Cooking with Mommy

Jon had to leave the kids and myself home alone for a couple of hours today to go a family visitation for a man in our church who passed away this week. He was the grandfather of one of the guys in our youth. Unfortunately Jon and I never had the opportunity to get to know him, but he was a very important figure in our church and community. The visitation was from 3 to 7 PM, and it took 2 hours for Jon to get through the line to speak to the family if that gives you any idea of how special he was.

While he was gone I had to actually cook dinner! Yikes! This was the first meal I've made in a LONG time, but we stuck with something simple - hamburger helper. Which also happens to be one of Asher's favorites. The kids "cooked" some rice for me while I made the meal. And please don't judge me for Lorelai's appearance. Ever since she became potty trained she likes to just run around the house naked. It's an ongoing battle. One which I wasn't capable of fighting on my own tonight. Jon and I both agree that she looks like Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings" while squatting there naked.

An update of some sort

I admit it - I'm neglectful. I've had such a hard time managing to get on here and update my blog that I'm ashamed. The sad thing is that I haven't been THAT busy. Sure, things have been busier than normal, but I have no real excuse for never getting around to it. People much, much busier than me find the time so what is my problem? Anyway, enough of my pity party, and back to the real reason I'm writing. Unfortunately I don't have much to put on here in the way of videos and pictures, but I will later. Writing a blog post after ignoring your blog for so long is a very daunting thing to do in my opinion. You become so behind that it becomes an overwhelming task when you think about all the things to write and pictures and videos to upload. So for now I'll stick with writing and post pictures, videos, or whatever I have later.

Since I last posted we have celebrated mine and Jon's six year anniversary (love that man!), celebrated Asher's 4th birthday (how can my baby not be such a baby anymore?), celebrated our next baby with a baby shower, had many more appointments, and of course had our normal everyday life stuff. Jon also got to preach at church again which his parents and my dad and step-mom were able to come hear. Our friends Daniel, Laraine, and Aidan were also in town that weekend, but they left early on Sunday because Aidan woke up sick so they weren't able to hear Jon. The kids have also been continuing going to gymnastics weekly, and I called today about Lorelai doing ballet camp this summer. She'll probably be taking classes this fall in the 3 year old class (even though she doesn't turn 3 until October, but since she's potty trained it doesn't matter) so I thought doing the camp might be a good trial run for her. The camp is for 3 and 4 year olds so we're probably going to do a tentative registration for her and make sure there are plenty of young 3 year olds in the camp so she's not in there with a bunch of 4 year olds. I really would like to get Asher in t-ball, but I don't know who or where offers t-ball for 4 year olds.

As for baby Micah, I had two really great appointments over the last two weeks. Two weeks ago I had my best appointment yet since 16 weeks. My cervical length was measuring at 3.1 cm, and then the following week it was about the same. However, on Thursday I hate my worst appointment to date. My resting cervical length is now at 2.3 cm so the perinatologist was considering doing another round of steroid injections, but ended up deciding on a wait and see approach for now. If I have any cramping or any indication that things are happening we're starting another round of them. 2.3 cm isn't an absolutely horrible cervical length, but given my history it's a good indication that things are progressing towards labor especially since I shortened almost 1 cm in a weeks time. Of course only time will tell, but I have a feeling that I'll be in labor sometime within the next month. Watch me actually go to 42 weeks! :)

Other than that not much is going on with us. We are looking into buying a freezer for our house ASAP. The freezer in our refrigerator/freezer combo is completely packed with stuff, and not only would I like more room for freezing meals for after Micah gets here, but I also kind of need space to store breast milk. Right now not much else can fit in our freezer, but there's too much good food in there to throw out. Our freezer just isn't big to begin with so I'm not sure we have another option. I hope everyone found that bit of information as blog-worthy as I apparently did. :)

What a day. Scratch that - what a week!

Everyone probably knows about the horrible week we had, but I'll write about it just in case. Sunday night after church Jon put Lorelai in her bed to go to sleep. She had been completely fine all day and all night so we had no reason to suspect something was wrong. About five minutes after Jon put her down I heard him running in there (I was in Asher's room). Immediately I knew something was wrong so I went in there. She had thrown up everywhere in her crib. It was a mess, and needless to say she needed a good bath. She got sick a couple of more times throughout the night, and the next day she only threw up once or so. She started some diarrhea that day as well, but nothing too bad so imagine our surprise when Tuesday came and she was still throwing up and had even worse diarrhea. I honestly had expected her to be done with both by Tuesday because it seemed like she was on the mend by Monday evening. So Jon took her to the pediatrician who gave her some medications and did a blood test to check her Co2 levels mainly. The Co2 came back as 12 which is very low. He called me to say she absolutely had to be admitted, no questions asked. He said that he'd never seen a child with a Co2 of lower than 15 be able to come out of it on his/her own without at least an IV. So we left for the hospital, got admitted, got her IV, etc. The doctor also said that her glucose was low (50s), but the main concern was the Co2 level. They checked her blood again when we got there, and the results showed her Co2 at 14 (doctor said it can fluctuate like that) and glucose now at 43. By bedtime that night her glucose rose to 89. After hearing that I was very confident in her being able to go home the next day. I felt like the IV was doing as it was supposed to, and things were good.

