A nice long weekend...

Well, this week hasn't been easy. Monday, my mom was here, and thank God that she was. Juliana was having a difficult day. We went to see the pediatrician to have her weighed and checked out. She's now over 7 pounds which is great! I talked to the pediatrician (a really great guy) about how she was projectiling sometimes after eating and arching her back. He showed me a way to hold her to help with the acid reflux, but since it was only happening occasionally, he didn't want to give her any medicine- which I was fine with. I don't like medicating my children. Anyway, once we got home, the crying began. She fought the bottle even though she was hungry and was arching her back. Mom and I took turns walking with her and trying to calm her down. Nothing was really working. Eventually that evening we got her calmed down- Ryan and I went for a walk with our two kids and she fell asleep.

The next day the crying started around 8. She also started projectiling after every feeding. My sister came over to bring us some dinners (thanks Jaime the enchiladas were fantastic!) and brought Noah's cousins. Noah and Liam were both fragile together, and took turns crying on and off. Jaime tried to work her baby whisperer magic on Juliana and nothing worked. By the end of the afternoon I was fried. I was tired of cleaning up projectile, and worried because she wasn't keeping anything in her, and yet she was hungry. Noah was fragile, and had decided that he wasn't going to poop anymore, so I was dealing with that as well. I called the doctor and explained to the nurse what was going on. After she spoke with the doctor, she called me back and the doctor was going to call in zantac for her, because she needs to gain weight with her heart issues. I called Ryan at work, crying as well, and he said he'd pick up the medicine.

Since she started the zantac she has only projectiled twice. She doesn't arch her back while she's eating and no longer cries when she's eating as well. I don't want to keep medicating her, but it seems to be working right now. Unfortunately it also makes her sleepy.

On the Noah front, I spoke to the pediatrician on Monday about him keeping his poop in. He tgave us some ideas which included mineral oil. It has been a battle, but when either of us see him trying to keep it in (he has a face he makes), we bend him in half until it comes out. Then, he is treated to some M & Ms. Of course, as of this moment he now has diarrhea, but at least he's pooping.

I am very thankful that this is a long weekend. This way Noah will get attention and get to play outside as well. I feel so bad for him because he wants to go outside but usually Juliana is crying or eating, and then it's too sunny for her to be outside, so we have to wait for Ryan to come home.

Noah and I went grocery shopping this morning and had a nice time. Then he napped, played outside, and gets to go to Home Depot with his daddy.

Tomorrow we will attempt to go to church for the first time since Juliana was born. Wish us luck.

Special Friends and Birthdays...

I've mentioned before that we have 2 dogs. Well, our Boxer, Finchy, is Noah's special friend and protector. He lets Noah do basically anything to him and still comes back to him. Noah's poured sand on him, tackled him, tried to ride him etc, and Finchy is still always there for him. Don't get me wrong, Finchy can hold his own with Noah. He's also tackled Noah before, and Noah's gotten his fair share of kisses from him, but the 2 of them are best friends. Last week, I was having a rough day with Juliana- Wednesday's seem to be our bad days. She was crying and couldn't be consoled, and Noah was worried. Finchy climbed up on the couch, and let Noah "worry" his ears- Finchy hates for his ears to be touched. When Ryan cleans them he always yelps as soon as Ryan attempts to touch them, but for Noah he just laid there and let him "worry" his ears.

This weekend, we finally celebrated my sister's birthday. Everyone was finally healthy, and Ryan and I had fallen into somewhat of a routine with Noah and Juliana. Noah was happy to see his cousins and they ran around together. Noah followed Rori everywhere and would drag her wherever he wanted to go. Juliana also had a big day- she was held by everyone! Normally when she's sleeping we put her either in her crib or bassinet, but not this day. Everyone wanted to hold our little girl, and she did really well.

Great-grandma Rose

Rori Rose (who was very proud to hold her and whispered to her about the Disney Princesses)

Liam

Auntie Jaime (aka The Baby Whisperer)

Grandpa Jim

Visit to the cardiologist...

