Adventures In Motherhood

Jonah-ism's

2011-05-07T10:48:00.000-07:00

Jonah sneezed into his hand, looked at it and said "Mom, I got Bless You on me!"

Jonah to Noah: "Noah, ghosts aren't real, they're make-a-leaf!"

"It smells like a noise"

Moving

2010-07-13T13:22:00.001-07:00

A lot has happened since I last blogged in March! In mid April we all got a nasty flu bug. It was the boys' first flu ever and the first for Ben and myself in a long time! Noah was the carrier and it hit him really hard, poor guy went to the Dr and Urgent Care about 6 times in one week and almost to the ER several time because he was so dehydrated. He barely walked for a week, just sat, and didn't eat and would throw everything up. So sad :( Jonah's was quick but nasty, as was ours.

Ben's Mom came to visit towards the end of all that, it was a blessing to have her here to be with Jonah while Ben and I took Noah to all the Dr appointments, and thankfully she didn't get sick! Ben was on vacation while she was here which was nice, but we had some car trouble during that time too so we were stressed to say the least.

Then Ben's Mom went home and Ben went back to work the last Tuesday of April and I thought we would get back to our normal routine. How wrong I was! Ben called me a couple hours after he'd left saying the entire install team had been let go! Talk about shock.

May and June are very fuzzy, I think I had a birthday in there at some point? Luckily Ben found a job about 2 weeks after being let go, but it was very stressful and wasn't going to support us so he quit. We had sold our second vehicle and gotten rid of a lot of extras like cable, Netflix, etc.

Our landlord was kind enough to shorten our lease to 6 months so we needed to be out by the 31st of July. We had an apartment lined up but still no job, so there was talk of moving to Illinois or Seattle where we have family. At the end of June Ben had an interview with a sub contractor position for Cox. 2 anxiety filled weeks later he got the job!!

We move into our apartment this Saturday, it's a small 2 bed 2 bath literally right behind my sister's house in Glendale. Our patio faces the fountains which will hopefully be very relaxing.

We still have some stressful times ahead of us with moving, getting settled, buying a work vehicle and getting back on our feet... but we've survived all of this and God has proved He really won't give us more than we can handle!

House hunting and such

2010-03-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

Joined a new mom group up here in Anthem a couple months ago and it has been a God send for myself and the boys! We've been having some great play dates in this amazing Spring weather and meeting lots of wonderful moms and kids! Noah is really taking off with his walking and Jonah has been fully potty trained since mid January!

We are thinking and praying about buying a house. We will have been up here in Anthem in this rental for 3 years come August and have completely outgrown this house. Our landlord is our realtor so we can move anytime. Anthem is part of a rural loan which doesn't require a down payment, but the money is running out on that fast. There is also a $8,000 incentive if you have a contract signed by the end of April. Both of those things are making us want to get the process going! But prices are supposed to continue to drop this year. So if we don't find something we love by next month then we will know we're supposed to wait.

That's about all for now!

Renaissance Festival 2010

2010-02-18T13:11:00.000-08:00

It's a yearly tradition to go to the AZ Ren Fest with my sister and brother in law, we eat and drink and enjoy watching all the fun people and events. We had missed the last two due to Nate's surgery and then more babies being born :) This year we brought all 4 boys and also drug along my poor mom and dad. We decided to go on President's Day which is 2 for 1 admission and all the boys are free since they're under 5. We figured it wouldn't be very busy... we were WRONG! First of all it took almost 2 1/2 hours to get there because traffic came to almost a stand still, all because of the festival! We had to park out in the boonies and then the ticket line was insane. When we finally got through the gates it was so crowded we could barely walk, I almost had a panic attack! Once we got through that crowd it got a bit better but it was still probably 3x more crowded than it's ever been when we've gone. It was in the mid 70's which was great when we were in the shade but a bit toasty out in the sun. We managed to get some good food and enjoyed ourselves but next year we will go on a Sunday and will not be bringing the boys with!

Here's Jonah on the butterfly ride. I took a video of it and at one point you can hear him yell twice "Help! Help!" He liked it for the most part :)

Ben "storming the castle"

Gramma and Jonah sharing an orange icee

Mmm steak on a stick!

Yes, he chose the fairy :)

Noah's 1st Birthday Party

2010-01-19T20:14:00.000-08:00

We had our family get together on Sunday, it was very low key and everyone had a nice time.

He's silly

2010-01-09T14:34:00.001-08:00

First hair cut!

2010-01-07T12:29:00.001-08:00

Jonah was 4 months old when we had to cut his hair first, shows you how different they are! Then when Jonah was almost a year we just buzzed it but Noah's is so thin and fine I knew I had to have someone else do it.
He did so great, barely fussed! He did end up on my lap at the end though :)

Surprise! Big boy!

Happy 1st Birthday, Noah!

2010-01-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

More pictures to follow after our family party on the 17th, this was just a mini party on his actual birthday last Wednesday.

Potty Power!

2010-01-02T12:53:00.000-08:00

Right before Noah was born, when Jonah was 2 1/2, he had started going pee in his little potty and I was sure we were on the road to toilet training! Then Noah was born and he reverted, not that I was surprised. What DID surprise me was the fact that it would take him a whole year to even go near the toilet again! We talked about it constantly, read lots of book and watched lots of movies about it. Then during the last part of December I decided to put him in underwear one morning right after he woke up before he peed. He had an accident and I could tell it freaked him out so I just kept putting him in undies for parts of the day. Then the week of Christmas we were at home with nothing to do so I just picked him up and sat him on the big toilet on his new Thomas seat cover. He didn't freak out as much as I thought he would and sat for an hour before finally getting down and then he took a nap. The next day (Christmas Eve day) we sat again, and an hour later after lots of whining, he peed!! It was a Christmas miracle! For the next couple days he fussed and sat for a long time before peeing but by the next week he was a pro and he now does it all by himself, I barely have to help him!

I know the pooping will be another struggle but we'll get it! I'm so proud of him and can't believe how stubborn he really is! :)

Brothers don't shake hands, brothers gotta hug!

2009-12-21T19:07:00.000-08:00

I came around the corner and saw this!

Thank God my camera was right there!

Jonah had initiated it, I think it was mainly out of excitement that we were getting ready to go ride the train and he just had to hug someone!

Finally got Jonah to look at me

Noah was pretty much done at this point :)

Christmas Survey

2009-12-16T20:11:00.000-08:00

I stole this from my friend's blog, thanks Amanda! :)

Best childhood gift from Santa:
Well I never believed in Santa. I don't think my parents specifically said "There is no Santa" they just never said there was and always made sure we knew the real reason of Christmas. But anyhoo, one of my most memorable gifts was The Little Mermaid soundtrack cassette. It was white I remember and I played that thing over and over and over, I still know every word to every song :)

Best childhood memories:
The candlelight Christmas Eve service at Pureheart, the church I grew up in. We'd get dressed up and go to church as a family and every person had their own candle and we would sing Christmas songs. I miss that!

Favorite Christmas cookies:
Um, all of them???

Icky Christmas memory:
I'd have to go with last year. I was about to pop and due any day with Noah and was so uncomfortable and nervous that I really couldn't enjoy it :(

It's not Christmas without:
Champagne brunch at my parent's house, YUM :)

Christmas Pet Peeve:
For sure the fact that the stores bring have started bringing out Christmas in September! One holiday at a time people!

Real or Fake:
I am so sad to announce that this year we have our first fake tree.... moment of silence.... There's just something about going and picking one out and then that wonderful smell that fills the house! BUT it's pathetic when the tree starts to turn brown only a week after and then it sits outback until bulk pick up. Sad. So last year we got a cheap one on clearance after Christmas and it really isn't pretty. But it's nice not having to worry about our house burning down because of it and we will save $50 a year now! Plus Jonah LOVES it and that's really all that matters :)

I spend Christmas Eve:
We've started a tradition of letting Jonah open one present before bed, that's what we used to do growing up.

It works!

2009-12-15T12:51:00.000-08:00

Both of my boys have constipation problems, sometimes really bad! My sister and I go to the same Pediatricians office and her boys' Dr recommended MiraLax for Nate and she said it worked and then another Dr there also said to try it. I had a hard time getting it in Noah but finally figured out and a way.... and let me tell you it really does work!

Christmas according to Jonah

2009-12-13T18:39:00.001-08:00

Has it really been a year already?

2009-12-12T14:08:00.000-08:00

This has been the fastest year ever! Last year at this time I was in Phoenix every Monday for my weekly OB appt and then the stupid NST testing and praying he would just come out already! It seems like just yesterday we brought Noah home from the hospital and all the craziness began! The first 4 months were the hardest with Ben working so much and Noah being such a fussy pukey baby and then already having Jonah to take care of.
And then suddenly he turned into this stubborn goofy love bug that finally decided to crawl and pull himself up!

I can't imagine our lives without the little stinker! This past week he woke up early Tuesday morning to nurse and was burning up! I didn't have a thermometer so gave him Tylenol and he went back to sleep. When I borrowed my neighbors therm a few hours later he wasn't as hot so I just chalked it up to being overdressed. But he was cranky all day. Then that night he got really hot again, over 103, and didn't sleep good. Wednesday morning I took him to the Dr and she couldn't find anything wrong, said maybe just a virus or possibly a UTI. Wednesday night was horrible, at one point he was crying so hard and for so long I almost called 911! Temp was down again Thursday but still cranky. I was going to take him back to the Dr Friday morning and they were going to have to do a cath swab to test for a UTI. Well Thursday night he slept all night and was fine Friday morning! Then before his morning nap I felt his gums and noticed a molar coming in! Could all that really have been because of a TOOTH?!?! I hope the rest of them aren't as dramatic!

You gotta grow up sometime kid!

2009-11-18T14:29:00.000-08:00

We constantly talk to Jonah about starting to go pee on the potty and hoping he will try it soon! The other day I was jokingly calling him Baby Jonah and he said, "No, I'm a big boy!" I said "Well then you should go pee on the potty because babies pee in their diapers and big boys pee on the potty!" Without missing a beat he said, "Well then I'm a medium boy!"

Don't laugh at me...

2009-11-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

But I'm very sad about this....
http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2009/11/jensen-ackles-and-danneel-harris-engaged/

More sad then when John Krasinski got engaged! But Ben's girlfriend (Jewel) went off the market this past year so I guess it was bound to happen. Sigh...

October aka the sick month

2009-11-04T13:27:00.000-08:00

October was basically full of colds. Jonah got one the first weekend of October and said his throat was hurting so I took him to the Dr thinking it was strep again, luckily it wasn't. Noah got it next and then they were ok for about a week and then Jonah got it AGAIN and then Noah AGAIN. Hopefully we will be ok for a little while and praying that the flu stays out of our house!

We haven't had a lot of playdate lately but I try to keep Jonah busy with a story time every week and it's been really nice having my Mom available to take him since she still doesn't have a job. Still no potty progress (sigh). Lots more outdoor time though thank GOD, I ♥ Phoenix winters!

Noah just turned 10 months and he decided to learn a bunch of new tricks literally that day! He started signing "all done" and "more" and started waving and clapping! He also goes from lying down to sitting up and vice versa. Still no crawling but he gets where he needs to go by scooting and rolling. He tried to pull himself up to standing, especially when he's in the bath, so that's always an adventure! He is such a big boy, my arms were SO sore from carrying him around on Halloween! He now has 4 teeth, the top 2 and bottom 2. This is such a fun age, I love it.

We will most likely re-sign our rental lease for another year since even though it's a buyers market the houses in our price range are being sold before we can even blink. It's so frustrating. But we love the house we're in, even though it's getting way too small, and we love Anthem despite the traffic.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-04T13:14:00.000-08:00

Hello blogging friends, I've missed you all! Well it feels like I was just blogging about last years Halloween, time is sure flying. This year we invited people to our house to trick or treat in Anthem. It was our first Halloween spent up here since the first October in this house we were in Illinois and then last year we went to my brother's house. We had quite a big group which was hectic but fun. I wasn't sure if many people would be out trick or treating or giving out candy since a lot of houses here have gone into foreclosure but it was quite a success! I had no idea so many people lived in this neighborhood!

Jonah kept insisting on being a monkey again like last year but I kept telling him he's too big for it. We borrowed my nephew's costumes and they fit the boys perfectly.

My sister and I were cats, complete with tails :) Here's me and Noah the Dalmation:

Here's my fireman Jonah. A neighbor said his son is the Chief of the Phoenix Fire Department and he was very impressed by the costume!

Here are the two grumps ready to go trick or treating.

Attempting a family picture:

Finally home and able to eat the chocolate :)

First dentist visit!

2009-09-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

Jonah had his first dentist visit last Thursday! Unfortunately I have no pictures of this because due to my extreme anxiety with dentists it was Ben that took him, and well, men don't think of that kind of thing. :) They did take a picture of him there for his "certificate" but it looks more like a mug shot.

