Life is Showing us a Party!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

This week was Horrible!

They are bound to happen. Its been pretty quiet around here so it was only a matter of time, right? But whew! This one was a doozy. Most everything is under control now, but we had heavy loads to push. Heres to knowing the Lord knows what He's doing!!!!
It started out with Daniel stretched to the max with the rotation he was doing. For some reason this particular doc just took the life outta him. He would come home with this 'deer in the headlights' look and take a while to snap out of it. He'd work almost 12 hour days for a simple family practice doctor who was very draining on the psyche. Daniel is such a HUGE help around the house especially now that bending is really becoming a chore for me so I had less than Christ like feelings for this particular doc. I don't like seeing my amazing man so drained.
Then, Daniel has a condition in his esophagus that causes it to gradually get smaller and smaller as time goes on. This makes swallowing difficult, especially meats. On the Friday before he had a big scare, meaning he really had a hard time getting a particular bite down. Enough so that he actually made an apt to see a doctor about it. Monday he goes in and the doc scolds him for waiting so long. This condition is one of the only real emergencies in his field as a gastro doc. So they put Daniel on the books to be 'ballooned' that afternoon (they go in and expand the esophagus to the appropriate size). An incident like this happened about 6 years ago when Daniel and I were just dating. He swallowed a grape whole and it actually got stuck. I came to the hospital and was there for the procedure. I know what happens when Daniel gets sedated and it's not good for anyone. So Alex and I drop off Daniel and go get an RX for him. This took an hour due to the business of the store and Daniel not having an actual physical insurance card. Long story short, I ended up coming out of the store with $40 of junk food (I was hungry. It was bad). We head back over to the hospital and when I get there they usher me back to recovery. "Oh, we are so glad you're here!" the nurses said, "we can't get him to hold still, maybe you can". Whilst under the influence of anesthesia Daniel managed to break several records according to the nurses. He tried to climb under the bed. Managed to kick off both of his shoes and wiggled more than any patient they had ever seen. When I got there he was constantly trying to get up. He'd rip out his oxygen in his nose. He'd rip off the oxygen monitor on his finger. They asked him to sit up and he did but forgot to stop so his forehead hit the bed. He'd fall asleep in a split second on the bed rails, or half way climbing over top the bed. FYI- Daniel is even more kind when he is drugged. "Thank you for your patience with me" he'd say to the nurses. "Oh, I love you so much Stephanie. This is when I fell in love with you". And so on. He also remembers a great deal of what he has been studying. I learned a lot about things I can't pronounce! So I am trying to stop my husband from going crazy and tend Alex. I thought it was going to be a short trip so I had no sippy, snack, pacifier or anything for the boy. I strapped him in the stroller and thankfully we had the snacks from the store and the iPad so he didn't cause too much of a rucus. But he was sure curious as to why daddy would occasionally pet him.
The nurses could not stop laughing. They were so entertained by Daniels craziness. They were concerned that I wouldn't be able to get him home safely. We stayed extra long because they wanted him to snap out of it a little more. They were shocked when I put him in the front seat, because apparently the back seat was much safer for him :-) I knew if I could just get him home he'd be fine. When we got home he started into the house alone. I cautioned him and told him to wait so I could help him. Sticking his arms in the air he said, "I'm okay! I wanna check my balance." What could I do? He came too about 9 o'clock that night and I had a great time retelling his story. But whew! That was a stressful day!
Another tragic event that occurred this week was within the family. Hurtful things were done, so hurtful things were said and it resulted in me being asked to never contact a member of my family again. This is oh so very sad to me. I am a fire cracker, as some call it, and I wish my intentions could be communicated more accurately but alas- it has not worked in this case. Family is something that is beyond precious and eternal to me. I understand that there are rifts and the need for space, boundaries and limits - but to write someone off completely is sad and something I don't understand. So I've been trying to! I've come to a solution that I feel is accurate and so am more at peace with the situation. It just makes me sad. Daniel and I have been dealing with that this week as well.
THEN on Tuesday I get a call from my OB saying that my titer # has gone up and that I need to go see a specialist right away. This means that the antibody in my body was too high. The # they are safest with is an 8 - which I had been at this whole time. But in a month my number jumped to a 64. You're supposed to see a specialist when it reaches 16. Blah! So what this means is that my body is producing too much of this antibody for comfort. Basically my body is slowly trying to kill our child. It attacks his blood so the specialist does an ultrasound and checks the speed at which the blood flows in the baby. This tells them weather or not he is anemic. Anemic means that my body has destroyed enough blood cells to be very dangerous and might require 1.) an interutero blood transfusion or 2.) them to take the baby and then give him a transfusion. Man- technology these days is amazing!
I was tired and already stretched thin when I got this news and so I freaked out. I was just so worried about my little boy and how he was doing. I am so so so grateful for modern medicine. Chances are he'll be okay- but the chances of me even getting the antibody were 1% so I'm not really counting on things going peachy king. But it I didn't have a doctor and the knowledge they have and so on my baby might have died and I would have had no idea why. Anyway- so I got an apt with the specialist. We go do an in depth ultrasound where the doctor says that he is not anemic and is quite a mover :-) And, like Alex he is measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule! Big boy! But Alex was said to be big too but he was only 7 lbs so I'm not as worried this time. I have to go back every two weeks to measure the velocity of his blood flow and just pray that he doesn't get anemic! But waiting those 2 days to find this out was oh so worrisome and stressful. Puts a whole new meaning when he moves. I love it :-)
And then I almost had to go to the ER because my heart was freaking out. But everything turned out okay there.
After the ultra sound things started to calm down a little bit. Whew! Thank heavens! We made it through the week! WOO HOO! We're still here and strong and chuggin a long :-) Pictures soon.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

