It's Official

So I spent some time on Sunday in the emergency room for some stent related bleeding. Oh Lord how I can't wait to get this thing out...Thursday morning is the time for celebration. All will be well after then, I'm hoping. But, the good thing was they did an ultrasound while I was at the ER just to confirm the pregnancy and make sure the bleeding wasn't affecting the baby at all. So with the ultrasound they were able to confirm the pregnancy and tell me that today I am 6 weeks 1 day pregnant and am due on August 30th. They were even able to see a heartbeat already which is definitely reassuring and let us know that so far everything has gone smoothly implanting correctly and progressing nicely. The first few weeks of pregnancy are always a little heartwrenching because so much developing is going on and you just pray it is all going well. There is nothing for you to do other than sit around and wait until you are in the clear. Well I have my first official doctor's appt today and then my appointment on Thursday to get my stent out, so it will be a busy week. We will keep you all posted as things progress. Please keep us in your prayers.

xoxo
b

Holiday Blessings

Look at me, 4 posts in under a month...I'm really on a roll. And, this one is a good one. I'm happy (well almost there) to announce that Mike and I are expecting our 3rd child. We just found out on Saturday and honestly are a little overwhelmed. It was definitely not expected since I was still on the pill. Its a funny story actually.

We had just started talking about maybe trying for a third and I was going to just finish off my last pack of birth control pills. I finished the weekend before my surgery, 2 weeks ago. And obviously, I'm more than 2 weeks pregnant...not to mention the partying has stopped around here since my surgery because its kind of a no no. So needless to say, while Mike and I were pondering our future and doing the should we/ shouldn't we thing...God was just up there laughing I'm sure.

I honestly think we may be at our fill emotionally and physically this month. Mike's finger is still healing. He ended up getting a bad infection in the cut I mentioned in my previous post and has since had to do some finger physical therapy...I know it sounds kind of funny. So he's still not 100%. I still have the stent from my surgery in my stomach and it won't be coming out at least until the end of next week. I called my urologist's office today to tell them about the pregnancy and they said the stent may have to stay in longer since I can't do an xray to confirm its ready to be removed....yeah me!! So here I sit, with a really bad cold, 2 weeks post surgery with a stent that is still causing me a lot of pain/uncomfortableness, and about 5 weeks pregnant. Needless to say, we are both tired. Poor Mike, by the time I get the stent out, I should be heading right into my morning/all day pregnancy sickness so he will still be running on full time 2 parent job duties. Sucky!!!

There are lots of things we are praying for right now. One, above all else, this new baby will be healthy. Obviously I have had multiple xrays over the last 5 weeks because of my kidneys, not to mention I was under anesthesia for my surgery, and have been on vicodin and Advil for my recovery....oh yeah and I've taken my fair share of NyQuil and cold medicine for this nagging cold. So, like I said, a healthy baby and pregnancy is forefront on our minds. Next up, some quick recovery for Mike's finger and my kidney issue...hopefully a stent removal right around the corner. Let's see...what else, oh yeah, it would be great to not be sick this pregnancy...one can dream right? And of course for our two current loves to love this baby as much as they do each other. Van has been very adamant about wanting a girl...he says...."if I don't want a boy, I just don't want a boy"....let's see if we can work that out.

So if you could keep us in your prayers that would be wonderful. I will try and keep everybody posted about all of our ongoings, health wise and other. Hope you had a wonderful holiday too!

B

Post Surgery Blah-ness

So here I sit, 4 days post surgery and feeling kind of blah. It turns out the doctor had to remove 3 kidney stones during my surgery and I will probably be keeping my stent a little longer than expected. Overall I believe the recovery has been better than it was last year. My pain is much less and I'm sleeping much better. While I'm holed up in my recliner I feel pretty good. But, then once I get up to move around and try to get some stuff done I start hurting and getting really uncomfortable...so back to the recliner I go. I'm getting really tired of sitting in this recliner. I just feel so unproductive. And, my type A personality is really struggling just sitting, not multitasking or doing 4 loads of laundry, vacuuming, and running a grocery list down mentally in my head. Mike has been great taking care of the kids and vacuuming, doing dishes, and constantly picking up toys. He has had a multitude of "mom" days now and hasn't put up much of a fuss at all. Believe me, I know he's tired and would love for the kids to take care of themselves and the dishes to clean themselves, but he keeps on ticking and hanging in there.

