I can tell the first trimester blahs are getting close to being over. I’m starting to brainstorm creative ideas.
And today, for the first time in over six weeks, I actually got to my sewing machine and started creating. Of course, I had to have an afternoon nap first and then clear out the mass of stuff that had accumulated on and around my craft area the past six weeks. But, I got there and got in some quality time with my machines. It does a heart good.
During my brainstorming and nausea and “restricted activity” and Zoe’s bought with a virus (thankfully, not strep but two more times and those tonsils are gone!), I also watched HGTV Design Star. That just made me crave a big project (well, that and pregnancy always seems to bring a big project).
So, my next big project is going to be our china cabinet.
Mark and I found it about two to three years ago at a used furniture store. I love it. But, it’s stained. And nothing is stained in my kitchen. Well, the floors are but that doesn’t count. So, it kind of just sticks out like a big brown box on my wall near the dining room table.
So, thanks to Pinterest, I’ve put together what I’m going to do to overhaul the china cabinet.
First, paint. My dad is going to flip but it’s paint or nothing…and here’s what it will look like:
Happy Birthday Ace!
Ace got to celebrate his birthday a week early when his cousins came to visit with Ge and Granddaddy. Granddaddy and Ge totally knocked the birthday gift out of the park. They got Ace a pair of real walkie talkies. They were in heaven for over a week.
Now, Ace’s birthday party was the same day as Bryant’s birthday. That may seem cruel but Bryant didn’t seem to mind (or even realize). Ace’s birthday is three days after Bryant’s thus the thought to double up for a little while. I was not pregnant when we planned his party but it just so happened that I was. Several months before his birthday, our local daily deal site ran a deal with Putt-Putt. It was much like Liam’s bowling party in that it included stuff for up to six people. So, we grabbed two of them. For as long as they could stand it Ace, his siblings, his daddy, and his friends had a blast in the game area (20 tokens for each kid), putt putt (in 100+ degree weather), bumper boats, and laser tag. It was awesome! And cheap! I was happy about the cheap part. Basically, we spent about an 1/8th of the cost of actually renting a party room and doing it through Putt-Putt. I know that is cheap but it so worked! After not finding some friends for an hour, everyone gathered together and had a good time. They even outlasted the parents and we ran the Crimson Caravan Commuter after the kids were all pooped out.
Ace requested a carrot cake. I found these cute laser tag printouts for cheap on etsy. Yeah, I could have made them, but the baby in my growing belly said to just buy them. So I did. And luckily for us, none of the kids liked the “spicy” birthday cake…so it was all ours…and yummy!
Happy Birthday Bryant!
So, Bryant turned one last month and we celebrated! First the prep:
We went simple…chocolate cake with chocolate icing. And chocolate cupcakes for the guests!
We got this adorable fondant topper from KidsCakes on Etsy. I got Ceili Rain’s and Josiah’s cake decorations from the same place! I loved it! And it was so worth it.
Now to the Birthday boy’s main attraction:
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| “Can you believe they’re letting me eat the whole cake?!” |
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| Sugar. High. |
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| Pause for a bit of liquid refreshment |
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| And then he couldn’t resist the fondant. |
How to Cut a One Year Old’s Hair
Tools:
Three adults, well, four if you count the one wielding the camera
Squirt bottle so little hairs don’t fly into baby’s face (and for the “fun factor”)
Scissors for two adults
Patience
Lots of Patience
Directions:
First, in the throes of morning sickness, forget to take before pictures until after you’ve sprayed the water and the one year old’s hair looks all scraggely.
*No babies were harmed in this process. Not even on accident!
Baby Update
We had a second doctor’s appointment today. And since this is the chronicles of our life, I’ll put what all is going on (and mainly to help me remember in years down the road). My first appointment was at 6 weeks. And this is what the baby looked like:
That arrow was pointing the baby. Now look to the left of the baby. See that dark squash looking thing? It actually went up and over the baby. Pretty much surrounding the sac. That’s called “fluid.” It’s called fluid because, well, we’re not sure what kind of fluid it is. The main thought is that it’s a clot like last time. So, with that and a progesterone level, we were sent home for three weeks of “restricted activity.” This time I was a bit more prepared. Especially when I saw her doing the ultrasound and the big blob beside the baby. I knew it shouldn’t be there. Dr. J. even showed me how it went all the way around the sac.
My progesterone levels were taken that day too. And they came back at 6.8. That’s low folks. That’s really low. So, on progesterone supplements I go. We’ve been this route before.
Fast forward to yesterday, and my now nine week appointment. We praise God for seeing this:
Although it looks like a kidney bean with skinny legs, it’s a baby. We also saw the baby kick his/her legs and when she went to him, and then back to him, he was in a different position so he/she is floating around nicely in there.
The fluid/clot…well, it’s still there too. But a ton smaller. Even the tech commented on how small it was. I think she was a bit overjoyed to see that I was not having any problems either. And I haven’t had a single problem…unless you count extreme hunger, extreme nasuea, and extreme exhaustion.
So, we were ready for questions for Dr. J when we sat down with him. Why is this happening again? Why the low progesterone? Is there anything we can do about it? What’s causing it? Etc. He was very good and patient answering the questions. Here’s the answers:
Turns out it’s kind of just hit and miss about this happening. It’s not because I’ve had a bunch of babies in a short amount of time or because I’m not eating right or any of that. Mainly it boils down to two things…the blood vessels in that area are pretty sensitive and if there was a bit of trauma to the area (a strain or something) then they could burst and cause a clot. Also, it could be a clotting disorder…nothing serious…just something that could cause these hematomas. Now, we could go through testing and pay a bunch of money to see if it’s the clotting disorder, but it still wouldn’t change the outcome. It’d still be there and we’d still have to watch for a clot and if it was there then we’d still have to treat it the way we were, etc. Mark and I agreed that testing just wasn’t really necessary.
