23 Weeks and Other Fun Stuff!

I am 23 weeks so far! I went to my dr appt today and AM's heartbeat was loud and clear and in the 160's! She is a busy bee! Dr. Walsh said my last ultrasound looked good, AM was still small but progressing! We are going back for another growth ultrasound in 2 weeks and then starting at 28 weeks we will go in weekly for a bio-physical ultrasound to check my fluids and make sure the baby is not under any stress. It seems intense to do it weekly but I am so thankful that they are being overly cautious vs not recognizing a problem!!!

Here is what AM is doing this week and a picture!


Week 23 of Pregnancy: Fetal Weight Gain
At eight inches and slightly over a pound, your baby is the size and shape of a small doll. You've probably heard your developing baby's heartbeat through a Doppler a number of times, but by now you can also hear it through a standard stethoscope. What a heart throb! At eight inches and slightly over a pound, your baby is the size and shape of a small doll. (But then, you already knew that you were carrying a living doll, didn't you?) This week marks the beginning of some serious weight gain. Your baby's weight in the next four weeks alone should double (and you may feel as though yours is too). You have probably heard your developing baby's heartbeat through a Doppler a number of times already (though you never get tired of hearing it), but by now you can also hear it through a standard stethoscope. What a heart throb! Your baby's skin is reddish in color now because of the developing blood vessels underneath (remember, the skin is very thin still). It also hangs loosely from his or her little body at this point. That's because the skin grows faster than the fat develops during fetal growth. But don't worry. By the time your baby is born, he or she will be pleasantly plump and filled out — from chubby cheeks to chubby toes.


It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!!!!

This movie came on two nights ago and for some reason I got SO excited. It took me back to when I was little and watched this every Halloween. We were not a "Halloween" family but this is the one thing I do remember loving. So, I propped Palmer up next to me and we sat and watched this movie. He was in AWE and laughed at all of the funny parts especially Snoopy dressed up as a pilot :) In that moment I was the happiest mom in the world!

I LOVE traditions and there are SO many things I can't wait to do with P and AM. Tex thinks I am nuts but I even want to buy matching pj's for the whole family to wear every Christmas Eve night starting this year :) Traditions meant so much to me when I was little, it was the consistent things in life that I always counted on and still do. I can't wait to put valentine notes in lunch boxes, and hide Easter baskets and do Easter Egg Hunts for Easter, buy matching Red, White and Blue outfits and decorate bikes for the 4th of July Parade, make spiders out of gummie worms for Halloween, and go around the table and name one thing you are thankful for for Thanksgiving and for Christmas, there are just too many to name! Chain Link countdowns, baking cookies, Bernstein Bears Christmas video and putting up the tree, etc.... I am so blessed that I have such a wonderful family and I get to re-live all of these innocent moments thru my children, what a great feeling!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

We had a GREAT weekend! This weekend epitomized why I have always wanted to be a mom, it was that great of a weekend :) This weekend was all about Prince Palmer! It was his weekend to have fun and for mommy and daddy to be at his beckon call (as if we are ever not!)

Some highlights of our weekend:
Friday night we went to P's fall carnival at "school/daycare"! Do you remember cake walks? Oh my gosh Cake Walks bring back SO many memories from Elementary School! His room sponsored the cake walk so I brought in some yummy deserts and Palmer and I walked around until he won a prize! Mind you, all of the kiddos were dressed up in their finest Halloween outfits. Most of the little girls were of course princesses except for the one scary girl who chose to be a dead cheerleader! All I could think is I hope Ann Mason doesn't want to be that one day!
Palmer luckily had no real opinions on his costume so I got to dress him up as the cutest monkey I have ever seen :)

Saturday we FINALLY made it to church! Bad, I know we have been horrible about going to church lately since Tex works on Sunday mornings so we decided to go on Saturday night and then treat Palmer to his fav kiddie cup of Strawberry Ice Cream, he ate it so fast that he got a head freeze but he kept right on going!

