One year ago today....

I was sitting in a triage room at Magee, hooked up to some monitors, thinking that I was going to be admitted overnight for monitoring while they increased my dosage of blood pressure medication.  Little did I know, that my doctor would abruptly change his mind and instead say, "I think we should have a baby tonight!"  I was 36 weeks, 5 days, and so freaked out that I couldn't even form a sentence to respond to that.  (full birth story with detail freakout can be found here)

After pulling myself together and talking everything over, we decided that the doctor was right; it was for the best if we went ahead and induced.  It was one of the best decisions that we've ever made, because it meant that we got to meet Liam even earlier than we had anticipated, and now here we are getting ready to celebrate his first birthday! 

In anticipation of his big day tomorrow, here is a video taken last week of him cruising along the couch:

Happy Mother's Day!

Things we're going to focus on while reflecting upon Mother's Day:

The fact that I got to go to school for the afternoon to celebrate at a tea party with Jake, where he sang songs, recited a poem, made me a bracelet, and drew me a picture:

Video of his song/poem reciting:

Crafts and cards from both kids that I will proudly display:

 The caption above the handprint is hard to read in the picture, it says: My hand is so small.  Your hand is so big.  One day my hand will be the size of yours.  Too quickly things will change, it will be hard to remember how small I once was.  So here is a reminder, made just for you.  Happy Mother's Day!

sand jar from jake

Flower with footprint and handprint from Liam

I'm thankful for a loving husband who, despite what I am about to type below this, made a great effort at giving me a nice Mother's Day.

Things that we're going to try to forget ever happened on Mother's Day weekend:

The fact that Brian and I both ended up with the stomach flu on Saturday (thank you, Liam, for picking that up late last week then passing it along to us).  I thought I was going to die on Saturday, but felt about .01% human by Sunday, so there's that, I suppose.

So yes, I was totally having a pity party for myself yesterday....feeling sorry for myself that I felt so terrible, being frustrated that we didn't get anything done over the weekend that we had hoped to do (I was so looking forward to getting my hair cut and planting my flowers); however, this morning I was taking those pictures of the crafts and cards, and realized that while it was not a fun day, I'm still lucky to have these two amazing kids who call me Mommy.  Here they were this morning, being silly playing around in Jake's bed when he first woke up (not sure why the pictures are blurry and tinged yellow, but oh well):

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

Book Review: "Fires of our Choosing" (Eugene Cross)

Fires of Our Choosing by Eugene Cross

Full disclosure: The author (better known to his friends as "BG") has been a friend of mine since freshman year of college.  BG is a great guy and friend, so of course, I wanted to support him by reading his book. That being said, I'd still recommend the book, even if he didn't happen to be my friend!

Fires of Our Choosing is a collection of short stories, and they're written in such a way that you're immediately pulled into the characters, their lives, and often times, their hardships.  Some of the stories were very dark, or ended in a way that I didn't expect.  My only complaint about the book is that I wanted more!  I guess that's the point of short stories, they suck you in, get you invested in the story, then leave the rest up to you. 

Up next: Vision in White (Bride Quartet series) by Nora Roberts

Zoo Time!

 I would consider our trip there over the weekend Liam's first "official" trip to the zoo....meaning that he was actually awake for the whole thing.  We took him one time last summer when he was teeny-tiny, then again for Zoo Boo, but he slept through both of those trips.  He was much more into it this time around!

He even joined Jake in the stingray and meerkat tunnels!

Tubes are in

We took Liam in on Monday to get his tubes, and we're so glad to have that done and over with.  Hopefully the little guy can finally get some relief, for the first time in 4 months since all of this started.  I was confident that we had made the right decision to get them going into the surgery, and this was reaffirmed for me when the doctor came out after placing the tubes and told us that he had yet another infection in there (that we weren't even aware of...we had just had him at the pediatrician last Wednesday & his ears had fluid at that time, but no infection...so sometime between Wednesday and Monday morning, they became infected yet again). 

The hardest part of the day was definitely the whole not eating thing!  I was able to nurse him at 6am, but then his surgery wasn't scheduled until 11:45am.  Considering the fact that in that time span he would normally eat breakfast, have a bottle and probably start to eat lunch, the poor kid was NOT happy with this arrangement!  But, once the time came, he went back with the nurse with no problem, and didn't seem to be bothered coming out of anesthesia. 

