No fun

Once in a while we seem to pick up some no fun bug!  The change of seasons has either brought on allergies or colds around here.  After a couple of nights of using a humidifier, Friday night our little man woke up with the tell tale barky cough -which he had had had for a couple of nights- but the added very strained wheezing that I could hear in the kitchen.

When it sounds as if your child can not get air, to the point that you expect to see blue lips, a momma gets rather concerned.  Amazingly, his lips weren't blue. I pulled him out of his room and calmed him down hoping that would help the situation.  While it helped, the wheezing was still terrible and he was complaining about his chest hurting.

So now, experienced with croup, I have not had a child complain about chest pains too. I began to wonder if it was because it was a bad case of croup or if it was something else.  I did call the triage nurse who very quickly got me off the phone and said, don't mess around, get him to an ER.  Okay.

 He was such a trooper!  I will say that we got very quick care at the pediatric ER.  I suspect though, walking into any ER with a 3yr old struggling to breathe will garner quick care.  Surprisingly, his pulse ox was actually very good, staying at 98-99% most of the time.  Hearing him breathe, all the medical personnel were surprised.  Of course, I can attest to his strong lungs when he is feeling well, he could compete with the best banshees out there!  He has good strong lungs.

He enjoyed watching the monitor. Once they hooked his heart up to it, he had three lines of different colors to watch.  We got to the hospital about 11:45pm and we left about 3 AM.  A breathing treatment did wonders!  He did such a good job not fighting it too.  He got a dose of steroids and we got his prescriptions and headed home. Diagnosis, a severe case of croup.  The doctor was very kind and made sure to give me ideas of how to manage any more wheezing at home, but also said not to hesitate to bring him back. 

A late night date with our little man.  About 3:45 I crawled into bed, stiff and sore from it all, but very thankful that he was okay.  I should note, Eric offered to take him.  However, the current standing rule at our house, as long as there is an option as to him or I taking kids to the doctor -especially urgent or emergency care, it will be me, until he can remember the difference between ibuprofen and acetaminophen, without hesitation knows each child's birth date and approximate weight, and asks important questions (& starting with his own appointments) I can't let him take that role.  His role, is to stay home, rest and take care of the other children. It keeps us in balance and he is very good at his role.

The count down

In this baby business, there is no certainaity as to when things will for sure happen. We are now in the countdown stage however.  This statement, is also true for Eric's career, interesting isn't it?

Yesterday, officially I hit 35 weeks.  Most doctors want a baby to wait until 37 weeks to be born, considering anything before that premature.  I have had a doctor who felt 36 weeks was full term.  So we are very close to each of those markers!!

While I have a team of midwives overseeing my care and I LOVE THEM!!   I ADORE THEM! There are certain things putting me in a slightly higher risk category which requires I deliver at a hospital.  I am not fighting the hospital requirement.  Having personally been through some scary moments with the previous deliveries, I'm really okay with it.  In another lifetime though, I do wish I had had midwives and a birthing center as an option the first time around, they are just wonderful people!  Due to delivering in a hospital, there will be at least one OB on call available to assist if any concerns or complications develop, however, leaving the midwives to tend to me as long as things go smoothly.   Yesterday, I met with one of the OBs to review my pregnancy and to have an ultra sound of their own.

He's looking right at us!

Profile picture

Good good good news! He is measuring right on target, not large, which has been the biggest concern for all in causing complications.  He is still very much confirmed a he.  Which is great because last weekend I went through the girl clothes and gave most of them away to others.  Fluids look good, heart looks good, everything right on target!

And all this inferno heartburn I have been having, looks like he has hair too! You can see the white wisps at the top of his head.

Then I got to sit down and talk with the OB.  Oh how I love her too!  If I couldn't have had midwives, I would have wanted her!  And she said everyone in the group felt the same as her.  They think we are right on track to have this baby without an c-section and fully support my decision.  YAY!!!  That is such a relief.  She did go over the scary 1% serious complications that could happen. Some of the things she wants me to consider so that if something does come up we don't have to waste any time with prep work. But said, she just wants me to be aware and really has full confidence that she will be doing no more than sticking her head in to say "HI" at some point, most likely after the baby is here.

The bad news, I seem to have already forgotten her name.  It might be Hannah.  I'll have to see if I can find a directory of names to the group of OBs.

 A parting shot...his foot, clearly kicking me.

Also his foot but a profile shot and his big toe is sticking -->  

These pictures can be very hard to tell anything!

