Rewind

Here's the rewind......



For Father's day, we had Joe's 6 month photos done at a local park. I've seen a preview, and I cannot wait for the rest. Our photographer does an amazing job. We also went out to dinner to Ava's ( a local restaurant.) That was pretty much it. I had to work the overnight shift and needed some sleep after the photo shoot.

Father's Day 2011

Joe's all set for the 4th of July parade. He learned to clap his hands this week. YEAH!!! He likes to do it when we're trying to feed him.

He also graduated to a big boy car seat. He just got too big and heavy to carry in the infant seat. I think he likes his new digs. He can see more out the window now.

Big boy at the grocery store. He kept looking up at the lights in the ceiling.

We had a little scare on Friday with Adalyn. She was watching Ice Age in the living room and I was getting the diaper bag ready for her & Joe's visit to my Aunt's house on Saturday. I returned to the living room after being out of her sight for about 3 minutes. She saw me and quickly shoved what looked to be something small & white. I asked what she had, she just kept her mouth shut. I pretty much forced my fingers into a two year's full mouth of teeth. Risky, knowing she has bitten me before. But not knowing what she had in there, I had to take the risk. What did I find? Unknown pills. Pills! Where on earth did she find these? She also had a small pill box of Matt's in her lap. I got one full tablet and one that was broken. I did not recognize them. They were none of mine, none of Matt's. What were they? I call Matt, he did an Internet search of the numbers on the tablets. There were Tylenol 500mg. But, did she take any more? More could definitely fit the box. But I only could find the two in her mouth. Matt could not remember how many there were and when the last time he saw that pill box. So make this long story shorter: Call Nurse line, then poison control, then off to the ER, waited fours to have a drug level done. To find out she did not ingest any pills. Thank the Lord!

On a lighter side, Adalyn did the funniest thing this afternoon. I was weeding my garden and Matt was mowing the grass, Addy decided she was going to imitate her daddy. She ran over to the shed and as she ran she was in the process of pulling down her shorts. Can you see where this is leading? She was saying "I have to pee." So she tried to pee standing up. Yep, she figured if Daddy can do it, so could she. Right?

Well, that's the rewind. Not much this past week.

Until next time....

Rewind

I know it's been over a month since my last entry. So here's the last month's highlights.

I got to spend this year's Mother's Day, potty training Adalyn. We decided since Matt had the following Monday & Tuesday off, if would a great opportunity to tackle this project. I read several blogs & online parenting site about potty training and choose to try the 3 Day Potty Training method. Overall, this method did work. It did take us more than 3 days (4.5days) for Addy to be officially potty trained. We crammed all the messy work of potty training into less than a week. She even does an awesome job when we are out & about. We are still to this day, not night trained. I feel in time, she will get the night portion down.

The only pic we have of Addy "training."

Mother's Day 2011

Addy also had her first dentist appointment. She did great. She let the dental hygienist count her teeth, brush a few of them with her magic toothbrush and paint them with the fluoride protection soln. She even let the dentist look at her teeth too. She was sooo proud of herself. She still, to this day, brings up the dentist visit.

Joseph turned 6 months on May 19th. He weighed in a whopping 21 lbs 12 oz. He was almost 22 POUNDS! He is one big guy. Big Joe is his name.

May 19, 2011
6 Months

Joe is rolling everywhere and can sit by himself for a few seconds at a time. He's got a lot of those cute baby rolls to manage. This week, he's even starting to push himself backwards. Putting his cute butt in the air, then push with his arms.

Started to feed him solids after he turned 6 months. But he still was having the anti-gagging tongue reflex going on. Our pediatrician stated by 7 months this should go away. Therefore, we were only trying rice cereal every so often, until we noticed the tongue reflex was mostly gone. That happened last week. Yeah! Now we can move on to different foods. He's tried green beans and sweet potatoes. With both, he's not too sure about them. Making those cute little faces that say, "Really, you're going to feed me this?" When he tried the sweet potato, he literately was gagging on them. He should love sweet potatoes, I ate them constantly while pregnant with him.

He had his last helmet adjustment appointment last week. We found out that he's done with his helmet. His head looks great. He ended only needing to wear it for about 9 weeks. Three weeks less than initial planned. HOORAY!



Plus, we noticed that Joe is cutting his right side bottom tooth last week too. This means that we have been getting up more often thru the nite due to the newly chopper. Now he can show his big sister how it feels to have ones fingers in the other's mouth. Adalyn is notorious for biting her little brother.

The weather around here finally warmed up. Got my flowers planted and the garden weeded (those darn dandelions were everywhere.) Addy even helped in her own special way. She loves to pick the flowers, weed one and non-weeds.

Finally got to use the pool, kiddie pool that is.