The next morning the nurse came in to get her blood for a re-check. While her Co2 level was now at 15 (still not great, but pretty good considering) her glucose had dropped to 43 again and her sodium was still too low. She had already been on a bag of fluids to help with her sodium, but the doctor said she definitely couldn't go home today (Wednesday) and we'd reevaluate the following morning. We pushed food as much as we could the whole day because we were told that her levels were too low overall which was what was keeping her glucose level from stabilizing. In order to get it up and keep it up we really needed food to be getting in her system which she hadn't really had much of since Sunday. We pushed food, juice, anything we could get her to take the whole day until bedtime while she got more IV fluids for each level. By the next morning her Co2 was at 19, glucose at over 100, and sodium was 138 (135 was what it had to be in order to leave)! We were ecstatic! The doctor said we could leave that afternoon if Lorelai could drink plenty of fluids and show that she could do well off the IV which praise the Lord she did! The day before it was a struggle sometimes to get her to do that, but she finally seemed to show interest in food and drink again. She still had bad diarrhea, but the vomiting had stopped so we just had to stay away from dairy products since it can upset their tummies. We were able to leave that afternoon, and after two nights in the hospital it's an understatement when I say that Jon and Lorelai were thrilled. :) Here the kids are the day Lorelai got home from the hospital.





Wednesday morning while Lorelai was in the hospital Asher woke me up crying. I just had a feeling so I ran in with a bowl (thank goodness!) and was able to catch him throwing up in it. I was so frustrated because the last thing we needed was another sick child while one is in the hospital with the same thing. Somehow, though, he was completely fine after that. He went back to sleep until 9-ish that morning, ate, drank, played. It was strange. However, on Friday night (after my sister got in to town for the weekend) Asher threw up about 30 minutes after going to bed. It was bad. And no one caught it in a bowl this time. Cleaning up and getting him settled again took about 2 hours which put him in bed about 11:45 PM. Thankfully we still had the Zofran (anti-nausea meds) from Lorelai being sick and had been given permission to give it to him. I'm a big fan of Zofran these days! It worked like charm! While he still wasn't his old self, he at least didn't throw up again. He started with the diarrhea on Saturday, though, and today is his first day with neither vomiting or diarrhea. I'm praying we're done with the sickness now! Asher is definitely back to his old self, but his appetite isn't quite back completely. He's getting there, and today was much better than yesterday in that area. I'm so glad to have two happy kids again! These are the sweeties tonight before bed.




So that brings us to today - because nothing in our lives lately seems to be without doctors and hospitals. I had a regularly scheduled appointment this morning with my perinatologist, and I really thought once it was over we'd be done with the doctors/hospitals until my next appointment next week. Heidi kept the kids so Jon could go with me (thank you again, Heidi!!). We got there and started the ultrasound just to check things out before checking my cervical length. We got some great shots of Micah! He's even more adorable this week! :) The doctor again confirmed that he has a big noggin', but nothing more - no reason to suspect problems because his head is beautifully shaped and anatomically perfect. I mentioned the possibility of dwarfism because I know bigger heads can be an indicator for that, but he dismissed that saying that his femur bone is measuring right where it should be almost to the day, and if there was a reason to suspect dwarfism he would be at least 2 weeks behind on his femur. Hoover babies are just big-headed. :)

