My Mommy Instincts

     I can't believe my little man is already a month old.  We are doing pretty well and settling into a nice routine. Andrew has even let us sleep 5 hours once, so we're hoping that sleeping through the night is around the corner.  Here's a picture of my sweet 1 month old...

    As of Wednesday he now weighs 9 lbs 11 oz!  He's gained 3 pounds in 4 weeks!  As you can probably tell he's having no trouble at all gaining weight!  However, he does have trouble when he eats.  I first noticed in the hospital that when he ate from his bottle ( yes, he's formula fed...please save the lecture on nursing...it hasn't worked for my babies or me and frankly I'm tired of the lectures- most recently from a complete stranger) he seemed to have trouble breathing, sucking, and swallowing at the same time. First I chalked it up to being brand new...I learned today that it is one of the most complex functions that our bodies do. After we ran out of the nurser 2 oz bottles from the hospital, we started using our own bottles. He continued to have trouble and started choking and coughing when he ate. Well, they are different bottles and the flow is more than he's used to.  He'll outgrow it right?  Then, last week, while in the car he started choking and scared the daylights out of me. Now, I'm not a doctor, but that is not normal.  It is one of the scariest sounds I've ever heard, coughing, sharp intake of breath, and then silence that lasts a few seconds that seem more like minutes or hours!  I made up my mind that if he did it again, I was calling the pediatrician. So, of course, he didn't do it again for several days.   I began to think I was overreacting. According to Mike, I tend to do that.  Ha!  

    A few nights ago he did it in his sleep.  Time to call!  It made me scared to go to sleep.  So after a trip to see our favorite pediatrician, we were given a referral for a modified barium swallow study.  I felt a little sick thinking that I was going to put my itty bitty baby through that.  I had an Upper GI test a couple of years ago and YUCK, it was awful. But, I just had this nagging feeling that something wasn't right.  

     And you know what, I'm glad I trusted those mommy instincts.  Turns out, he has frequent laryngeal penetration (liquid going above the airway) and a delay in swallow initiation (lets the formula pool in the back of his throat).   Both of these things put him at a very high risk for aspiration, which can lead to lots of problems including pneumonia. 

    Lesson learned...I KNOW my babies and I KNOW when something isn't right.  So, mommies...trust your instincts! 

    On a side note, we got to visit Brody in the hospital (even though he slept the whole time)...boy is he going to be ticked when he realizes "Baby Drew" and Jess was there and he missed it!

He's Here!

 

Andrew Mason James finally arrived, much to his mommy's relief, on Sept. 2nd.  He was 6 lbs 9.5 oz and 19 inches long.  He has been so sweet and we are completely in love with him.  I just want to hold him all of the time.  I wish that time would just freeze so my babies could be this age forever.  Speaking of my babies, here are some pictures of them.  Alex and Alivia are as taken with this little guy as Mike and I are.  They have been so sweet.

 

I've got more, but this is what I've finished editing so far.  :) 

 

 

 

I also wanted to add that this time of year is such a gloomy time of year for me, because my miscarriages both happened during the fall.  In fact, the one year anniversary of my D&C was on Monday, and I was pretty down all day that day.  The "baby blues" probably did not help matters.  There truly is no "getting over" that kind of loss.  However, I can honestly say that acceptance has led me to move past it and be truly grateful.  I would not have this precious baby boy, who is currently staring at me while I type with one hand, had it not been for the loss last year.

 

I feel truly blessed for the three beautiful children that I have here with me and I know that the other two angel babies are watching over our family. 

 

And with that, I should probably go change the diaper that this little man was working on while he was staring so hard at me. :)

 

 

Maternity Pictures

 Well, I officially have one week left of this pregnancy!  If little man doesn't decide to arrive on his own this week, I'm being induced on Sept. 2nd!  As I was going through my list of things to do before his arrival (and it's still not finished by the way), I realized that I did not take any "Maternity" pictures this time around.  I have them for Alex and Alivia...how can I not have them for Baby A?  So here they are.  I am super excited about doing them in his room!

New Project

So, my best friend asked me to do a Project 365 with her.  For those of you who do not know what that is, it is taking one picture a day for an entire year.  Needless to say, I was skeptical.  I know that I cannot commit to taking a photo every single day for various reasons.  However, I agreed.  One week into it, and I realized I already failed!  Haha.  So, I twisted her arm and instead I am doing a Project (Almost) 365!  :)

So here it begins....