Then on a side note, at my place of employment, management finally closed our old home. It was a sad day. We will love the newest of our new home, but it will take awhile to adjust the merging of the two units. Lots of blending will take place with the new faces on board.

This is view from room 24 where I had the opportunity to meet many brave and wonderful children & their families.

That's it for now.

We are getting Joseph's 6 month pics done this weekend.

Have a Great Father's Day!!!!

Rewind

Here's the rewind......

Not much happened this week. Joe had an appointment for his helmet. He's progressing very well. The orthotist was actually surprised on how well his head is shaping up. We hopefully have two more months left. Cross your fingers for us.

Joe also discovered his feet. Everytime you change his diaper, he has to get ahold of his feet. Makes diaper changing time a tad more difficult. But it's soo darn cute.

ADDY TOUCHING HER TOES.
She's showing Joe that she can do it too.

The weather was nice enough that Addy got the chance to try out her new bike helmet. She, her nanny & friend Ella did a a couple laps around the cul-a-sac.

The bike is alittle big for her, need to add some blocks to the pedals. But she had fun hanging on the back while Ella drove.

Here are couple Addy quotes of lately...

"Just one more question."

"I have an idea."

"Just a minute"

Daddy: "I have use the treadmill so I don't get sick." Addy: "I'm sick, I need to go downstairs."

(The treadmill is in the basement.)

"Mommy, Mommy. Guess what, Mommy?" Me: "What Adalyn, what?" Adalyn: "I love you."

(Does that warm your heart or what.)



I love you too Addy!

That's the rewind. Until next week.....

REWIND

Here's the rewind....

This past week we had our basement finally sheet rocked & mudded. YEAH!!!!! Now bring on the paint! I have no idea on what color to choose for the main room. The bathroom will be in the yellow family. I think we will just have to pick a very neutral color, aka beige, until we have the furniture picked out. Our goal is to have the space "ready" before the fall rolls around. Meaning, floor is stained, doors put into place and the bathroom functional.

Here's a peak of the space sofar.

Since it was Easter, Adalyn & I got to dye some eggs for the first time this past week. She was sooo excited to help decorate the eggs. I have not done this activity since I was a kid. We opted to make vibrant colored Easter eggs. They turned out okay. It takes longer to make the darker colors, therefore we had to entertain Addy. She had her nighttime bath, while the eggs sat in their dye bath.

This year's Easter was filled with many firsts for us. We dyed eggs, Addy got to look for her Easter basket from the Easter bunny and Addy got to participate in the Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Grandpa & Grandma's.

It took Adalyn awhile to catch on to the Easter basket hunt. She actual walked by her basket first & did a once glance over the it, then continued to walk forward. She must have realized it was her basket, she then walked back to hiding spot & said "My Easter Basket!" Out of all the gifts, she was most excited by the bubbles (Thanks Aunt Ginny.) She finally got to blow the bubbles at Gma & Gpa's. She actually learned the proper way of blowing them. Before, she would put the bubble wand on her lips and try to create the bubbles. She now knows not to put the wand on her face.

Way to go ADDY!

Joseph's Easter Basket

(Thanks Aunt Ginny)

As for the Annual Easter Egg Hunt, it didn't take Adalyn long to figure out the goal of game. We have to thank her cousin Connor for his big help. It was quite comical, when Addy got the idea down, she was off. Connor had to actual run to keep up with Addy.



Joseph with Gma & Gpa




The Grandkids plus Lucy Lu

That's this week's rewind. Until next week......

REWIND

Here's the rewind of the last month......

I went back to work. It was like I never left. Well, mostly. The patient care has not changed, but the organization itself is changing. That's what healthcare is all about, right. Constant change. My unit has a new manger, and we as a unit are leaving our beloved small floor behind in the next couple months. We are merging with another unit, therefore, some reorganization had to take place. I and many other nurses from the two units had to rebid for positions on this new "unit." Some great & talented & caring nurses had to either to take a partial or complete layoff or go to another unit within the hospital. I was very fortunate to retain my current schedule. It will be an interesting summer & next fall.

Joe had his 4 month check up. He weighed in at 18.8 pounds! Joe has definitely earned his nickname. He's right on step with his milestones. He started to roll over both from stomach to back and back to stomach. Granted it's not every time he's on tummy time duty, but I'll give him the credit for achieving this milestone. Way to go Mr. Chubbs! Although he does need help with the shape of his skull. When he was born, we noticed that the right side of his forehead was larger than the left. We tried to lay him on his left side when he slept, it helped a little. But has he grew, so did a flat spot (also known as plagiocephaly) on his back right side of the head. Next stop, the Craniofacial clinic. They determined he had a mild case of right torticollis and that he would benefit from some physical therapy and wearing a cranial cap for about 3 months. We had PT out for an eval-she felt he didn't need therapy. Yeah! Then the helmet came in. After several adjustments, he is on his way to wearing it 23 hours a day. I'm already at the point when the helmet is off, he looks so different.