Months prior we started reading books on going to the dentist and what would be involved and explained all they would do there. You could tell that morning he was very nervous although I made sure and always stayed positive about it and wouldn't talk about my fears in front of him. For some extra comfort he brought along two of his stuffed animals. They only take new patients early in the morning so they basically had to get up and GO. He loved the waiting room, since it is Kidzaam after all! But Ben wasn't allowed to go back with him for xrays and needless to say they only got 3 before he flipped out. They let him play out front a bit longer and then it was time for the check up. He cried through most of it even though he was on Ben's lap, but the dentist was able to get a thorough check up and even cleaned a little and yay no cavities!

Thankfully he doesn't have to go back again until March!

Jumperoo

2009-09-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

He spent a couple of days making this VERY loud noise, luckily it didn't last long!

SO big!

2009-09-03T15:37:00.000-07:00

Our loud children

Just because...

2009-09-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

"It's My Jonah's Tools!"

2009-09-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

This was a few days before Jonah's birthday, we had bought this the week before and had it hidden....

Ghetto Water Slide

2009-09-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

I have several videos to upload but it takes so long that I will just do one a day. Here's an awesome slide that Rachel gave us and we taped our hose to it for an instant water slide! :)

I love Cheesecrisp!

2009-09-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

Jonah and I were cuddling on the couch today and I said to him, "I love you!" Without missing a beat he said back, "I love, cheesecrisp!"

Yesterday he woke up crying from his nap (which he often does) and I asked him if he'd had a nightmare and he said yes. I asked what it was about and he said through a new batch of tears, "boogers!"

Noah is finally sitting up on his own, although still a tad tipsy, and finally is getting some teeth! He's a little behind Jonah as by now Jonah had at least a couple teeth and was already crawling. But Noah gets around quite well by rolling :)

Bathtime silliness

2009-08-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

We are starting to bathe the boys together more often but never before has Noah thought Jonah was so stinking hilarious! They crack each other up in the car all the time but this was a new level of hilarity. I'm so glad Ben was home so he could grab the camera!

Jonah's 3rd Birthday

2009-08-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

You're a lucky 3 year old when your birthday gets spread out over two whole weeks! It started the week of his birthday (which was Wednesday July 29th) with getting to open some presents a whole 3 days early! The presents from his Nanny arrived in the mail that day and then we let him open our gift (a huge box of almost real tools complete with a tool belt and hard hat!). Man was he excited! I will have to upload that video one of these days. Then Tuesday we made his cake (he LOVES to cook) and we ate it for breakfast Wednesday morning. This is when he busted out the new super cheesy faces:

We did something special every day that week and then on Sunday August 9th we had the party. We waited because my brother and his family were out of town. Here's the train/Spongebob cake I made:

Everyone singing Happy Birthday:

Blowing out the candles:

Well then I soon discovered that 3 is the new 2 in that suddenly he became even more stubborn than before! We tried once again with the potty training and it was quite the awful day. His 3 year well check went great (no shots, yay!) and his Dr said just go with his lead on the potty training and that 4 is an average age for boys. Another whole year of buying diapers??? Hopefully not! He will be going to the dentist in a couple weeks for the first time, THAT should be interesting! Ben is taking him since I have major dentist anxiety and I'm sure that would just rub off on Jonah.

But other than that I'm loving this age! He's such a great kid and I love being with him every day!

Baby Dylan

2009-08-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

This little family needs your prayers more than ever this week! Please visit their blog site and pray for this precious baby boy!
http://prayfordylan.blogspot.com/

♪ Happy Birthday to Jonah! ♪

2009-07-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

He has been singing Happy Birthday to himself for about a month now, and telling me he wants an Elmo cake like his friend John had at his party months ago... even though he doesn't even like Elmo!

This is such a fun age, and such a hard one too! He is still being SO stubborn with potty training! No amount of bribery works, even if I ask him if he wants chocolate milk, which he would drink all day long if you let him. He says, "No thank you, I have my white milk!" Like that's what he prefers! Ben will have a week off the first week of September so we're just going to go cold turkey and tell him there are no more diapers. It will be a week of tears on both ends I'm sure, but I know he's more than ready.

Another frustration is trying to get him to eat! If it was left up to him he would probably have a handful of Goldfish and that would be it for the day! It's such a struggle and makes me very upset at times. I know, I know, "He'll eat when he's hungry", but what if he's NEVER hungry???

But other than that he's such a good kid. He still does pretty good in his big boy bed although still gets out and reads so we have to go in several times to tell him to go so sleep. He is so good with Noah, although I'm sure that will change when Noah is mobile! His sentence structures crack us up daily, he goes around talking like Yoda half the time! And his intelligence level continues to amaze me daily. He is starting to write more and more letters and can read and spell simple words now like Mom, Dad, Cat, Dog, Noah, etc.

He has a big obsession with taking things apart and figuring out how they work, he totally has Ben's mind! He's really into tools too, especially screwdrivers!

So next week is the big day! His party won't be until August but I'm going to decorate the house Tuesday night so when he wakes up we can celebrate his birthday all day long :)

Happy 3 Years, Jonah Columbus! We love you!

Sleeping like a baby!

2009-06-29T15:42:00.001-07:00

Noah has FINALLY decided to start sleeping through the night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First it was every 3-4 hours he was getting up and I thought that was just the best thing ever! Then this past week he was putting himself to sleep and sleeping from about 9:30 to 5:30 and then I would bring him into bed with us and nurse him and he would fall back asleep until 7:30 or 8! Then last night was 12 hours straight!!! I woke up this morning realizing he was still asleep so of course I ran in and poked him to make sure he was breathing and he stayed asleep thank goodness. I know this may not continue and of course things will ruin it here and there like teething, but I am going to enjoy it for as long as it lasts! And Jonah has been sleeping great lately too, WHEW!

Pray For Baby Dylan

2009-06-28T21:16:00.000-07:00

http://prayfordylan.blogspot.com/

I have yet to meet this amazing little boy but I know his parents and they are going through the hardest time right now. Please keep them in your prayers!

Twice the fun!

2009-06-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

Both of my boys are sick at the same time. It's Noah's first illness and I'm of course beyond stressed. I was able to keep him from getting Jonah's 24 hour flu and strep throat earlier this year, thank GOD, but this I just couldn't keep away. Jonah came down with it yesterday morning, full blown head/sinus cold and then got a fever last night. Noah started sniffling last night and now has a fever as well. F-U-N. I'm on the verge of getting it and am washing my hands every 5 seconds, drinking water by the gallon and inhaling Vitamin C. At least Noah's a happy little sicky and it hasn't gotten bad yet (knock on wood). He's still nursing and sleeping ok and isn't too stuffy. It's just the fever that worries me when they're this young. :( Jonah on the other hand should win an Oscar for pathetic-ness, good grief! I know you don't feel good but come on! At least he's also still eating and drinking and isn't acting too droopy.

It also sucks cause last week was pretty long with not many playdates and I was looking forward to getting out and about this week. No such luck :( BUT at least I am already at home and don't have to worry about calling in sick anywhere! If we can make it through this without any doctor visits and without me catching it then I think I'll keep my sanity.... I'll keep you posted ;)

Well that helps!

2009-06-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

We have a jungle/light/music toy in Noah's crib that he just learned how to turn on when he rolls over and wakes up. It really helps lengthen the time until I have to go get him. Thanks for figuring that out, buddy. :)

He also loves to feed himself cereal and throws major fits if you take his spoon away. I kinda figured he would be my eater since we practically have to beg Jonah to eat! It's crazy that he will turn 6 months old when Jonah turns 3 next month... wow.

Right now, both boys are having issues with sleeping at night, which makes for an always exhausted Mom and Dad. As I keep saying, it's a good thing they're cute!

Firsts

2009-05-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

Noah rolled over for the first time yesterday, from front to back! Jonah did it at this age too so I knew it was coming. Today I tried rice cereal for the first time, he gobbled it up! He's been so interested in what we're eating and he still nurses so much at night that I'm praying this may help him sleep longer. Hey, I can dream, right?

4 Month Check Up

2009-05-11T16:21:00.001-07:00

First and foremost, welcome to Nicholas Andrew Saint! My sister's second son, the 6th boy for our family! He was born on May 6th at 5:30 pm by "Emergency" c-section. She had been having NSTs done bi-weekly (like I'd had with Noah) and on that day she'd had a contraction and his heart rate dipped so they decided to take him then. It was a VERY stressful afternoon to say the least, waiting to hear the news that Chris and Nick were ok! His due date was the 14th but he still came in at a healthy 8lbs 10oz! They are both doing great, back home and starting their life as a family of 4. :)

Can I just say how much I miss blogging?? It's so therapeutic. No time lately though!

Noah's 4 month well check was today and everything was great except for the fact that they were slower than molasses there! He weighs 19 pounds, 96%, (same as Jonah at that age) and is almost 27 inches long, 92%. Still a smaller head than Jonah, measuring 43.5, 75%. He's a very healthy boy for which I am so thankful. He got 1 shot in each leg, on shot was a combination of 3, I love that they have those now! And an oral vaccine. Glad to be done with that until July when he has his 6 month and Jonah gets his 3 year well check... thank God no shots for Jonah during that visit!

Life is crazy right now, obviously still adjusting to having 2 kids, things are getting better but still rough. Ben has been working 6 days a week and very late days so we are both exhausted but thankful he has a job!

Well of course one kid woke up, so that's it for now.....

Big Boy Bed!

2009-04-05T16:31:00.000-07:00

Ben put the toddler bed in Jonah's room this morning, good thing we're getting rid of that crib since it broke as Ben took it apart! Jonah was excited to have it in his room but said NO when we asked if he wanted to sleep in it. I had the joy of putting him down today alone since Ben was gone. I heard some rustling soon after I put him down and when I went back in, he had cleared out a whole row of books and had put them in his bed to read. Ha! I put them away and told him again to stay IN BED. I had to go in a few more times to tell him to go to sleep but he didn't get out after that first time. He slept great although he was halfway off the bed when he woke up... may need to use those gaurd rails. We'll see how tonight goes, I'm pretty nervous, hopefully he only gets out when it's time to wake up! It had to happen sooner or later though :)

PS No, he's not doing devil horns in that picture, ha!

What a day!

2009-03-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

Today was Nate's shunt surgery so after a rough night with Noah I woke up already stressed and anxious waiting to hear he came out of it ok. Soon after we all woke up, Jonah put his arms up to Ben to be picked up and Ben lifted Jonah up by his hands, hugged him and then put him down. Right away Jonah started crying and holding his left wrist. At first we thought he was just being dramatic but he wouldn't stop crying and he wouldn't let us touch his arm. I was hoping it was just Nursemaid elbow (dislocated) which I've seen many times at the daycare, but thought maybe his wrist was sprained. It didn't take us long to realize he needed to be seen so off they went to Urgent Care. With it being a Sunday we were sure they would be there until it closed at 2pm. Well just an hour later Ben called to say they had already been seen and were headed home! Thank the Lord there was hardly anyone there and the Dr, assuming it was Nursemaid elbow as well, twisted Jonah's arm and sure enough it popped back into place! Jonah of course bawled but after that you never would have known anything was wrong! He came in holding out his arm and said, "Look Mom, arm all better!" Poor Ben of course felt horrible, but the Dr and I both assured him that it does happen.

Noah decided to help us out today by only sleeping while we were holding him and waking up the second we would put him down in the bassinet. He is already too big for it so we think that's part of it, but he's also been really drooly so I think he's already teething. Good thing he's cute! ;)

Then the day took a turn for the better: Since last Monday we've had a toy car in it's box in Jonah's bathroom waiting to be opened if Jonah would pee on the potty. All week we've talked about it and Jonah would have conversations with himself about it, always ending with "No pee potty have car!" Well tonight after his bath he was running around naked and suddenly stopped short and ran to the bathroom. A few seconds later he ran back out smiling and said he had peed... and sure enough he did!!! We all shouted for joy and jumped and clapped! Jonah was so proud and thrilled to finally be able to open his car. Not sure what finally made him want to do it but we're sure glad he did! :)

Things are slowly getting easier, a lot of it has to do with the fact that Noah is finally letting me put him down for awhile in the exersaucer and also the swing, and he will even nap in the swing for short periods! We figured that out while at Teri's last week, and he even napped in Dylan's crib for awhile after falling asleep on his own! We are going to use the pack'n'play for awhile before we move him into his own room.

Noah's 2 month check up

2009-03-02T14:46:00.000-08:00

Ben and I were able to take Noah to his well visit today since Nita is here and she and Jonah hung out at home. Jonah was of course in heaven having his Nanny all to himself and all her attention! :) Noah screamed his sweaty head off all the way there of course. :) He weighs 14.5oz (95%), is 24 1/2 inches (93%) and his head is 41 1/2cm (84%)! He showed Dr Bingham all his tricks of holding his head up, smiling at her and cooing. She was very impressed by his size and all he's doing. She wasn't concerned with the spitting up as we didn't think she would be.

He had fallen asleep on me by the time the nurse came back to do his shots but took the oral rotavirus one fine and only screamed for about 30 seconds with the shots. We were happy to find out that they now have a combined vaccine so he only had to get 3 shots instead of 6! After that I nursed him and he passed out again and slept all the way home.