Today we took ladybug to the cardiologist. Our appointment was at 8 am, which meant we all had to be out of the house by 6:45. Ryan got Noah ready and I got ladybug ready. Noah was a little traumatized by the speed of the morning, as he has become accustomed to a slower tempo since I've been home. We dropped him off at Theresa's, because we didn't know how long the appointment would take. He was very excited to see Theresa, but when I left he started to whimper. I checked on him later, and he was doing fine- he was helping Theresa around the house (that's my boy!). Ladybug slept the entire way to the office, which was a good thing because with the storms last night traffic was stop and go with lights being out. We met our doctor's nurse, Julie, who did an EKG on ladybug, took her blood pressure (on her leg with the world's smallest cuff), and did her pulse oxygen (on her foot). Then we saw the doctor, the same doctor we saw in the hospital. He was glad to see that ladybug had gained 2 ounces, and told us to keep getting her to eat. He wants her to gain some weight (as we all do). He showed us the EKG, and showed us that her heart was skipping a beat. He also was able to hear that with his stethoscope. The murmur is still there as well. He wants to see us back in 6 weeks, but if she starts breathing rapidly we have to go back earlier. For the most part the visit was positive, but I wasn't expecting another bomb to be dropped on us with the heart skipping.

After we left the office, we fed ladybug and then she slept the whole way home. I picked Noah up, and he was a little fragile- he didn't even want to play outside (that's not my boy). He just wanted to sit either on my lap or as close to me as he could get and snuggle. I'll take that any day! Now, both my ray of sunshine and ladybug are napping, and I think I will as well. Please keep ladybug and her heart in your prayers. Thanks!

My Sister the Life Saver...

Yesterday, I was feeling extra guilty about Noah and his lack of attention- he was very very VERY fragile yesterday. I asked my sister when she was going to come down and visit with Noah's 2 cousins. She told me she could come on Tuesday (which is today). I was excited! Noah would get to play with someone other than his Mama, Daddy, and himself.

Jaime is almost 5 months pregnant, but she drove down anyway, after putting Rori's bike in the van, and Liam's big red car in the van. At first when they arrived, Noah was overwhelmed, but then Auntie Jaime asked him if he wanted to go outside. I've never seen the kid run so fast to get his shoes while yelling "outside! outside!". I was trying to put ladybug down for a nap, so Jaime took all 3 kids to the backyard. It was pure chaos, but Jaime handled it like a champ- this is why she is a Super Mom, and will do fine with 3 (or more- just kidding, Jaimers) kids.

After they played in the backyard for a while, Jaime decided to switch things up a bit. She got out Rori's bike and Liam's car and took all 3 around the block. She pushed both Noah and Liam in their cars while Rori rode in front of them. I made lunches while they were out. When they came back, everyone except Liam ate lunch- Liam eventually ate some lunch but was more interested in Noah's cars. Then, while I got ladybug up to feed her and put her back down, Jaime took all the kids outside again. Noah has become Rori's little shadow. He followed her around the backyard, held her hand, and chased her. Rori did really well with him. When they left, all the kids hugged each other, it was so sweet. I took some pictures of the day, but didn't get pictures of them hugging each other unfortunately. Maybe this weekend when we finally celebrate Jaime's birthday.

Mother's Day...

Yesterday was Mother's Day, and my husband made it a nice one for me. First, he got up with both kids and let me sleep in- it was a good thing too, because my migraine medicine made me so groggy I couldn't have gotten up if I had to. Second, he gave me 5 coupons, each for a night of uninterrupted sleep where he will sleep in ladybug's room with her and with Noah's baby monitor. I know for sure when I'll be redeeming one of them- after he gets home from being out of town for a week (see, he will have had uninterrupted sleep for all those nights at the hotel). Third, the kids printed me out pictures of shoes and I get to pick a pair, because after this last pregnancy, my feet have gotten bigger and I don't have many shoes that I can fit into. Fourth, we took a nap together while both kids were sleeping, and then when ladybug woke up, he took her downstairs to let me continue napping. All in all it was a great day. I just wish he didn't have to go back to work or out of town :-(

Today I drove Noah and ladybug to the chiropractor. I thought it was going to be a circus act, but it wasn't. Noah sat nicely on a chair while I got adjusted and ladybug slept in her car seat. Then, Noah climbed onto the table to get adjusted and ladybug slept in her car seat. Then, Noah sat back in the chair, while ladybug got adjusted. She cried pretty good, but I remember when Noah was that little and got adjusted, he would usually cry the whole way home. Ladybug only cried a quarter of the way home. Since Noah was so good, I decided to get him a happy meal for lunch- the chicken nugget meal. While he ate that, I ate some cold pizza from last night. Of course, Noah wanted that instead. He ate an entire piece of pizza by himself. Then, Jaime called and while I was talking to her, Noah decided to dump his juice box all over himself and his lunch (which I had planned on saving since he didn't eat much besides the pizza). I, of course, had just told Jaime that Noah never makes a mess with the juice box, he never squeezes it or plays with it. I won't use the word, "never", again, since that blew up in my face.