Ear infections are definitely one of those things that I don't think you fully understand just how bad it can be when it's a chronic problem, until you're the parent of a kid who's going through it.  Jake has had one ear infection, and we didn't even know he had it (we were at the doctor for a well visit and he discovered it...he wasn't running a fever from it, wasn't cranky, didn't even seem to be bothered by it).  Liam, on the other hand, has always run a fever, pulled on his ears, lost sleep, was less interested in eating, etc....everything.  And I certainly always felt sympathy toward kids who had constant ear infections, but it wasn't until we were thrown in the mix of that group that I could fully understand just how hard it is to deal with!! 

So we're hopeful that this will help him out, and that the hearing loss he showed at his last exam will correct itself when we got for our follow up next month. 

"That's what I have to say to you, ear infections!"

Play ball!!

I was very excited to get to see Jake play t-ball for the first time; Jake did a great job, and it was like a comedy of errors watching a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds take the field :)

#1 Fan!!

GG came up to watch the game

Batter up!

Coach Brian leads the team in their warm up.

 

Looking forward to next week's game!

Some things never change.

Pregnant women seem to be known for their uncontrollable, raging hormones cravings.  While I didn't have any of the stereotypical cravings in either pregnancy (uh-no thank you, I think I'll pass on the pickles in ice cream), I did have some consistent cravings in both pregnancies.  I am always a big fan of Mexican food, but with Jake, it was all that I wanted to eat.  For every single meal.  (Jake is now also a big fan of Mexican food---coincidence?  Perhaps.)  There was one isolated incident where I HAD TO HAVE KFC mashed potatoes.  As in, Brian turned around from being almost home and went to get them for me.

And SWEET TEA.  OMG the sweet tea.  From a carton at the grocery store, from McDonald's, I didn't care.  I just wanted it.  I can distinctly remember waking up on a number of occasions at 2am, and being in bed thinking, "wow....I would kill to gulp down a sweet tea right about now".  Totally normal behavior at 2am, right?  I still like a sweet tea now and then, but nothing like those urges. 

With Liam, I skipped over the sweet tea and headed straight for the Dr. Pepper.  While I thought Dr. Pepper was ok before, once I got hit with that craving, it was like the best thing in the world.  If I walked into a restaurant that served it (which is sometimes hard to find!) it was like I had hit the lottery!  It's probably a good thing that the place I work only has Pepsi products in the vending machines, I at least stood a chance of being able to resist the urge to down one every day.

The other thing I fell in love with?  Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies.  I know, I know....so weird and random.  But I was walking waddling by them in Target one day, they were on sale, I was all like, "oooh....childhood food memories, come to mama!" and that was it.  A beautiful relationship was born.

Why am I thinking about all of this?  Well, because one day last week, it was like deja vu....there I am in Target, grabbing a gallon of milk out of the cooler, and I turn around to find the same type of display, once again....Creme Pies on sale!!  I stood there, staring at the rack.  I hadn't had any since I was pregnant; I deserved some, right?  Before I could regret my choice, I threw a box in my car and raced to the register.  Embarrassing moment confession: I ripped into the box while still in my car, and proceeded to eat one while driving.  Second confession: it was still so, so, so very good.  I had another one later that evening.

That box is long gone, it stood no chance against me.  Lesson of the week: I cannot buy those to keep in the house, I just don't have the willpower to not eat 2 at a time.  But it does prove that both of my cravings from my pregnancy with Liam have stuck around....I still feel giddy inside when I see Dr. Pepper anywhere that I can order it.

Liam's 1st attempt at feeding himself with a spoon.....

It was messy, but he gets an "A" for effort!

Medical Update

As an update to my last post about everyone's medical status (where I sound a little bit like I'm going to pull my hair out), I'm pleased to report that we're all on the mend.

This wasn't something I originally posted about last week, but we had a meeting with 2 Early Intervention specialists last week about his crawling.  Originally, his doctor was a bit concerned at his 9 month check up because he wasn't moving at all (no rolling, crawling, not really motivated to do anything), but said to give it a month.  We did, and still nothing, so I called early intervention around 10.5 months to get the ball rolling on the process (which is a phone screen, an in-person meeting with the parent and case manager, then an in-home evaluation).  Since there were a number of steps, by the time the therapist appointment rolled around, Liam had been doing his unique one-leg up crawl for about 2 weeks (video here) and just a few days before the appointment, started crawling the regular way.  Go figure!  I kept the appointment anyway, and thankfully, everything was fine and he didn't qualify for their services.  They said that while his gross motor skills did get the lowest scores on their evaluation out of all the areas they test for, it was still in the normal range (and he had higher than average scores in cognitive skills, fine motor skills, and social skills---yay!)  So that was a relief.

