Can I just say, I'm so excited December is here?! It's such a fun month! While Christmas shopping and preparations can be stressful, I truly enjoy the challenge of finding that great gift for each special person in my life. It's especially fun when I can get creative and surprise them with something they really love! I usually put a lot of thought and care into choosing and wrapping Christmas gifts, and it's that much more fun to watch people unwrap them.
Santa already has a list for the kids, and most of our Christmas cards went out today. There are still a few people I need addresses for (if you are one of my friends who has moved within the past 6 months, I'm talking to you!) Our Christmas decorations are up, and I love turning on the Christmas tree lights and relaxing in the living room. I started making Christmas cookies yesterday, and I hope I have the energy to make lots this year! This is the year I plan to tackle my granny's famous nut rolls, finally!
Mark and his dad painted the baby's room last weekend. I'm still getting used to calling it the baby's room instead of the guest room. Mark put together the crib (yes, we now have THREE cribs in our house) and my friend Andrea helped me get the mattress in it. I washed all of the 0-3 mos. clothes, and I think we have enough, depending on how much she spits up!
Owen saw his regular pediatrician today. He didn't have to get any shots, but the doctor is very concerned about his continued vomiting. So she's going to contact his developmental pediatrician to discuss a trial of Reglan. Years ago, I would have been against this for him, but now I'm open to it. SOMETHING has to change for this child; he simply cannot go on vomiting like this, several times a day, forever. Not to mention the fact that this is something our growing family cannot continue to handle, either.
Owen also had a great therapy session with his OT and DT earlier this week. He did fabulously and was so fun for them to work with. I wish every session could go that well! We are getting re-started with speech tomorrow and PT on Monday. I hope he is the sunny version of himself for them, too!
Baby Girl hasn't shown any new signs of arriving anytime soon, so we're still looking at December 12th for my induction. Gavin is still as cuddly and talkative as ever, though we're starting to work on not hitting. In all, we're having a good week, though I sort of wish I could fast forward to the 12th!
Showing posts with label Baby Girl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baby Girl. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
These Days...
These days... I have at least a dozen contractions a day. Sometimes they're spread way out, and sometimes they're right on top of each other.
These days... Baby Girl has DROPPED! She's down so low that the nurse often has trouble getting a steady reading of her heartbeat for the NSTs. I have to lie almost flat on my back for her to find it.
These days... The Christmas decorations are up at our house! The shopping is almost done! I'm excited to enter the holiday season with a new life in our house!
These days... Owen feels more and more like himself. He sings songs with us (or rather, he does the motions). He laughs and plays. He crawls around. He's making more vocal sounds. And he's willing to taste food.
These days... Gavin is a clingy, snuggly little guy. He does NOT like us to walk away from him, and has reverted to demanding that I carry him up and down the stairs (he can, and used to, do this perfectly fine on his own a couple of weeks ago). He has so many words! He says "more, peas" (more, please), "ah done" (all done), and his favorite: "no." He pats Owen lovingly on the head, but he also steals his toys. Today he spilled some milk on the floor, walked over and got one of Owen's cloths, and bent down to wipe the carpet. In many ways, he will be our oldest child, and I know he'll be a fantastic brother to Owen.
These days... I don't know what to pray for when it comes to Owen. His surgeries are over; there is not much more that can be done for his heart. Do I pray for a long life? Or a life with minimal pain and procedures, even if it means he leaves us sooner? I get the impression that he won't be able to have both, and as his mommy it sometimes makes me yearn to place him in Jesus' arms to receive His healing and be free of all this. Then I feel guilty for even considering that Heaven may be the best place for him.
So I guess these days, as always, we could really use prayer that God will guide us in the right direction as a family, that He will make it clear what decisions we should make to follow His path. After all, Owen WILL be in Heaven someday. Mark and I have a responsibility to continue to follow God's will so we can get there, too.
These days... Baby Girl has DROPPED! She's down so low that the nurse often has trouble getting a steady reading of her heartbeat for the NSTs. I have to lie almost flat on my back for her to find it.
These days... The Christmas decorations are up at our house! The shopping is almost done! I'm excited to enter the holiday season with a new life in our house!
These days... Owen feels more and more like himself. He sings songs with us (or rather, he does the motions). He laughs and plays. He crawls around. He's making more vocal sounds. And he's willing to taste food.
These days... Gavin is a clingy, snuggly little guy. He does NOT like us to walk away from him, and has reverted to demanding that I carry him up and down the stairs (he can, and used to, do this perfectly fine on his own a couple of weeks ago). He has so many words! He says "more, peas" (more, please), "ah done" (all done), and his favorite: "no." He pats Owen lovingly on the head, but he also steals his toys. Today he spilled some milk on the floor, walked over and got one of Owen's cloths, and bent down to wipe the carpet. In many ways, he will be our oldest child, and I know he'll be a fantastic brother to Owen.
These days... I don't know what to pray for when it comes to Owen. His surgeries are over; there is not much more that can be done for his heart. Do I pray for a long life? Or a life with minimal pain and procedures, even if it means he leaves us sooner? I get the impression that he won't be able to have both, and as his mommy it sometimes makes me yearn to place him in Jesus' arms to receive His healing and be free of all this. Then I feel guilty for even considering that Heaven may be the best place for him.
So I guess these days, as always, we could really use prayer that God will guide us in the right direction as a family, that He will make it clear what decisions we should make to follow His path. After all, Owen WILL be in Heaven someday. Mark and I have a responsibility to continue to follow God's will so we can get there, too.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Whew...