Well, both of my angels are napping right now, and I would like to catch some sleep as well- ladybug was up every 3 hours last night wanting to eat, and Noah got up at 5:30, so I'm kind of tired.

A Mom's Guilt..

I knew that it would be a big change having 2 kids. Noah is used to having my undivided attention, but now ladybug demands more and more of it. The poor kid is being so patient and good most of the time, and it makes me feel so bad that I can't do all the things that he wants me to. For example, this week, Noah brought me his cup and asked me for "meelk" (milk). I was feeding ladybug at the time, and couldn't get it for him. I told him he would have to wait. He said, "okay mama", and then stood next to me holding his cup. How pathetic is that? Then, it was nice outside, and Noah wanted to play outside. So, we went outside, but then ladybug started to cry, so we had to go inside. I explained to Noah that we couldn't play outside anymore that the baby needed us to go inside. He looked up at me, put his toys back in the sandbox and went inside. I, of course, told him that when Daddy came home, we could play outside again- then it started to pour so Noah never did get to play outside. I have been trying to give him one on one time when ladybug is sleeping, and sometimes I'm able to give him an hour of time before she wakes up, and sometimes it just doesn't happen. I feel like all he does is watch tv, which isn't really true, because he plays with his cars and trains and dinosaurs, he colors and paints and puts stickers on stuff. He also goes into the kitchen and "washes" dishes in the sink, but still I feel guilty. The other day, Noah went upstairs. Normally he comes back down right away with whatever he wanted from his room. After about 10 minutes passed, I went upstairs and he was laying on his stomach on the floor of his room looking at books by himself. He has books down where ladybug and I were, but I think he got tired of her crying and wanted to be by himself. It made me want to cry. I know these first weeks are difficult on everyone, but I didn't realize how difficult it would be on my little boy. I know that he's resilient and will bounce back, but I still feel guilty...

A good first day, a rough second day...

Yesterday was our first day without Ryan, who went back to work. I was anticipating a rough day, but instead we had a great day. Ladybug slept quite a bit, so Noah and I had plenty of mama/Noah time. We even played outside while she slept in her crib in the morning. The afternoon was a little rougher, as I didn't get to nap when the kids napped. Ladybug literally projectiled her entire bottle everywhere. So when I got done cleaning everything and everyone up, Noah was getting up from his nap. We did play outside a little while in the afternoon but didn't really stay out there until after Daddy came home. A wonderful lady from church brought us dinner, which was so nice because then we didn't have to cook anything. Noah was happy, because there was mac n cheese and corn, both of which are "yellow". He's like, "oh, yellow!" and starts to dig in- it's very funny.

Today was a different case. Ladybug cried on and off for most of the morning. Noah was a trooper though. He would go upstairs to get his Nuks when he started to get really worried, and then when he was done he would put them back in his crib. He also played "wash the dishes" for about an hour. As desperation for ladybug to stop crying was coming over me, I remembered that we had never given Noah his Easter basket (yes, we're horrible parents), so I brought that out and he entertained himself coloring and putting stickers everywhere. I tried to feed him lunch, and he was too upset to eat- he ate half of a cereal bar. Then, I put him for his nap. He went down like a champ. After 3 trys at putting ladybug to sleep, she finally went to sleep, and I was able to also nap- which I really needed. This afternoon, Noah and I played outside until it started to "nain" as Noah calls it. I was very thankful that Ryan came home on time today. I really needed him home.

Such a good big brother...

Ryan and I were worried about how Noah would take to having a little sister. When he came to visit in the hospital, he wanted to sit on my lap the first day- that wasn't going to happen. I was way too sore. He had a meltdown. When he left, he kissed Juliana on the head. The next day when he visited, he was still a little angry with me, but by the time he left, he gave me a hug. I didn't get to see him at all the next day, as we were at the hospital until after his bedtime waiting to talk to the cardiologist.

