Thursday, July 31, 2008

teaser post


I tried to update the blog from the hospital, but blogger was not appreciating my iphone and wouldn't let me add any new posts . So here is your teaser picture of Miss Amaya a couple of days late. She was born July 31 at 8:03AM. She weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces and was 20.25 inches long. She came out screaming--I'm sure in an effort to be certain that the world was aware of her arrival. She has since calmed down quite a bit. We're home now, and I will post more pictures once we get settled a bit.

Monday, July 28, 2008

No Peas for You!

I want you to know that what you are about to read is most likely the last pre-Amaya post of this blog since she is scheduled to make her appearance into this world on Thursday. As the arrival of a new baby is sure to drastically cut into Chase's adult attention supply, I thought I'd use this final post before his sister's arrival to share a few of my recent Noodle observations.

The little dude is at this moment upstairs taking a nap that includes actual sleeping. That last little phrase there referring to sleep during a nap might seem like over kill, but it is actually necessary to specify whether any actual dream time was logged. This is because for the last couple of months, Noodle only actually sleeps about half of the days that he's put into his room for a little siesta. The other days, he'd rather spend his hour and a half running amuck around his room pulling books off the shelf and diapers out of the drawer. Oh and he also has a thing for taking all of the wipes out of the box and spreading them around the room in an intricate pattern that to him looks like art, but to Mama looks like one giant mess.


Speaking of books, while he does still occasionally peruse them during his rest time, he has devoted more energy to something else that he discovered was also in his room: toys. Mainly cars, trucks and trains although on occasion a puzzle or electronic item makes the cut. He'll dump out the entire basket onto the floor and play and play and play until either: A) mom comes in to tell him rest time is over or B) he gets so exhausted that he falls asleep right on the floor in the middle of the 15 car pile up. This usually only occurs during his naps, but just last night found him curled up on the carpet hibernating amongst his stash of survival necessities. When Drew went in to put him in his bed, Monkey fluttered his little eyes and said, "Ok" before quickly falling back into his comatose state.


Ok...that's his new catch phrase. Everything is now, "OK". I'm not complaining as it is definitely better than the "No" stage we just went through. His agreeableness is kind of cute. Picture this: I'm lying on the sofa rubbing my enormous belly. I spy Chase across the room and ask him, "Do you want to come rub Mommy's feet Chase?" "OK," he quickly replies as he comes running over to where I am. Dream like, eh? Except that Chase translates Rub Mommy's Feet into Try to Bite All of Her Toes Off. I'm still working on that part.

Biting will in a round about way bring us to the end of today's entry. You may be wondering about the title of this post. Here's the scoop. We spent the morning at the allergist's office today to find out if the little guy was allergic to peas. Peas were suspect as the last couple of times he had them he proceeded to projectile vomit them right back up. Thankfully, this spewage happened at school, so I didn't have to deal with the clean up. The doctor looked at me a little funny when I told her my suspicions of the evilness of the round legume as it is apparently a rare allergy to have. But she humored us anyway and preformed a scratch test on the little guy. And by golly, the kid is in fact allergic to peas. Never question the Mama people, never.

Monkey doesn't know how lucky he is to never be forced to eat smooshy peas--and that's not even all. Because those pesky legumes tend to cross react, we've been instructed to avoid all manner of bean like material--no limas, no string, no green. The kid leads a charmed life I tell ya.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

For those who may be wondering what I've been up to lately

I've been reading this:

It is a humorous look back at life of an ordinary boy growing up in 1950's Des Moines. Well, he isn't entirely ordinary as few people can describe events, places and customs with such finite detail while maintaining a constant balance between the factual information provided and the overly enhanced, if not completely imagined happenings that weave their way into Bill Bryson's memoir. And even though I'm of the eighties generation myself, I did watch Stand by Me, Peggy Sue Got Married and A Christmas Story so I had very reliable references for which to relate the reminisces provided in this book. Hollywood is after all nothing if not 100% accurate in its period portrayals.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Temper Tantrums: A Case Study

Date: Tuesday July 22, 2008
Time: 4:45pm

Setting: Subject and mother have just pulled into their driveway after a pleasurable car ride home from school complete with a goldfish snack and train movie. Subject was happily chattering away about trains and cars when mother opened back door to release him from the confines of his car seat.