The next appointment he had was with an ENT to determine whether or not he needed tubes for his chronic ear infections.  When the dr. examined him, he said that though his ears were no longer infected (he had already finished up that last round of antibiotics since it was just a 5 day dose), he still had quite a bit of fluid in both ears.  After his initial exam, we were sent to the audiology department for a hearing screen; the doctor had some concerns once he read in his file that he had viral meningitis back in July (one of the only lasting effects of that is potential hearing loss); so he already had that potential risk, and now he's had fluid in his ears since January.  He did "borderline ok" on the hearing screens, which the doctor translated to him having some hearing loss at this point.  But she said the good thing is, it appears to be just temporary from all of the fluid, and NOT anything long-term from the meningitis.  PHEW! 

All of that being said, the doctor felt the best decision for him right now was to get tubes put in.  I have to admit, as much as it makes me nervous for him to have any type of surgical procedure (even though this seems quite simple), I was relieved when they said he needed them.  We have been doing this back and forth business with him for over 4 months now....ear infection, antibiotics, seems to clear, starts showing symptoms again, more fluid, wait a few days, infected again, more antibiotics...ugh.  This poor baby hasn't been able to hear properly in months, and is probably uncomfortable most of the time.  The surgery is scheduled for Monday, I will be sure to post an update then.

Fortunately, despite all of the illnesses going around, I have 2 of the happiest (and cutest) kids around :)

What we've been up to....

This past weekend was busy, but fun for us.  Jake had his first tball game (finally!  He missed the first one due to being sick, and it was rained out last week).  Brian is coaching, they both had a great time :)  I was at a baby shower (sad to miss the game!) so there aren't too many pictures, I'll be sure to take some more and get a video during this week's game.

Sunday brought lots of sunshine and unexpected warm temperatures, so we ended up outside most of the afternoon.  Brian and Jake got to work pulling some weeds, while Liam enjoyed feeling the grass on his feet.  Gracie supervised, as always (in her fresh, new spring haircut!) 

Our next few weekends will primarily be spent at tball, then prepping the house for Liam's birthday party!  As long as the weather cooperates, we'll be having it outside, so we're trying to get everything done out there (mulch, plant flowers, etc....) 

In related news, I need to step away from the party planning.  We are doing a "Where the Wild Things Are" theme, and what started out as a simple idea ("Oh, I'll just do a few touches of the theme here and there, no big deal") has quickly snowballed into me hoarding together tons of ideas and now I'm at the point where I need to narrow them all down so that I'm not completely overwhelmed by everything. It's amazing how enabling some sites are (I'm looking at you, Pinterest!)  But, I'm really excited for the party, and I think the theme will be very cute :)  A little preview from the image I'm using for the invitation.....

We'll see you in a few weeks for the Wild Rumpus recap! :)

Oh hey, Disney Jr, thanks for making my kid a hypochondriac!

There is a new show on Disney Junior called Doc McStuffins; it's a cute concept, a little girl acts as a veterinarian to all of her toys.  At first glance, it seemed like a good thing...it will show Jake examples of compassion and give him insight into a valuable career. 

What I didn't take into account was the fact that it would make my 4 year old believe he has every single medical issue that appears on the show.  Cue the hypochondriac!

"I can't go to school today.  I'm dehydrated.  That means I don't have enough fluids in my body, and I need to get a lot of rest."

"I can't clean up my toys.  I broke my arm the other day, I should probably get a cast put on."

"What?  I can't hear you.  I probably need a hearing test, just like on Doc McStuffins."

"It's really important to exercise every day.  Also, I might need some band aids."

"Liam doesn't feel well.  He might have sand stuck in his parts.  We should probably drain him, we don't have to get rid of him."

God help me when the show decides to tackle things like appendicitis or swollen tonsils, I'll probably catch Jake on the phone with the pediatrician, trying to schedule his own surgery. 

Knock, knock--anyone home?

