Making Room for Baby

I'm sitting here on my pink laptop enjoying a Venti Chai Tea Latte with soy milk listening to the sound of silence in my house as I contemplate the long to do list I have to get done before tomorrow. Tomorrow the Schneider family will welcome a new member. It's been a long and bumpy road but lots of prayers have finally gotten us to our final destination and I'm overwhelmed by a variety of emotions. I'm anxious to finally see her, hold her and tell her how much I love her. I'm nervous about what our new "normal" will be like with two children. I'm excited for Josh to see and hold his daughter for the first time! I'm curious to see what Jonah will do when he finally meets the baby sister that has been in Mommy's belly for so long.

We've spent so much time in the last nine months preparing Jonah for this new adventure that I'm not sure that Josh and I have really taken the time to prepare ourselves for all of this. So, over the last few days it's hit me like an avalanche that we are having another baby! Will I remember how to care for a newborn?? I'm thinking I should have reread some of my baby books while I was in the hospital!! I guess it's a little late now!

Our adventure begins tomorrow. Let the new "normal" begin!!

Here are some pictures of us strolling through the last few days. It's been quite a whirlwind around our house!

On Saturday night Jonah and I made cupcakes with lots and lots of sprinkles!



On Sunday we took Jonah to Build a Bear to make a special gift for Meredith. We started out with a cute bear but then after Jonah picked out the outfit and named him Spidey on the birth certificate we realized the bear was not for Meredith so we had to make a second one whose name is Ella!





On Monday I had an amniocentesis to check Meredith's lung maturity. Her readings showed she has quite the set of lungs! I hope that's not an indication of how loud her cries will be! Her final sonogram picture.....Tomorrow we will have real pictures!



Daddy spending a little one on one time with Jonah last night.



And finally a picture of Meredith's nursery. There are still a couple of things that need to be done but I don't think she'll notice. Jonah's room also got a makeover with new paint! He loves his "green" room!




So now I'm off to try and have a relaxing day before the big event tomorrow!

Celebrating Five Years!

Josh and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary yesterday!! Five years seems like such a short of amount of time compared to how long we have actually been together as a couple. I'm very lucky to have married my best friend. Josh is a wonderful husband and an amazing father! I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else! I'm looking forward to many more happy years!!

Shhh...don't tell my doctor but we celebrated by going to dinner on Friday night and then getting a couples massage on Saturday! It was exactly what we needed!!

Thankful Thursday

I am so thankful for this adorable smile and the sheer happiness that radiates from his face! He completely brightens my day!

Super Hero Birthday!

Birthday's are a big deal in our house! Since Josh is an identical twin he always had to share his birthday with his brother Jon so once we got married we started our own family tradition to make birthday's extra special for everyone! The celebration begins when you wake up in the morning and lasts until you go to sleep at night!

This year we had balloons and donut holes ready for Jonah's 3rd birthday when he woke up and then we headed to his party where he celebrated with all his "super" friends including the Spectacular Spiderman! We celebrated Saturday evening with family and then our little "Super Hero" finally fell asleep! It was a perfect day!







Jonah had a couple of early birthday celebrations with his friend Ryan and his Grandma since they weren't going to be able come to his party! Ryan brought a Spiderman cake just for Jonah and they both enjoyed the red and blue icing!! Grandma came up and took him for icecream. You just can't go wrong with cake and icecream!!

"Please hurry and light the candles! We can't take it anymore!!"


Grill Master Jonah

Turning Three

Today our sweet Jonah turns three years old!

For the last few days building up to this special day, we have revisited the memories of the day you were born and how much you have changed our lives in the last three years.

We are crazy in love with you!! You have the sweetest disposition of anyone we know. You are caring, charasmatic and our little comedian. You have taught us to be patient and how to slow down and enjoy the little things in life. We have learned from you that a rasberry on the face or tummy can cure a bad day and there's nothing to be afraid of in life as long as you have a sword, a little magic and Spiderman webs!

This has been a fascinating year. You’ve grown so much. Your imagination has really blossomed. You have your own mind and we love our conversations with you whether we are eating dinner, in the car, in the bathtub or laying in bed. You understand enough of the world now to interpret it and make your own choices. From making decisions for you, we now have to guide you to differentiate between what’s right and wrong and making good choices in life.

You are about to take on a new role as a big brother and we think you will do an amazing job. You knew from day one that you were having a baby sister. You have been very excited about her arrival and ask us everyday if she's here yet. You love to give Mommy's belly little kisses and say "I love you baby sister." We already see the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

So many joyous memories of a year gone by. You are growing up fast, absorbing the world around, and also giving back in your own small way. Your smile and laughter is a joy to behold, and we hope that always stays with you - regardless of down days that may come your way. Life is full of choices, and you’ve already started making yours. We love the way you look at life - living for the moment, with everything that’s past being “yesterday” and everything in the future being “tomorrow.” Happy Birthday, Snugglebug.

