Thanksgiving

What I am thankful for:

1. Tomorrow is my 4th wedding anniversary. I am thankful to have a husband who is always supportive of me and my choices in life. He is always loving and gentle. I am confident he will be the best daddy that Amelia could have asked for.

2. I am thankful that in this economy (said to be the worst since the great depression) I have a good job and a nice house to live in. It might not be big, and it's definitely missing some luxuries that I would like to have, but it is sturdy and warm. It's something that I am proud to own, and I am glad to be bringing home my first child to this house.


3. I am thankful for the chubby girl growing in my belly right now. I am the most uncomfortable I have ever been. I am always hungry. I always need to use the bathroom. I get frequent tummy aches. I know it will be so worth it!


4. I am thankful to have a great family and great in-laws. Zach's parents treat me like one of their own. I know that not every girl has a father-in-law who is as protective as her own father, or a mother-in-law who worries as much as her own mother. I also now have 3 sisters instead of just 2 :)




Okay, so the picture of my family is currently missing 2 kids, and by Thanksgiving, that number will be 3. We will have to update this.

36 Weeks

I am now 36 weeks pregnant. Wow! It has gone by faster than I ever expected. In one week Amelia will be a full-term baby and I just cannot believe it! I have not enjoyed every single minute, but I think I might actually miss being pregnant when it is all over.

I want to say thank you to a great bunch of women. On October 2nd, Kristina Speers threw a shower for Katie and me at her gorgeous home just southwest of Shawnee. We got a lot of really great things for Amelia and some good advice from our mommy friends :) I love you, Kris and thank you so much for all you do!



On October 7th, a group of my OHCE ladies threw me a shower after their Fall meeting. There was more cake, more advice, and some really useful gifts.... like diapers, wipes, and gripe water. I hear that gripe water is a miracle for colic. I'm sorry, but I didn't get a picture from this shower.

On October 15th, the day after my niece Ava arrived, the women from our Sunday School class hosted a shower for me at the church. I was pretty emotional on this day because my mom couldn't be there. I know that she needed to be with Katie, and I am glad that she was, but it was just emotional. Thank you Rachel Moehle, Kristi Miller, Ashley Gardner, Jessica Nix, Mara Blackwell, Katrina Blackwell, Sara Martin, and Mandy Meyers for such a wonderful evening!



On a more technical note, I had an ultrasound today to check Amelia's size. She measured at 35 weeks by her head and chest circumference, so she's a little small, but she is currently 5 lbs and 11 oz. At this stage, babies gain about a half a pound a week, so if we make it to November 18th, she'll weigh approximately 7 lbs 11 oz. That is way bigger than I thought any baby of mine would be. BUT..... all of the women at my last shower think I won't make it to 40 weeks. Rachel thinks that Amelia will arrive 3 weeks early due to my "twin connection" with Katie. Another lady, Melanie, said that women usually get emotional in the couple of weeks before they deliver, so I was probably going to deliver early. I love hearing these little predictions!

Katie's Update

You may have already heard or seen pictures on Facebook, but Ava Leann Selzer made her debut on Thursday, October 14th. Katie was scheduled to be induced on that day at 37 weeks due to some complications with her diabetes. Things were not as gentle and easy as we had all hoped and she ended up having Ava by c-section, but both girls are doing great. Ava weighed in at 4 lbs, 10 oz and was 16.5 inches long. She's a tiny little thing! They got to go home yesterday and Katie is really enjoying being a mommy! Here are a few pictures of my newest beautiful niece.






I will be posting again soon. I have an ultrasound scheduled on Wednesday afternoon to see just how big Amelia is getting. She's going to be a tiny little thing, too :)

32 Weeks and Counting......

Today I had another ultrasound to check on Amelia's size and development. She's doing great!! Here are the stats: head circumference measured about 33 weeks, chest circumference measured about 31 weeks and the average of all her measurements came to 32 weeks-- which is where we are!! She is moving all the time and she even kicked both feet at the ultrasound wand. She is head down and there is not much chance of her changing from that position. She weighs approximately 3 pounds and 11 ounces with about 8 weeks to go.... man I hope she's not too big for me to handle.