Many of you don't know, but even when Sweetness was born, nearly 6 yrs ago, as I began to push, the on call OB whom, I had never met, walked in and demanded to know why I wasn't scheduled for a C-section based on complications from my first birth of CJ. At that moment though, her heart rate had dangerously dropped, she needed to come out NOW and pushing was the most efficient option.  She was also my favorite birthing experience, aside from the medical personnel and their students.  Four years ago when I did have the C-section, there were several factors and possible outcomes, of which only one was positive.  That morning, an ultra sound was predicting him to be 8lbs 15 oz. Ultra sounds can be off, by over a pound, either way.  We ended up going with a C-section. He was 8lbs 15oz. 

Each hospital has their own policies about delivering.  We have chosen the one that seems to be best at letting moms have their babies on their own natural time table and fully supporting the mom's choices about the birth.  Eric even knows where this hospital is, he was able to go along yesterday!

Sweetness has asked that we not talk about the baby because it gets her too excited.

Our little man makes sure that everyone he meets knows that his mom is having a baby, that he will call Buddy, and any other details they will stick around and listen to.

CJ is excited but does not like me joking about her learning how to drive in case I need her to drive me to the hospital.

They all want to be roommates.

Creepy Crawlies

 This was a large, and colorful, grasshopper we had in our back yard.  Nearly 4 inches in length.

 And we had another gopher snake, this time a baby in our garage. I don't think Eric believed me when I said it was non venomous, as he insisted on using tongs to pick up and remove.  We did the release program....the kids thought it should go back to its friends.

At work day at the church, the girls saw a large walking stick and some odd looking caterpillar.  Little geckos and lizards are common everyday. And we have some of the largest beetles I've ever seen.

We have a very large Colorado Toad that might be living under our shed.  They are poisonous to dogs. I'm not sure if it lives there all the time, but we have seen it once.

This is a stock photo, not one that I took. The girls have learned about these toads at school and very scared of them. As I went out to check one out in our front yard one night, they were pretty sure it had killed me and they would never see me again.

Joys of parenting.  Very fun to come across unusual species, but the animals in the desert are pretty tough. From spines, poisons, bites or throwing their own hair at you, watch out!

U of A

This past Saturday there was a very important football game played.  UNI vs UI.  After the loss that UI endured from the other state school ISU, us UNI Panther fans were more than hopeful and a little eager to show the Hawkeyes what we were made of.  Sadly, the score did not favor us (UNI) and living here, we didn't get to watch the game either, but have been told that it was a good game.

We also had an opportunity to go to a real college football game ourselves on Saturday, so we did! 

It included Tailgating -not something that is big at UNI, but here at the U of A a big deal.

Sweetness insisted on bringing her ear plugs. She actually wore them most of the walk to the tail gate as there was music playing loudly. She and this little guy took turns during the actual game wearing them. Neither of them tolerate loud noises well.

We all got hats, here she is acting all "cool" with her new hat.

 Our seats were high, but over all pretty good. I was REALLY happy we were in row four and not whatever the last row was, it was pretty much straight up behind us and vertigo threatened to set in just looking at it!  The kids did great, I mean really GREAT! We parked on the North side of campus, walked to the middle of campus for the tail gating, then continued South to the stadium.  When we left, during the third quarter, we walked the whole campus again, and the kids did fabulous!

 Goofy faces. The kids got peanuts, and Eric did his best to get them shelled quickly for the kids.

Since our seats were high up, we did walk and walk and walk up the ramp to get to them.  The girls took turns holding my hand "helping" me up the ramp.  On Sunday, on the way to church, CJ in all sincerity said to me, "Mom, I'm really proud of you and how you did all that walking last night and up to our seats. You did a great job!"  Thanks sweetie, I guess as we approach the end of this pregnancy, I have slowed down a bit. It is great that the kids are watching out for me!

 Hey, what you lookin' at? The field is behind you!

 BALLOONS! The kids loved it when they floated past us!

 We all had a good time.  CJ was very concerned about players potentially getting hurt. Thankfully she missed the "unnecessary roughness" that happened a couple of times, I'm not sure how she would have handled seeing the players fighting. She's very concerned about everyone's well being.

U of A was ahead when we left, 35-0, the final score was 56-0. At least we got to cheer for the winning team in person!

Parenting

Wish we had made this video...but honestly, we don't have time to!

Enjoy!

"The good Lord was creating a model for military wives and was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared. She said, “Lord, you seem to be having a lot of trouble with this one. What’s the matter with the standard model?”