What I've Been Up To

I'll get to what I have been up to in just a second. But first just a few of Alex showing, once again, how much he loves the kitchen. I made pizza the other night and of course he was right there with me. Took every last pepperoni out of the bag and 'tested' a good amount of them... After he saw what I did with the peps on the first pizza he helped me out with the second one! Such a good, observant helper.

His delicious creation!

I just can't get enough of his 'smile' face. I have no idea where he picked that up

Ok, so- I'm pregnant. Here is an update on how that is going.

As some of you may recall my last pregnancy was... less than a walk in the park. Sadly this one is no different. However, it is a TON easier for many reasons. But I have simply come to the conclusion that I HATE being pregnant. I hate it. There really are only a handful of things that are pleasant, in my opinion. Number one- I use it as my excuse to have cookies for dinner etc. Number two- it's fun to feel the little squirt. But this one has his days and nights mixed up and he is practicing his acrobatics at all hours of the morning. Um.... ya, that's about all I can think of as far as positives.
But, as I said, this pregnancy is so so so much easier than my last one. I am not itchy. Oh that was just horrible, I can't even tell you. I was more sick the first trimester with this one, so that was lame. I am not as swollen as I was with Al. In the pictures I am wearing my regular jeans held together by a hair tie around my belly. With Alex- I was already out of all of my shoes and there would have been no chance that I could have squeezed into any of my pants. Now, I hope I am not jinxing myself because obviously this isn't over and the swelling could still come.
Over all everything is going pretty good. I am on my 5th OB since my first pregnancy. And hopefully this one is competent. I have a very bad gift of picking just horrible doctors. We are currently in a fight with the OB that delivered Alex because they forgot to give me an important medication that would have prevented my body from attacking my other babies. Welp, I have the 'attack' mechanism and we are just praying that my body doesn't think that the baby needs to be terminated.
Jacobs #2 is a lot more active than I remember Alex being. When he is awake, man he is just having a party in there. I am hoping that when he starts running out of room (maybe at like 36-37 weeks) he'll force his way out! I pretty much always know his location because his hands and feet punch/kick me at the same time, like he's doing jumping jacks or something. But the worst is when he tap dances on my bladder. I have heard all these women complaining that their baby is on their bladder and I thought I knew what that meant because with Alex I had to pee quite often. But this.... is so much different than just having a small bladder. He steps on it and even if nothing is there I have to race to the bathroom.
Alex has no idea what is going on. When I change him I have to tell him to not kick the baby. And every so often he'll point to my stomach and say 'baby'. But thats about it. I am babysitting a little 4 month old for a friend and Alex just loves it! He is a good helper and is very concerned about him. So I am hoping that it means he'll be like that with his new brother.
We don't know what we are going to name him. I don't have any real cravings. Although I do 'imprint' on things occasionally. Little Twilight humor there for ya. I can't get enough water and ice. With Alex I couldn't stand water, but would guzzle Coke down by the gallons. Gross. I really don't like Coke. Being pregnant with a toddler is crazy! I can't imagine having 2. Sorta scared, but we are excited.