He has totally outgrown his 3-6 month clothes and I've had to pull out all the 6-9 month stuff! What a chunk! :)

Also, his Dr seemed to think that his eyes will stay blue, she said she really doesn't see any other color in there! Guess he really IS the UPS man's kid!

Poor neglected first born...

2009-02-23T13:54:00.000-08:00

Jonah's turning into such a funny kid... when he's not whining that is! :) He has known his letters, numbers, colors, shapes, etc for a really long time and has been able to count backwards, and also read, spell out, and now WRITE his name! He did it the first time the other night when we were in the shower, he likes to take shaving cream and put it on the shower door and write in it. Well all of a sudden he's writing out his name in the shaving cream! I actually got out of the shower to tell Ben, ha!

There are some funny things that he says, I love hearing him say "chocolate" and the other night I said, "Jonah, say chocolate"! Then he said, "Mom, say EGG!" HA HA HA!!! He runs around saying "5,4,3,2,1" almost an OCD thing, pretty funny. He also says to himself all the time, "Careful Jonah" and our new inside joke is "Whoops! Sorry! I fall down!". Not sure why but it cracks us all up. :)

We're trying to get back on track with the potty training since he was getting the hang of it before Noah came along... but he is of course being very stubborn about it. We're also going to switch to a big boy bed here soon!

It will get easier WHEN?

2009-02-20T14:39:00.000-08:00

If it wasn't hard enough having a newborn that loves to cat nap, constantly spit up and scream every time he isn't being held and for a couple hours every evening... I now have a 2 1/2 year old who goes around whining and wanting to be held and carried all the time, whether I'm holding Noah or not! I thought Jonah was doing pretty good with this new change but it's all of a sudden gotten really hard. And I get that it's because he always had my full attention and now he's got to compete for it, but I hate that I feel like he's being ignored half the time and I'm yelling at him the other half to stop whining at me! So obviously I'm struggling lately with feeling like an inadequate Mom and have been feeling a lot of guilt, frustration and annoyance. My friend Sarah came over today and assured me that it's not just me and that it's totally normal, and that did help some to hear that. Like I told her, I'm SO ready for Noah to be out of this newborn phase and for Jonah to start dealing with all this better.

This is why I haven't blogged lately....

2009-02-14T13:12:00.000-08:00

This is how he is for the first 5-10 minutes when I put him down... in anything or on anything, doesn't matter. He's happy for a little while, and then....

THIS happens....

It's loud and stressful and it makes him sweaty and my shoulders tense. Best part is he does it in the car too, pretty much the entire time, just like his brother used to do.

BUT he is napping in the swing as we speak! I'm slowly learning to just let him cry since I know he's clean and fed, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Last night he screamed on and off from the time we left my brother's house to the time Ben got home at almost 9, a good hour. It was his freak out time and I wasn't going to neglect Jonah's bath and bed time routine since I knew Noah was just fine otherwise. And in turn Noah is slowly learning how to calm himself down and eventually fall asleep, although he doesn't always stay that way.

I think I can say that things are slowly starting to get better, although I have my days where I'm in tears even before the day has already begun, and especially if I've been alone all day and then I learn at 4pm that Ben has another 3-4 hours of work left. My parents have been beyond helpful with helping me and rescuing me during those times, not sure how I would have done it without them!

He is doing pretty good at night but is still spitting up a LOT. Well they are both napping so I'd better get some cleaning done while I can....

One Month

2009-01-30T13:23:00.000-08:00

This has seemed like the longest month and the shortest month ever! I can't believe Noah is one month old today, time is flying by already. We have gotten more sleep then we thought we would be getting, especially compared to when Jonah was a newborn. There are good days and then there are really crappy days, like when Ben works late and my hormones are going haywire. Noah likes to scream and spit up a lot for a couple hours every evening so that's a lot of fun especially when Ben isn't home. He's a good baby though otherwise and loves to give me lots of smiles in the mornings. :)

I feel bad for Jonah sometimes, he seems to get the crappy end of the deal with not having me available to do much during the day with nursing Noah a lot. But he's such a good kid and plays really well by himself, although he's much more clingy these days. The poor guy had the 24 hour flu last Friday and Ben couldn't get out of going into work, thank the good Lord in heaven that my Mom was able to cancel her day and come help me out, it wouldn't have been pretty otherwise!

On a whole other note, Nate is being released from the hospital today and they will be home on Sunday!!! I'm sure it will help them all tremendously to be in their own home and beds and start the healing process together instead of in shifts like they've had to do this whole time. It seriously feels like they have been gone for months instead of 2 weeks! We can't wait to see Nate and help out the Saints however we can.

WOW

2009-01-28T21:16:00.001-08:00

Nate has been seizure free for a week!!!! It's amazing that after having thousands of them for a year he is now having NONE. He is out of ICU but they are still waiting to be sent home. They're hoping to be home by Sunday so pray that happens as they are all beyond ready to leave!

Brotherly L♥ve

2009-01-27T19:48:00.000-08:00

We've always had a routine that when Ben is home we all partake in Jonah's bedtime routine of hanging out in his room reading books for a bit before bed. And now Noah has joined us in that family bonding time as I'm usually nursing him to sleep. Then I will leave the room with Noah while Ben and Jonah cuddle for a few minutes and Jonah will give me a goodnight kiss and then kiss Noah (or Nonah as he calls him) on the head.

Well tonight Ben worked later so I had Noah already down in our room by the time Ben joined us for books. I gave Jonah a kiss and started to leave and then Jonah, looking very concerned, said "Kiss Nonah?" Let me tell you that made my heart skip a beat knowing that Jonah is starting to care about his brother being around and wanting him as a part of his special bedtime routine with Daddy and Mom. :)

Just to remind myself...

2009-01-20T13:11:00.001-08:00

When I have what I think are "bad" days or emotional moments during Noah's screaming time in the evenings, I will need to look at this and remind myself just how blessed I am and just how good I have it! Here's my thankful list:

1. Ben has a job. Not that it's totally secure, but it's a good one that let's me stay at home with our boys. That's priceless!

2. I have a reliable vehicle that let's me get out of the house whenever I need to or want to... not that it's easy going anywhere these days, but I know that I at least can!

3. We are in a nice home in a friendly, quiet, and safe neighborhood. We realized the other morning that we had left the front door totally unlocked all night... but we really didn't freak out since we know we're in a good area. And we're not in a small second story apartment any more, where our vehicles aren't anywhere nearby.

4. Having a washer/dryer inside the house is something that I still thank God for every time I use it, I will never take that for granted! Especially since Noah is a spit up baby, that just wouldn't have worked in our old apartment where we had to hike to the laundry room!

5. Our boys are healthy... and I don't say this in a boasting way because what Nate is going through right now really makes even a bad cold seem like nothing!

6. I have so much support! My hairdresser was telling me that she had literally no one when she was raising her two kids in Hawaii years ago, and also had no clue how to raise them! I have so many family members and friends that are willing to come help at a moments notice, or even just give an encouraging word or piece of advice.

.... I will leave this for now and add to it as I think of more things....

Keep Praying...

2009-01-20T09:57:00.000-08:00

I hate to sound redundant but Nate still needs all the prayers he can get! They still don't know if the surgery was successful so every day is very hard on Chris and Phil, as any parent can imagine! Keep them in your thoughts and hopefully I'll be able to post soon that it worked and that he can come home seizure free!

Too tired to even think of a good title...

2009-01-18T15:01:00.000-08:00

I've made it through my first week alone with the boys... well, I should say "survived" instead of "made it". Man alive is this tough!!! Noah eats a lot since he's so big and his fussy time is in the evening so I can barely get Jonah fed let alone myself since he just wants to nurse and be held. Thank the Lord that Ben hadn't been getting home too late, except for last night and my wonderful Dad came up for an hour since I was beside myself. Between the raging hormones and all the stress with Nate's surgery, I can cry for a good hour or so non stop at any given moment. I hate Jonah seeing me like that, he gets such a concerned look on his face. And bless his heart he's been having major constipation issues, I think that's how he's dealing with all the big changes going on. I feel so guilty when he wants to be picked up or just wants to sit on my lap and I have to tell him I can't because I'm feeding Noah.

I know, it won't always be this hard, and yes, we'll eventually figure out our own rhythm and routine... but right now it's HARD dang it! I know we are very blessed though and I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, and we are certainly enjoying and so in love with our Noah... especially when we have good nights like last night! :)

And please keep praying for Nate! He's still in the ICU and they won't know for maybe several more days if the surgery was a success or not. And please pray for Chris and Phil, this is taking such a huge toll on them in every way possible... but they are strong people!

My 2 Week Check Up

2009-01-13T14:58:00.000-08:00

Today started with a very teary goodbye to Ben as he headed out the door for his first day back to work after 2 weeks off... man was that hard! I'm sure I'll have a few of those but I know it will eventually get easier. Then it was off and running to get myself and both boys ready and out the door by 10am. They both cooperated beautifully, Noah slept the whole time and Jonah ate and watched WALL-E. It was other issues that made me almost have to cancel my whole day... anyone that has had a baby knows about bathroom issues afterwards and how that can ruin your whole day! I won't go into details but I finally made it out the door and actually got to Teri's 10 minutes early, I couldn't believe it! She came out to grab Jonah, and Noah and I headed over to the OB.

They were slow today but Noah slept the whole time in his car seat, he's definitely getting a raise in his allowance! ;) My incision is looking great and I somehow now weigh less than I did when I got pregnant! I gained about 15 pounds during this pregnancy and have lost 27 pounds since giving birth.... not sure how that works but I'll take it! :) I still have more I want to lose but I'm not in any rush.

I found out that Dr Zhang is only working out of the hospital for the next several months and that I was actually her last delivery for quite awhile! I'm even more thankful now that I had her as my Dr to deliver Noah.

Noah's 2 Week Check Up

2009-01-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

We had a "lovely" 1 1/2 hour visit at the Dr this morning for Noah's 2 week check up. We all went again since I'm technically still not allowed to drive. Noah checked out just fine, weighing in at 10lbs 7oz (93%), 23 inches long (99%) and head was 38cm (73%)... although I don't think she got his head measurement accurately. Even the Dr was amazed by his length, I think we may have a future ball player on our hands! :)

The Dr said they would be back in to do the heel prick, but we were waiting and waiting and no one was coming back. I finally saw her walk by again and asked what was going on, turns out the nurse before had already checked us out as gone, so no one even knew we were in there! How could they not though, Noah was screaming his bloody head off wanting to eat! Finally the nurse came and pricked his heel but couldn't get much blood. I finally had to take a break to nurse him and he fell asleep. She came back and tried again on the other heel but still nothing! I know they had the same problem with that in the hospital, I was just lucky enough to not have to witness it all. Finally the Dr came and took him out of the room to do it herself, it seemed to take forever and we could hear him screaming down the hall! :(

Poor baby was all sweaty when she brought him back and didn't even want to nurse, just passed out in his car seat and is still asleep. She said it's a good thing that he doesn't bleed easily, just not a good thing when it comes to getting blood! I wonder if the poor guy will have the same issues as me later in life when it comes to drawing blood from his veins. Luckily that's it until his 2 month check up, whew!

Jonah did awesome the whole time, played so nicely even with all the screaming going on.

Tomorrow is Ben's first day back to work, and to say I'm dreading it doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling. Plus I have to get myself and both boys ready in the morning and head back down to Phoenix for my own 2 week OB incision check. Thank the Lord Teri is going to watch Jonah so I only have to deal with Noah during that visit and it's not far from their house. I'm also going to be having several visitors through out the week which will help the transition a lot.

Feel free to come visit me whenever! ;)

Nate Update

2009-01-10T14:22:00.000-08:00

My nephew Nate will be undergoing brain surgery on Friday, January 16th at 6am at UCLA. Our Mom will be flying out there with them Thursday and staying until Sunday, so they will have some much needed support, but Chris and Phil will be staying for a week or two while Nate recovers. This day will be awful for them as parents and very stressful for all of us while we wait to hear that he's out of surgery and in recovery. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers for these next several weeks. Here is an update from my sister Christy's blog:

53 years ago today on January 8, 1956, a Christian missionary named Nate Saint and his fellow missionaries sacrificed their lives when they were witnessing to an Indian tribe in Ecuador. Afterward, their families continued to witness to these Indians who had murdered their husbands and fathers and converted them to Christianity. We had read the book called, "The Amazing Saints" by Nate's brother Phillip Saint, then the movie came out about them called "The End of the Spear" before Nate was born. We had liked the name Nathaniel and though it was a fine name to be called after someone who had given so much for his Lord. When I think of the love, forgiveness and courage their families made to continue God's work in the face of danger, it always moves me. And during the trials we are facing now, I think of their strength and trust in God to help them overcome their adversity.
And 37 years ago today, my parents, who were just kids themselves, got married and embarked on their own life journey. They are an incredible example of sticking together through life's trials and staying married through it all. They have been our rock and a great source of strength for us and I wish them a very Happy Anniversary!
And finally last week, my sister gave birth via c-section to a BIG healthy baby boy, Noah James. They are both doing fantastic and we appreciated your prayers for them.
As for Nate, thankfully he is completely clueless as for what next week holds for him. He is having more seizures as we were trying to wean down some of his meds. His neuro said today to keep them at their current dose as he will probably be on them for at least a year after surgery. I was hoping to have him on less drugs afterward, especially if it is successful. But he is tolerating them well so hopefully they won't be too much of a problem except that they taste bad!
He is also loving his swingset he got for Christmas that his Dad and Uncle Ben built in the backyard. He just loves to be pushed in his swing and hopefully one day will be able to play on it himself!
Some dear friends of ours, Linda Doyle and Laura Spencer, went to UCLA this week and donated blood for Nate's surgery! Another friend of theirs Nancy was also able to give blood for him. We are so blessed to have friends who are willing to give up their blood to help our baby boy - thank you so much to all of them!
We will be flying to LA on Thursday, Jan 15th and the surgery is scheduled for Friday morning at 6:00 am. I will update this website if I can that day and let you know how it goes. Please say a prayer for us then as it will be the worst day of our lives, but also the best if this surgery works!

