Today was a day for doctor's... And I think it was finally a positive doctor experience! I met my new OB today for the first time and was really pleased with how receptive he is. He's referring me to a high risk OB right away as well as running a bunch more labs so he has as much information to work with as possible. He's not promising that we'll make it any farther than we did with Noah, but he understands that is my own goal and will help me try to fulfill it. If we can get that far, Baby G 2.0 will probably be delivered via repeat C-section around the 7th of January. (38 weeks) Also saw the nephro today who was majorly pleased that the new meds seem to have my blood pressure relatively under control. (It was 128/76 at the OB's office, I pretty much did a happy dance) Overall, way better than things were two weeks ago!

Noah's been a bit of handful today, and I'm thinking that maybe he's got some more teeth trying to come in. He's been running a low grade fever, but other than being really cranky nothing else seems wrong. He's eating, no problems with his ears, nothing else visibly wrong. Not sure what his deal is, argg.....

Really busy getting ready everything ready so we can leave first thing Saturday morning. I think all of us are looking forward to the break. I know I am!

OK, haven't gotten to finish my dinner because I got put in charge of the cranky kiddo who only wanted Mama tonight. Maybe more tomorrow, otherwise I am taking my laptop with on vacation and will update provided that we have internet :-p

Uncle Scott taught Noah the joys of ketchup

Quite the pair

Noah chilling with Uncle Scott

Dancing Scott

On Sunday, Grant and Scott rented some games for the Wii to keep Scott busy this week. They've both been infatuated with Rayman's Raving Rabbids. I took some video of Scott 'dancing' to one of the songs. You'll have to trust me when I say he was much more animated before he realized I was shooting video...

The Gatchel's (And Uncle Scott) go to the ball game!

We just got home from a Manatees baseball game, and boy did we have fun! And we got free quarter pounders! And Noah is on such a sugar high I don't know if I'm ever going to get him to go to bed!

Maybe I should start from the beginning... The Manatees are the AA minor league team for the Brewers. They play in Viera, only about 20 minutes north of us. (The Nationals use the stadium for Spring Training if anyone wants to come visit next early spring!) Anyway, we thought we'd take Scott to a game and Noah to his first baseball game (other than his Uncle Scott's in Ohio).

The game was great! They struck out the right guy, so anyone who had a ticket got a free quarter pounder. We stopped on the way home. I gave mine to Scott, I'm hoping that will hold him over 'til breakfast.... Noah ate (and I'm not kidding) a full ziploc bag of animal crackers, part of my pretzel, part of Grant's nachos, a bite of Scott's frozen lemonade and an entire blue snowcone! It's currently 10:30 and he's still wide awake literally running all over the place. He might finally crash sometime tomorrow....

Alright, it's getting late and I want to attempt to get everyone settled for the night. Happy Birthday to Caren - hope that you had a great day! For everyone else, enjoy the pictures and hopefully I'll have more to share tomorrow...

But Dad, I don't want to see the Manatee!

He got his own seat

Look at me Mom, I'm a big kid!

Uncle Scott and Noah pose in front of a space shuttle

Noah earning "man points"

Look at me, I can play video games, too!

Scott teaching Noah the finer points of how to play Wii

Catching Up

I know everyone's been asking for pictures - so pictures galore below! Scott got in on Friday night and we've really been enjoying our time with him. Noah totally has a new hero. He follows Scott around saying "Cott" "Cott" They are quite the pair :-p

Saturday we made a trip to Tampa to check out the Florida Aquarium. After getting slightly turned around (thanks alot Google Maps!) we finally found it and had a good time checking out all the fish. Noah was in seventh heaven and spent a lot of time "talking" to the different fish. We had lunch at a great pizza place down the street and enjoyed checking out some of Tampa.