So then we did the cervical length check. It has again shortened. I didn't really think it was that big of a deal. Yes, it's changed, but not a drastic amount in my opinion. His concern was that I'm now consistently below 2.5 cm even with no pressure, lying down, and resting. The problem with that is the cervical length is below 2.5 cm especially at an early gestational age the chances of preterm labor are increased. Also, when there is such a short cervix left the cervix shortens at a faster rate due to it being weaker especially under pressure. Because of this he decided it was time to start the steroid injections for Micah's lungs and development. He also was concerned about some leaking and it possibly being amniotic fluid. I was quite certain that it wasn't amniotic fluid, but he wanted to make sure so he sent the report over to my OB. She told me that she'd rather me go be admitted into labor and delivery at the hospital so we could the results more quickly and to get my steroids there. She doesn't have the steroids to give so I'd have to get a prescription filled for them and then bring them in to be given to me so felt this was easier, faster, and better for the situation. Needless to say I was less than thrilled about going to the hospital after spending so much time there last week, but I knew it had to be done. The test came back negative so it's not amniotic fluid I'm leaking which is a great thing obviously. I also got my steroid injection and was then told to spend the night in L&D so I could get my next shot the following day, but if I wanted to I could go home and come back for it tomorrow. Naturally I chose to go home. Who would actually choose to stay there if they have the opportunity to go home anyway? Unfortunately, though, I will have to be admitted into another room tomorrow to get the shot. I told them they could do it in the hallway, and I wouldn't mind, but they didn't go for that. Then I had to wait for almost an hour for transport to come and get me because they said I couldn't leave without the wheelchair due to what is going on with me. It was a little crazy, but I waited. Poor Jon was doing laps around the hospital with the kids in the car trying to keep them entertained while he waited for me to get down there. Finally I called the nurse to make sure I hadn't been forgotten, and the sweet nurse who gave me my shot decided she'd take me herself so I finally got out of there. Now I have to go back at about 4 PM tomorrow for round 2, but hopefully that is ALL we'll be doing there. Being at home I'm even more thankful for my comfortable bed and couch after spending way too much time in a horrible hospital bed and room. But look at how sweet this face and profile are - definitely worth it all.

So sad to look back on these things

I found this video in my Photobucket account tonight, and I had to share. She's such a cutie and always loves to have an audience and dance or sing.

Appointments, Bed rest, Birthdays, and New Clothes

The title of my post pretty much sums up our lives over the past week. Of course appointments and bed rest are old news, but we've added two new ones for this week. Birthdays and new clothes. Asher's birthday is coming up on March 7, and he will be turning 4 years old. Four years old?! I can't believe even believe it. I have been talking to him about it a lot to try and figure out what he wants to do and get for his birthday. He really wanted to go to Wallabies which is an inflatable jumping place here. Selfishly I didn't want to do it there only because I don't know if I'd be able to go even if I sat the whole time with my feet propped, but if it was really what he wanted I was willing to do it even it meant me missing it. He's been very patient and sweet through this pregnancy despite the fact that it means I can't pick him up anymore or get on the floor and play with him or play with him as much in general so I wanted to do this for him if he really wanted it. On top of that the cost of renting a party room and paying for admission for all the kids, etc. is pretty high which would mean he probably wouldn't be able to get as much for his birthday. So we made a deal: party at our house complete with a cool cake and theme of his choice, fun on our swing set in the backyard, lots of fun games, and some kind of snacks/meal provided. In exchange he and his best friend, Seth, are going to Wallabies probably the Saturday before for a play date together and lunch of his choice. Everyone wins here. He can still go to Wallabies (and with his best friend), he gets to have his party (which mommy can attend), and he gets the present he wants for his birthday (John Deere Gator Power Wheels).

As for the new clothes, I have been using my bed rest time as usefully as I can by going through the kids' clothes from last summer and deciding what will work for this summer. Most all of Lorelai's stuff won't work due to her height (yet everything still fits in the waist - skinny thing), but Asher does have several outfits that will work. All of his shorts still work, but not all of the shirts. So all of the things that won't work is getting put away. Since Lorelai will be needing more than Asher I've been buying her new spring/summer stuff online since I can't go out. I'm so happy that I have almost her entire spring/summer wardrobe picked out and most purchased. Yay! We get out tax return in about a week so I'll get Asher's stuff then. I'm waiting on getting stuff for Micah for now at least until I know exactly when he's born and sizes. I have enough to get by for a little while thanks to some of Asher's baby clothes, but unfortunately Micah will probably be in a completely different size/season than Asher was when he was first born. Thankfully I'm sure Micah will be able to wear Asher's stuff as he gets older and wears sizes longer, but the smaller stuff probably won't work with the seasons. Our babies usually live in sleepers or onesies at first anyway.

On to the appointment. I had an appointment with my OB this morning, and it went pretty well. I can't say enough how much I love her, though! We listened to the baby's heartbeat on the doppler, and I was told that at my next visit I get to do the wonderful glucose test (gag me). We also did another ultrasound which showed some change, but nothing too significant so that was good news. I measured at 2.5 resting, 2.2 with fundal pressure, and 1.6 when bearing down. Last week at the peri I measured between 2.5 and 2.7 resting, but there wasn't any change with pressure or bearing down so it has gotten a little worse, but nothing too major to cause alarm or anything. We're still continuing everything as before, and I see my peri on the 21st. I'll see my OB again the following week. Our schedule got kind of messed up because the peri is going to be out of town on the week he was supposed to see me (next week), but my OB thinks I should be fine to not have an ultrasound next week and just come in for my injection especially since it's only going to be a little over a week from now.