Sunday the festivities continued as we headed to the Prathers to eat lunch and see all of their home improvements! Lind's continues to be a trooper and is doing SO good! Please pray that baby Will isn't as stubborn as she thinks he will be and makes an appearance into this world soon! His nursery is fit for a king and they both seem so excited and ready, I can't wait for Palmer to meet one of his best friends ever!

After their house we headed home for naps and then got right back up for a Radio Disney Party at the Summit. The set up was not so great but a couple of Palmer's friends showed up Ms. Isabella, Ms. Savannah and Ms. Harper. (What is wrong with this picture?) He needs some BOYS around! He had a blast and ran around in his monkey outfit until he couldn't run any longer!

I had so much fun! I think I like doing this stuff more than he does. This is the stuff that I dreamed of doing when I am a mom and now I get to! Today was hard as usual to drop him off at daycare after such a good weekend! He hates it and so do I , that is our time to bond and then it seems that Monday always comes so fast.

Here are a few pics from the weekend! If you are wondering why all of his Monkey pics are of him looking in the mirror it is the only way I could get him to stay still! :)

The little Monkey's first glimpse of himself all dressed up! He is in AWE!


I think he is touching the mirror to make sure he is real :)


Well, we also attempted to paint AM's room but the painter that painted it yellow used an oil based paint for some reason! So now Tex gets to prime it then paint it, he was so excited he decided to wait until next weekend! :) Here are some before pics with all the furniture moved out!

Catch Up Thursday!

Well, we just got back from the high risk dr and Ann Mason is thriving! She is still small but she is growing consistently and that is what they like to see! She was definitely a mover and a shaker! They said she didn't stop moving the whole time, she was sucking her thumb, and waving her hands and grabbing her feet, etc... She was SO cute and luckily she was still a SHE :) I was scared something grew down there from 2 weeks ago! haha We will continue to go back every 4 weeks for an ultrasound until the due date so my mind can be at ease!

Here are some pictures from West Virginia! I swear I try to take pictures of Palmer all of the time but the little squirmer doesn't like to cooperate! Here are the "best" ones I could get of the weekend. You can notice that Mr. Palmer was not his happy self :) He does NOT like to be out of his surroundings, it jsut seems to throw him off :)

We are painting Ann Mason's room this weekend so I will post some pics! I am so excited to start decorating it! I have no patience at all when it comes to this stuff, I want it done NOW :) We are also taking Palmer to see Radio Disney for a Halloween Party and he is wearing his monkey outfit! It should be quite entertaining I think some of his friends are coming too! More pics to come!

Blake, Tex and Palmer Palmer not happy taking a pic with his cousins!

True West Virginia Style! John Deer baby!

Attention ALL BARGAIN SHOPPERS!!

No one loves a good bargain like me! I hate buying anything for full price even when it comes to cute kids clothes! I am bound and determined not to go broke just because I am having a girl! haha I LOVE Childrens Place! They could possibly have the best sales known to man! I just went on their website and went to the "sale" section... I also always google "Childrens Place Coupons" and stumbled upon and extra 15% off of my order to boot!!!

I got Ann Mason - 3 Dresses, 3 Footies, 1 Hat, 1 Blanket, 4 Tops, 3 Pants and 1 Jumper all for $52 with shipping and everything!!!! That is pretty darn awesome! I love getting good deals! Here are some of my fav's from the order!

Thoughts for Thursday

Well, the Templeton's don't have very much going on which is SIMPLY amazing these days! Tex is FINALLY over strep throat and seems to be pack to his old self! Kathy Templeton aka Mamaw has been in since Monday so we have all had a great time hanging out with her and Palmer had SO much fun getting to play "hookie" from daycare!