Sunday Scott and I met up with some of the Florida gang to go see Harry Potter. I'd recommend it in theaters for any "fans" of the series, though I was disappointed with some of the liberties they took with the story line. I don't mind when they cut things (because you have to fit it in the movie somehow!) but I don't like when they add things that weren't part of the original story. I counted at least 3 major instances of that, so it really kind of bugged me. You'll have to see it for yourself and judge what you think :)

Today after work I picked up the paperwork for my new OB, went and had some blood drawn (because apparently when I'm pregnant I need to be stuck at least once a week...), stopped to visit Grant at work for a few minutes and then made a quick stop at Downtown Produce. After dinner we headed to get some ice cream. I didn't take any pictures, but trust me when I say that Noah enjoyed himself.

Going to get back to the gang now, but enjoy all the pictures :)

A pair of manly men....

Noah doing donuts in the kitchen

Uncle Scott taking Noah for a spin

Checking out the Nemo tank for Aunt Shellie

Fish overhead!

You could pet the rays!

The sting ray petting pond

Tons of fish

Sting ray!

Noah explaining the fish in this tank to the little girl next to him

Shark!

Bird!

I'm not sure if Grant was taking pictures of the fish, or his own reflection....

Fish

Noah showing Mommy and Baby G 2.0 some more fish

Turtle!

He didn't stay in the stroller for long...

Balloon heaven at Brie and Thomas'

He thought this was the coolest thing EVER

Do we have to leave the balloons for Uncle Thomas and Aunt Brie, Mom?

He was 'kicking' the balloons all over the condo

The results of Noah having mac and cheese

I swear I didn't do it

Mmmm, whip cream

Licking the beaters

Still Here :)

Hello all my blog readers out there! It has come to my attention that people are concerned that there has been no blog recently and are worrying about us Gatchel's. All is well - no worries!

My apologies for being missing in action for awhile. As of tomorrow, we are officially done with the first trimester and I am only anticipating that things will be much easier. (knocks wood) I have had a rough couple of weeks, and I don't like to use the blog as a venting mechanism, so I've kind of been avoiding posting. I'm sorry to anyone that's been missing us. I will do my best to keep you updated.

We've had a rough couple of weeks that have resulted in numerous doctor visits, a trip to the ER, tons of new meds and a fired OB :) But other than that we've been great. I don't want to dwell on things here, just going to say that I'm feeling tons better and am looking forward to meeting my new OB next week and for things staying relatively under control. Continued prayers for Baby G 2.0 would be much appreciated.

Noah is getting bigger every day. He has a new favorite food (pizza) and a new favorite thing to do; climb! While Daddy was "in charge" a lot more last week, he began climbing and walking all over the furniture... Mommy is slowly now trying to break this habit ;-) But boys will be boys I suppose, and he's mostly been a good kiddo lately. He got two pairs of new shoes (both of which passed the Auntie's muster) this week because his feet are just getting too big. He's wearing some 24 month clothes now. I can hardly believe how big he's gotten.

Grant is officially off the never ending project at work (YAY!!!!!!!) and moving on to bigger and better things. He confessed to me tonight that his biggest problem on Monday will be figuring out what he's supposed to be doing. He says it might be a day for twiddling his thumbs. To have such a problem after all the hours of overtime! ;-)

The big news to share here is that Scott comes down tomorrow. We're really looking forward to having him here for a week before we go on vacation. I'm not sure how my budget it going to survive feeding him for a week; I guess it's good that Grant put in all that overtime before ;-) We've got tons planned to do while he's here, so hopefully lots to share.

A week from Saturday we leave for vacation! We're going to be meeting up with my parents, sister and Grandpa in South Carolina for a nice relaxing week. Sounds like lots of books and sun for this Mama! I am really looking forward to just hanging out and enjoying the fam being together for awhile.

Alright, I've tried to give at least a little big of an update. Now that I'm feeling better I plan on trying to keep this a little better updated. I enjoy writing the blog every night, it gives me a chance to remember all the things I've been thankful for throughout the day. Today, I'm super thankful that it's Thursday and tomorrow is the end of the week :-p Until then....