Tantrum Onset: Without any provocation, subject begins crying while babbling an endless stream of unintelligible nonsense. Mother puts subject down on ground while she retrieves her belongings from the front seat. Fit-taking continues as child beats futilely at the car doors saying, "Mama car, no Mama car" over and over. When mother tries to take the hand of the subject, he runs off down the hill toward the fence, still screaming about no Mama car. Crazy lunging, barking dog at fence worries mother, so she picks him up and removes him from the area telling him that the puppy doesn't want to play right now. This elicits louder, more high pitched screams from child. Mother carries kicking, squirming, screaming child into house.

Tantrum Peak: Once inside the screams grow louder and more demanding. Child is offered juice that he violently throws to the floor. It is clear that the subject has reached the peak of his tantrum where he can hear nothing but his own screams and will turn down even the thing he most desires just to be able to continue the wailing sequence he's designed. Subject begins tossing toy magnets from the garage door onto the ground in a blind rage. Mother stops the behavior with a strong, "No" and tells him that he needs a time out. Father enters at this point to remove subject from the scene and places him in time out. Subject squalls in timeout for 30 seconds then returns still wailing to the mudroom and attempts to once again throw his letter magnets onto the floor. Father returns son to timeout area. The pattern repeats itself twice at which point father determines that the child needs to be put in his room to calm down.

Tantrum End: Subject is placed in his room where he spends 3 minutes maintaining his tantrum at full throttle. Then, all of the sudden the screams stop, and the parents hear the little twerp say, "All done". He immediately begins babbling about Hudson and Ramone, returns downstairs, picks up the juice that he had earlier flung to the ground, and begins happily playing with his Cars Racetrack. Both parents simply shake their heads and go with the new pleasant demeanor of their child.

Summary: While unable to pinpoint a diagnosis beyond "Terrible Twos" for the subject at this time, the researcher believes that it is clear that dealing daily with their child's behavior is placing the parents on the verge of becoming Certifiably Insane. In fact, it is entirely possible that they may already have reached that point by the time this study is published.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

So, I lied

Not intentionally of course, but yea I did fib to you. Remember a couple of posts ago when I promised you an interesting, picture-filled post recapping Chase's birthday? Well, at the time of that post, I had every intention of giving you a great story to read with the pictures. But now, well now I'm just done. I'm uncomfortable and crabby. So, all you get is pictures. But they're cute pictures, so you shouldn't be too disappointed in me. Or maybe you're actually sick of my endless stream of babble, and you're breathing a huge sigh of relief right now. Either way, here you go:



We only got to be outside for a short time before the rain came. Fun while it lasted.


The new booth area in the kitchen seems to be a hit.


Did someone say cake cake??










And here's one of the many reasons that I love my husband:


He cleaned up all of the mess in the kitchen that evening so that I could relax and enjoy the rest of the party. Don't I look relaxed? Well as relaxed as a nine month pregnant woman can look?

Friday, July 18, 2008

Pink eye!


As if we don't already have enough going on in this house. Poor kid has had goop running from his eyes and the corner is all red. Ick. I get so grossed out by eye things. Crossing my fingers that it gets better quickly, and that I don't get it.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Update on lack of an Update

I have big plans for a very interesting, picture-filled post regarding Chase's second birthday, but I've been out of commission for the past few days. For those who were wondering, here's the day by day scoop:

WARNING: What you are about to read contains way too many details and endless bouts of rambling as well as references to unpleasant bodily functions. Proceed at your own risk.

Sunday night: I was way tired from all of my partying and went to bed early in the hopes of merrily sleeping the night away. That was wishful thinking though as I woke up around 1:30 with the most horrible heartburn I've ever had. Seriously, I had to touch my neck to be sure that the acid hadn't burned a hole through my throat it was so bad. Zantac didn't even touch it. So, I tossed and turned, got out of bed, sat on the chair, got back in bed, tossed and turned some more until finally at 4 I remembered that milk can help with indigestion. Awww sweet relief. Well 3 hours of it anyway as Chase was up at 7.