Oh and one more thing to mention. Remember how a month after Alex was born Daniel had to go to COT training for the Air Force for a MONTH? I cried every single day and swore no amount of money was worth going through that. Ya, its going to happen AGAIN. Except this time for TWO MONTHS! AAAAHHHHH!!!! Good news is that it'll be later in the little guys life. But he has to go do two month long audition rotations in Mississippi and Ohio because he could potentially go there for residency next year. Technically I could go with him, but I would be in a hotel for a month with no car, no family, no friends and two kids...... Who thinks I should go? I'll go visit, but I can't go for a month by myself. Plus Daniel will be SUPER busy because he has to shmooze the people he is rotating with :-( Such is the life of a medical student.
Alright, enough rambling. I can just hear my brother getting on my case about how it took him 3 days to read this because there weren't bullet points.

28 weeks

Third trimester here I come!

In other news, I have become addicted to Pinterest. I am not a crafty person AT ALL but ideas on the site have inspired me to create fun and cheap things for Alex and just regular life.

First off Alex's Quiet Book:

Cover

Counting

The textures and colors/snaps page

The mail and coloring page. This is Alex's favorite.

The zip and tie page

Then the puppets. The elephant and tiger fit in the pail

Here is Alex's ABC book. At first is was supposed to be only church topics. But then it just evolved into a regular ABC book. Eventually I hope to do just a church themed one.

Oh and if I may get on a soap box real quick. My mom got me excited about a laminator she found at Costco and convinced me to buy one. I too, am of the belief that everyone should have a laminator. It's only $20 at Costco and ITS AWESOME! I use it ALL the time. It makes things nice and helps it last longer because you know that if a toddler played with a paper ABC book it would maybe last one week. So there, all done. Everyone get a laminator.

Held together with just some rings

Here are a few of the letter cards

Then this has been my favorite so far. I've always done menus. But never really written anything down. I just remembered what were dinner possibilities in my head. Well then Daniel would constantly be asking me what was for dinner and if we could have this and that and it was just difficult. I saw this idea on Pinterest and have LOVED it! It is SO nice. Daniel knows what we are having the entire week. I can mentally prepare all day for what's for dinner. It's just awesome. Okay, but please disregard my misspelling of Menu. Its embarrassing and I blame it on my pregnancy brain. You get the gist even with the wrong spelling.

Just did an 8x11 because that's the biggest sheet my laminator will take :-)

Very cute and creatively put the days of the week on each clothes pin....

There are a lot of dinner options! I had a lot of fun making these. I love fun fonts and fun paper and this was all of that in one sweet project!

Then there is the quick number book. Alex is learning to count and so I whipped this out in about an hour for stake conference tomorrow. Basically like the ABC book, but with numbers and shapes

That's supposed to be a moon- I don't like this page

Again, you get the picture

Alright, so that's what I've been up to! I need to make these shorter to keep my audience awake! Until next time!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

All About Alex... Again

Its all I ever talk about, I know. And I am sorry about that. But I just can't help it. I'm the boys mother and as such am bound to believe that he is the cutest thing in creation. It it a joy to be his mother and a pleasure to be able to spend all day, every day with him. I am learning that he is a lot like Daniel. These past few months his vocabulary has sky rocketed and it has helped him develop his personality. He is just so dang adorable!