Noah Pictures

2009-01-10T09:54:00.001-08:00

In case you haven't seen these plastered all over Myspace, Facebook and email.... :)

Flexing his muscles in the nursery :)

I took some of these with my cell so I could text them, this was just after getting into our room after recovery:

Finally home! He was sleeping on me and I went to take a picture and I caught this beautiful smile! :)

Posing:

10 days old and getting chubbier by the day! :)

The Answer

2009-01-08T10:43:00.000-08:00

I forgot to add this part in, that God gave us our answer as to why Noah was supposed to be born via c-section:

After the surgery Dr Zhang came over to me and said that she had discovered that my uterus was so thin from carrying two big babies and a long labor with Jonah, that if I had tried to have Noah vaginally it could have ruptured! And I had actually gone into early labor before the surgery began! It was also a good thing I had decided to have my tubes tied, since my body probably wouldn't have been able to carry a third baby. We knew God had a reason for everything happening the way it did! :)

Noah's Birth

2009-01-08T09:28:00.000-08:00

Jonah and Noah are both napping, my wonderful helpful husband is outside doing yard work, and we all got some decent sleep last night so I'm finally ready to blog about Noah's birth!

After my Monday appointment with Dr. Zhang, finding out that no progress had been made and that we had to go ahead with the c-section the next day, I was obviously devastated. I still had to go on over to the hospital for one last NST and ultrasound, of course my fluid level had dropped to 23, now that it didn't matter anymore! I cried all the way home and then some more when I got there. I was scared as well as disappointed, I hadn't let myself really think about the surgery up until that point so I was freaked! I had a hard time saying goodnight to Jonah that night, knowing I would be away from him for several days. He was in the best care possible though, with my Mom and Dad, so I knew I didn't have to worry about him, I just missed him so much! We were able to get some sleep that night, I took a Tylenol PM so that helped. But I was wide awake at 4am even though I didn't have to get up until 5! I went out on the couch and watched tv for awhile until it was time to get ready. From this moment on I could have seriously thrown up any second, and was a nervous wreck, almost in tears for the rest of the morning.

My Dad arrived at 6am on the nose (Jonah sleeps until about 7:30 so we didn't have to wake him up to go anywhere), we gave our final instructions and were out the door. I had to fast from the night before and was SO thirsty, although I couldn't have eaten if I wanted to. Traffic was smooth all the way down, but I couldn't remember the last time I was out of the house that early, and Ben finally remembered that it was for our Seattle trip when Jonah was 7 months old! I didn't know life existed before the sun came up, ha! We drove through Wendy's so Ben could grab a bite and of course the only parking spot we could find was on the roof of the garage! Ben could have dropped me off at the front, but I told him to just eat and I took me time walking into the hospital.

I checked into triage and then had to deal with the idiotic admissions people, man I can't stand them!!! So then we were sent up to labor and delivery and we met our wonderful nurse, too bad I can't remember her name from being so nervous, Cara or Cary? Anyways she was great and really helped calm my fears by answering all my questions and talking me through every little thing. Can I just say what a completely different animal it is being wheeled into surgery for an emergency c-section after 18 hours of labor and 4 hours of pushing... then to have it all planned out, thoroughly explained to you and everyone so relaxed and at ease (except for me and Ben of course!), and to just walk into the operating room?!? Crazy. I was honest with her how scared I was, and we learned so much that we didn't know from the first time about procedures and why things happen certain ways, etc.

Those 2 hours in the room flew by, I was of course hooked to the monitors and Noah was happy as a clam in there... we knew he was going to be PISSED when they pulled him out! The IV hurt more than anything that morning. I have always had bad veins and have had nurses pop veins before trying to get IV's started. And then to be dehydrated on top of that didn't help. We got a good nurse in to do it and she only had to poke me twice to get it in, but had to move it in and out a lot which hurt! Unfortunately the vein she found was on top of my left wrist which I knew would hurt after a day or so. Zhang came in to say hi before hand, I was so happy it was her performing the surgery, I felt completely safe in her hands. And by that time I was much more relaxed, it's weird I got more and more ok with it as time got closer! My family sent me several text messages during that time saying they were there and praying for me, that really helped too.... and of course the drugs I got in my IV didn't hurt either! :)

Finally the time had arrived and I walked down the hall into the OR... which was when I started to panic all over again! SO cold and of course so sterile... why can't c-sections be performed on the beach or something? ;) I got my spinal in at that time, which I never knew was different from an epidural, and didn't feel it at all! The anesthesiologist was wonderful, he did a great job calming me, talking me through everything, remembering that I'm claustrophobic and taking the mask off my nose, and distracting me through the worst parts of the surgery. Once the spinal was in I was laid down since my legs immediately fell asleep, and they prepped me for surgery.

Ben was brought in to be by my side, I don't remember what I said but they told me that they had already started the surgery a few minutes ago! I had been so scared all morning that I was going to feel something, so that was a relief. I'm so thankful I never have to go through that again, the whole surgery felt like an eternity... a downside to being fully awake and totally aware of everything! The tugging and pulling is so intense, there were several moments that I literally wanted to start screaming and tell them to stop... but I knew I had to relax and somehow managed to. The worst of it was when they had to get him out of my ribs, it felt like a gorilla was sitting on my chest! It took longer since he was so big, but suddenly I felt all the pressure go away and I heard his beautiful wonderful ANGRY cry! :) He was even more pissed then we thought he would be, it was such a deep powerful cry! They brought him over so we could get a quick glimpse and he was HUGE! I sobbed, I was just so relieved that he was out and ok, at 9:54am on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008... our Noah James Boyd was born weighing a whopping 9 pounds 12 ounces and was 22 1/2 inches long! WOW

Once he was cleaned and wrapped, Ben brought him to me and laid him on me so I could see him and kiss him, then he was off to the nursery to meet the family and be evaluated. The nursery nurse kept hinting at formula if his blood sugar was low, which I knew it would be since he was huge, so I just kept saying NO! And Ben knew to fight them off if they tried it. My surgery wasn't over yet though, she still had to tie my tubes, and that part seemed to take even longer than the first part! But I was also glad that she could take her time and do it right, she cut a piece out of each side and burned both ends... so it would be some kind of "miracle" if I were to get pregnant ever again! :) She also took her time sewing me up, since she knew about my previous infection.

Finally it was over and I was taken to recovery. This part is kind of a blur, from being so tired, drugged and relieved to be done! I rested a bit and finally got my ice chips, woo hoo! Ben came to see me quickly but I told him to go back and watch the nurses so they wouldn't sneak him any formula, ha! Finally Noah was brought in to me. The nurse asked what I wanted to do, as in breast or bottle and I said GIVE HIM TO ME! She helped me with my robe and my little guy latched on immediately like he had been doing it all 9 months in the womb. :) I was thrilled! Jonah was a pro too from the get go. I'm a little fuzzy after that, I know I was taken to my room (thank the Lord that all the rooms at Thunderbird are private, I can't even imagine sharing!) and had to scoot from the stretcher to the bed, and that wasn't easy.

I spent the first couple hours just holding and nursing Noah since I obviously couldn't get up yet. They made me walk early that afternoon, I didn't think it would be that soon and was scared to get up but it was way easier than last time! My sister came that evening after work so Ben could go eat, that was really helpful. That night was rough, between the nurses coming in and out and nursing Noah and just trying to get some sleep, we maybe got a few hours?

Wednesday was spent walking often, resting, and then my parents came by with Jonah! He got a look on his face that I've never seen before, a curious as to why his Mom was in this room on a bed holding a baby look, I guess! He gave Dad lots of hugs, but did sit next to me for a few. They didn't stay long and I cried when Jonah left for some reason. After that I was finally able to shower, but was really scared because they make you take off the bandage by yourself. And bandage isn't even a good word for it, more like duct tape across your entire lower abdomen that you have to soak with water and then slowly peel away along with some skin. OW. When Dr Zhang came to check me out I learned that she hadn't put staples in, only stitches and I was THRILLED because it's not fun getting those staples taken out! Have I mentioned how much I love her? :) She hugged me before she left, that was really touching. Teri came by after my shower but she couldn't stay long either since my parents were watching Jonah, Dakota and Dylan.

Wednesday night was a bit better, I mostly held Noah so we got better sleep. All the nurses were amazed by how great I was doing and moving around so well, so I was pushing to go home Thursday although they usually have you stay another day. Noah had lost some weight of course, being such a big baby, but he was cleared to leave and then my old OB came to check me and she cleared me too! I was beyond ready to get out of there. So we were out the door around 2pm on Thursday, stopped to pick up my pain killers and headed home! Noah was crashed the whole way and Jonah was still napping when we got there so we could get ourselves together a bit. I was pretty emotional that day, just overwhelmed.

Ben has been off since the Sunday before Noah's birth and will be going back to work on the 13th. I cry when I think about being on my own, but I am beyond thankful that I've had his help and support for this long, I'm very lucky and so blessed! We've been enjoying our time together, Ben has been getting a lot done and spending a lot of time with Jonah, who is taking this whole thing pretty well! He has a rough day here and there which is totally expected, with some crying and not listening very well, but I know it could be a lot worse and he's very sweet and gentle with Noah so far. He took him to the Phoenix Zoo for the first time today, we think he'll really get a kick out of it! I told him he'd better take some good pictures. :)

I'm healing really well, although still needing my pain killers. It's hard going from being pregnant and having no energy to do anything, to wanting to do everything but needing to take it easy! I get emotional from time to time, all those hormones of course, and have a good cry and then I'm ok. Better than when I cried for two weeks straight after having Jonah! I know there will be some hard times ahead with Ben's schedule though.

As for Noah, I'm knocking on wood as I write this, but he's such a good baby! Jonah was a really good baby too, it was just us that had a harder time being new parents and so exhausted. He is really laid back like Ben, only cries when he's hungry, having his diaper changed or when I bath him! And when he's mad he's MAD, he can go from sounding like a baby bird cry to a pterodactyl, and his whole body turns bright red like a tomato, ha! He loves the car so far, thank GOD, since Jonah HATED it, and sleep anywhere and through any noise! Nights are so much better than expected, Ben had been holding him on his chest a lot, that's just how we all got the best sleep. But I've started nursing him while lying down and for the past 2 nights he's slept for 3 hours at a time by my side! Last night he only got up at 12:30, 3 and then slept from 4-7, it was lovely.

Well it's taken me two days to write this, so kudos to anyone who actually reads the whole thing! :) I'll post some birth pictures eventually too. Off to shower while I can.....

Coming soon to a blog near you...

2009-01-05T18:29:00.000-08:00

I can't wait to blog about NOAH's birth (thank you Rachel for pointing out that I originally put JONAH's birth, LOL! Can I blame it on the Percacet?), but it probably won't be for another few days or a week maybe... so stay tuned! :)

Surgery it is

2008-12-29T14:18:00.000-08:00

I had tried SO hard to not get my hopes up that I would have progressed enough to be admitted today... but that obviously didn't work because I cried when she told me nothing had changed since last Monday! I was a nervous wreck this morning and was thrilled when my sister called and asked if I wanted company at my OB appointment. I said yes please!! It helped so much having her there, for the support and just for taking my mind off of everything before the appointment.

I hadn't let myself really think about the c-section since I was so hoping for a vbac, so when she started to talk about the whole surgery process tomorrow morning it finally hit me and I of course got really freaked out! I'm scared because I've already gone through it and having to recover with a toddler already at home is going to be tough. Plus just having major surgery in general and having gotten an infection last time... it's all just scary. Not to mention having to be away from Jonah for 3 days now since I haven't been away from him even overnight! I know he'll be fine and it wonderful hands with my family, it just makes me sad.

But then I go back to the fact that even if I had been admitted today and she had broken my water, there's no guarantee that he would have come out! It could have gone the same way it did with Jonah, and then I would still have a c-section but would be exhausted from already laboring. This way I will be at least somewhat rested and alert. Plus she'll be tying (cutting actually) my tubes while she's in there.