So that completes my boring post. No pictures, no videos. Lame, I know. Jon is responsible for those areas since I can't chase the kids with the camera so blame him. And I know he's going to read this which is why I wrote that. :) Maybe it will make him get some tonight, though!

A random collection of things

Because it has been several days since I last posted, and I have things I wanted to share from several different occasions, this is going to kind of be a random post of different pictures and videos. I'll start with the oldest set. This past Saturday night Seth and his mom Michele came over and brought us dinner. We had a delicious meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, baked beans, mac and cheese (very appreciated since neither of the kids really care much for mashed potatoes), and cookies. Before we ate they stayed for a little while so the kids could have a chance to play. Nikki, David, and Crissie were also there visiting for a little while, and Asher and Seth sure had a blast wrestling with David. It was so funny!




The boys were hugging on each other in this picture, but for some reason Blogger keeps wanting to turn it. I guess it thinks Seth is standing up and not lying down so it automatically turns it.





These were taken tonight of the kids. Asher's pictures make me smile. In the first one I just told him to smile so he did, but as you can see his eyes are all squinted. So I told him to smile and open his eyes, and the second picture is what I got. His smile came out funny looking as he tried to concentrate on keeping those eyes opened. :)






The kids are really in to singing duets together lately. Asher usually does a better job singing by himself (Lorelai singing the wrong words kind of throws him off, I guess), but they still love singing together, and I love hearing it. Lorelai absolute loves when Asher starts singing and never misses the chance to join him whether she knows the song or not. Here are two videos of them singing together. They don't really know either song great yet, but Asher can sing them better normally. I'm happier, though, with them singing OK together rather than singing perfectly separately!




I also thought I'd throw this in before I finished my post tonight. I have SO many people (including some of my blog readers) ask me if I have a cerclage (stitch that keeps my cervix closed) or if I'm going to get one. The answer has always been no, I don't have one, and no, I don't think I'll be getting one. I've never really known the answer to the next question, though, which is "Why?" Getting a cerclage has always been something that has been discussed by doctors but never done, and I finally found out why when I saw my new perinatologist on Tuesday. He told me that the reason I'm considered a bad candidate for a cerclage is that they can actually do me more harm than good. I do obviously have a weak cervix (whether it's incompetent or not is unknown for sure), but I also have a big problem with having too many contractions early on. The cerclage is good for people with only a weak cervix because their cervix shortens without contractions. They don't have a problem with early contractions. Mine, on the other hand, shortens without the contractions, but it also shortens when I have a bunch. Putting a stitch in to help keep the cervix closed can be dangerous for someone with a lot of contractions because it can irritate the uterus further and cause even more contractions. I'm glad to finally know why I can't get a cerclage. The peri also told me that if I did decide to ever get one I'd still have to be on bed rest because the contractions would obviously be much worse if I continued normal activity.

Since I'm on the subject I'll also post a quick update on how the appointment went. I really liked the peri I saw and feel confident in his plan of action for Micah and me. Last Thursday my cervix measured 3.1 cm when resting with no pressure on it, and on Tuesday it measured 2.5 cm when resting with no pressure. So it shortened 0.6 cm in 5 days. Bed rest is stricter for me now, but I do still have daily shower privileges so I can't complain too much. :) I see my OB on the 10th (next Thursday) for another ultrasound scan and visit.

Introducing......

.....sweet baby Micah David! We are so excited to finally announce the name of our precious son. We had a really hard time deciding between the name Micah and the name Josiah. Asher really wanted Josiah, but we ended up settling on Micah. Micah just seemed to "fit" better. Who knows - if God decides to bless us with another boy one day maybe we'll get to use Josiah too. :) But this baby is definitely baby Micah. David is after two important people in Micah's life. David is Jon's middle name and is also Jon's dad's name. We're happy to be able and name him after both of them! The name Micah means "who is like God?" and David means "Beloved."

And since videos seem to be a given lately in each of my posts, I leave you with two videos today. Our kids did some exercising today with daddy.

My little ghosts! Oh, and another appointment.

As expected bed rest is here to stay. I saw my new OB yesterday (did everyone know I switched by the way??), and first I want to start by saying that I absolutely love her! She was recommended to us by our pastor's wife, our music pastor's wife, and our music pastor's daughter-in-law so we knew there was probably a reason for that. :) She was really great! She's very much a "people person" and about patient care. My other OB definitely failed miserably in both of those areas. Also, she delivers at the local hospital here that actually has a NICU. The other OB delivered at the other local hospital, but it has no NICU whatsoever. I feel much more comfortable knowing that if I have this baby too early, there will already be a NICU on site for him.