We also had Joesph baptised last month. He did great. Not a peep from him when the deacon poured the holy water over his forehead. Matt's 3 sisters & brother are Joe's Godparents. I have a running joke, that if Joe is anything like his father, he will need all the help he can get, therefore there is a need for the 3 sisters to be his Godmothers. :)

Joseph & Big sister Adalyn before the big event

Joseph being baptized by Deacon
Uncle Denny (Godfather) holding Joe.

The Grandparents

(Gpa G, Great Gma M, Gpa K, & Gma G)

The Godparents

As usual, Addy getting everyone's attention. :)

So those were the highlights of the last two months.

Until next time.......

The best and worst of 2010

I know it’s been over a month since I posted, but I have some real good reasons. First of all, I'll start with the best thing that happened this year. I gave birth to our newest bundle of joy. Meet Joseph, born on November 19^th.

He is now 6 weeks old today. Wow, how time goes by. He’s already getting the chubby cheeks, showing us a peek of his smile, and cooing more each day. He actually had his first coo around 3 weeks of age. Especially this past week, we noticed an increase of interaction with us. Looking at us with more of a meaning. I hope you can understand what I’m trying to say. It just seems that a light bulb went off in his brain.

Addy is slowly adjusting to the new addition. At first she was possessive of him, then as the days went by, she would act out when she didn’t get her way. She would attempt to hit him or run over to the Christmas tree and pull the bulbs off and throw them on the floor, hence the tree looks like this:

We had to move the glass bulbs up the tree or completely off the tree. So, just your normal 2 year old behavior.

Other reason, for not posting: my health. Remember me talking about my knee. I finally had surgery on it. The IV medication was not taking care of the infection. Therefore off to the OR to clean out the infection. I have a nice scar down the middle of my knee with dots on each side for the scar from the 14 stitches. Yet, before I was able to address the knee, I had a very unexpected event happen. This how it went down.

It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Joseph was only 8 days old, we had our family and Joe’s newborn pictures taken earlier that day. We decided to decorate our Christmas tree after dinner. Matt was in the basement getting the lights, I had just finished feeding Joe, when I stood up, I felt like I had just peed my pants. I remember saying out loud with my 2 year old standing next to me, “ Seriously, I just wet myself?” I yelled for Matt at that moment and started towards the bathroom. As I moved forward, more of the wetting yourself feeling continued. As I looked down to the floor under me, I could not believe my eyes, I was bleeding. As I continued to walk, there was more blood. Finally made into the tub and with each movement, the bleeding would not stop. I was at the point where I didn’t want to move an inch, for the fear of losing more blood. Matt called 911 and as we waited for the EMTs, Addy keeping saying, “Mommy has an owie.” Remembering those 10-15 minutes until help arrived, is heart breaking. Matt holding Joe and making phone calls, Addy running in and out of the bathroom and me telling her that her mommy is okay.

Finally the EMT arrived and took me to the local hospital. It was there they determined that I was hemorrhaging due to left over placenta and a D & C had to be performed. Because of my blood type, B-, It was going to take time for the hospital to receive any blood to transfusion me. They told me that if necessary, they would transfuse the universal type. But was only if I became unstable. I was conscious and my blood pressure was actually okay, is was more hypertensive than hypotensive, which is on the good side of things. I was wheeled to the OR room. I remember being put on the operating table. I remember I was shake vigorously, like I was freezing. I remember the ER doc telling me or maybe to staff that we have to transfuse the “only if in an emergency” blood. I remember them telling me they are going to give me something to relax and them saying that the versed was given. The next thing I remember is waking up looking at a clock reading 2:00, it’s daylight, and hearing voices next to me. Someone told me that I was at a different hospital, a metro city hospital. I had to look out the window to confirm what was being told to me. And sure enough, I recognized the skyline of the city. I had been transferred in the middle of the night.

So this what was told to me on what happened after I was put to sleep for surgery. Apparently, the surgery went well, the surgeon felt he got the rest of the contents left in my uterus, tons of blood clots and some left over placenta. When I was in recovery, they tried to take the breathing tube out, but I didn’t tolerating it. They estimated I loss about 6 units of blood overall and that I was starting to go into DIC. “Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a rare, life-threatening condition that prevents a person's blood from clotting normally. It may cause excessive clotting (thrombosis) or bleeding (hemorrhage) throughout the body and lead to shock, organ failure, and death. In DIC, the body's natural ability to regulate blood clotting does not function properly. This causes the blood's clotting cells (platelets) to clump together and clog small blood vessels throughout the body. This excessive clotting damages organs, destroys blood cells, and depletes the supply of platelets and other clotting factors so that the blood is no longer able to clot normally. This often causes widespread bleeding, both internally and externally." From WebMD (http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/disseminated-intravascular-coagulation-dic-topic-overview)

