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).

I'm SO behind!

I don't even know where to start. I haven't posted in what feels like forever (with the exception of the Christmas cards post which was lame in regards to an actual update). I'm not really sure how to go about this because I have lots of pictures between the last post and now that have been taken and honestly I don't want to leave them out. So I think I might just post them in groups over the next few days or something. Otherwise I'll have one post that's never ending and might get kind of old after a while of looking.

First, though, I'll give some updates on us. As everyone probably knows I'm expecting again. Baby #3 is due June 1 (according to my ultrasounds) or June 3 (according to dates). So I'm 19 weeks along, and we found out 3 weeks ago that it's a boy. We're very excited about adding another sweet boy to our family! Asher really, REALLY wanted a girl, but he's come around to a boy and is OK with it now. It does seem that I'm having some issues with this pregnancy like I did with Lorelai, but so far I'm not on strict bed rest. I'm on 17P injections weekly to relax my uterus (and hopefully prevent contractions). I'm also not supposed to be lifting anything or stooping, but honestly how does that actually happen when you're not on bed rest? I'm at home alone with the kids most days so who is going to hold them when they're crying and hurt? Who is going to lift Lorelai into her crib? When Lorelai needs her diaper changed I either have to lift her onto the changing table or bend over/stoop to change her. Same with putting their clothes on. It's just not really possible without an extra pair of adult hands around here. I was scheduled for an ultrasound this coming Thursday, but I spoke with my last OB/GYN from my pregnancy with Lorelai (how awesome is she? She actually called me to talk to me about my pregnancy and offer some thoughts on treatment, course of action, etc.), and she said I need in ASAP because I'm having some signs that things are getting worse. Plus this is also the exact week I got put on bed rest with Lorelai. I was 19 weeks then too. My ultrasound has been moved to Monday. She didn't seem to think that any other type of treatment would work for me, though, other than bed rest due to various issues. As much as bed rest isn't fun I'm OK with the possibility of being put on it come Monday because it really did help with Lorelai. So I'll be sure to update on that once we get news on Monday. And if I do get on bed rest I'm sure I'll be a lot more consistent in updating my blog. :)

In other news Asher and Lorelai are growing up way too fast! I can't believe it! Last night I watched some videos of them from when Lorelai was about 6 months old and Asher had just recently turned 2. I wanted to cry - they've grown up so much, and it's so sad to think how much I don't really honestly realize until I look back at those videos or pictures. Right then I vowed to take more videos and pictures of the kids because I don't want to miss this stage of their lives.

Asher has become very obsessed with games. He loves Candy Land, Don't Break the Ice, his Thomas and Friends Uno card game, etc. He's always asking us to play with him. I love it and can't believe I have a child who I can play board games with already. Lorelai likes to try and play, but she usually just causes more problems. :) We let her pretend anyway, though. I don't even know what to say about Asher because the main thing that sticks out in my mind is how smart he is. He is really just so smart and learns new things so quickly! Lorelai is really into her dollhouse. For her birthday Jon and I got her this big dollhouse complete with the furniture, and for Christmas she got some more furniture, dogs for it with dog house and accessories, and a family car for her family. Asher plays with her, and I think enjoys it just as much. Her family is actually an interracial family which is a long story, but pretty funny because the sister (who is the only white member of the family) looks like Malibu Barbie. She's as white as white gets. Lorelai is also our little chatterbox. She really never stops and always has something to say. She also loves talking on the phone. We've gotten really behind in school due to holidays and me being sick lately, and we're hoping to get started again soon now that I'm finally feeling better. The printer was also not working, but Jon fixed it so we can copy our schoolwork pages again too (I copy them out of their book since I only have one copy).

That's all I'll write for today, but here are some pictures to enjoy! These first ones are from the circus. We took Asher and Lorelai to the circus with their buddy Seth and his mom. It was a lot of fun! Afterward we went to Cracker Barrel to eat, and, as you can tell from the pictures, the boys were very funny!






On this day the kids helped us out in raking the leaves from our yard. Our yard was COVERED!



Lorelai found some lipstick stuff (which is really funny since I don't wear lipstick) and made herself pretty.



This was on Halloween night. Our church had a Harvest Fest: hotdogs, chips, cotton candy, popcorn, games, bounce houses, and trunk or treat.







I think I'll post pictures tomorrow of our new house because some of you have been asking for them for quite a while, and I've yet to do it. I just noticed that Jon took some when we first moved in for his parents that are on my memory card so I can use those!