Warning: This next section is not for the faint of heart so men might not care to read. I just want to blog about it so I remember everything later. :) Anyway, the new OB had to get a test done on me so she decided to check me for dilation during the exam and noticed that I'm 1 cm or so dilated. It's normal for women who have had babies before to be dilated a little bit, but she said I was dilated more than I should have been or at least more than she felt comfortable with. So from there we did an ultrasound from which she got 3 measurements. One measurement was 3.1 cm which is kind of what it is when I'm lying down with no pressure on my cervix, one was 2.5 cm which is what it is when the baby puts pressure on my cervix/I sit up/etc., and one was 1.5 cm which is what it is when I have a contraction/go to the bathroom/lift/etc (I had to bear down to get this one). I don't remember at all what they made me do during my pregnancy with Lorelai, but I do know that every time they checked my cervical length at my last OB they told me to bear down. I just realized the other day that I apparently wasn't doing this properly. When they did this measurement she would ask me to take a breath in and then bear down. She didn't specify what she meant so I just would bear down with my teeth. I know that probably sound completely ridiculous to anyone else. I mean why in the world would she want me to bear down with my teeth. But I just kept thinking why in the world would she want me to bear down in any other way?! What if I accidentally had a bladder accident on the floor which is very possible for a pregnant woman anyway?!?! I'm happy to report that yesterday I did bear down the right way, and I did NOT use the bathroom in the process. :) I have no idea why they need those different measurements or which one(s) really matter. I do know that the OB did feel a little relief over the 3.1, but wasn't happy about the 1.5. Again, I have no idea why it matters. I just said, "OK" and moved on. I'll be seeing a new perinatologist on Tuesday morning (I'm switching because my new OB uses a different peri, and this one is right across the street from her office instead of 30 minutes away). I'm rotating every week between him and the OB. We've also begun discussing steroid injections to mature the baby's lungs, bi-weekly Fetal Fibronectin tests (if you want to know what these are just ask - otherwise I'll post about them when I start), and starting Procardia (contraction meds) once I reach viability which is in 2 weeks. So that's it for that. I know it doesn't sound like a great appointment, and I did get worse news, but I'm just happy to have a doctor who I love now and who is involved more. I now know that this baby is going to be monitored well.

In other news our family is so incredibly blessed! This week we started getting twice weekly meals to help us out from our church family. Last night two women made us dinner, but we didn't eat it until tonight because some friends came over, and the guys picked us up something. So we had the meal tonight. Unfortunately Jon apparently didn't get the whole meal so the main dish is still sitting in the church refrigerator. We made do with what we had, though. Tomorrow night Seth's mom, Michele, is bringing us dinner. I know we're having meatloaf, but I'm not sure what else. We like meatloaf in our house so I'm looking forward to it since Jon won't be making something like that ever - too confusing for him. :) We also have other meals lined up, and as you can imagine this is such a blessing for us. It's so helpful to Jon and keeps us from eating frozen pizzas, frozen dinners, boxed dinners, etc. every night. Thank you Calvary family! We love you all!

Singing with Friends

Seth and his mom, Michele, came over to play today. It was nice to have some company come visit since I'm not able to get out much. We actually had a birthday party we were invited to for a little girl named Vivian, but obviously that didn't work out. So it was a nice surprise visiting with Michele and Seth - for me just as much as the kids. :) The kids had a lot of fun playing as usual, and I got to chat a little with Michele. Unfortunately I was kind of in a funk this afternoon so I'm afraid I wasn't the best company. Afternoons are usually weird for me because I've been lying down all day while the kids play and make lots of noises. The noise and excitement are more than enough to keep me occupied and entertained, but once Lorelai goes down for a nap things are quiet. And I still have to lie down. Between the quiet and me lying down as I have been doing all day I start getting kind of tired. I wasn't quite out of it when our company came over which didn't make for very exciting conversation. It wasn't until halfway or so into the visit that I started getting out of my funk, but the visit was nice for me nonetheless.

Tonight at bedtime I reminded Asher that he would get to see Seth again tomorrow at church. Seth has been having a hard time at church lately. He's developed a case of separation anxiety which has made him cry most of the morning in their preschool class. Asher normally sticks by his side coloring or something else hoping that he'll cheer up to play. After class I ask him if he got to play with Seth, but lately he's only said that Seth was sad and cried. So tonight at bed when I reminded him that he'd get to play with Seth in the morning he said, "And Seth won't cry and will want to play with me?" He sure does love his buddy!





Another cute thing Asher said at bedtime: He likes sleeping with his stuffed dog, and he also has a dog pillow pet that he sleeps with sometimes. Tonight in bed he only had the stuffed dog and asked for the other dog (the pillow pet). Once he had them both he said, "I have two dogs in my world." :) I'm not quite sure what he meant by that or where he got it, but then he mentioned something about Disney World and having tickets for Disney World for the people so I think he might have been pretending he was at Disney World while in bed tonight.