 -The Lord replied, “Have you seen the specs on this order? She has to be completely independent, posses the qualities of both father and mother, be a perfect hostess to four or forty with an hour’s notice, run on black coffee, handle every emergency imaginable without a manual, be able to carry on cheerfully, even if she’s pregnant and has the flu, and she must be willing to move 10 times in 17 years. And oh, yes, she must have six pairs of hands.” 

-The angel shook her head. “Six pairs of hands? No way!” -The Lord continued, “Don’t worry, we shall make other military wives to help her. And we will give her an unusually strong heart so it can swell with pride in her husband’s achievements, sustain the pain of separations, beat soundly when it’s over-worked and tired, and be large enough to say ‘I understand,’ when she does not, and say ‘I love you,’ regardless.”

 -The angel circled the model of the military wife, looked at it closely and sighed, “It looks fine, but it’s too soft.” 

-“She might look soft,” replied the Lord, “but she has the strength of a lion. You would not believe what she can endure.” 

-Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Lord’s creation. “There’s a leak,” she announced. “Something is wrong with the construction. I am not surprised that it has cracked. You are trying to put too much into this model.”

 -The Lord appeared offended at the angel’s lack of confidence. What you see is not a leak,” he said. “It’s a tear.” -“A tear? What is it there for?” asked the angel. 

-The Lord replied, “It’s for joy sadness, pain, disappointment, loneliness, pride and a dedication to all the values that she and her husband hold dear.” 

 -“You are a genius!” exclaimed the angel. 

The Lord looked puzzled and replied, “I didn’t put it there.”

 

I came across this writing and thought I would share.  I wish I knew who to give credit to.  Since I don't, I'll just say, Thank you Lord.

Flipping right along!

Here is a quick, 3 second quick, video of CJ doing a round off double back handspring. For those of you not living and breathing all things gymnastics, and as I have learned, that means she does three skills in a row without pause...a round off directly into a back handspring into another back handspring.

Feel free to watch it a couple of times to figure out where each skill is because it goes quick!  She did complain that I did not catch her running into the round off, but again I was pushing record and she was faster than the camera. I was also on the other side of the viewing window.

She has recently begun to add a bunch of new skills to her tumbling. Her Aerial -a cartwheel that doesn't ever put her hands on the ground and she is working on her back tuck, which again I think is similar to the back handspring, minus the hands on the ground.  On the beam, she is working on her back walk over.  I warned her, she is getting very close to the point when mommy will not be able to watch her any more with my eyes open.

Remember back in April, this post?  Well all that schooling came in handy today.

We were at Olive Garden.  I was taking CJ to the bathroom and our little man decided he needed to come too.  I think it was his 3rd trip.  Since he KNOWS he's a boy, he insisted on using the men's room.  As I stood outside waiting for him, two men entered.  When the two men came out they looked at me and said.

"He just fixed the toilet" Jerking their heads back towards the bathroom.

Me, slightly stunned and confused, repeated back, "he just fixed the toilet????"

Yea, he just fixed the toilet....and they kept walking.

When our little man came out, I asked him, did you fix the toilet? And what was wrong with it?

Yes he fixed the toilet, quickly explained to me that it was crooked -using his hands to explain what I have no idea what part was crooked- and then he continued on with his day back to the table thinking nothing more of it.

Skills or a future, I'll take it!  I wonder if I can get that enthusiasm channeled for cleaning the bathrooms as well.

32 Weeks

I have officially reached 32 weeks in this pregnancy.  While I'm feeling large and slow, overall, I am feeling pretty well.  Currently the biggest hassle is the heart burn. I went straight from nausea to heartburn and all I can hope is that this baby comes out with a crazy full head of hair! (It is an old wives tail that heartburn = hair)

There have been lots of funny comments made, especially by our little man.  While the all day morning sickness was going on, when I got sick he would ask if the baby was choking me.  That was his understanding of me getting sick while not really being sick like with the flu.

Yesterday at my midwife appointment he attempted to take over the appointment explaining to the midwife all that was going on. He began the moment she walked in the door. He eyed the Doppler in her hand and insisted she turn it down! He repeated his request until he was satisfied that she had completely complied. Then he explained that he calls the baby Buddy and pointed out on the poster to her where our baby is in terms of development.  As I tried to let her know of my efforts to stay active, by walking the girls to school and hiking home everyday, it's about 2.5miles round trip and I push a stroller, little man spoke up again.

"yea, mom is all sweaty when we get home"

Giggles from the midwife.

"and when were walking she breathes like this" demonstrates my heavy breathing.

More giggles from the midwife who then tries to come to my defense and explains that the baby is squishing my lungs and it is hard to breathe.

