, we could see so much more and everything so clearly. So things we learned about his size:

- He is weighing in at 4 pounds.

-He is measuring 2 weeks early

-His head is measuring 4 weeks early (yowzer!)

And dont worry we still have 10 weeks left!!! It is always a good sign when the doc says, "his head is BIG." and then a few min later, " Wait, how far along do you think you are?" At least we know why I am HUGE now.

Things we learned about his placenta:

- They were not able to see the bilobed placenta because of his size and gestational age, but again they are not worried. But we still dont know what caused it. Oh well.

-They did find a abnormality in his placenta, the name is complicated but basically it is a pool of blood vessels that usually causes a small birth weight issue but the doc just kind of laughed and said "Well, that is not a problem." But they are not worried about that either. They said that we may want to send it to be analyzed after birth. We will see. But he wants to see me in 4 weeks and then start stress testing every week after that. (starting at 34 weeks)

So after all of this, we have learned: Everything is looking healthy and he is going to be big! Thank goodness we need to have a C section.

Texas was a blast and my next post will be about that!

Really!

Dex just opened the front door and went running out! He is only a year and 1 day old, isnt that a little soon? He was so cute and proud of him self!

He makes me laugh

Matt always cracks me up! We have fun!

I was dying when he made this comment this morning...

"I guess it is time to trim, Dex was playing with my chest hair..."

LOL

27-28 weeks

Ok so I am just a one of those girls who gains alot of weight when they are pregnant. I am coming to grips with it. I gained 55 pounds with dex, yes, 55! So I was very curious what would happen this time... Well lets just say I am well on my way. Cool. With dexter i lost it all and was back at market in about 5 weeks but he was also deathly ill and my first. So we will see what happens this time... At the doctor this week I finally hit the point in this pregnancy where I start turning around on the scale. Even better.

So at the doctor this week he informed me that we have a Bilobed Placenta. We have to go to a High Risk doctor to get another ultra sound, to find out more, but Dr. Clayton assured me that he was not worried. It just means that I made an extra part of the placenta, great. The issue is when it goes undetected and then you dont deliver both parts of the placenta. It can also effect the birth weight of the baby. But we dont know anything really yet and we go to the High Risk doc on Nov. 19. which we are excited about because we get another ultra sound!

Dexter is a walking machine! He is still unstable and pretty wobbly but he takes at least 8-10 step before he falls and will walk further if there is chocolate involved. He is so much fun!