A bit about Lorelai now before finishing today's post. My crazy toddler is just as anxious about spring as I am. She made Jon put her in a skirt and sleeveless shirt from last summer today! And today wasn't the first time she's done that. Everything still fit believe it or not, but the skirt was entirely too shirt for my taste. It was actually a tad on the short side last summer, but she could get away with it a little better then compared to now. She has also been making me a very happy mommy. Well, happier - I was already pretty happy to begin with. :) I guess since daddy has been home more lately he's becoming old news. I suppose the reason she was favoring him was because she didn't get to see him as much and saw me all the time. Now that he's home most of the time she wants me just as much as him, if not, more! I'm so happy for me, but feel bad for Jon. He seems OK with it, though, because he knew how it made me feel before and knows it is helping me get through the bed rest. It makes it easier knowing that me being on bed rest hasn't made the kids less attached to me.

Another thing that I cannot forget to mention before I end this post is that I'm so excited for my friend Melody and her sweet family Will, Aydin, Ryan, and Gracelyn! They welcomed their 4th precious baby into the world today, Benjamin Tayte. Melody was one of my roommates in college and one of my bridesmaids! Now I'm just praying for good health in their home as Melody's sister just flew in to visit them and woke up yesterday morning with a stomach virus - it was only a matter of days ago that Melody and her family got over a stomach bug. The last thing they need with a newborn is to worry about something like that. Congratulations Melody and Will!

Names, names, names

Since the beginning of this pregnancy we've discussed very little on the subject of names for the baby. However, we did find two names that we really liked for a boy and one name we liked for a girl. After that we never really discussed the matter again until sometime after finding out we were having a boy. The subject has since come up here and there, but only in passing and never enough to really come up with something. The past few days, though, we've been discussing it more. Partly because I'm tired of calling the baby "the baby" and partly because I have a lot of time on my hands to think now. :) Even now we still can't get away from those two boy names we picked out in the beginning. Every other name is immediately a no from at least one of us and usually from both of us. None of them have felt as right as these two names do. Now the problem is choosing which is right for this precious baby. We can't use them both because we already have a middle name picked, and I don't want to change it. Also, I don't think they sound good together at all. Right now I'm not going to announce the two names (it's still kind of a secret), but I think it will be soon. I thought Jon was going to want to keep the name a secret, but I asked him today and now it doesn't seem that way. I did ask the kids this morning what their choice was of the two names. Asher told us which he liked, but Lorelai decided her name was better and picked "Princess." She still says Princess if we ask her what to name the baby. :) She's such a girly-girl!

Tonight we had a wonderful meal for dinner! I wish I could say Jon made it, but it actually came from some sweet women from our church. We had pasta, green beans, corn, salad, garlic bread, and a yummy peanut butter/chocolate dessert. We also were brought drinks for us and the kids as well as some knitting needles and yarn for me to keep my hands busy while I lie around. I'm especially grateful for that because I've wanted to learn to knit for so long, but just haven't gotten around to it. I think this is a perfect time to learn and hope to eventually learn make the new baby a blanket before he's born. I just need some practice first! :)

Our friends Nikki and David brought the meal and gifts to us tonight, but then we realized that our salad dressing had gone bad so Jon and David ran to the store to get some while Nikki and I stayed home with the kids (including her 10 month old, Crissie Grace). We were on the couch while the kids played. Crissie decided to explore the hallway so I asked Asher to go check on her and try to get her back in the living room with us. Asher and Lorelai went in there and started playing with her so we listened to them giggle and play until Nikki got up to check on them. She walked in to find Asher lying on top of Crissie's legs, and Lorelai on top of Asher. When Nikki asked what they were doing Asher said, "We're just trying to help you so you can get her." I'm assuming he thought that if he lied down on top of her she couldn't go any further since he didn't have any luck getting her back in the living room! And of course Lorelai had to join in on the fun!

Best Buddies

This is getting old

Today marks my second full day of bed rest so far, and I'm already sick of it. It seems harder this time than it did last time for some reason. Maybe because last time I thought the end was sooner than it actually was, and this time I know what's most likely to happen. I'm not really sure. I'm just really praying this doesn't have to last as long as it did with Lorelai. One thing that is definitely hard is not being able to play with the kids like I used to. This is especially hard because of how each of the kids have a "favorite" parent. I hate that it's that way, but right now that's how it is. Asher's favorite is me and has always been me since I can even remember. Lorelai's favorite is Jon and has been for a while. So as you can imagine it's tough for me to have Jon home because it just makes me see Lorelai's favoritism come out more. I'm afraid she's going to get spoiled by having daddy home so often and become more attached to him. I know it's normal for kids to go through phases like this - I'm just hoping it ends soon for her. Obviously I'm aware that Jon gets hurt by this kind of thing at times too with Asher, but there is a difference between how the two of them communicate their favoritism. It almost seems like Lorelai thinks she can only love one of us - mommy or daddy. So she'll tell me that Asher loves me and she loves daddy. Asher has grown up enough to know that he should and does love us both. I'm hoping that Lorelai will sooner rather than later realize that as well. It hurts when I ask her if she loves me and she says, "No, I love daddy."