Sweetness spoke up and asked if she could turn on the Doppler when we went to listen to the heart beat, the midwife gladly let her and let her control the volume as well.  The girls have had their questions and before the midwife came into the room we discussed the various posters and what they were teaching us and a quick lesson on internal anatomy  seemed to answer most of their curiosity yesterday.

About a month ago we had to start making a list of rules for the baby.  This is how it went:

Little man, "Mom, when your baby boy comes out of your tummy, I'm going to pick him up and hide him!" said with a huge smile and enthusiasm.
Me, "Oh? Where are you going to hide him" I smartly asked feeling like this would be useful information.
Little man, "In the toy room, with the stuffed animals!" A smile showing how proud he is of himself.
Me, "And why are you going to hide him in the toy room with the stuffed animals?" more out of curiosity for me than anything at this point.
Little Man, "SO WE CAN PLAY HIDE AND SEEK!" he couldn't contain himself any more he was so excited!

I took a short pause and considered how wonderful it is that at 3 years old our little man wants to include his baby brother in fun and games and understands that he won't be able to on his own and has made a plan to include him.  After that very short moment I switched gears.

I switched gears from the cool collected momma to drill Sargent momma.  Okay, let's talk about the rules:
1. NO PICKING UP THE BABY! EVER!! Only Mommy or Daddy can pick up the baby!
2. NO HIDING THE BABY! ANYWHERE!! EVER!!!

Thankfully he has internalized and repeated these rules to others. He happily tells people that he calls the baby Buddy, then follows up sadly with Mom said no hiding the baby. (or sometimes he says he's not allowed to pick him up).

Each of the kids like to take turns reading to the baby. It's a great way to start those connections, get their reading time in and the bonus, I get cuddle time too.  Little man always remembers to show him the pictures. The girls seem to understand that that's not necessary.

The girls are trying to help pick out a name.  We never told them they got a say, but it is fun to hear what they come up with.  We have, once again, ruled out Brian.  It's a wonderful name, but at some point Brian Ryan might attack us in our sleep.  ;) Sorry Sweetness, he will also not be a Zach of any form.

I am anxious for some relief from this heat, hoping that I might have a bit more energy and I can start pulling out, cleaning up, and organizing the baby gear and clothes.  Each of the kids are currently clamoring to be a roommate with the new baby.  I think to start with, he'll be my roommate.  I have started filling our freezers with side dishes and meals, trying to feel like I'm organized and ready, and at the very least, the family won't go hungry!


On this adventure, we have made it through some scary moments, extra testings, deployments and trips, injuries and germy sickies. Basically, as always, life has continued on very busy and unpredictable and wonderful.  We count our blessings and cherish each precious moment we can.

Hi

Hi,

My name is Cyndy and I have not blogged in a long time.

I am still here.  We are still here. We are doing fine.

It all started back in July. I was working on a post that included fun videos and something went wrong.  Meaning, either the blogging program was having issues, my computer was having issues, or it was operator issues.  So I put that post to the side.  I did let you all know that we started school and how that went, meanwhile giving the "stink" eye to the videos not cooperating with me.  More pictures were taken. I was feeling even more behind and I still wanted to conquer the post with videos, which was now giving ME the stink eye back.

So I avoided blogging all together.  We were busy with school, piano, music class and gymnastics. Along with appointments, homework, hot weather -oh how it has been hot- and all the things that happen with life.  Lots of little triumphs.  Lots of big things happened.

Next we got some shocking news. My dear mother in law, who has been a part of my life for 17 years, got some news.  She has breast cancer and thyroid cancer.  A mere 4 days ago she bravely had a double mastectomy and is doing very well!  She has two more surgeries coming up along with chemo and radiation treatments.  After receiving this news, my husband decided to go and spend some time with his parents as they embarked on this journey, he even took our little man with him, leaving us girls in a quiet house with our activities.

Through all this, a comment was made, "Cyndy hasn't blogged in a really long time, do you think we should call and check in on her?  Make sure everything is alright?"

Life is in full swing around here!  I have loads of pictures to share.  I have videos that might be shared too.  I need to either try and play catch up, or just take off running from here.  I haven't decided yet.

Today I bought curtains for our living room.  After living here for over 3 years, the walls have been painted, the floors have been done, and now there is a chance the windows will be treated as well.  I know I'm jinxing us --getting the house to our personal style and love, pregnant, it is begging for the Air Force to decide to move us.  I will get the curtains prepped and rods bought and the goal is by next weekend to have them hanging!  Maybe I'll even take pictures and share.

That's all for now.  Just checking in.  We're alright, we are holding on to the roller coaster of life and taking one day at a time.  And check back soon for pictures and fun!