Kathy was gracious enough to buy Miss Ann Mason her very own beautiful white crib shown below, and I also picked out some pink roman shades for her room! Also my "blog friend" Melissa at http://melbelleart.blogspot.com/ is going to paint Ann Mason a 16X20 painting to match her bedding and also a monogrammed hand painted bow holder!! Go to her website she is fabulous and SO easy and nice to work with!!! Can you tell I am having fun shopping for a girl?

I think we are going to jump the gun and go on and start painting next weekend! I know 22 weeks seems early but with Birthday parties in Owensboro and my mom coming in and Thanksgiving, etc.... why not? Have I mentioned yet that Priness Ashley is coming to live with us every other week starting Dec 1st thru Jan 31st? So, not only do I have one princess in my tummy to decorate for I have a 25 year old princess that will be staying in the same room so it has to be fit for a queen!

We are headed to Tornado, West Virginia tomorrow for a family wedding on the farm? Yes, you heard the sentence right there is actually a city called Tornado and we are going there! Palmer is going to be in rare form with so many people and kids to run around with! We are coming back Saturday to rest all day Sunday!!! I will post pics for sure!

Girly Things....

So, I am still on cloud 9 about having a little girl of my very own! I just can't believe it! I know I was SO excited when we found out that Palmer was a boy but knowing that I get to experience one of each I have just been over the moon these past couple of days!

I am not in my opinion a real girly girl but seeing all of these pink clothes and thinking about bows and tights and girly things is just getting me SO excited!

So, we have officially come up with a name. Some people may love it or hate it but after much consideration Tex and I decide that we love it and that is all that matters. I am proud to announce that we will be calling our daughter

ANN MASON TEMPLETON

and yes we plan on calling her "Ann Mason" not Ann or Mason but the full "Ann Mason" this my friends is throwing a lot of people off! I remember the days that people would ask me what we were calling Palmer and when I would tell them they would give me that weird look like I was crazy but now that he is here, there is no other name that Suits him so I am hoping that Miss Ann Mason will be the same way!

So this having a girl thing is kind of bad though cause I "accidentally" keep on finding and buying her just the cutest little things :) I think it is appropriate that her monogram will be ATM! haha I get a kick out of that every time! Here are a few things that we have ordered so far....

Ann Mason's bedding! We are going to paint the walls a grass green instead of pink!


The quilt that matches Ann Mason's bedding!



So, I went a little Crazy in Michael's and attempted to dabble in some painting. I bought quite a few bare wood items that I decided to paint. Alas, I am NOT the painted I aspire to be but these were made from the heart. I have decided to focus my talents elsewhere and paint the remainder of the items a plain white but at least she will have a few homemade items from Mommy!

Here is the frame that I painted to match her bedding....


And this is the stool that I painted to go in her room.



Here are the cute letters for her room, they haven't
been painted white yet but once I paint them I will hang them'
with a hot pink and white polka dot ribbon.



I am cutting down on the buying! Thanks to Aunt Tricia we have a beautiful white crib and armoire so we have a lot of things set as far as the room goes, so that is good. Now I can just concentrate on the clothes and accessories! heehee!

It's A .......

GIRL, GIRL, GIRL, GIRL, GIRL, GIRL, GIRL, GIRL, GIRL, GIRL, GIRL, GIRL........

So, today ranks up there as at least one of the TOP 5 days of our lives!!! What a miracle these babies are! Yes, that is right we are having a precious baby girl!!!! I think I am still in shock because I was SO convinced it was a boy! She is absolutley precious and was moving around like crazy! It was the coolest thing ever when Kathy, our ultrasound tech, told us it's a little GIRL! I just started bawling like a baby and Tex's face turned 3 sheets of white! His world is going to be rocked!!!!

Please keep baby girl Templeton in your prayers as she is measuring quite small. We are going to see a high risk specialist for an ultrasound in 2 weeks. They don't know why I have trouble growing babies but they are going to try and find out. I have the upmost confidence in my dr and I am so glad she already has a good handle on the situation. Just say a little prayer for her!

I am rushing off to pick up Palmer to let him know he is going to be a big Bubby to his little Sissy!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!