Monday: Felt ill the whole day. Couldn't really pinpoint it, but something in my belly just felt off. Amaya was still moving about as normal, so I didn't give it too much thought. Figured it may have something to do with the heartburn and lack of sleep.

Monday night: Started having cramping in the upper abdomen and strong lower back pain. Then I got the fireflies in my vision followed by the blurry/blindspot vision disturbance that I get before a migraine. Popped two tylenol and crossed my fingers that it would be enough to head off the pain. Decided to call it a night. Slept semi-peacefully until 1:30 when--uh oh--heartburn again. I got up, took a zantac, and was getting ready to repeat the routine from the night before when all of the sudden, I felt dinner coming back up. Violently. Dinner was at 6...I don't think any of it had left my stomach 7.5 hours later. It was all still there. yuck. I brushed teeth, showered, and tried to go back to sleep. Wasn't happening. I was up all night with uncomfortable back pain, a severe headache and a tummy that wasn't happy with me.

Tuesday morning: Finally, at 6:30 I got up and headed downstairs with the goal of eating some crackers and finding a new position to ease my back pain when all of the sudden I had to hurl again. The closest thing to do so in was Chase's Lightning McQueen gift bag from a birthday present. Into it went all of the water I had gently sipped the night before and any stomach acid that happened to be in my belly at the time. Ka-Chow.

Well, now I was feeling a little concerned for Amaya. I already had a regularly scheduled appointment at 10:20, but I wasn't sure if I needed to be seen earlier. So, I went to trusty google and typed in my symptoms all of which it turns out were possible signs of preeclampsia a dangerous condition that can cause decreased blood flow to the baby. If you develop Pre-e, you are usually placed on bedrest, or if you are far enough along, they induce labor in order to avoid any complications in utero. It's pretty serious and not something to be messed around with. Upon further reading, I found that the three main indicators of Pre-e are high blood pressure (relative to the patient's baseline bp), excessive swelling of hands/face and protein in the urine. Well, my hands and face looked fine, and Andy just happened to have a blood pressure monitor, so I made him take mine. It was 108/70, so I felt pretty secure in self diagnosing myself as just having a bug/food poisoning. I went back to bed until time for my appointment.

I made Drew take me to the appointment as I had visions of having another puke attack as I was driving down the toll road. I arrived at the Dr.'s office feeling very queasy still, but holding down half a bottle of Fiji and 10 frosted mini wheats. I shared with the Dr. my symptoms, and she immediately mentioned the possibility of preeclampsia and sent me off for a non-stress test (NST). Basically, I was hooked up to a machine that monitored Amaya's heart rate and my uterine contractions. The goal is to have her heart rate increase with activity 15 beats above her baseline for 15 seconds twice during a 20 minute period. Well, little squirt hadn't received any significant nutrients for several hours and her mama was dehydrated, so she wasn't really interested in doing any activity to achieve the desired result. So we failed that test. Instead of telling me to go drink some juice or eat something, the doctor sent me over to Reston Hospital for further testing with orders not to eat anything in case an emergency c-section became necessary. It was now noon.

At the hospital, I spent 2.5 hours hooked up to the monitor with no signs of the required 15 x 15 before they finally hooked me up to an IV of fluids. Magically, shortly thereafter, Amaya became a happy active little bean who gladly gave them what they wanted to see. Still, I had to spend 5 more hours being poked, prodded, blood tested, ultrasounded, and starved only to be told that Amaya looks great, but I was dehydrated (duh) and had a low grade UTI. I was released with a prescription for Augmentin and orders to take it easy.

The good news in all of this, is that we got to see Amaya again. The tech informed us that she is still a she, which was a relief as I've been questioning that diagnosis since I heard it the first time. She also said that Amaya looks to be measuring about 6lbs 9 oz, so I can rest easy if she decides to make an early appearance.