This meant I received many units of blood, other blood products, blood thinners to help prevent form more clots forming, and heavy doses of antibiotics. Thankfully, with help of many prayers from family & friends, the skillful healthcare professionals, and the Lord above, I came out of the ordeal. Some of nurses were saying it was a miracle I made it. I don’t remember the majority that went on. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. I gave my family & friends a BIG scare that weekend. My knee was taken care of two days after the bleeding incident. I spent a total of 7 days away from my kids. Unable to hold, kiss, cuddle my two beautiful bundles of joy was the hardest and heartbreaking I had to endure those 7 days. To sum it up, this was the worst part of 2010.

2011 should be my year, right? I hope as the year progresses, I'll be able to keep up this blog on a regular basis. I just ned to find that routine that has yet to show it's face. In time, I guess.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Rewind

I'm going to start this rewind starting the very early morning hours of last Sunday. Here's the rewind....

It all started about 1am, I could not, for the life of me, fall asleep. Reason, having contractions on what seemed like a regular basis. By 2am, I woke the hubby up & asked him start marking them. They were 5 minutes apart, lasting over a minute each time. They were uncomfortable, but not sure if they warrant calling the doc yet. So after about two hours of clocking the contractions, we made the call. Packed Addy & the suitcase and headed for the hospital to get checked out. Finally got ahold of the sis-in-law to come pick Addy up at the hospital. I was only at an 1 and baby had not dropped. So we waited for two hours to see if anything would happen. Nothing-the contractions started to pitter out and I was still at 1. Therefore homebound we went for some sleep. Apparently he was not ready.

Here are some past photos of the baby & me.

This a 3-D image of his face at 36weeks. The clinic had recently received the 3-D probe & the tech was playing around with it.
He's going to be a big boy. Don't you just love the chubby checks.

Mommy @ 37 weeks





Other thing new this past week, Addy has graduated to the toddler bed. She had climbed out of her crib in front of me one morning last week. We decided to give her one more chance to figure it out again. Well, during a Saturday afternoon, instead of sleeping, she was playing in her room. Books everywhere, stuffed animals scattered on the floor and clothes pulled out of her drawers. You see, usually she will talk herself to sleep and sometimes it takes her about a hour to do so. But after that hour mark, I had a inkling that something was up. She had crawled out of the crib for the second time. When she saw me in her room, she said to me, " I did it Mommy. I did it." Yes Addy, you sure did it. So, now she is free to roam her room & leave it as she pleases. I was not ready for this step. My mornings of letting her play in her crib for awhile, so I could just get those extra zzzz's, are gone. I'm not the best morning person. I love to sleep in. We are now getting the early morning wake up calls and she doesn't fall back to sleep with us, she wants to play or watch cartoons. Yesterday it was 5am.

We also had another unforeseen event happen this past week. I've been battling a swollen knee for about the last 3 weeks. I went to Urgent care Halloween eve, started an abx for a possible infected bursa. After almost 3 days on the med, I felt it was not getting better. I made an appt with an Infectious Disease MD- she had a Rheumatologist look at it. He felt is was NOT infected, just swollen and because I cannot take ibuprofen d/t the pregnancy, we had to sit on it for awhile. But finish the abx just to be on the safe side. After about 3-4 days of no improvement, it actually was getting worse. To the point where I was having a hard time walking on it and not being able to sleep because of the throbbing pain. The next day-they tapped the knee-really didn't get any fluid out. Therefore the Rheumatologist felt it was probably big blood clot on my knee. But he did send cultures to cover all the basis. It grew out a nice bacteria infection that is resistance to the oral abx I was on. So I made a overnite stay in the hospital to have IV abx started. Sent me home with a PICC line and a regimen of IV abx for 14 days. YEAH!!!! All I can do is laugh at this. This pregnancy started with a bang (pneumonia @ 6 weeks) and now it's only appropriate that ends with a bang. :)

My mother-in-law is the sweetest woman, she spent this past week with us to help out and is planning to come back tonite to help out until after big boy's arrival. Thank you Grandma!!!

To end this past week, Mother Nature decided to blanket us with the white stuff. The winter season has officially started. We've been so spoiled these past 12 days of a beautiful November with temps way above average. Addy's first words when she saw the snow falling, " What's that?" We replied, "It's snow." Addy: " I have to get my mittens." She wanted to make a snowman.


Making snow angels.

Here's Addy's friend thanks to Daddy.

Now it's time for hot chocolate! YUM!!

That's the rewind. Until next week..... (there should be a new addition to the family by then.)