As for me, I am doing really well. I feel good, but I get winded easily and I am really tired by the end of my work day. My appetite has been pretty weird but my weight gain is still good, so I'm not too worried about that. I just don't feel hungry very often and foods don't taste as good as they used to.... not even chocolate. P.S. I have gained 18 pounds so far. That is a LOT considering I am only 4'10! I hope that it comes off easily, but I won't hold my breath.

Christmas in July?

I know it's September, but I have had a really busy summer.... so I am just now getting to this post. Last year I planned my Holiday Season and Christmas using the Flylady Holiday Control Journal. You can find this at www.flylady.com. This method made my Christmas shopping, cooking, and traveling a LOT less stressful, so I am doing it again this year! Also last year, my sisters and I decided to do homemade Christmas presents. I had such a blast making all these gifts that I wanted to do that again, too! Needless to say, I was a little worried about getting it all done with Amelia due in the middle of November, so I started in July. When Hobby Lobby started putting out Christmas decorations in the summer, and you asked "Who would be buying Christmas stuff right now?" the answer was Jessica Riggin. I actually bought Christmas fabric and 3 Christmas ornaments in July to make stockings for my little family.

Zach treats me like I'm crazy, but I plan on being finished with shopping/crafting all my Christmas gifts by the time Amelia arrives. Sorry I can't show you any pictures, but that would give away all the surprises!

A visit from the Andersons

As you all know, my big sister Lacey and her family live in Fort Wayne, IN. We don't get to see them nearly enough (about 3 or 4 times a year.) Lacey brought her girls for a 2 week visit at my parents house in Marietta. I got to spend two whole weekends with them!! We celebrated Cami's first birthday and went to the Chickasaw recreation center/park in Sulphur. It was a blast and here are the pictures:

20 Weeks and counting

At my 20 week appointment last Wednesday, the doctor and nurse practitioner heard an irregularity in Amelia's heart rate. Dr. Taguchi referred me to a perinatal specialist to have a fetal echocardiogram done in Oklahoma City. There was a cancellation and they got me in on Friday. My mother-in-law went with me and she got to see a full ultrasound done on Amelia. It was soooo cool. The equipment they had at the perinatal center was a lot more high tech than the ultrasound room at my doc's office in Stillwater. Anyway, they did a little 3D/4D stuff for Abbe and me. Let me tell you, DO NOT have this done at 20 weeks! I think most people go in for a 3D/4D around 28 weeks or later. At that point you can see how cute the baby is and what he/she might look like once you deliver. At 20 weeks, Amelia looked like the love-child of Marge Simpson and Mr. Burns. Don't get me wrong, I know our little girl will be beautiful in another 4 months, but she is so skinny and her head is so big compared to her tiny, little body. I wish I could post a pic of this for you, but our scanner is no longer compatible with our upgraded Macbook. Then again, it's probably better that nobody else sees it.

Afterward, Abbe and I went shopping for nursery furniture. This was an exhausting task, but we did find and order a gorgeous crib and dresser. If you are curious, you can view the collection here: http://www.creationsbaby.com/index.cfm/do/groups.main/CollectionId/6/Ravenna

On a side note, my BIL, Chuck took a picture of Katie and me. It's the picture at the top of this post. She's 22 weeks and I'm 20 weeks in the pic.

This woman I used to know

I used to know a woman whose job did not make her very happy. In fact, her job kind of made her miserable. She was irritable, didn't like answering questions, and hated to be interrupted. To tell the truth, she could be a bit of a b-i-t-c-h. The woman I am talking about was me. While I was working in the hotel industry, I was unhappy.

I have been working for OSU Extension for two years now and I have loved (almost) every minute of it.... until recently. June 30, 2010 marks the end of an era for Lincoln County Extension, and July 1, 2010 will forever be known as "Black Thursday."