It's been a long couple of weeks, and yet somehow still a whirlwind. Owen is home from the hospital. He came home last Wednesday on oral antibiotics and with his same post-op heart meds. We follow up with cardiology next week. Overall, his operations were successful. The problem now is that we simply can't control his pain. We were told when we left the hospital that we should keep him on scheduled Lortab/Motrin for the first 24 hours, then go to Motrin only with Lortab as he needs it. Well, he has continued to need it up to and including today, and we only have about 1 dose left. The poor kid is just in pain, and he usually is not calmed by Mom and Dad or any of his favorite toys. We're definitely getting him weaned off the medication; it's just taking longer than we had anticipated.
As we settle back into our routine, Gavin has changed a bit too. Although I know he loved his time away with Mimi, he definitely is more clingy since he's been back. He cries more readily if we walk away from him, or if we're holding Owen instead of him. It's going to be even more of a shock to him once the baby comes. We'll just have to make sure to give him lots of hugs and kisses, even more than we already do.
And speaking of Baby Girl, the NSTs are going fine. She is always reactive and looking great. As of last Sunday, though, I have been having contractions. I'm sure they're just Braxton-Hicks, but they're still uncomfortable. Actually, I'm having one right now. Goodness, am I ever ready for this baby to be born!
Since being home, I've felt like I'm able to make more progress on getting ready for the baby and Christmas. I have my Christmas shopping about halfway done. And the truth is, we have almost all the supplies we need for Baby Girl, so we're ready in the most basic sense. But of course I'm nesting, and I want to make sure the room is just so, and the house is clean, etc. I might need not to expect so much of myself, but it's driving me crazy that everything isn't done and perfect around here.
And that's just sort of where we are, with less than 4 weeks to go before Baby Girl joins us!
As we settle back into our routine, Gavin has changed a bit too. Although I know he loved his time away with Mimi, he definitely is more clingy since he's been back. He cries more readily if we walk away from him, or if we're holding Owen instead of him. It's going to be even more of a shock to him once the baby comes. We'll just have to make sure to give him lots of hugs and kisses, even more than we already do.
And speaking of Baby Girl, the NSTs are going fine. She is always reactive and looking great. As of last Sunday, though, I have been having contractions. I'm sure they're just Braxton-Hicks, but they're still uncomfortable. Actually, I'm having one right now. Goodness, am I ever ready for this baby to be born!
Since being home, I've felt like I'm able to make more progress on getting ready for the baby and Christmas. I have my Christmas shopping about halfway done. And the truth is, we have almost all the supplies we need for Baby Girl, so we're ready in the most basic sense. But of course I'm nesting, and I want to make sure the room is just so, and the house is clean, etc. I might need not to expect so much of myself, but it's driving me crazy that everything isn't done and perfect around here.
And that's just sort of where we are, with less than 4 weeks to go before Baby Girl joins us!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Baby Girl Update
Yes, I'm pregnant. For the 3rd time. In 3 years. This little one was always in our plan, just maybe not quite so soon! But we've been very blessed with what appears to be a healthy little girl. So far, things have gone well during the pregnancy, aside from me being somewhat uncomfortable pretty early on. But about a month ago, I went to the doctor and was informed she was measuring over 3 weeks big.
Say WHAT?!
Those of you who were around at the time may remember that Gavin was 9'9" when he was born, and I never measured big with him at all. So this was a pretty big concern.
BUT, I went to the doctor yesterday, and everything looks great! I had an u/s to size the baby. Her head and tummy measurements are just on either side of 33 weeks (which is what I'll be tomorrow). And it appears she weighs approximately 4'12". That means she should be roughly 8 lbs. at 39 weeks. If all continues to go as it has, I will be induced then, on or about Dec. 12th. I just realized that means her b-day would be 12/12. That sounds pretty cool to me. =)
And overall, I've gained about 17 lbs, which I'm happy with since I have gestational diabetes. These next 6 weeks before she arrives will be busy - we may try to do some painting, and there's a possibility I'll break down and keep each child in his/her own room for a while, so there will be the work of preparing a room for her. But this will be mostly with things we already have, plus some possible craigslist/freecycle finds. I'm still on the fence about this (the original plan was to move Gavin in with Owen and have Baby Girl in the nursery), but I'm starting to think my sanity may be saved if we just leave the boys apart until they're both going to bed without tears. Plus, Owen still has middle-of-the-night "parties" in his room (I hear him talking to his toys when I get up to go to the bathroom), and I'm not too keen on him waking Gavin to join in. =)
In the end, we're excited and busy, and the baby looks great!
Say WHAT?!
Those of you who were around at the time may remember that Gavin was 9'9" when he was born, and I never measured big with him at all. So this was a pretty big concern.
BUT, I went to the doctor yesterday, and everything looks great! I had an u/s to size the baby. Her head and tummy measurements are just on either side of 33 weeks (which is what I'll be tomorrow). And it appears she weighs approximately 4'12". That means she should be roughly 8 lbs. at 39 weeks. If all continues to go as it has, I will be induced then, on or about Dec. 12th. I just realized that means her b-day would be 12/12. That sounds pretty cool to me. =)
And overall, I've gained about 17 lbs, which I'm happy with since I have gestational diabetes. These next 6 weeks before she arrives will be busy - we may try to do some painting, and there's a possibility I'll break down and keep each child in his/her own room for a while, so there will be the work of preparing a room for her. But this will be mostly with things we already have, plus some possible craigslist/freecycle finds. I'm still on the fence about this (the original plan was to move Gavin in with Owen and have Baby Girl in the nursery), but I'm starting to think my sanity may be saved if we just leave the boys apart until they're both going to bed without tears. Plus, Owen still has middle-of-the-night "parties" in his room (I hear him talking to his toys when I get up to go to the bathroom), and I'm not too keen on him waking Gavin to join in. =)
In the end, we're excited and busy, and the baby looks great!
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