Did I mention that last week he practically cut his finger off? Oh I didn't...well let me give you the details. Last Friday I was at Target trying to get as much done as I could before my surgery and I get a frantic call from Mike telling me I had to come right home....I was really worried. He told me he cut his finger and couldn't get it to stop bleeding and then kind of babbled for a minute, said he was calling 911, and hung up. I left my full cart in the aisle and drove home as fast as I could. When I got home the paramedics were here and Mike said we needed to go to the emergency room. As it turns out, Mike cut his finger trying to open a box for Van. He cut his left index finger from the middle of the top to the middle of the bottom, severing his nerve. He has no feeling in the top half of his finger right now. Its been wrapped, stitched up, and on a splint for the last week. The doctor said his feeling should come back eventually and hopefully he will be getting his stitches out next Tuesday. So....all of his extra duties this week have been one handed...can you believe it?

So needless to say, St Josephs hospital has taken a big chunk out of our bank account this last month...2 emergency room visits, a surgery, multiple prescriptions, and follow up appointments...so much for extra money for Christmas right?

So that is my blah-ness right now. I am very grateful for all of the work my husband has done this week and all of the extra work the moms at Van's school have done (taking both kids multiple mornings). Hopefully we are both on the up swing...Mike's finger will be better in a few days and my stent will be out in a couple of weeks and then all will be back to normal...well the normal craziness we are always dealing with. I have now officially passed another 30 minutes in my recliner...back to my tivo I go!

If I'm not back before then, hope you all have a happy holiday...we are so excited for Christmas morning and can't wait to spend it with our little ones.

Love,
B

Gotta Love The Kidney Stones

So it turns out I'm back to having surgery. I went in to the doctor today for my follow up to see if I passed 1 or both of my stones and my xray showed that I still had both. Wow... shocker... my right kidney just likes to kick these stones out but my body doesn't like to get rid of them. So I'm having surgery on Monday morning. Like I said in my earlier post, of course I appreciate all of the prayers....but in all honesty, I think Mike may need them more than me. We are much more aware the 2nd time around and know what to expect when it comes to recuperation this time. I will be inactive for a few days, maybe longer and Mike will by flying solo on parent patrol. I'll try to keep you all posted.

B

Holidays and Much More

So I didn't make my monthly goal...but I'm really only a day off. There's been a lot going on and I've thought a lot about blogging but then when it comes down to it, I really just want to blog stalk instead of writing my own. But my hubby's been nagging me for another post and then my mom started in so I know 2 of my 3 faithful readers are really looking for an update. Its so odd that they nag me when in reality they both probably know more about my life than anything I'd write in my blog anyways.


So the holidays are right around the corner and our kids are so excited this year. I have to say this is the first year that Van REALLY gets it...I mean really. He is so excited and tells me everyday that we are getting "just a little closer to Christmas". We even made a holiday chain for him to take a link off everyday...except when I was growing up we always did it in December but he has been so excited that his chain started in November with a little over 50 links on his chain. Now there is only 1 line left and 18 links left. He has been excited about every step so far. Mike got up on the roof on Saturday and put up Christmas lights and we have a lighted reindeer in our yard...Van is loving it, he even told Mike..."daddy, you're a hero"...it was sweet. He likes to go out and turn them on himself. We will be getting our tree this weekend and I'm sure that will be a thrill too. He keeps asking me when we are going to go get our tree "to put outside". I don't think he really knows it will be in here with us so it will be fun to see his face when we leave it in here. Ava is just following Van's lead, anything Van likes Ava loves. So of course she loves the lights, Claus (as she calls Santa Claus), and all things reindeer. So like I said, holidays should be fun, very fun this year.


On a sad note, my grandma passed away almost a year ago and my grandpa is not doing too well himself. About a month and a half ago my grandparent's house caught on fire. My grandpa was asleep, heard the fire alarm, jumped out of his chair startled, tripped over the dog, hit his head and broke his hip. He was sent to the hospital right away suffering from smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning. He ended up having hip surgery and placed in a physical rehabilitation center to heal from his surgery but has not done too well there. After weeks of trying to force my grandpa to eat, and keep his IVs and catheters in, his care has been transferred to hospice. I'm still hopeful, however dumb that might be. Since he's been in hospice, about 2 weeks now, he's been eating a bit and looking a little better. My grandpa is sooo stubborn, so maybe it is just a matter of him not being forced to do something but instead choosing too. I'm hoping we can get through this Christmas without me losing my grandpa. He's very special to me...maybe even more so than my grandma. He was the one I wanted to marry when I was little; the one who kept a drawer full of candy bars in the garage for me to feed my sweet tooth; the one who would come get me when I was sick at school and take me for ice cream; the one who would scratch my back in front of the fire place while we watched Wheel of Fortune. You see, the list just goes on and on. They say girls have special relationships with their grandpas and mine was no disappointment. I'm sad to see him get older, sad to see the grandpa I remember starting to slip away. I know its selfish, but I'd like to hold on to him for however long I've got, even if only for a few weeks, even though he can't be the grandpa I remember...he'll always be the grandpa I love. Please pray for him...and for me.