We're still alive!  Drowning in Lysol, laundry, and self-pity...but still alive.  The illnesses at our house have been out of control recently....it's been hard to keep track, but I'm pretty sure at this point, the total looks something like this (I'm only going to post about the past 2 weeks, if you want to read our full history of winter illness, I've already whined about that in another post here)

Jake: 1 random fever...a few days later, the stomach flu...a few days after that, another fever (104 this time, causing him to miss his first t-ball game last weekend)
Brian: 1 day of fever, a few days of feeling blah, followed by an ear ache last week
Emmy: (knock on wood, I've had it the best so far) just one day of fever, many headaches
Liam:  Oh, my poor little Liam.  1 ear infection, followed by a fever/virus and impetigo (2 weeks ago-see picture at the bottom of post); last week, double ear infection (#5 since January), more fever, and a respiratory infection.  He's on antibiotics and a nebulizer right now, and we have an appointment schedule with an ENT this Friday to see if tubes are the best option for us at this point. 
Gracie: On top of her chronic allergy issues, she also has a UTI and is on antibiotics for that. 

Yes, even the dog has gone down for the count.  I had crying kids, headaches nearly every day for a week (due to my own illness, lack of sleep, a combo of both of those, who knows?), a dog who couldn't hold her bladder for more than 3 hours at a time, my house was in shambles, our pets heads were falling off (bonus points to anyone who knows what movie that is referencing); thank God, the reinforcements arrived last Thursday.  GG to the rescue, to assist with breathing treatments, vet visits, house cleaning, and Liam watching (today was his first day back to school since last Tuesday)  Thanks for the help, mom! 

The good news is, this week is starting off better than the past 2 weeks, so hopefully everyone is on the mend.  And when they're not completely miserable with their respective fevers, these two have been cracking each other up lately.

You can see the impetigo spots on his face, he also had them on his arms, back, torso, hands, legs and feet :(

New favorite salad

Ok, it might not be my favorite (because it doesn't involve ranch dressing or french fries), but it's my new favorite semi-healthy salad.  I'm always very blah about salads (unless they involve the aforementioned ingredients); I'll eat them, but never get a ton of enjoyment out of them.  I found the champagne dressing at walmart and the bag of slivered almonds at Aldi....throw in some lettuce, strawberries, and cucumbers, and I was all set with my tasty summer salad!

11 months down, 1 to go.

Liam is going to be ONE in a month from today...unbelievable, right?  I was looking back at my posts from this time last year, and it was funny to read this one from April 18th, where I stated that I had a dr's appointment that day and was told that we would go ahead and plan for an induction at 39 weeks.  HA!  Liam (and my blood pressure and doctor!) had other ideas, and he made his appearance at 36 weeks, 6 days instead.

We've dropped all purees at this point, and he's pretty much eating whatever we have for dinner.  He still seems to have a problem with textures of some food (cottage cheese, for example, is hit or miss....sometimes he gobbles it up, others he gags).  He kept spitting out strawberries up until this past weekend, when he finally gave one a chance...then he proceeded to shovel the whole pile into his mouth.  Other favorite foods include hummus, mum-mums, and yogurt.  He is notorious at school for swiping the food off of the other babies' trays...they sometimes have to move him away from them so that he doesn't steal it all. 

He has started crawling, or at least his own version of it.  He can move all around (he's very speedy!) but instead of a traditional crawl, he either drags his right leg or kind of hikes it up in the air.  It's kind of hard to explain.  Here's a video of him demonstrating his signature move (it also contains a good shot of his hair that is in a constant state of looking like a mad scientist in the back-I love it!):

He does a lot of babbling, his constant noises are mama, dada, geh (we're not sure what that means), and I'm 99% sure that he is saying doh-doh and meaning "dog", he's been saying it pretty consistently when looking at Gracie.

Really, baby?  Can't you see it's my naptime?  I am exhausted from all of the important work I do all day around here.

He claps, and waves, does the sign for "more", and will pull blankets or toys up over his face and play peekaboo with you, and he's all around a snuggly, perfect, adorable little guy.  :) 

Happy Easter!

Jake spent a lot of time Easter morning searching for eggs....Brian's family takes egg hunts very seriously. 

Later in the day, we were joined by Brian's aunt, uncle, cousin & grandfather.

  It was nice to see everyone & of course, the food was delicious!  I'm pretty sure Liam consumed his own body weight in turkey. 

I was excited to get some good pictures of the family and the kids...sometimes these opportunities are very rare!

We hope everyone had a great Easter!