Today, I've been pretty lackluster in the energy department. I can only do small bits of activity before feeling completely wiped out. I am hoping tomorrow will be better so that I can tackle my ever growing list of to dos...which certainly includes getting some pictures of Chase's party up on the blog for you dedicated readers. Can you hang in there just a bit longer?

Friday, July 11, 2008

Promises, Promises

Many, many moons ago, I promised you pictures of Amaya's room. You thought I forgot, didn't you? Okay, so maybe I did forget--temporarily. At least I eventually got around to it, right?


Crib (duh) It's the same one that Chase used. I like the dark against the yellow walls. I need to find something to put over the crib, but I'm paranoid about it falling on her while she's sleeping. So, I either need to do the wall graffiti like I did with Chase--which Andy isn't thrilled about--or I need to find something soft. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions.



Changing table. The frame above it is from Aunt Jenn. Can't wait for a picture to put in there. Phillies Little Princess cap is from Nana and PopPop. Remember, this is the first girl in the family for a long, long while--so you can imagine the pink buying frenzy that has ensued.


Other dresser. Kinda plain, no? I need to find some things to put on top of it. The carriage is also from Nana and PopPop. Basket to the left has some of Chase's old infant toys. Bulletin board is by Vera Bradley and was my own splurge. I bought it when I was buying Mother's Day gifts--so I just look at it as my own MD gift. That's allowed.


Chase's old glider. I wasn't sure how the blue would go, but I don't mind it so much. That's also his bassinet. I didn't even have to buy new linens for it b/c I had blue and green for him. Bonus. The polka dot thing is a bulletin board that will soon be filled with pictures & ephemera. I hope.


Close up of the decorations above the changing table. The dress is one of my favorite consignment finds. So cute.



Piglet that Chase picked out. That's Aunt Danielle's childhood doll. I think she's a Holly Hobbie. She looks like a Holly Hobbie right? I should check the tag.


And the bathroom...not the greatest picture b/c there's really nowhere to stand to get a good one. We could use some art in here, too. Someday. Maybe.


Because I made you wait so long for the nursery pictures, and because I am such a sweet, giving person, I will share with you this bonus photo of Gran and Chase reading together after dinner one night. Chase really enjoyed this visit with Gran--she had him giggling like crazy and running all over the house. As if that weren't enough, she also brought a whole handful of new toys to discover. Yes, Monkey's grandparents sure know how to spoil the little guy.

Monday, July 07, 2008

No rhyme or reason

I have nothing to say really. So, I'll just post a handful of pictures that have no connection whatsoever. It's sad to say that we were at the lake the last two weekends, and I didn't take a single picture. Well, one weekend it was b/c I didn't bring my camera, but the other weekend I was just too lazy to take it out of the suitcase. The lake picture here was taken by Andy using his phone, thus the lower quality. The other pictures are of Chase at a park here in LoCo, and a couple from the mini-reunion at my parents' house in June.


Climb on WooWoo at the park--Chase's favorite hangout




Hanging out with cousin Avery at Grandma and Grandpa's


Picture of Mandy and me taken by the talented Avery


At the lake...those dark figures are Chase, Grandpa, Grandma, Mama, and Uncle Rob

If you don't see a new post for awhile it's because I am either

a: working on putting the kitchen back together
b: chasing the Noodle around the house
c: getting ready for that same Noodle's bday party Sunday
d: in the hospital b/c Amaya decided to make an early appearance
or
e: all of the above

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Noodle does the movies

Today, Chase and I met Tessa and Allie at the free morning kid's movie at Regal/Fox cinemas. It was a very special morning playdate as this was the little ones' first time going to a see a flick at a theater. We watched Everyone's Hero which Sam told me was the movie that Christopher Reeves was working on when he died. I would say that after we got past a rocky start that involved spilled coke & juice as well as numerous dropped toys, the outing went really well. All three kids made it through to the end of the movie which far exceeded my expectations of the morning. Since the theater offers these movies weekly throughout the summer, I'm sure we'll be back. Here's a picture of the little man relaxing before the film began. Please note that he finally got his hair cut, and I finally got mine colored again. Finally being free of all of the gray strands is certainly worthy of a celebration, right??