Day 1: Our New Addition- A sweet baby boy due Sept. 8th

Day 3: Alivia- Laying on the couch with a boy!

Day 4: 20 Weeks!

Day 5: The Baby Bedding- Should not have gone to Babies R Us!

Day 6: My Goofy Dog- She immediately went into this pose when I tried to take a picture of her. 

Day 7: Apple Snack

Day 9: Clematis- Pulled into the driveway and noticed that these bloomed today.  Don't mind my shadow, I didn't say that it was going to be professional grade photography! 

Well, that's it so far!

     We've been doing well.  The kiddos are very excited that we have 29 days of school left (but who's counting?).  Our upcoming schedule is crazy between baseball games, dance recital, and boy scouts.  I guess I better get used to that, though, because according to some friends that only gets worse as they get older.
      As I continue to progress farther into the pregnancy, I am becoming more comfortable with the reality of the situation.  It has taken me a VERY long time to accept the fact that it is actually happening and to feel like I'm not going to "jinx" myself by telling people.  Seeing the precious baby on the earlier ultrasounds (I've had at least four or five) did nothing to settle my fears.  However, the last ultrasound, accompanied by feeling the kicks, flips, and jabs, has helped immensely.  Hearing from the NP/Ultrasound Tech that everything looks perfect made a good majority of the nerves disappear.  Last weekend, we took a HUGE step and bought many baby items, including some very cute clothes.  I'm sure everyone who has been through a miscarriage (or multiple ones) can relate to this.  I'm getting very antsy though.  I just want to hold this baby.  To know that he's real and to know that he's safe with me.  September seems very far away.  Plus, I want to see if I'm going to get a brunette this time!  Wouldn't that be strange?
    The kids are very excited about their baby brother.  Alex immediately realized that he would be able to teach him to play baseball.  Alivia took some time to get used to the idea of it being a boy.  "But where's the girl?" was a common phrase out of her mouth.  Now, though, she can't wait.  They each bought the baby a stuffed animal and have been contributing name suggestions.  Aiden is at the top of their list, although Mike very strongly dislikes it.  Alex keeps suggesting names of boys in his class and Alivia so far has come up with: Sink, Thorenco, and Zefo.  Yikes!
     More pictures coming soon!  Plus some recent ones of our trip to the aquarium.  :)

Spring Break

We've been on Spring Break this week, and it makes me really wish summer were here. It is just wonderful having some extra time to spend with my kiddos. Here's a few highlights of what we've been doing this week so far:

Portrait session with mommy- this took two days, the first day being a bust because both kids were uncooperative.
Day 2 was more successful, of course I had to bribe them with Easter Egg Donuts from Tim Hortons. And of course, they were out! Then we went to the park. I forgot my camera, though, so no pictures from that trip.

We also had one of the most unhealthy, but yummy, lunches this week.
We made table decorations for Easter Sunday.

We colored Easter Eggs.

The finished products: Glitter and Camo Eggs!

I even convinced them to help me with some Spring Cleaning! We have a few more fun things planned, so stay tuned!

Welcome Spring!

Better Late than Never!

I am just now getting around to sharing some pictures of our Christmas. Our Christmas was wonderful, although Alex and I both were sick the week after Christmas.

The kids woke up on Christmas morning very early. Alex came running into our bedroom, shouting "Santa's been here! Come on!" Apparently, Mike and I have forgotten what it was like to be a kid on Christmas morning, because we both told him to go back to bed. Instead, he woke up his sister and they both went downstairs without us. A few minutes later, Alex came back upstairs with a present. "Looks like Santa brought me a bat!" We sat up and told him to take it back downstairs and WAIT! Alivia came up a few seconds later. "I got a BABY ALL GONE!"
Now, Alex's bat was pretty obviously wrapped. Baby All Gone was not! "How do you know you got a Baby All Gone Alivia?" we asked. "There's a hole in the present!" she said. Okay, time to get up! Hahaha. Here are a few from Christmas morning.
The previously mentioned bat and Baby All Gone and some other gifts...







And some portraits...



And the tree...
I hope your holiday was as wonderful as ours...despite the sickness.