Anyway, Valentines Day was just here. In our house Daniel gets the shaft when it comes to V-Day because it is first and foremost my birthday. Before we got married I made sure he knew the 'rules' of Valentines and he agreed that every year would be 'his year' to do something special. And he has done so with great success! So this year I got ideas from Pinterest and Alex and I got to work. Alex loves loves loves to help me in the kitchen. Every night we cook together and anything I make he is right there with me! My mom got him a little apron and so now we both have one and he thinks he's pretty hot stuff.

Showing us his apron (really he is looking for my phone which I put in his pocket)

Inspecting the baking apparatus to make sure it is in good working order

This is his new 'smile for the camera' pose. So cute

Nothing can over power the truck and the book

Helping me cut out the hearts

Concentrating so hard

And then came the spatula ....

He was such a good helper

Mmmmm..... Look what we made!

The end result! Homemade conversation hearts :-) Happy Valentines Day honey!!

Yum!

The yellow heart reads: "Big kiss, little hug, little hug, Big kiss, little kiss, big hug, big kiss, little kiss"

Alright, back to Alex :-) Here are some randoms and stories and updates!

So far-

Favorite Food: Fruit snacks, chicken nuggets, mac 'n' cheese and beans (in fact thats pretty much all he eats)

Favorite Thing: Elmo! He walks, talks and sings Elmo. Alex loves loves slides. He turns everything into a slide (the couch, the stairs, even the handle of a wagon that he tore off). He has a love/hate relationship with the vacuum. He can not get enough of it when it's off. Taking it apart and putting it back together etc. But when its on- he runs and hides

Favorite Word: "No". Love it. Everything starts with a 'B' - "Baba" = blankey, "Baabu" = vacuum, "Beebee" = sippy, "Backgee" = Backyardagains, "Bee" = bus or truck and pretty much any word he doesn't know he'll make something up starting with a 'B'.

Moms favorite word he says: When I ask him to say 'please' for some thing he always replies "thank you much" :-) hehehe love it! Oh, but the BEST is "Snuggle" - this boy is a snuggle king and I LOVE IT! He grabs his blanket and pacifire and says "snuggle" and he'll snuggle with you for a good 5 minutes. This happens multiple times a day and it's so fun.

Dads favorite word: Doggy, doggy, doggy. Or when he asks for something it goes something like this- Alex: Beebee, Me: Sippy??, Alex: Ok! - like it was our idea and he'll go along with it just to be nice :-)

Favorite People: Papa (grandpa), Zoe (my parents dog), Anna (my sister), Matt (my brother), Ga Ga (his friend Gavin) and Addi (his future wife ;-))

Moms favorite story: Alex was helping dad cook something and apparently he did something wrong so Alex scolded him saying "NO! Don't Dad!!!" :-) Haha

Dads favorite story: We were reading scriptures one night. Alex has a travel size New Testament that Daniel got, so he can read along with us. One night he was bored or some sing and fanned through the book, mumbled "the words". Promptly shut the book said "All done", quickly folded his arms and bowed his head for prayers!

We just laugh at him :-)

Wall-E????

Sup? How you doin?

Sweet little smile

Daniel took my blood pressure one day and so of course Alex had to have his taken too. He stood so still.

These videos are some new tricks.

He recently turned everything into a phone (Sippy, lids etc.) but I just love the 'conversations' he has to the other person.

Alex can count to 3!!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Snow!

We just had a good 'ol fashion Colorado dump. Snow fell non stop for almost 48 hours! We had a fantastic day! Daniel got to stay home and we made a yummy breakfast and just hung out in the snowy wonderland. I could not believe how much snow we got. I grew up here and we got these major blizzards once every few years but I was surprised to see it in Denver. Any who- we snapped a few pictures of our ventures.