The Perfectionist!

So today there is a little chain email that is floating around that tells your zodiac signs and if you don't send it to so many people you will have bad luck for the rest of your life type thing :) So to avoid any more potential bad luck I forwarded it against my better judgement (I hate these type of emails) but the point I am trying to get at is my zodiac sign is not very flattering, it reads:

VIRGO - The Perfectionist (Aug 23 - Sept 22) - Dominant In relationships. Conservative. Always wants the last word. Argumentative. Worries. Very smart. Dislikes noise and chaos. Eager. Hardworking. Loyal. Beautiful.. Easy to talk to. Hard to please. Harsh. Practical and very fussy. Often shy. Pessimistic. 7 years of bad luck if you do not forward

Wow! I mean I know that sometimes I am hard to please and I worry a lot but fussy and pessimistic just plain hurt :) I feel like all of the other signs read more like :Fun, Fun, Easy to get along with, more fun and just plain fun! And mine was terrible! I must work on some of these traits that I admittedly have asap!

Not included in these traits was IMPATIENT! I called my Dr.'s office today and told a little white lie! I know lie's are NOT good but I just couldn't help it. I kind of told them I may be out of town on Monday for work and was trying to see if I could push my ultrasound up to today or tomorrow? Pretty please with a cherry on top! She said oh this is your gender ultrasound? All suspicious like she knew what kind of shenanigans I was trying to pull. She said there was nothing open but if there was a cancellation she would keep me updated. I don't see how people wait their entire pregnancy! I just can't handle the suspense!

A Few Things to Celebrate

* Ok hold on to your seats.... Palmer has slept in his crib for 2 whole nights on his own!!! Both nights from 8p-8a!!!! I think we may be over the traumatic sleeping experience and well on our way to some more peaceful nights!

**Thanks to tylenol for Palmer and a whopping dose of antibiotics for mommy both Palmer and I are in great working order and back in action!!

*** I find out in less than a week what baby T #2 is going to be!!! I am not emailing or calling anyone I am demanding everyone check the blog for the big reveal on Monday!

Today is a good day! Sometimes I only talk about the bad days, so shame on me! Palmer and I had a GREAT morning watching cartoons and taking a walk and just hanging out. He is my favorite person in the world!

Staff Infections, Tonsillitis, and Baby Showers

I seriously could not make this stuff up if you paid me :) The Templeton's spent another Saturday at the ER at Baptist Hospital East! I tell you what... it seems like we are pro's at this hospital thing by now!

To make many long stories short Palmer woke up to our dismay on Saturday from his nap with a 104.5 fever. Mind you we had plans to go over to our friends house to watch the game for a few hours and then head to our supper club! Tex and I were so excited to get out and socialize and then bam Palmer turns up sick! We called our loving pediatrician and she was working an extra shift at Baptist ER so we toted Palmer down there and learned that he had tonsillitus. This was good news considering that the two main illness's going round the Louisville area were strep and chicken pox!

While we were there I told Palmers dr that I had gone to the Urgent Care myself the day before. I had what I referred to as a "zit" that has made my ear swell and hurt! The 90 year old dr at the urgent care told me that it was severely infected and sent me home with amoxicillan. Thank goodness Dr. Russell was nice enough to take a second look and immediately told me that it was no ear infection but rather a staff infection that was most likely MRSA!!! GREAT! So, she put me on a whopping dose of Augmenton and some ear drops!

So after a few hours at the ER we packed up the car and headed home dissapointed and slightly aggrevated that we can't seem to catch a break! What is the deal? I of course start racking my brain wondering if I did something to my poor child in the womb to cause him to be so sick all of the time? I feel like we just can't get ahead of these viruses! I am praying that baby T #2 comes out and is as healthy as a horse, because I don't know how many more hospital visits we can take! Palmer is such a trooper though! Even with a 104.5 fever he was still pushing around his Walmart shopping cart :) Nothing stops this boy!