Today has really been uneventful. Lorelai has actually been kind of sick lately. This is the third time since the week before Christmas, and I think she might need to go to the doctor on Monday if she's not better. I'm actually concerned about the possibility of asthma. She's had signs of it in the past (according to the doctor), but has never been diagnosed. At night and at nap time her cough is definitely at its worse. Today she threw up in her crib during her nap for the second day in a row due to all of the coughing. Thankfully she barely threw up, but needless to say her sheets and blankets had to be washed two days in a row. Jon got her some new medicine this afternoon because we ran out. He got a different kind this time, but neither has seemed to help.

Lorelai is also very into taking her clothes off by herself these days. Jon was getting ready to give both of the kids a bath this evening, but had to do something in the kitchen with our dinner when all of a sudden Lorelai came in completely naked. I guess she was really ready to go take her bath! And please excuse her sad looking face - she is sickly after all. :)

Appointment Update

Today was my appointment with the OB (and of course my weekly progesterone injection). It went about as I expected to. I'm now officially on bed rest. It's not super strict at this time as I did get permission to slip into the church service for the sermon and slip back out immediately after, but it's not modified either as I'm not allowed to do much else. I'm so incredibly thankful for such a wonderful church that is willing to allow Jon to work from home while we get through this hard time. Jon will probably spend some time in the office with at least Lorelai (possibly both sometimes) as needed. Lorelai is a bit more demanding at 2 years old than Asher is at almost 4 so it's harder for me to stay put lying down with her at home alone. My referral to the perinatologist has been put in, and I should have an appointment lined up in the next couple of business days. I'll have to drive 30 minutes to see him unfortunately, though. My OB wanted me to see him in the next week or two, but the woman at the front desk who put the referral in didn't seem to think that would happen. Right now I'm scheduled to see my OB in 3 weeks because he was counting on me seeing the peri first, but if he can't see me before then I might have to reschedule my appointment with the OB. The OB told me that the hospital here wouldn't be able to handle the baby before 34 weeks so I might be delivering in Johnson City (which is 30 minutes away). All I could say to that is I have no intentions of needing the Johnson City NICU because I will make it past 34 weeks! We did also talk about the baby's head very briefly. He said that the baby's head is about 1/100th of a percent off, but it could be attributed to different factors such as the baby's position. He told me it really was probably nothing so I'm going to try and rest in that. I really wish they wouldn't tell hormonal pregnant women things unless there's actually a problem - we can't help but worry just a little. :) So from here we wait for whatever change comes first - either baby day or a lift from bed rest. I'm praying I get off bed rest first and ASAP! I am in no way prepared for a baby coming and can't do much to get prepared if I can't do anything.

On a positive note, we had some sweet friends bring us dinner tonight from Chick-Fil-A! It was yummy and so incredibly appreciated! Poor Jon is responsible for meals from now on so you can imagine Jon's relief when he found out he didn't have to figure out how to cook the meal for tonight. So thank you very much Nikki, David, and Crissie Grace! We really enjoyed our dinner and especially enjoyed your company! :) Thanks again!

To finish off my post for the night here is a cute video of the kids singing songs for me last night. Lorelai likes to pretend like she knows her ABCs as well as Asher so she tried singing along, but she messed Asher up. You can hear it when he skips quite a few letters at the beginning. :)

This is starting to feel more like a real post!

Since I think I'm caught up with posting all the pictures I felt were important enough to post, this post will kind of mark my first real post again and not make-up post. Yay! Today has been a fun day with the kids as usual. Jon was home for most of the day, but he still had work to do so the kids and I did a lot of activities and play time that was easy for me to do and still lie down or recline some. Jon also made us all pancakes this morning which was nice to wake up to! They were green blueberry pancakes. Haha. Jon has been dying his pancakes for the kids. I think it's for him too, though. :) Here is a look into our day.