So tomorrow morning we will have our Noah in our arms, and I totally can't wrap my head around that yet! :) Please be praying for peace and for my nerves and that I can actually sleep somewhat tonight.

I'll be posting pictures at the end of this week!

Fully Baked...

2008-12-26T13:29:00.000-08:00

My sister sent me this article and it really made me feel so much better that if it ends up being a c-section then at least I gave him time to fully develop instead of just scheduling an early c-section on the 15th or 16th...

Elective early deliveries pose risks for babies
Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (HealthDay News) — The rise in Caesarean deliveries could be fueling the increase in the number of preterm babies, and these early births carry risks, including respiratory problems, jaundice and developmental problems.
That was the message delivered Tuesday during a March of Dimes conference in New York City on the health risks facing preterm babies.
While babies are considered preterm if they are born before 37 weeks of gestation, even those born before 39 weeks -- called early term -- could be missing out on the last benefits of gestation, the doctors said.
"There is more and more data suggesting that there is lots of development between 37 and 39 weeks [of gestation]," said Dr. Laura E. Riley, medical director of labor and delivery at Massachusetts General Hospital, who spoke at the conference. It's in the best interest of the baby to stay in the womb for a full-term delivery, she said.
"It is very important for lay people to understand that every week counts, and that they shouldn't be cavalier about delivering early," added Dr. Lucky Jain, medical director of Emory Children's Center at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. During the last weeks in the womb, the "fetus is going through last-minute preparations for a safe landing," he said.
From 1996 to 2004, there was an increase of almost 60,000 preterm deliveries -- those before 37 weeks of gestation -- among single-birth pregnancies. And more than 90 percent of those deliveries were done by Caesarean section, according to an analysis by the March of Dimes and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There could be several reasons for the increase in early C-sections, said Dr. Bryan T. Oshiro, chief of maternal-fetal medicine at Loma Linda University School of Medicine, in Loma Linda, Calif., who spoke at the conference. They include more surveillance to prevent stillbirths; changes in maternal demographics, including the fact that women weigh more; a rise in elective deliveries; and a presumption that after 34 weeks of gestation, there is little risk, he said.
But Oshiro and the other doctors said that, while many early C-sections are medically necessary for the health and safety of both the baby and the mother, families opting to deliver early for personal reasons need to know these early deliveries could put their babies at risk.
Oshiro said the pressure for elective deliveries can often come from families. "I find it hard when a woman wants to deliver before her husband goes to Iraq," he said. And obstetricians are busy and usually lack the time often needed to persuade a family that a full gestation is in the best interests of the baby.
"It's hard, because the odds are that the babies will be fine. Nine out of 10 are OK," he said. "But for medical issues, that's not good enough."
According to the March of Dimes, a baby's brain at 35 weeks' gestation weighs only two-thirds of what it will weigh at 39 weeks, and other organs like the lungs and liver are still growing late in pregnancy. Babies born at full term are also less likely to have vision and hearing problems. They also weigh more, making it easier for them to stay warm, the doctors said.
The doctors emphasized the importance of having a correct due date, especially if making a decision to deliver early. Try to remember the date of onset of the last menstrual period and have an ultrasound during the first 13 weeks of pregnancy. An early ultrasound will allow a doctor to predict an accurate delivery date, Oshiro said.
Oshiro pilots a program based in Utah that reduced preterm and early term C-sections from 27 percent to 5 percent from 1999 to 2005.
Key to the program's success, he said, has been discussing with doctors why they are recommending early C-sections, and alerting them to American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' guidelines that call for elective C-sections and inductions to be scheduled only after 39 weeks of gestation.

Noah @ 39 weeks

2008-12-23T13:34:00.001-08:00

Obviously not the best quality since I took a picture of the pictures with my camera, but I wanted to show him off. :) These are just a few of the ultrasound pictures from yesterday. His cheeks are even chubbier and he was making that pouty face again, ha! Oh and she could tell he has a lot of hair, just like his brother!

Last time... hopefully?

2008-12-22T20:11:00.000-08:00

Today was another full Monday of Dr stuff, starting with my OB in the morning. Lost a tiny bit more weight, yay! Unfortunately not a big change otherwise, he's come down a little bit more and now I'm dilated between 2-3 where as last week it was just 2. Cervix is even softer though, so there has been some progress, just not as much as I'd thought since I've been having some painful contractions off and on. She stripped my membranes again, so we'll see what that does.

After wanting him to hurry up and get here I now want him to wait until the 26th! Mainly so I don't have to be in the hospital on Christmas, which I think would be totally depressing, and also my OB is on call on the 26th and I would of course prefer her to deliver him. I talked to her more about if I've progressed even more on the 29th if I still have to go ahead with the c-section, and she said if I'm dilated at least 4 and if he's dropped more then she would be able to admit me and break my water!! That's the most she can do as far as inducing goes, and that's totally fine with me. So now we have to pray HARD that if he hasn't come by the 29th then at least that I will have made some major progress by then!

Then things just got stupid when I got to the hospital. Everyone must be in full on Christmas/moron mode today because they were slower than turtles and screwing everything up. I was there from 12:30-3, all for stuff that shouldn't have taken more than an hour total! I waited 20 minutes just to be checked in, then another 10 for them to call me for the NST. I was all hooked up on the monitors when the nurse realized they had put the date as the 8th on all the paperwork, which screwed everything up. So the NST ended up going on for about 40 minutes, she had to wake him up twice and I had several painful contractions during it. Luckily he passed, although I had almost peed my pants by the end of it!

Then I hurried down the hall for my ultrasound, only to sit and wait another 35 minutes... and I was the only patient in there! I'm sure she could tell how I was feeling by the time she called me in, because she made it up to me by spending a lot of time getting some more amazing 4D pictures of his super chubby handsome face! :) Unfortunately they're not on a cd and I don't have a scanner, but take my word for it he is GORGEOUS! ;) I had a hard time not laughing because she was talking to Noah in the most ridiculous exaggerated baby voice, it was hilarious! After all that she measured the fluid and it was 27 today, down from 28 last week so yay!

After that I went grocery shopping when I got back to Anthem. I was going to send Ben but I wanted some specific things and didn't want to have to go back, especially since it was already nuts there! So I was ready to drop when I got home.

I had left a message for Zhang to see if I have to do the last NST/US since the surgery would be the next day. I wasn't expecting a call back until Wednesday since she's off tomorrow, and then figured her assistant would call. Well at 5pm my phone rang and it was Dr Zhang herself calling me back, which made me love her even more! :) She said I do have to do it once more if we're going ahead with the surgery, drat.

Well I can barely keep my eyes open so I'm gonna crash. Merry Christmas everyone! :)

Last belly picture EVER!

2008-12-19T12:49:00.001-08:00

Man alive, it doesn't really register how huge my belly is until I see it in a picture! Noah, out NOW!!! Almost 39 weeks...

Keep it up, Jonah!

2008-12-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

Jonah's been sitting on his potty and standing up next to it ever since that last time he peed but hadn't gone since then until tonight. I was running his bath and he got undressed, went over right away and stood there and peed! Not a word from me before hand, he did it all on his own. Don't worry, I won't post a blog EVERY time he does it. ;)

This is comforting...

2008-12-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

Yahoo had this as one of their top stories today, a Death Map showing what we all could be killed by across the US. How lovely. Some mysterious force called "Other" will be the first to kill us off, and then of course excessive heat... well DUH!

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Handout-BioMed-Central/photo//081217/photos_hl/2008_12_16t191715_450x355_us_death_usa//s:/nm/20081217/hl_nm/us_death_usa

Better than I'd hoped....

2008-12-15T15:27:00.000-08:00

38 weeks today and another long day of Dr visits on this cold rainy day... I don't think I've gained any more weight... although I honestly don't know since I've totally stopped paying attention or even caring at this point! I'm dilated 2 now and he's dropped even lower, HOORAY!!!

She didn't seem concerned with the fluid level but I do still have to be monitored which I'm fine with. She said there have been women with the level in the 50's that have still been ok. 35% of hydramnios cases are unknown reasons. She didn't think it would prevent a vbac, BUT if my water breaks at home then I have to go in right away because of the risk of cord prolapse (where when there's too much amniotic fluid and the water breaks there's a chance of the cord coming out first which is BAD). So that kinda sucks, but maybe my labor will start at home without my water breaking.

After that I went over to the hospital for yet another NST and ultrasound. Unfortunately Noah had picked that exact moment to fall asleep (thanks buddy!) and she wasn't happy with the readings so she had to buzz him awake... never heard of it before but it's basically a tiny hand held thing that sends a gentle vibration/pulse and wakes him up. Between that and her pushing him around a bit he finally woke up and gave some great readings, whew! Then off to the ultrasound where the fluid had dropped a bit, from 28.7 last time to 27.9 today, YAY! Still not great but at least it's not going any higher! We got a great look at his face, he was opening and closing his mouth, too cute. And those cheeks are still huge! :) By that point he was as tired of being poked and prodded as I was and he was totally getting cranky and kicking the wand really hard, ha!

So a very positive day indeed, I was dreading it for sure! Same thing all over again on Monday... unless he decides to make his appearance by then, hope hope hope!

Please hurry, Noah!

2008-12-14T09:16:00.000-08:00

I almost had a panic attack this morning when I looked at the calendar and realized I'm 38 weeks pregnant today! If Noah doesn't arrive on his own in the next 15 days then it will have to be a c-section. And I DON'T WANT THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know a lot can happen in 2 weeks, but I'm also worried about this hydramnios business, that it may prevent a vbac anyways. I have a lot of questions to ask Zhang! Another full day of Dr stuff tomorrow, my regular check up and then another NST and ultrasound. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon with an update!

Nate Update

2008-12-13T09:02:00.000-08:00

From my sister's blog:

Well, we had a LONG day of travel yesterday to LA and back (about 15 hours in all) but we did it! Nate did really well considering and only had his meltdown on the plane at about 9:00 last night as we sat on the runway for a 1/2 waiting for a terminal to open up so we could park! Grrrr... We were exhausted but slept great after it all!
We had a good meeting with Dr Mathern and our discussion about the surgery went well. He gave us all the risks and possible outcomes along with the same if we don't do the surgery. The risk of death is the same (about .5%) from both the surgery and the seizures. There is a 75% chance he will be seizure free and 25% he will stay the same. He said usually there is no in between.
They don't do hemispherectomies anymore as the risks of blood loss and fluid buildup is higher, yet the seizure rates are the same. Instead they will do a hemispherotomy which removes the damaged portions of his brain and disconnects what is left from his good side. So he will still be having seizures, but with no connections to the good side left, will hopefully have no affect on it. Like he said, "it will be talking but no one will be listening!" He said there is really no way to know how good his left side is until the seizures stop and it gets a chance to develop.
And if the seizures don't stop he will be in the same boat he is now anyway, so nothing will really change there. He himself has performed over a hundred of these surgeries and the one and only death they had was 10 years ago. I am glad I brought Nate's CT scans and records from this past year as he wanted to see them and find out what happened initially. He was the 2nd Dr this year to bring up the fact of looking into getting a lawyer since the stroke happened at birth and might be a question of bad obstectrical care vs. just a fluke in utero. We had put that all on the back burner since Nate's seizures are more important right now, but it was interesting to have another neuro Dr bring it up to us.
I swear, Dr's never know what to make of me. I don't know if they get many parents who have all their child's medical history in an organized 3 ring binder, take notes on legal pads, and ask questions using their medical terminology! I have been asked before by other Drs if I was a nurse or work in the medical field. Phil just likes to tell them I'm an internet doctor! He seemed very interested in what I was writing dow too. It was funny. Hey, if they can write while I talk, I can do the same!
So, he said they had reserved us a surgery date in anticipation we wanted to go forward with it on January 16th (which is also my mom's birthday - poor thing!) But like she said, she spent her last birthday in the hospital with us when his seizures started, so she might as well make it a tradition! It's crazy as this will be almost exactly a year since his seizures started on Jan. 14th and look how far we have come. We are looking at 7-14 day average hospital day and then can go home to get outpatient therapy.

Yay Jonah!

2008-12-10T18:35:00.001-08:00

I had put Jonah's potty chair away for awhile, since I'd read that if they don't show much interest to put it away and then try again. He's been sitting on it before bath time with a book and then also standing in front of it (copying Dad obviously) and tonight he actually went a little bit! He knows how to stop it so it was just a tiny bit but we praised him big time and he got very excited. :) I'm not going to push it since he has a BIG change coming his way and don't want him to regress, but hopefully he'll continue making progress! Hooray! :)

Ew and Yay!

2008-12-09T08:40:00.000-08:00

I lost my mucous plug this morning.... and I know that could mean absolutely nothing since I lost it long before being induced with Jonah and we all know how that turned out.... but I'm hoping and praying it means something may be happening soon!

Good and not so good...

2008-12-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

I had my 37 week OB check up today. I had gained a little more weight, guess Thanksgiving finally caught up to me. ;) Unfortunately I'm still dilated 1cm, BUT he has dropped a little more and my cervix is VERY soft (YIPPEE!). I had a lot of cramping on Saturday so that must have been him dropping more. She said once he drops even more then she can start stripping my membranes. Hurry up Noah!!