Welcome Year Four of your life.

Belly Shots

I hate to sound so cliche but being pregnant is an amazing experience. Even if you have to experience some of the more unpleasant side effects of pregnancy it's still so hard to wrap your head around the fact that you are growing a person inside of you. I've always said that my body was on loan for 9 months and tried to fully enjoy the whole experience. I mean what other time in your life can you get away with eating an ice cream sandwich and a PB&J for breakfast??

I will admit and please don't hate me but I have been very fortunate with both of my pregnancies. Jonah's pregnancy was a breeze. No typical pregnancy side effects and no complications. Meredith's has had some complications of course but at least I didn't have the pesky side effects to go along with those complications.

This time around I decided to have some maternity photos taken and I'm really glad I did! It was a lot of fun! My friend Narci from This Southern Belle came over this past weekend to take the photos! She is just so sweet and adorable! She made me feel very comfortable even during my exposed belly shots (which even though they turned out great I will not be posting them on my blog!) and she was great with Jonah! Being a mommy of two boys she knew exactly how to get to Jonah involved in our photo session! Here are some of my favorites! I think she did a wonderful job!

Thanks again Narci!!

March Madness

I don't think the title of this post could be any more fitting for us right now! March is always a crazy month for our family because we celebrate Jonah's birthday and our anniversary but with the addition of the pregnancy, the bedrest and trying to get everything ready for the arrival of our little one it's been quite chaotic around here!

Being a project manager I'm used to working under stressful conditions and working against timelines and budgets and that's pretty much what you have to do when you are planning for the arrival of a baby. Except this time I haven't been able to be as hands on as I would like. Most of my shopping has been done online and I'm having to depend on others to get everything ready in the nursery! It's hard to "nest" when you are spending most of your time on the couch but if you ask Josh, I'm finding creative ways around that little hurdle :)

I make lists. I live by lists and have since I was a little girl. My planner is full of lists. Josh laughs at my lists but it's what keeps me from losing my mind in a sea of things to do, places to go, things to buy, house projects, our goals, etc. The list of lists goes on and on. Losing my lists would be as tragic as Paris Hilton losing her Blackberry!

So my point is I have a Baby list with everything that we need or still need to do before the baby arrives. I review this list daily and go over the things with Josh that require his approval, opinion or assistance. Most of them just require assistance from his checkcard.

I can't believe we are in the final phase of this "project". I just have a few more things to check off my list before she makes her arrival in a couple of weeks!

I think Josh is having an affair....

with her



Josh has been spending a lot of time in our laundry room with the new woman in his life - Miss Electrolux Washer. He gets up in the middle of the night to secretly visit her and she now knows all of our dirty laundry. I often hear him talking in his sleep about all of her great qualities like being energy efficient and having a deep sanitize setting.

But if having this little affair is all it takes for Josh to actually enjoy doing the laundry I might just have to buy the dryer too!

Jonah the Giant Killer

When Josh got home on Sunday afternoon from his conference he asked "What did you do this weekend while I was gone?" Lately my reply when anyone asks this question is "Well, I laid on the couch and watched a lot of movies and spent countless hours on my laptop." Not very exciting right??

But this weekend I was Princess Mommy and was attacked by a two headed monster, a dragon AND a giant. I was kidnapped from my kingdom and taken away to the castle of the evil sorcerer. Luckily "Jonah the Giant Killer" was there to rescue me from all these scary monsters (aka Jerod)using his sword and his magic!

Making Memories

Last night Jonah found his Dragon costume and insisted on wearing it and chasing Josh around the house. After a good thirty minutes of running around in circles through the living room, the dining room and the kitchen Josh asked Jonah if he wanted to watch one of his favorite dragon movies when he was a little boy (to give Josh a little break!) Of course Jonah said yes so Josh popped in Jack the Giant Killer.

Jonah was so excited about the dragon, the two-headed monster and the green sea monster that he asked Josh to put the movie on his iTouch and this morning the first thing he asked me when he woke up was "Did Daddy add my movie to my phone?" (he thinks his iTouch is an iPhone like Daddy's!) When I told him yes, he ran up to Josh and gave him the biggest hug and said "Thank you Daddy for putting the movie on my phone!"

Watching the two of them last night on the couch watching the movie together made my heart happy! I think it brought back some great childhood memories for Josh remembering when he watched the same movie with his brother and dad and I think he realized he was creating those same lasting memories with his own son.