The progesterone, turns out, can be low for two reasons. The obvious one: the baby is not healthy and will die in utero causing a miscarriage. The placenta doesn’t kick in etc In that instance, you could pump as much progesterone as you would like into someone and they would still not have a “successful” pregnancy. We were in that boat with our second pregnancy and understand that plain as day. Or two: the clot can interfere with the levels causing the placenta and such to not be able to put out the progesterone needed for my body. In which case, if you give progesterone supplements, it helps stabilize the pregnancy and keeps the clot from messing with the baby!
The second one, of course, makes the most sense since we’ve seen a healthy, right-on-schedule baby, and there was a big clot in the first ultrasound and a smaller one in the second and I’ve had zero problems.
It was nice to have those questions answered and to understand that there is nothing I could have or can really do to change what we have to do for this first trimester.
Dr. J is fully confident (and given my history, we are too) that after the first trimester, everything will stabilize and I’m back on track for a fun, healthy pregnancy…because having a baby in the spring is awesome! Feeling good through holidays and not being hot and big! I love it!
So, two more weeks of progesterone. Three more weeks of “restricted activity” and we’re set! I pray!
We’ve been blessed by people in our church and dear friends who have been providing meals, child watching services, and compaionship during these weeks. It has been really nice to have some loads taken off of us.
Kids Say…
Well, you know the old addage.. And my kids are no exception!
Ceili Rain
An early morning conversation with the 2 year old princess began like this:
CR: Where’s daddy?
Me: Where do you think daddy is?
CR: At work.
Me: That’s right. We’ll see him after he gets off work after rest time.
CR: Daddy home all day.
Me: Not today.
CR: Daddy has heart.
Me: Does daddy have your heart?
CR: Yes (and yes ma’am with correction).
Ceili Rain is enjoying playing a “see ya later game.” She grabs a bag, purse, or any other girly looking baggage and puts on shoes and announces: “Bye bye. I be back in a wittle bit.”
“Okay,” I say. “Where are you going?”
And this time she answered, “To chuch (church).”
I tell her alright, I’ll miss her and then we blow kisses. Two seconds later she walks back in.
“I back.”
“Oh, you are? How did church go?”
“Good.”
“Did Pastor B. preach?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“What did he preach about?” I ask.
“God.”
She’s also developed quite a fondness for our pastor and has to give him a hug before Sunday school, after Sunday school, and after worship and pretty much whenever she feels like it. He’ll walk around with her for awhile and then she’s happy and content and goes on her way. We tell him that it’s his grandfatherly appearance (he’s not a grandfather yet and even has a four year old daughter…he doesn’t like that statement too much).
Josiah
Josiah announces to me (with a very mischievous grin): Mama, you’re belly’s getting bigger!
Me: I know. Do you think it’s because I have a baby in my belly?
Josiah: No ma’am. It’s because you ate a Christmas tree.
And he goes off giggling. Today he told Mark that it was because I ate a house.
And with my appetite, I think I might be able to eat a house or a Christmas tree!
The Rest of July
We preformed plays in the hallway…
Free Food!
Of course we didn’t pass up the free food from Chick-fil-a this year! No way would we do that. I’ve just been delayed in getting this up.
Our Carr Friends did it right this year with reuseable shirts! We’re so doing that next year. Our spots wouldn’t stay on this year and our ears were a bit floppy…see???
The Invasion
The Transue Summer Invasion happened at the beginning of July. They got here in time for a quick cook out and rainy fireworks on the 4th and then the week was full of lots of fun activities…
Where We’ve Been
So yeah, I obviously didn’t get zoo pictures up. We realized late last Monday night that we had forgotten our camera for the zoo trip so all the pictures were taken with Mark’s phone. Which means now they are on Google + and I have no clue how to get them over here. That’s a job for Mark.
But here’s a few reasons we’ve been sporadic…
1. Pregnancy…first trimester is always a good excuse not to update the blog. Especially with the exhaustion and the nausea and the eating…I’m eating a lot this time…weird.
2. Strep: We started with strep in June and then it continued through July starting back up with Liam and scarlet fever (that we found at the zoo). Ace got it on July 3 for his second round. And then Ceili Rain and Bryant got it a week later. At the point our pediatrician had had it and did cultures on all of us, including me…yeah, that culture thing isn’t so much fun. At that point, Zoe and Josiah came back positive (meaning they had it but had not started with symptoms yet). Ace had just finished his meds so he and Liam tested negative. That brought our strep med count up to four. Mark got swabbed the next day and came back negative. Four days after all that, Ace started running a low grade fever and I looked at his throat and immediately called the doctor. My pediatrician wasn’t so thrilled to see us again that week, and I think was a bit doubtful about it being strep. Until she saw his throat. And his culture came back positive after 2 1/2 minutes. I know my strep thankyouverymuch. So, my normal antibiotic avoidant doctor prescribed antibiotics for Ace and as a precaution to Liam. That’s right. We’ve had six children on antibiotics. They are all finished up and all finished up today so we’ll see if we kicked the strep habit for good. If not, one or two more times and Ace is going to be removed of those pesky tonsils.
3. Some other changes that I can’t mention on here until I talk to family and we actually know more. So, suffice to say it’s big. And exciting. And terrifying all at once. And it’s totally a God thing! Prayers are supre appreciated and as soon as we know more and have told all, we will share even more here (and I can’t wait)!
And so, stay tuned this week for more of what we’ve done in July.