After that I had some time to kill so I had a leisurely lunch by myself, which is a total rarity and I love it, and then headed over to the hospital. I was having some serious flashbacks about being admitted for both of my inductions with Jonah, it was very surreal to be back in that part of the hospital again.

I didn't think I was going to have to pay anything today and when she told me I owed $150 I told her I couldn't pay it right then. After that I noticed she kept staring at my ring and then looking at me weird and she finally started gushing over my ring saying how amazing it is.... I started laughing because it's a total fake! It's a huge fake square "diamond" ring that my sister had bought at a jewelry party once and I wear it sometimes since my real wedding ring doesn't fit right now. She was probably wondering why I couldn't pay even though I had a giant rock on my hand, HA!! I told her it was fake so she would shut up.

Anyhoo, the NST went great, it was over by the time she was done asking me the 8 million questions. He wouldn't stay still the entire time, she kept having to reposition the monitor, ha! Then I had to wait a few more minutes for the ultrasound. I couldn't see the screen while she was doing it, so I just laid there and waited. Then she showed me his feet and ears, all of which I knew had. ;) So then she said, "Ok you're done, go tell them your fluid level is 28.7" HUH?!?!? My face obviously showed my emotions because she said the level changes constantly, but I knew that meant I would have to come back again next week and do it all over again. :( Obviously they're not thinking anything is seriously wrong, otherwise they would have admitted me, but I totally wasn't expecting it to be even higher than before.

So let's just keep praying for more progress this week from our little Noah! :)

"Old Men Shall Dream Dreams"

2008-12-06T13:34:00.000-08:00

My Dad had left a note for my Mom early yesterday morning before he headed off to work, this is what it said:

"Had a dream that a baby boy was born, not sure whose. But he was big, very strong, had chubby cheeks, and smiled a lot. It was being said that he was heavier and longer than his brother when he was born. Noah/Jonah???"

She threw the note away not thinking anything of it. Later he asked what she thought of the dream and she said, 'Well anyone would have a dream like that after seeing the ultrasound pictures of Noah!' My Dad said, 'WHAT pictures?' My Mom had forgotten to show them to him! So she pulled them up on the computer and the second he saw Noah's face he said, 'THAT'S HIM!'

How crazy is that?? I got chills when she told me that, especially about the chubby cheeks and him being longer than Jonah, since his limbs are measuring long! And then to totally recognize that it was Noah he'd seen in the dream, just too crazy. My Mom thought of this verse after that:

Joel 2:28
And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions"

I told her to knock him out again so we could get some specific details like what day and how he actually came out! ;)

I'm at WHAT station?!?!

2008-12-03T14:34:00.000-08:00

I went into my OB visit today SO confident that she would tell me that he is super low and that it could be any day.... wish I hadn't been so cocky! Turns out I'm dilated 1cm, which I know is better than nothing, but he's still at +4 which is WAY high up! :( Total deja vu from being told that with Jonah. I just couldn't believe it since he's been so low this whole time and I swear I could feel him in my crotch! Talked about being disappointed. My cervix was somewhat soft though, which is a good sign. But she really had to work hard to feel his head, just never thought that would happen. And yeah, I know things can change suddenly and that it still is early, but it just felt like my vbac dreams were being crushed already.

As for the ultrasound results: I guess my amniotic fluid is measuring too high, it's called hydramnios, something I'd never even heard of! It was only .5 higher than normal, so she said they could totally have measured wrong, but it's better to be safe than sorry so I have to go on Monday for an NST (Non Stress Test, where I just sit for a half hour with the monitors on my belly) and yet another ultrasound to get the fluid measured again. Here's some info on hydramnios:

How much amniotic fluid should I have?
Under normal circumstances, the amount of amniotic fluid you have increases until the beginning of your third trimester. It generally peaks at 34 weeks, at which point you may carry about a quart of the stuff. After that, it gradually decreases until you give birth.If you're found to have too much fluid at any point in your pregnancy, it's called hydramnios or polyhydramnios. When there's too little, it's called oligohydramnios.

How will I know if I have too much amniotic fluid?
Your healthcare practitioner may suspect this problem, which happens in about 1 percent of pregnancies, if your uterus is growing more rapidly than it should. You may also have unusual abdominal discomfort, increased back pain, shortness of breath, and extreme swelling in your feet and ankles. If you have these symptoms, your practitioner will send you for an ultrasound.The sonographer will measure the largest pockets of amniotic fluid in four different sections of your uterus and add them together to see where you rate on the amniotic fluid index (AFI). A normal measure for the third trimester is between 5 and 25 centimeters (cm). A total of more than 25 cm is considered high.

What could be causing this problem?
Experts don't know what causes many cases of hydramnios, particularly mild ones. Some common causes of moderate to severe cases include the following:Maternal diabetes You can end up with high fluid levels if you have diabetes and you're having trouble managing it properly. Hydramnios is diagnosed in about 10 percent of pregnant diabetics, usually in the third trimester.Carrying twins or multiples You're at risk for high fluid levels if you're carrying twins or multiples. Hydramnios is especially likely in the case of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, in which one twin suffers from too little amniotic fluid while the other creates too much.Fetal abnormalities In rare cases, a baby will have a medical problem that causes him to stop swallowing fluid while his kidneys continue to produce more urine from the fluid he's already swallowed. This may include any condition that makes it hard for him to swallow, such as pyloric stenosis, a cleft lip or palate, or some kind of blockage in the gastrointestinal tract. Certain neurological problems, such as neural tube defects or hydrocephaly, can keep the baby from swallowing as well.Fetal anemia In even rarer cases, hydramnios can be a sign that a baby has severe anemia caused by an Rh blood incompatibility or an infection such as fifth disease. In both cases, the problem can be treated with a blood transfusion in utero. In the case of fifth disease, the baby may recover without treatment.

What will happen if I'm diagnosed with hydramnios?
If you're diagnosed with hydramnios, your practitioner will order a high-resolution ultrasound to check for abnormalities and possibly amniocentesis to test for a genetic defect.You'll also need to have regular nonstress tests and ultrasounds for the rest of your pregnancy to closely monitor your baby's development, and you'll be watched closely for signs of preterm labor. If you haven't yet been tested for gestational diabetes, you'll be tested now.You'll be monitored carefully during labor as well. Because of the extra amniotic fluid, there's a greater risk of an umbilical cord prolapse (when the cord falls through the cervical opening) or a placental abruption when your water breaks. Both require an immediate c-section.That's why your caregiver will have you come to the hospital early in labor — or right away if your water breaks before you go into labor. You're also at increased risk for postpartum bleeding, because your overly distended uterus may not be able to contract well, so you'll be watched closely after you give birth, too.

So now of course I'm freaked out that something is wrong with him, and also the part about not being allowed to labor at home which is a big part for a succesful VBAC! So just be praying that they did measure wrong so I won't have to do the weekly testing and can have her start stripping my membranes. Although the exam hurt so bad I don't even know if I want her to now! :(

She also said his head did measure big, but not really huge, it's his limbs that measured really long and he has a big belly too! But I'm still taking all that with a grain of salt since I know it could be wrong. And I actually lost a bit of weight, which she seemed impressed about since Thanksgiving just happened, ha!

Noah James, 36 Weeks

2008-12-01T15:09:00.000-08:00

Ben, Jonah and I went to get my 36 week ultrasound today to see how big Noah is at the moment... and he is BIG! We had the same tech who we'd had last time, she's so sweet. The second she turned it on there was a huge shot of his testicles, HA! She said that happens most of the time with boys, typical. ;) It's such a difference from the 18 week u/s when the baby is so tiny where as now he takes up my entire torso!

She was able to get some beautiful 4D shots of his face and she was so excited about that, she said it's pretty impossible to get such clear shots at this late in the game. We were blown away with how different he looks than Jonah did, we're seeing a lot more of Dylan features... and that's the dreams I'd been having! He's for sure head down and of course very low, we were able to see that he has some hair, not as much as Jonah did though. He's weighing in around 7 lbs 11 ounces right now!!!!

He's still perfectly healthy, so now we continue to pray that he comes SOON. It was just so amazing seeing him again! And although I was somewhat surprised to not see another version of Jonah, it's almost like I did recognize him right away, he's definitely our Noah. :) I have my OB check up on Wednesday and that's when she'll start to check my cervix and hopefully get things going.

Here you can see his right arm going across the bottom left of the picture and his face is sideways in the middle, looks like a camera is squished up against his nose and lips...

This one cracks us up, he's totally making a pouty face! :)

Read the measurements of his head!

Obviously another big headed baby, but look at the difference in the measurements, goes to show they're never 100% accurate!

This is my favorite close up of his face, here's where I really see the Dodd look...

And we've got some chubby cheeks going on, they even made the Dr laugh! :)

Pictures from today

2008-11-30T20:28:00.000-08:00

My sister Christy, Mom, Me and Teri getting our pedicures

Walking into Chili's and seeing that Monet and Sarah were there too and that there were presents! :)

Me and Monet, she's due in March with her second boy!

Group shot: Chris, Teri, Monet, Sarah (nursing baby David), Sarah's daughter Emily, me and Mom.

Spoiled Rotten! :)

2008-11-30T16:41:00.000-08:00

For a couple weeks now, Ben had been saying he wanted to go out for an early lunch at Chili's with me and Jonah some Sunday before Noah's arrival. I didn't think much of it because it's not like we never go out to eat, but he kept talking about it which I thought was odd. Then I was saying on Friday that I needed to go grocery shopping this morning and he said again about brunch, I was like ok, fine! I'll go shopping after!

So this morning around 10:30 I was ready to go have our family brunch when I heard a knock at the door. I looked through the peep hole and saw my sister in law Teri standing there, which is VERY strange since we live about 20 minutes away from each other! For a brief second I thought something was wrong but she had a big goofy smile on her face so that thought didn't last long. I opened the door and she said she was here to kidnap me for a day of pampering! Now I really don't like surprises, but I was already ready to go somewhere and knew it would be something fun. So after my initial shock wore off, I handed my grocery list to Ben, kissed him and Jonah goodbye and we were off!

Since she had said pampering I kinda figured what was in store but just went along with the fun. We first stopped by Starbucks (yay!) by their old house and I got some yogurt with my coffee to tied me over since we obviously weren't going to be eating right away. The nail salon that we all usually go to is right next door to that Starbucks so I assumed we'd be going there for pedicures, and I was right, but what I didn't know was that my Mom and my sister Christy would be already inside in the chairs getting started on their pedis! Surprise number 2! So the 4 of us got our lovely relaxing pedicures. Here's the pic of mine, I'm going to have the prettiest feet in the maternity ward! ;)

After that we headed off again, and I assumed it was to eat, and was happy when we pulled into the Chili's parking lot! I knew Mom and Chris would already be inside but what I didn't know was that my good friends Monet and Sarah would be inside too! They had managed to throw me a little surprise baby shower!!! I was totally floored and so happy that those 2 had been able to join in the fun. :) We chatted and opened presents and had a yummy lunch. I didn't want to go home after that, ha! But I was thrilled that Ben had gotten the grocery shopping done for the week, yay!

Thank you to Mom and Chris for helping make it such a fun and relaxing day, and to Monet and Sarah for making the trip up to my end of town to help surprise me! And a HUGE thank you to Teri, she was so crafty and sneaky with planning all of this and knew exactly what would make it such a wonderful memorable day for me to always remember! Teri, you can kidnap me ANY time! ;)

I'll post another blog with all the pictures from today.

Tonya's Book Club

2008-11-28T15:25:00.000-08:00

My good friend Sarah recommended this one to me and it was great! It's the author of the book In Her Shoes that was made into a movie with Toni Collette and Cameron Diaz. It's definitely a married/mom/friendship story, very good!

The best worst news ever....

2008-11-26T20:44:00.000-08:00

.... Is how my sister put it today and it's so true: The Dr's at UCLA made the decision today that Nate is a candidate for brain surgery! They were almost unanimous in their decision which is odd because they were almost all against it at first, God obviously did some work in their hearts and minds!! It's SO scary now that's it's actually a reality. If we're this anxious it's impossible to even imagine how Chris and Phil are feeling.... but we all feel that this is what he needs! My sister sounded so relieved when she called with the news, it was great to hear her sound that way with all the stress they've been under lately. They'll fly to LA on Thursday, December 11th to finally meet with the surgeon and then go from there. Please continue to pray for them!

Oh, Fudge!

2008-11-25T11:32:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe in a Good Housekeeping magazine a couple years ago and I've been making it for the holidays ever since. I don't think it's technically fudge, more of a giant candy bar, but it's super easy and SO yummy!

Rocky Road Fudge

1 12oz package of semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 Tbs margarine or butter

1 10.5oz package of mini marshmallows

1. Grease an 8x8 or 9x9 inch metal baking pan; line with plastic wrap. In a 4 quart saucepan, combine chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter and margarine. Cook over medium heat 2-3 minutes or just until ingredients are melted, stirring constantly. (Or use double boiler, less likely to burn that way.) Remove from heat.