Meredith in 4D

Yesterday Josh and I had a 4D sonogram. We have almost thirty 2D sonogram pictures of Meredith but we wanted to see what she really looked like and see if there was any resemblance to Jonah as a baby. She definitely has Jonah's eye shape but chubbier cheeks. The first part of the session she grabbed her feet and had them in front of her face. So, they let me change positions and drink some cold water to try to get her to move and she finally cooperated!

As soon as I figure out how to load the video, I will add it but until then here are some of the pictures.

Eyes open and smiling


Big yawn!




Playing Peek-a-Boo!

Capturing life's little moments

I emailed one of my favorite mommy bloggers, OHmommy, over at Classy Chaos because I love her photography and since I'm constantly trying to figure out how to use my camera to take better photos I asked her for some tips. She takes amazing photographs of her kids and their daily adventures. She offered some great advice so I tried to take a few shots while continuing my bed rest over the weekend. I figure this is a perfect time to learn how to actually use my camera! Thanks for the inspiration OHmommy!



Jonah playing with his bathtub crayons


Josh teaching Jonah how to play his new guitar


Playing us a song


Helping Jerod and Lauren repaint the crib


Jonah loves paint!


Enjoying some pizza after a long day of painting!

Growing and Growing....

I had my 31 week sonogram this week and Meredith is growing and growing. Still no blood clots or hematomas and I haven't had any additional bleeding since my last week in the hospital. Whoo hoo! My doctor said I have beat all odds with the placenta previa so I feel very blessed. I'm especially thankful to spend the remainder of this pregnancy at home on bed rest instead of the hospital. I will admit that every day I'm worried that I will start bleeding again and since I'm not being monitored twice a day like I was in the hospital, I'm constantly making sure I can feel her kick and move. Pregnancy is stressful and so unpredictable but every day that we get through this is one day closer to meeting this precious little girl!

I've mentioned before that I am a little bit of a control freak so one of the things this pregnancy has taught me is to learn to let go and let God take control. We have said a lot of prayers and asked that he watch over us through this introduction before a new chapter in our life begins!

We have had to depend so much on family and friends in this situation and I've learned that it's okay to ask for help. Words cannot express how much their support has meant to us! I hope that some day and in some way I can return the favor!

Another positive outcome of this situation is that Josh and Jonah's bond has strengthened and they have become extremely close. Through all of this I have been able to witness what an amazing and extraordinary father and husband he is. His patient, caring and loving side has really shown through. Of course I knew he possessed these qualities. It's one of the reasons I fell in love with him but to see those qualities put into action during a stressful time for all of us has made me learn to appreciate and love him even more!

Next week Josh and I are having a 4D sonogram done so that we can get a glimpse at what Meredith really looks like! We have twenty six 2D sonogram pictures of her but I'm anxious to see more of her features and maybe even see a little smile!

What Not to Wear

Apparently we forgot to check for extra clothes in Jonah's backpack so this is what he was wearing when Josh picked him up from preschool! Nice huh?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday Riley!!

Riley turned 5 years old on Feb 9th!

Home Sweet Home

I am home! I am finally home!

Friday morning my nurse came in and said that she had spoken to my doctor and as long as there had not been any changes overnight and everything looked okay on the monitor with the baby I could be discharged!

My emotions went into overload. I was happy, excited, relieved, scared and nervous all at the same time! First and foremost I was beyond happy, happy to see Josh, Jonah and Riley! I was excited to be back in my own house and my own bed. I was relieved to be leaving the hospital and room 366. But I am scared that something will happen between now and when I have the baby and I will end up back in the hospital. I am also nervous that bed rest at home for the next six weeks is going to be a lot harder than being in the hospital.

I listened to the baby one last time on the monitor. She sounded perfect! Afterwards my nurse brought in my discharge notes which stated "mandatory bed rest with bathroom privileges only." It also included follow up instructions which stated "weekly sonograms with my perinatologist and weekly appointments with my OB."

I couldn't sign my name fast enough!

I called Josh to share the good news and the voice that responded back did not sound good at all. He and Jonah both have the flu! He had a 104 degree fever, couldn't even stand and didn't feel it was safe to drive in the car. While I agreed I was disappointed because I was so ready to leave! Josh offered to have a car service pick me up but I decided to wait until Jerod could pick me up and drive me home.

I walked in the front door to a dark house and my two guys asleep on the couch. Josh looked up with sleepy eyes and said "I'm glad you are home." Then Jonah sat up and with the sweetest smile he asked "Mommy, are you done with your checkup?"

Keeping my fingers crossed....

I had my weekly sonogram on Monday of this week and received some good news though I've been a little hesitant to share because I didn't want to jinx it!