Let's see...so the kidney stones have returned. I was in the hospital a week or so ago with another "episode"...this one lasting 3 hours. Have no fear, I knew immediately what it was and even told the CT tech that I was 99.9% sure it was a kidney stone, they were shocked at my confidence, or I guess you can say arrogance. But I'll have you know, once you have a kidney stone you will never forget that pain....I'll never forget that pain. I was in extreme pain, even screaming in the ER...quite embarrassing. It turns out I had 2 in my ureter tract. They sent me home to hopefully pass them. I went to my urologist last Tuesday to follow up and he said if I haven't passed them both by tomorrow, we will have surgery again. I had another little "episode" on Friday so I know as of then, I still had at least 1. Hopefully they will both be gone by tomorrow, but I should know more around 3pm...I'll keep you posted. If surgery is the outcome...pray for Mike, he'll need it with these 2 rugrats.


Well I'll leave you with a cute holiday pic of my little ones. We took these at Lynn and Larry's a few weeks back for Grandma B's holiday card. Hope you like it...


B

School Pics

Well we had school pics this last Wednesday and let me just say it was a huge success. Last year, Van's first year, he was miserable. He screamed during the whole group session and we couldn't barely get him to look at the camera or stop eating his shirt during his individual time. But this year...oh yeah, check out the pic below...seriously, how handsome is this little boy? I mean really, I'm not sure who he looks like more or if he looks like somebody specific in our families, but really he is so handsome, so clean cut. He was so good, didn't touch his hair after we did it and even managed to keep his clothes really clean until after the pictures. Yippeee!!!
And as for Ava, yep she's always included. Ava isn't technically an "enrolled student". However, she does go by "the tornado that comes with Van every Tuesday" and therefore gets a school picture too. This is actually pretty good for her. She's smiling and Kristen, our photographer, managed to capture a pic in between Ava's crazy tree climbing antics. Pretty little girl...oh how we love her.
And just so you can see all of the kids at Van's school this year, here's a group shot. Van was having so much fun. All the kids were smiling then Kristen said "make a silly face"...and if you notice, they almost all make the same face....love it!!

Hope you love looking at my kids as much as I do. :)

B

Trick or Treat....

Well I'm finally back. I know its been a long time but as I always say...we've been busy. But, honestly when I think about what we've been busy with I can't really nail one thing down. It seems like weeks, months just fly by and before we know it time has come and gone.

Well Van has been back at school for a few months now and is really thriving. He is having a great time and making good friends this year. We carpool with another little girl named Kiley who the kids adore. And I really mean adore. Ava is her stalker and everytime we get in the car I hear...Kiey Kiey...yep that's right...she doesn't say her L's very well. And Van, well he's just in love. He told me the other day that he wanted to make a picture saying Van loves Kiley...usually these pictures are Van loves Ava or Mommy or Daddy or some other family member....but this was a first. He said Kiley is his best friend because he really really likes her. Kiley is 5 so this will be his last year at school with her. However they will probably be going to the same elementary school but by that point she may just be too cool to acknowledge this little boy with a crush. She is very sweet though. Last week Van's class had their Halloween party at Irvine Park so I took some pics so you could see their costumes. Van had decided to be a fireman after his initial plan of elephant (for him) and peanut (for Ava) got spoiled by a lack of costumes...and Ava was a witch (thanks Jenny M). He was so excited this year...to dress up and to trick or treat. The kids had a great time at the party and the actual night of...getting candy. Here's some pics.

Ava, Kiley, and Van

Van was really excited to carve pumpkins this year too so Mike went all out. He even made some of these designs himself. I am quite proud. Hopefully you can see it well enough, but the pic below are the pumpkins that Mike made to say Van and Ava...pretty impressive. The other 2 are more pumpkins we carved just for fun.

Overall Halloween was a huge success for us this year. The kids had so much fun getting in costumes and walking around the neighborhood. After Van got what he thought was enough candy in his bucket, he was ready to go home. Really I think he only had a few pieces in his bucket by he has a short track mind...got candy, eat now, done walking. We had to convince him to keep going...just so he could get us some.

I can't wait for the coming holidays. With Van getting older he is so excited about all of this stuff...halloween, christmas, the easter bunny, etc. I swear this is more fun as a parent than as a child...its way more exciting the 2nd time around.

Hopefully I will be back before its been another couple of months.

B