For those of you who don't know, our office heirarchy is as follows:
County Director/Ag Educator
FCS Educator and 4-H Educator
Senior Secretary
Party Time Secretary

Our part-time secretary retired this February after 10 years in our office. Our Senior Secretary and our County Director will both be retiring on June 30. I will be the interim director starting July 1. That's why it will be "Black Thursday."

We have a new secretary in our office and she is busy learning her very large job. She is doing great, and I know she will be a pro in no time. But every time she asks me a question and I do not know the answer, I feel a little like my old hotel manager self. While she is busy learning her new job, I am busy getting ready to learn my new job. That's scary for me. I do not feel ready for my new responsibilities. I cope with this by becoming a micro-manager, and micro-managers are not typically very friendly. I thought that I had said good-bye to Micro-manager Jessica long ago, but she's back and I don't know how I feel about this.

Don't get me wrong, she has some good points too. She's a hard worker, and she can do tasks pretty quickly. She's organized, but she is easily irritated if those around her do not match her organization.

I guess she's just really picky and finicky.

If you are caught in her path over the next few months, please forgive her. She means well. She wants to do her job well. She just sometimes gets caught up in it and forgets to be happy.

Let's hope that her visit is short.

I reserve the right to change the name....

This is something I have been saying since we decided that we wanted to have a baby. We have tossed names around like Sophi, Luke, Landon, and Cooper. I was dead-set on Lucas/Luke for a while, and then when it came closer, I wasn't so sure. Today, I gave up my right to change the name. Today we had our "big ultrasound." Any of you who are reading this have already read about the results on Facebook, I am sure, but I will announce it officially on my blog now: IT'S A GIRL!

This is our little butterbean at 8 weeks, 4 days gestation:

Here is the scroll of pictures from today's ultrasound at 18 weeks, 6 days gestation:

And this is Amelia Dean:

A little about how we came up with the name, and why I gave up my right to change my mind. When Katie and I were very small, our family lived in Sulphur. Both of our parents worked, so we had a babysitter who kept us everyday. Her name is Clydean Holland. She is one of the most special people I have ever known. She contracted polio as a young girl and has been in a wheelchair for as long as I can remember. My mom tells me stories of Clydean walking with crutches, but I cannot remember this. Anywho, my mom's mom passed away before I was born and Clydean has been the closest thing to a maternal grandmother that I have had. Even after we moved to Marietta when I was four, she kept us whenever my parents went out of town. Now that we are grown, she has always been interested in how we are doing and we love to visit her in Sulphur whenever possible. Her grandson Derrick is 3 years younger than I am and has always been like family. I love this woman and I want to honor her by naming my daughter after her. I hope that my own daughter will be as strong and loving as Clydean has always been. I called Clydean tonight and told her that we are naming the baby after her. She cried and said that nobody has ever named a little child after her before. It was a very sweet conversation in which she went into old stories about Katie and me, and the crazy things we said and did as toddlers.

Changing the subject one last time, for one last picture: My husbee is a photographer. I have been asking him for days to take a pic of my belly so I can post it on Facebook or my blog. This has not happened, so I took it upon myself to get a little shot of the belly in my full-length mirror. This is what I got. I don't know the first thing about setting up a good photo, so please do not judge me!

First One

I know I am about ten years behind, but I have finally decided to start a blog. It seems that it is "the thing" that all the cool moms are doing. I want to be a cool mom, so here I am.

If you haven't heard, Zach and I are expecting our first baby sometime mid-November and we are super excited about it. I have my big ultrasound next Wednesday, and plan to post all the pictures that blogger will allow :) Hopefully, once we know the sex of this little miracle, we can finally decide on a name. We have tossed around some ideas, and we have a few favorites, but no definite boy name yet. I am 99.99% sure that if the baby is a girl, her name will be Amelia Dean Riggin. If the baby is a boy, we have considered Landon, Lucas (Luke), and Grady for first names and Robert, William or Foster for middle names. Feel free to comment on name choices.

I would appreciate any tips from my experienced mommy bloggers. I love all the cute banners on some of the other blogs, but I don't know how to do it!

I hope you'll keep coming back. I also hope that I am faithful to keep this blog updated. We'll see how it goes the next few months.