I haven't had any bleeding since Friday of last week and since my sonogram looked clear - no bloodclots, tears in the placenta or hematomas, he said that if I could continue on that path for one week he would recommend that I be released from the hospital on home bed rest. I'm having another sonogram tomorrow to confirm that everything looks good and if so then my doctor could release me tomorrow evening! Whoo Hoo!

As excited as I am to go home and be with Jonah, Josh and Riley every night, I am still nervous because I will be by myself during the day and I'm just worried that something will happen. Of course I will be going in twice a week for sonograms with the Perinatologist and once a week to see my OB to make sure that there are no changes. If there are any changes I will be admitted right back into the hospital where I will stay until I deliver. So, I'm saying a lot of prayers and keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well!

It's a been a long five weeks but it has given me the oppotunity to slow down and evaluate how I live my life and what I can do to be a better wife, mother and overall a better person.

One of the other things I've had plenty of time to evaluate is the pros and cons of hospital bed rest. So here's my breakdown..

Pros – no laundry to wash, taking my time to get dressed in the mornings, all day room service, afternoon naps, not having to watch Noggin 24/7, online shopping, being able to hear the baby’s heartbeat everyday, catching up on facebook, blogs, and email.

Cons – missing being at home with Josh, Jonah and Riley, not being able to go where I want to go, horrible water pressure in the shower, micro mini towels that barely wrap around my body and are apparently not washed in fabric softer or dried with dryer sheets, no bath rug, 1-ply toilet paper, uncomfortable bed (it’s definitely not a Heavenly bed and even with two egg crates, four pillows and a heating pad it’s still uncomfortable).

Slow News Week

It wasn't a slow week in the media but it was a pretty slow week in Room 366. I'm just happy it went by really fast!

Dallas had an ice storm on Wednesday and when we have ice in Dallas the city becomes paralyzed! So, Josh stayed home with Jonah since his school was closed due to the increment weather. After the ice started melting Wednesday afternoon they came up to the hospital and spent the day with me. Jonah is so comfortable here now that he walks around like he owns the place and technically for what our insurance is having to pay for this extended stay we should own it or at least one wing of it. Okay, at a minimum they should name one of the hospital rooms after me! Anyway, the nurses just love Jonah and Jonah loves them. He is also a huge fan of the vending machines and every time he comes to the hospital he wants to go to the vending machine to get Doritos. This is how the conversation goes every time:

Jonah - "Daddy, I want Doritos"

Josh - "Jonah, do you have any money for the vending machine?"

Jonah - "Mommy, Daddy needs money!"

My social calendar was packed over the weekend. My friend Shannon came up on Friday and we hit up the Baby and Mother's boutique on my floor where I have become quite the regular. They have the cutest clothes, blankets and accessories. Then, one of my nurses took me on a shopping trip downstairs to the gift shop. Hey, this girl loves to shop and right now my options are pretty limited! Actually this gift shop has some really nice things!

My good friends Sarah and Jennifer hosted a shower for me here at the hospital on Saturday. Meredith received some adorable clothes and other items! It was a lot of fun to see my friends and so nice to be out of my room! Stay tuned for pictures!

The Junior League hosted a brunch on Sunday so I was able to meet some of my "neighbors" and they were really nice! One is having triplets and one is having twins! I thought it was funny that neither of the girls hosting the lunch from the Junior League had children so I'm sure our conversation about pregnancy and what we are going through scared them so much they may reconsider having a baby. Maybe next year I will join the Junior League committee that hosts these events because now I see how important it is for the moms in here to have that social interaction while couped up in a hospital room. I mean we are girls and girls love to socialize and talk! Vicky came up and brought lunch and we hung out for awhile. Then Josh and Jonah came by and brought Riley! He was so excited to see me and I was very excited to see him. I've really missed him! My friend Cindy also came by for a little while. She was also here on bed rest with her second child so she knows exactly what I'm going through. She brought one of the funniest and best gifts I've received while in the hospital - toilet paper, the soft two ply kind! Such a luxury!

So, now I'm heading into my 5th week here in the hospital and 29th week of the pregnancy. My doctors and I both are hoping for another uneventful week. This is the one situation where the term "uneventful" is actually a good thing!

Showering me in Pink!

My friends Sarah and Jenn hosted a baby shower for me today at the hospital! They did a great job of making it a very classy event even though it was in the hospital education room! The table was decorated with pink Gerber daisies which are my favorite flower and we had chicken salad, fruit, and yummy pink cupcakes for desert!

I had fun getting dressed up and it was great to be out of my room and catch up with some of my friends. Meredith received some of the most adorable baby clothes, blankets and accessories! She is going to be one stylish little girl!

Here are some of the pictures.