On a better note Sunday was a GREAT day! Jamie, Erin and I hosted Lindsey and baby Will a baby shower! It was so fun to see everyone and FINALLY meet Ms. Riley for the fist time! I resisted holding her due to all of our ailments but she was absolutely precious and SO little! How easily you forget. I hope that I remeber how to have a baby that small again! Linds looked so great and I think everyone had a great time! Here are some pics....
The hostess and the mommy to be!

Erin and a mad Riley :)

The mommy to be looking GREAT!

Lindsey getting her awesome painting for Wills room!

A few minutes in the Brain of Blake!

I know two posts in one day, I am SO crazy :) This is definitely a random post!! Bear with me....

* Ok, so ever since I have been little I have always wanted to know EXACTLY when things were going to happen. I think it is my OCD and a little of my anxiety working in over time and I just like to be prepared for what I am going to be doing :) I was never just happy with the answer "we are going to the mall today" my response would be "Ok, well what time exactly are we going to the mall today" , you can see where this is going. I figure there is a lot of things in my life that are out of my control but at least I can try and manage my activities :)

Due to this little characteristic of mine I have stumbled across a GREAT website that I use daily! http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/customcount.html You can type in any date in the future or in the past and it will tell you exactly how many days, weeks, minutes, and seconds it is away!

So here are a few use-less pieces of information that I type in quite frequently!

1. I have now known for 95 days that I am pregnant with baby T# 2, is that possible?

2. I am now 144 days away from having Baby T #2! That doesn't sound like too many!

3. I am ONLY 11 DAYS AWAY from finding out what baby T #2 is!!

** Second random thought. I showed Tex the "boys" bedding last night that I had bought and he had the nerve to say it was girly? WHAT! How can brown and black be girly? He said the circles were girly? This coming from a guy who can't be peeled away from the new 90210 and one of his fav movies is my best friends wedding! Enough Said :)

***Third random thought! I have slacked on the Family of the Month. Ernie I need some family pics and I will award you and Jon shortly!

***** Fourth and last random thought. I have no "belly" pics I don't think they are required or as desired with the second pregnancy. Below is a pic of me, mom and Ashley from this weekend so that can be my "belly" pic :)

Bedtime Saga Cont.....

To my dismay the "big boy" bed set-up has failed us! The bedtime saga continues in the Templeton household! Mommy kind of put things on hold while Tex was in Cali and let Palmer sleep in bed with me every night. I enjoyed the company just as much as he did! :) So when Tex got home we talked about how something drastically needed to be done about this situation. Last night we stuck to our guns and put a night light in the hall to give P some light in his room and laid him in his bed and walked right out! He cried just for a minute before falling fast asleep! Tex and I both just looked at each other in amazement and fell fast asleep ourselves just the two of us in our very own bed! Throughout the night Palmer cried out a few times but put himself back to sleep, this was going great!....

Until that is Tex I and I heard a "Oh" sound and a thud about 2:45 and we listened for more but it was quiet until Tex screamed "Oh my Gosh!" and I turned and looked around and here comes P's little body moving 90 mph with his sheep and his blanket straight to our bed! How did this happen? He NEVER moves from that bed, in fact I was so completely convinced that he would NEVER try to get out of the bed. How naive was I?

So below are pictures of our family at 3:00 am! This is a typical scene right now. I don't think Tex was as amused by this whole situation and me taking my camera out at 3 in the morning :) I don't know where baby T #2 is going to fit in between Me, Tex, Palmer and Molly! :) Please help us I don't think I have slept since our hospital stay that brought about this whole sleeping nightmare :)

Back to the drawing boards my friends, I will let you know if we figure out what works!


Palmer Ecstatic that he is back where he belongs, in bed
with mommy and daddy!

Tex looking at Palmer like this kid is a mess!
Obviously Palmer thinks this is the greatest thing ever!

The Family! All ready to go back to sleep and dream sweet dreams!