When I came downstairs the next morning, Noah really didn't want to have anything to do with any of us- except grandma. Ryan sat down next to him with the baby, and he scooted as far away from Ryan as possible. As the day went on, Noah warmed up to his little sister, and eventually even forgave me for leaving him. He came up to me, grabbed my arms and put them around him for a hug. I melted.

Since we've been home, Noah has been a great helper. He's very interested in diaper changing time- he pushes a chair over to the changing table and hands whoever is doing the changing the wipes. When it's time to feed Juliana, he carries the burp cloth or the bottle over to whoever is doing the feeding. When she cries, he pats her on the back and says, "shhh, no cry". Today, she spit up, and without being asked, he went and got the burp cloth and wiped off Ryan and then handed the burp cloth to Ryan to clean up Juliana. (I was in the shower, otherwise I would have gotten the camera for that!).

We've been washing a ton of girls' clothes that we received as gifts- Ryan didn't want to do it before the baby arrived because he was sure that the doctor was going to say that she was a boy and then we'd be stuck with girls' clothes that we didn't need- he should have just listened to me- I knew she was going to be a girl before they told me she was. Anyway, Noah wanted to help carry the clothes upstairs to the washer. Instead of carrying one or two items, he wanted to carry them all, and gave me the hangers to carry. I followed behind him and picked up the few items that he dropped on the way. I have to give him credit for perseverence, because he dropped like 3 things, carried the clothes all the way up the steps and then put them one by one into the washer.

We have been blessed with a wonderful little boy. Juliana is blessed to have such a good little brother.

I will add new pictures sometime soon- I just don't want to go downstairs to get the card from the camera. It was a long night last night.

Finally home...

Well, it's been a long week. Monday morning, we were sure ladybug was going to arrive. They had us come into the hospital, checked me out, literally had a 30 minute ultrasound to make sure ladybug was okay (they told us she was going to be a chunk by the way), and then got sent home. That night around 9:45 my water broke, so we called our wonderful next door neighbors, and Pam came over to sit in the house (Noah was in bed) until my parents got there. We got to the hospital, and they confirmed that my water had broken. Then we played the waiting game. No contractions... I made Ryan sleep, while I laid in the bed and got checked over and over and over again. At 7 AM on Tuesday, they started Pitocin. I eventually decided that I wanted an epidural. To make a long story short, the epidural didn't work. It numbed my legs but that's about it. Around noon, the contractions were becoming horrible. Eventually they caused me to cry. Ryan was really good, he let me squeeze his hand- I eventually moved to his shirt because I didn't want to hurt him. They kept increasing the Pitocin, and then our nurse heard me swear (I only swore once out loud- I did most of my swearing in my head). She checked me and it was time to start pushing. Then, I heard her say the same thing they said with Noah- she's coming out face first. With Noah I pushed for 4 hours (plus I was extremely sick). There was no way I was going to push for 4 hours while experiencing these contractions. I pushed and pushed and pushed, and 20 minutes later, Juliana was out, and get this- she wasn't a chunk! Ryan refused to cut the cord, so I did it- last time my mom did it. My mom was supposed to be in the delivery room, but I told Ryan that if he left my side to call her, I would kill him- that's how much the contractions were hurting, I was threatening my own husband. Fortunately, my mom understood.

Yesterday we were supposed to come home. Ryan took Noah to Theresa's house and came up to the hospital to get us. The pediatrician who was supposed to discharge Juliana heard a murmur in her heart. We had to wait and have an echocardiogram and then wait for the pediatric cardiologist (who is only at Edward's on Thursday's- thank you Lord for having him there on that day). She had the echo at 10 AM, and we talked to the cardiologist at 6:45 PM- yep, we were at the hospital that long. My mom drove down and picked Noah up for us and entertained him and then put him to bed. Thanks MOM, you rock. Then she spent the night with us. We had a pretty good night overall.

Juliana has 1 medium sized, 1 small, and 1 x-small holes in her heart. It's scary for us, but the cardiologist said that these are the kind of heart problems you want to have compared to all the other problems out there. The 2 small holes should close on their own, but they will have to watch the medium sized one. We go back in 2 weeks to meet with the cardiologist, who was a very nice man.