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I kid you not that I played "castle" with Asher all day long today. We have been playing quite a lot lately anyway, but today was non-stop. He has found his new passion, I think. Lorelai has this block box that is a castle set, and the top comes off for you to put the blocks on it and build. Asher likes to build a little castle on it and use his Candy Land pieces/men as the characters. He made my piece the princess, his piece is Asher the big boy, and Lorelai's piece is just Lorelai. There are 4 game pieces in Candy Land, but the blue one mysteriously vanished this morning. The blue one was the prince so the castle is without a prince at this time. I have no idea where he went either. When daddy plays he takes over with Lorelai's piece and plays the prince, though. This next picture shows Asher using the Candy Land pieces to play castle, and the next picture shows the whole set-up. Later in the afternoon he set up a bunch of his Hot Wheels around the castle and said that everyone was coming to see us at the castle.





The church secretary is one of the sweetest women I know! She is truly wonderful! She made vegetable soup for us for dinner so we had that tonight (Jon didn't have to cook!), and we have enough for leftovers for tomorrow night. For Christmas both of the kids got these adorable plates from their cousin Riley that has a face on it. Lorelai's is the face of a girl, and Asher's is the face of a boy (naturally). The faces have no hair or anything, and it's supposed to make mealtime fun for them by allowing them to use their food to "dress-up" their plate. Jon decided to do Lorelai's tonight, and this is what he got with the vegetable soup.



For Christmas Jon and I got Asher the neatest craft kit. I fell in love immediately! There are tons of different crafts you can do, but we bought this particular bag puppet one to try out first. It is SO cute! We did two tonight so there are three left to do. I helped Lorelai with hers first (the elephant), and by the time I got to Asher's (the bird) he was over it and ready to play castle again so I ended up doing his too. Apparently I couldn't help myself and had to finish it instead of put it away for later!





Lorelai skipped her nap today because we had a late lunch which meant she'd have a late nap which means she wouldn't want to go to bed on time. As we were watching a movie tonight together on the couch I looked over and saw her drifting off while sitting up straight. After she jerked her head back up she lied down on my lap and went to sleep. Needless to say I went ahead and made bedtime a little early tonight. Asher went shortly after her, and he broke my heart tonight. He has really bad eczema especially during the winter. Every winter it seems like he has a different problem area that just won't go away. This year it's his bottom, hips, and sides area. We bathe him in Aquaphor every night and put a diaper on him to keep it from getting messy so it will sit the whole night. Tonight as I put the Aquaphor on (I was on my own at bed time because Jon had a deacon's meeting) he said, "Why does my bottom get like that? Why doesn't it go away?" I felt horrible because I know it makes him feel just awful. He scratches at it all the time, and if we're in public we're always having to tell him to stop scratching his butt (he'll even go down his pants to get to it better). Of course we don't want him doing that particularly in public, but how do you explain to a 3 year old that he can't scratch his butt and private no matter how badly it itches and is uncomfortable. I'll just be glad for spring to get here!

Ultrasound today and more pictures

Well, I had my ultrasound today which brought news that I expected. My cervix has indeed shortened again. It was originally 4.5 cm at 13 weeks, 3.7 at 16 weeks, and 2.6 now at 19 weeks. So as I feared it is continuing to shorten. I think I mentioned in my last post that the doctor wasn't going to see me today unless it was worse (because I am already scheduled for a visit with him on Thursday) so we were naturally expecting to be seen after hearing the news. Nope. Apparently he was too busy and just told the ultrasound tech to tell me to take it easy, no lifting, and that he'd see me on Thursday still. It was kind of irritating considering he told me 3 weeks ago to take it easy and no lifting so I've already been doing all that. So now I wait for Thursday to talk to him more in-depth about what can be done from here. He'll be putting in my referral for the perinatologist as well so we'll see what happens.

In other news the baby is still a boy! There was some uncertainty there for a bit, but there's no doubt about it now. The tech said she wasn't even trying to look, but when she went to check out his bladder he was just exposing himself too much to miss it. :) She did notice that the head to abdomen ratio was off and that his head is larger than his abdomen proportionately. His head fell in the 60-something percentile while his abdomen was in the 30-something percentile. She said it's more than likely nothing at all and just a larger head, but they're re-scanning that in 4 weeks just to be sure. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous, though, if for no other reason than the possibility of a c-section. Well, that's it for now so I'll leave with more pictures.




One of youth, Jordan (7th grade), decided to dress up as Santa and go see Asher's Mission Friends Class one Wednesday night, and these are pictures from that. When we put the kids in the car that night I asked Asher if he saw Santa, and he said, "Jordan is Santa!" We tell the kids that Santa isn't real and that mommy and daddy are Santa, but I think they're kind of confused now. Haha.






These are from Christmas Eve. We went to Calhoun Falls to Cyndi's family's house to celebrate.









Decorating cookies for "Santa"




Christmas morning!!!







Asher and Lorelai's HUGE pile of stuff! And how sad that this was only the gifts under the tree pile and didn't include what "Santa" brought (we do Santa for the cousins' benefit).