2. Stir marshmallows into fudge mixture. Pour into lined pan; spread evenly. Cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate fudge until firm, at least 3 hours.

3. Invert fudge onto cutting board; remove plastic wrap. Turn fudge top side up. Cut fudge into 36 pieces. If not serving right away, store in refrigerator.

4. Try not to eat it ALL before sharing with friends and family. ;) I'm off to make my own batch now.....

35 Weeks

2008-11-24T14:17:00.000-08:00

I had my 35 week check up today, the last "normal" one before she starts checking my cervix and stripping my membranes (sorry guys)!! Noah is definitely taking after his brother, he's had a major growth spurt in the past week, and Jonah did the same thing at this stage. He's measuring 37 weeks! Monday is the ultrasound where they'll check to see how big he is and make sure he's head down, which he DEFINITELY is. Then Wednesday the 3rd is my 36 week check up where we'll start to try and get things going. The membrane stripping didn't work with Jonah, BUT he was also still very high so I'm praying it does the trick this time!

My iron was back to normal, and blood pressure is still perfect. I've gained about 13 pounds now. So by the time he comes I should have gained just the amount she wanted me to... but probably more since Thanksgiving is Thursday and I'm gonna pig out! ;)

I bought a small pack of newborn diapers last week and freaked out when I opened them up because I had completely forgotten how stinking TINY they are, holy crap! Finally Pampers has started making their swaddlers with a curve in the front of the diaper so it stays under the cord stump.

I haven't been sleeping good, partly because of Noah and mostly because of Jonah. Last week he wasn't napping good and the past two nights he's been waking up, then today he started showing signs of another cold. Great. :( And besides that and having to get up to pee every two hours, my hips are starting to hurt at night so I have to rotate from side to side constantly.

My sister Christy and I decided to take belly comparison pictures last night at my nephew Dakota's birthday party (Happy 3rd Bday, Kota!!). She is 15 weeks, quite the difference, eh? :)

Well Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I'll be back next Monday to blog about the ultrasound!

Fun stuff!

2008-11-18T20:02:00.001-08:00

My mother in law ordered this for us, I SO wish I'd known about it when Jonah was a newborn, it would have made things a lot easier for all of us. But now I know and I can't wait for it to get here and to use it! It's called a Snuggle Nest and it goes in bed in between me and Ben for as long as Noah will fit in it, or until we just kick him out. ;) It has a little light at top, is set at an incline and folds up into a carrying case (like we'll be traveling, ha!). My sister and I said that the only thing it needs is for the sides to fold down to make it that much easier to nurse in bed.
And this is our free, yes I said FREE crib!!!! My wonderful beautiful friend Rachel had given us her son's old crib and then found out it was recalled. So we just had to send in the hardware from it and within a week we got a voucher for $275 off of ANY crib at Babies R Us! SCORE! Even though we won't be needing it until the Spring we wanted to just have it here, so we went on Sunday to pick one out. Unfortunately all the ones we liked in the price range we wanted they didn't have in stock, and of course you can't use the voucher online. But they're sending it to the store from the warehouse so we should have it in a week or two! It's gorgeous and turns into a toddler bed and a regular bed! I ♥ Rachel! ;)

Let's compare, shall we?

2008-11-18T14:04:00.000-08:00

So the top photo is me 9 months pregnant with Jonah, not sure how many weeks exactly. The bottom one was taken today, I'm 34 weeks right now. And yes, I'm wearing the same clothes on purpose. It may be hard for everyone else to tell, but I'm obviously carrying WAY lower this time. And it seems like I'm bigger this time but it's just because Noah's very low and in the front where as Jonah was all up in my ribs the whole time. And yes, I'm definitely miserable in the first picture! It was July, 118+ degree temps and I was retaining water like a freaking sponge! Plus I couldn't breathe since someone never dropped!! But I'm not bitter. ;)

Also, is anyone else having problems with being notified with emails about blog comments? I haven't changed anything and my email address is still there but it's stopped telling me I have comments! Annoying.

Weekly check ups

2008-11-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

I started the first of my weekly OB check ups today and unfortunately had to see Deb, the NP. But that's the last time I'll be seeing her, thankfully! She just doesn't shut up about how big he is and how the VBAC probably won't happen because of it, blah blah blah. Since it was my last time dealing with her I just kept my lips zipped and nodded. I could have gone into the fact that he's already dropped, which Jonah never did, that Zhang is 100% on board with the VBAC, that ultrasounds aren't always accurate and that many women have had succesful VBAC's with babies larger than their first!!! Ok, I'm done.

Everything is still good, although my Iron count was a tad low so I picked up some iron supplements while grocery shopping. It's funny cause I've been craving a giant hamburger the past few days, my body was telling me something for sure! :)

I've stopped taking Jonah to the grocery store with me. The last time I did I was only halfway done and Noah started pushing down so hard that I literally couldn't walk for a few minutes. I was trying to decide if I should just leave the full cart and go home but then I prayed for God to take away the pressure and let me finish shopping and He did! It's funny to see people's faces as I waddle by, I now get the "Oh, poor thing" sympathy smile from everyone, HA! I was thankful to have a grumpy cashier today, I wasn't in the mood for the whole, "You look like you're about to explode, when are you due, what's your blood type" conversation. :P

Well Jonah's awake so I'm off. I'm excited for Dakota's 3rd (!!!) birthday party this Sunday and then Thanksgiving dinner at my Mom and Dad's after that, YUM! I'll post again after my next check up Monday.

Just makes you stop and stare

2008-11-12T16:55:00.000-08:00

I saw through the window this evening that our backyard was turning pink so I grabbed my camera and "ran" out front knowing I was going to capture an amazing sunset... and I was right! Just one of the perks of living in Arizona. :)

Nate the Great update

2008-11-12T13:07:00.000-08:00

From my sister's blog:

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2008 10:31 AM, CST
We finally got an e-mail back from the neurosurgeon's nurse at UCLA this morning and although it is not a definite answer yet it sounds promising: This is what she said: "We discussed Nate’s case at length on Monday and will continue next Monday, because we ran out of time. Dr. Mathern is considering doing the surgery even though the other side is not “ perfect”. Not everyone agrees that this is best, hence more discussion. I think the problem is that there was disagreement among the docs that saw him as to what his no-affected motor function is. This tells us lots about the integrity of the good hemisphere. My guess is, that he will agree to operate but may hedge about outcomes."
We are hopeful this will mean he can do the surgery but is not guaranteeing the results. I think they are concerned about his right side being affected by his left brain as he does not reach for objects or grasp them. However, he used to do this prior to the spasms starting and will still try from time to time. We feel this is a symptom of IS (lack of interest in toys, objects, etc) and not necessarily a lack of motor skills on his part. I will post again once we know more.
Nate's PT brought him a gait trainer to borrow for awhile and he has been doing pretty well in it. He will lift both feet to "walk" when you push him in it and seems to like being semi-mobile. They are really expensive to buy new ($2,000) and not covered by insurance, so we are looking to buy him a used one for Christmas.

Our new family member... and no I don't mean Noah!

2008-11-09T15:11:00.001-08:00

Last night at 9pm I was in putting Jonah to bed while Ben was in our bedroom when we both heard a super loud crash from outside. We went out front and there was a giant almost 3 foot tall Batman in the driveway! Someone (we're assuming bratty Anthem kids on bikes) had gone by and thrown it full force at our garage door! The garage was fine but poor Batman had lost a leg below the knee. We were going to just pitch it but decided to see what Jonah would do with it so we cleaned it off and let him spend the night. He's now Jonah's new buddy, he's gone for walks in the grass and been given rides in the wagon, he's even allowed to sit in Jonah's coveted chair! Of course Jonah has no clue who Batman actually is, but whatever, he's enjoying it! :)

Resting up after his unfortunate accident:

Posing for the camera, Christian Bale is SO vain!

Jonah's new friend:

Blessed and Stressed

2008-11-05T13:36:00.001-08:00

I almost sent myself into an early labor this morning with cleaning the house and preparing for Noah's arrival. I attacked my to-do list and dove into Jonah's closet to re-sort all of the boxes of clothes. I had done this a few months ago but kept getting more boxes so I had no idea what was what anymore. Between what we have still from Jonah and hand me downs from Teri, Chris and Rachel (thank you ladies!!), it was quite the feat. I started making a pile of clothes, blankets and towels that need to be washed before his arrival and ended up with a mountain on the guest bed this size:
And believe it or not, that's only the clothes he'll be using for probably just the first few months!!! I thought we had a lot of clothes when Jonah was born but this is insane! He could literally wear one sleeper and a onesie every day and I probably wouldn't have to do laundry for a month. Now I don't want you to think I'm complaining about this, because I realize how very blessed we are that we won't have to buy a single clothing item until summer time, but I'm overwhelmed by all the laundry that needs to be done. So if anyone has the urge to fold some baby clothes, well you know where to find me. ;) And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't buy us any clothes... unless they're sizes 6-12 months summer outfits. ;)

Also Jonah is beyond set with winter clothes, thanks again to Teri and Rachel! :)

And I think I can FINALLY say that Fall is here! It's November for crying out loud, but at least it's here! It was still in the 90's the last week of October and it's been in the 70's the past few days, the A/C hasn't kicked on once! It's such a huge difference being chilly in my last few months of pregnancy compared to wanting to live in the pool when I was about to have Jonah in July!

On a totally different note, I have to write about this so I can look back on it in the future. I don't want everyone's opinions though. ;) I was going to write about it anyways but then just read a friend of a friend's blog where she totally laid it all out and I just had to say my piece as well.

~History was made last night when America elected our first African American president! What a race it has been, soooo long and drug out and we were all beyond sick of it at the end. After putting Jonah to bed last night at 9pm, Ben and I turned on the tv to watch CNN only expecting to hear what the first results were showing. Little did we know that we would find out that Barack Obama had already won the election! We were thrilled. I'll never forget watching McCain's speech, which was very gracious, and then getting chills as Obama later came out to make his own speech. I had a huge grin on my face the entire time!

I had taken Jonah with me to vote yesterday and it almost made me tear up thinking that even though he had no idea what was going on, this is a part of his future and will affect his and Noah's lives forever.

I don't understand why people are so afraid, God knew all along what the outcome would be and it's all in His hands anyways! I'm confident that this is really what American needs at this time and I can't wait to see what the next 4 years holds!

32 Weeks

2008-11-03T13:21:00.000-08:00

Saturday night I was lying in bed and I felt a really intense sharp pain way low, but then it went away. But after that it felt like he had totally dropped! Although I've never experienced that since Jonah never dropped so I wasn't sure. I had a check up today and she said it sounds like he has dropped and that it's a good thing and not too early as long as I'm not experiencing any early labor symptoms, which I'm not. I was relieved to hear that, but I'm 10 times more uncomfortable now and it's even more tiring walking at all. He was already way low to begin with so this is a whole new experience for me! I'm confident that this means he will come out easily and hopefully somewhat early! I'm also to the point where sleeping just isn't going so well, I feel like I'm awake half the night. I'm going to start taking Tylenol PM to help.

The rest of my check up went great, I love how fast they are now! Everything's still perfect. I'll be 36 weeks at the beginning of December, that's when she'll start checking my cervix (and stripping my membranes to hopefully get things going) and I'll also get another u/s at that time to see how big he is, I'm so excited to see him again!

I don't know if it was because of the early arrival dream or because he's dropped, but I've been feeling anxious about not having things ready so I've started re-sorting and washing his clothes and bassinet sheets, getting the car seat ready and will be buying some newborn diapers soon.... just in case! :)

On a side note, I'm SOOOO relieved that Election Day is tomorrow! This whole election process has gone on forever and I'm sick and tired of it all, I can't wait for it to be over! I'm tired of hearing everyone's opinions and some people trying to tell everyone else how we should vote. We live in America people, it's MY decision so stop posting bulletins about who you're voting for and why I should vote for them too! Ok, I feel better. :)

Halloween 2008

2008-11-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

Last night was a fun and successful Halloween all around! It's still very warm here, in the 90's, so we weren't sure about the boys even wanting to be in their costumes, let alone if they would even let us dress them! Dylan wasn't thrilled about being put in his dalmation suit but was ok as long as the hood was off, and same for Jonah in his monkey suit. Dakota looked super cool as a fire fighter. We went over to Dave and Teri's for pizza first and then headed out.

There weren't very many trick or treaters but a lot of people were giving out candy so we all scored! :) Jonah turned out to be the laziest trick or treater ever, their wagon was parked out front and he hopped in right away. We would take him out so he could walk up to get candy and then he would come back asking for his ride. Too funny. We asked Dakota if he wanted to ride but he kept saying, "No, I'm a fireman." I think he thought he actually WAS a fireman and therefore too cool to ride in the wagon! ;)

Jonah was cracking us up as he would waddle up the sidewalks with his big monkey butt wiggling all the way. :) Jonah refuses to actually say please anytime we ask him, he just signs it. Well when it came to trying to get more candy out of people last night, he would hold up his bucket and say loud and clear, "More Please!" What a booger. :) We didn't stay out long as it was still warm but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Halloween's past

2008-11-01T14:48:00.001-07:00

I thought it would be fun to see Jonah throughout the 3 Halloweens he's been around for. :) In 2006 he was 3 months old and he was a cowboy. We trick or treated with Dave, Teri and Dakota (who was Superman). It was a bummer year for it, there was hardly anyone giving out candy and hardly any trick or treaters! We had a nice time together though and ordered pizza, I think Jonah passed out by 7 or 8. :)

Last year we were in Illinois visiting Ben's family, Jonah was 15 months old. This was a costume that Ben's sister had and it fit him perfectly, and he even kept the hood on! It was really cold there so it was perfect. We trick or treated with Ben's siblings and their kids and that neighborhood was pretty into it. He still really didn't get what was going on though. I'll post another blog about last night, but this is another hand me down costume that Teri had (it's a monkey) since his Blue's Clues costume was too small. It was hot last night still but he still did good, although the hood didn't stay on at all.

8 month belly picture

2008-10-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

Got my hair cut on Tuesday, it's super short in the back and I LOVE it! Kinda looks like Kate from Jon and Kate Plus 8, but with less highlights. ;) So here's my almost 32 week belly, quite the difference from the last pic, eh? I've gotten some new stretch marks on the underside of my belly which proves that Noah is WAY lower than Jonah ever was! He's a busy bee all the time, always twisting and kicking and hiccuping. :) I have another OB checkup on Monday and then I'll start going every week on the 17th!

Oh I had a crazy Noah dream the other night.... I dreamt he was born on November 22nd and weighed 8lbs 5oz! Now I'm sure he's going to be that big, if not bigger, but let's hope he doesn't come THAT early! :) And he had lots of black hair like Jonah did, but I had a dream a couple months ago that he was blonde and looked more like Dylan, so we'll see!

Tomorrow is Halloween, YAY! Too bad it's still FREAKING hot here, still in the low 90's!?!? GRRRR. Ben got done with work early again (yippee!) so he's stopping by the store to get some pumpkins and we're going to carve them and roast pumpkin seeds tonight while we bbq some burgers and dogs. Strange combo, I know. His Mom is still here and she and Jonah are so in love and having the best time playing together. He's going to be sad when she leaves, and vice versa I'm sure! :)

Exciting news!

2008-10-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be an Aunt... again!! My sister Christy is 11 weeks pregnant with Baby #2!!! Since she announced it on Myspace I figured it was ok to announce it on here. :) They definitely weren't trying and never thought it would happen again so easily, but they are excited... as well as totally freaked out I'm sure. :) Of course it will probably be a boy, but it would be nice if grandbaby #6 were a girl, although not nice for the poor girl of course with 5 older boys to beat up on her! ;) He/she will be born at the beginning of May, we're all very excited.

Of course!

2008-10-22T14:39:00.001-07:00

Jonah was sitting on my lap this morning and had only his diaper on, and his Blues Clues costume was right next to me on the couch... so I nonchalantly started to put it on him. He didn't protest too much but once I got it on I realized it's too small!!! He wouldn't keep it on otherwise I would have taken a picture, it was pretty funny, it's about 2 inches short in the arms and legs and totally tight in the crotch, ha! So maybe Noah will wear it one day, or I'll just try to re-sell it. Oh well. :)

Headed to UCLA

2008-10-21T08:46:00.001-07:00

My sister, brother in law and nephew Nate are driving to UCLA this weekend to meet with the neuro surgeons there to do more tests before they decide if Nate's a candidate for the surgery. Please be praying for their trip and that the tests on Nate are easy and painless.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/natesaint

30 week OB check up

2008-10-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

I feel almost guilty writing this after what happened with Courtney losing her baby boy, but it has also made me appreciate what I have even more.... which may have been part of Aiden's mission here on earth. Please continue to pray for Courtney and her family as they mourn their loss.

So just thought I would report that the check up went great. They're pretty quick now which I like, and no more glucose drama, yay! I haven't gained anymore weight, I actually lost a tiny bit, which is great. I'll have two more 2 week visits and then it's every week after that.

Unfortunately I've totally caught Jonah's cold and it's totally in my head and I'm completely miserable and not sleeping good at all. I'm praying it's quick like his was because Ben's Mom flies in on Friday! :(

We got Noah's room completely cleared out finally, it took awhile since that was our office and we had accumulated so much crap in there! We found room for everything and now we can fill it with Noah's things. :)

Nate The Great Update

2008-10-18T14:46:00.001-07:00

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/natesaint

Also please be praying for our friend Courtney who miscarried her baby at 20 weeks in utero and just gave birth to him the other day after a long labor, it was a baby boy and they named him Aiden Cole. I can't even wrap my head around what they're going through right now so they need all the prayers they can get.

Cold check list

2008-10-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

Jonah is doing MUCH better today, yay! It was really only two bad days, which I'm so thankful for because it always used to go into his ears and then it was endless. He's been sleeping good at night (except for Wednesday night) and taking great naps so I knew it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately I seem to be getting something now, I woke up with a sore throat. Super. I'm just praying it goes away as quickly as Jonah's did and doesn't turn into a sinus infection, which I'm prone to. Plus Ben's Mom will be here on Friday, so I have a week to heal! :(

After 2 years of trial and error I finally have it narrowed down to what really works for a cold and how to help them sleep at night. I now avoid cold medicines, one because "they" now say it's not good for them and two because they really do the opposite of what's needed. They dry everything up and don't let it drain out like it needs to, and I think that's why he would get ear infections every time! The only medicine I give him, besides Motrin of course, is Mucinex. I give him very little and space it out, but it really seems to help drain everything out of his head. Here's what else I do to help him sleep, so I don't forget for next time. ;)

-Saline nose drops/spray. I love this stuff because it's really just salt water, which I could actually make at home but I don't have the patience. ;) Jonah acts like he's being murdered when I do it but it gets things flowing. Also the booger sucker, which REALLY pisses him off.

- We run a cool mist humidifier year round since AZ is so dry, but especially for our super dry "winters". When he's sick we get the Vicks or Pedia Care plug in menthol strips, they plug right into the outlet and release the menthol vapors all night, they're awesome!

- I prop his mattress with a pillow underneath and then a pillow for his head so he's more reclined.

- Then of course good 'ol Vicks rub on his chest.

One of THOSE days

2008-10-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

We had a really horrible night with Jonah last night, the worst in a very long time. It took him forever to fall asleep, probably 10:30, then was up crying at 11:30. If he doesn't stop in a few minutes then we know he's really up. Ben went in to rock him for a few minutes and then it usually works to lay him back in bed and lie down on the floor next to him... but not last night! He was still up for a few hours, maybe fell asleep for a half hour and then was up again at 3! His nose seemed to be really bothering him, lots of drainage down his throat. So I finally gave him some medicine and Ben got him back down at 4, and then he was up again at 7! Good times. He seemed totally fine this morning except for waking up crying again, I gave him his allergy medicine and he ate breakfast with no problem. (Scratch that, he's definitely got something :( )

So we had planned to go hang out with Teri and the boys, our usual weekly get together. I got ready fast and was headed out to grab some much needed Starbucks before heading down there..... and my car wouldn't start. We'd had a low battery awhile back but it was re-charged and was fine ever since. So now we're stuck, and it's times like this when I feel really stranded up here in Anthem with no one around to help. Ben will hopefully get done early to go get a new battery and hopefully that's it. I guess God REALLY didn't want me to leave the house today, and I know there's a reason for all this but I can't help but be totally bummed. Thankfully it happened when we were home so we could come back inside to a comfy house and I could make my own coffee and lunch. But I just felt like whining about it. ;)

WOO HOO!!!!

2008-10-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

I got a call this morning from my OB's nurse telling me that I had passed the Glucose re-test!!! I asked what the "score" was and she said 117, YAY! SUCH a relief and a weight off my back, whew! Word of advice for anyone who has to do this in the future, FAST FOR THE TEST! Wish they'd told me that ahead of time.

Mmmmm, cookies....

2008-10-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

Made these for the first time tonight from the back of a Craisin bag and they're tasty!

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 6oz package of Craisins

2/3 cup white chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat oven to 375. Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in Craisins and white chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Makes 2 1/2 dozen.

Vampires

2008-10-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

Well I re-did the 1 hour glucose screening this morning, so glad to have that out of the way! They've taken so many vials of my blood these past couple months I'm surprised I have any left! ;) I don't want to see that place again anytime soon. Now let's pray that the fasting helped and that the results will be 130 or under this time. Hopefully I'll find out early next week! I'm going to be calling them Monday morning if I haven't heard by then.

I had to bring Jonah along with me but he did really good for being there for an hour! He decided he had to sit in every single chair and by every single person and made a lot of friends. :) Then my wonderful Mom stopped by and helped distract him for awhile and took him outside when it was time to draw my blood. Of course we had a mandatory Starbucks trip after that, love that it's right next door! :)

So be crossing your fingers and toes for good results!

VICTORY... for now

2008-10-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

So I had my 28 week check up today, I'm officially in my 3rd trimester! I have been so nervous about this visit since I was going to be arguing my case about the 3 hour glucose screening and who ever knows me knows I HATE confrontation!! First of all my weight is still awesome, I have gained only 2 pounds since my last check up which puts me at only 9 pounds total so far and I'm pretty dang proud of that! If I can keep it low from now on hopefully I won't go over the 15lb mark. Blood pressure and Noah's heart beat are still great, he's still measuring big, almost 30 weeks! Not too surprising though since we know I have big babies. :)

So then came the "talk". I said that I would prefer not to do the 3 hour screening since I was only 5 points above the cut off and would have passed if it had been done just a few months ago. I also said that it could have been a false positive since no one said whether or not I had to fast so I'd had some coffee that morning which could have spiked it. Plus there has been no sugar in my urine up to this point so there's obviously not a huge concern. I could tell she wasn't going to back down and said I either had to do the 3 hour or she would just label me with GD and put me on a diabetic diet. NO THANK YOU! So I asked if it would be possible to just re-do the one hour test and she agreed! She said to go ahead and fast for it and that may help. I was so happy! I know it's not over until we get the results of that one, but I feel good that I stood up for myself and didn't just do the test or be put on the diet.

And I have a scheduled c-section date... if I don't go into labor on my own that is. She said we needed to just put it on the books and I agreed, although I made her say again that if I was progressing by then then we would cancel it. So if nothing happens on it's own then Noah will be here on Tuesday, December 30th!! It feels weird to have an actual date, but I'm still praying hard that we won't need it.

Also I have all my appointments scheduled until the end, that felt REALLY weird since there really aren't that many left! Yikes. I'll go every two weeks until the 17th of November and then every week until the end. Let the countdown begin! :)

On a whole different note, we had my nephew Dylan's 1st birthday party last night, I seriously can't believe he's a year old already! It was a small party with just our family and Teri's but it was nice. Teri did an amazing job decorating and all the food was yummy. It took Dylan awhile to really get going with his "smash" cake but once he realized what it was then it was everywhere! :) Next up is Dakota's 3rd birthday, holy crap!!

We're also getting ready for Ben's Mom's visit which we're looking forward to. She'll fly in on Friday the 24th and be here until Monday November 3rd. I'm excited to have her here for Halloween since we were in Illinois for it last year! The weather will be gorgeous by then and it will give her some good bonding time with Jonah before she comes out again in the Spring to meet Noah.

Babies EVERYWHERE!

2008-10-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

There has been quite the baby boom lately in my circle, I love it! :) Our friend Stephanie just had her 3rd last month, my good friend Sarah just had her second on Monday night, a baby boy! Another friend Amber is being induced TONIGHT with her first, the sex is going to be a surprise. Next to go is me, followed early next year by my sil's sister Jenny, then my good friend Monet this spring and then Courtney.... and a couple more that I can't mention yet. ;) There must be something in the Arizona water!

Things I miss...

2008-10-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

~Sleeping on my stomache

~Having a cold beer when we go out to eat or making a delicious dirty martini at home.

~Not having to worry about how much caffeine I'm drinking.

~Brushing my teeth without dry heaving EVERY time. :(

~Seeing my feet.

~Lots of clothes that fit great instead of one pair of shorts that are almost too tight.

~Enjoying food and not having everything gross me out, especially sushi!

~Not peeing every 2 hours all night long.

~Not having Braxton Hicks contractions every time I do errands or grocery shop.

~Having the energy to do more than one chore a day without needing to rest in between!

~Not having to hear every stranger's pregnancy/delivery stories at the check out line, I DON'T CARE that your friend's sister's cousin had 3 c-sections!!!

BUT.... it will all be over SOON! Only 2 or 3 more months to go (2 hopefully!!!) and then I'll be back to "normal", only completely sleep deprived and out of my mind. ;) I think that's why God made us be so miserable in our last trimester, so that we're actually ready to get the kid out of us! A month or so ago I was on the line of wanting him here already and not ever wanting him to come out... now I just want it over with! Ok, my bitch fest is over for today. ;)

PS, Happy October 1st! Fall is FINALLY here! :)