First 2 days working in my actual role went well! :) Wednesday I just watched how they did their progress notes and orders because my login for the computer charting wasn't activated yet. I also read through all the NNP protocols that the medical director put together. Thursday I saw 4 patients/babies. :) Day went fast and I got to go home a lil early both days. My schedule looks to be more consistent for September...the director is hoping for me to work Tues/Wed/Thurs and every other Saturday ....don't like the idea of 3 long days in a row but it's better for continuity of care...

Still don't quite have the childcare situation ironed out. Wish my mom could just watch them for us!! Andy is not liking the idea of working part time so we are in the process of interviewing two college age sitters that we know...well one that I know and one that my mom knows. We called a in home daycare lady and aren't sure yet if we want to interview her or not...Andy will be in charge of drop off/pickup when I work & he isn't sure he wants that added stress in the morning! I don't blame him. We are also still hoping to be able to utilize Andy's sister one day a week if our schedules match up since she is a busy girl. A nurse at work just came to day shift to accept the educator role for the unit and she is having trouble finding childcare for her 3 young kiddos...guess most places have availability for somewhat older kids but not the under 2yr crowd. So I'm guessing we would hear the same things if we called the daycares close to us. There is a strong possibility of going to night shift (if the other girls don't want it) after the unit has settled in with the 3 new NNPs (me this month, another girl next month & a third in November)...so maybe this winter I can switch to 12 hour night shifts.

Hard to believe Mason is already 14 months old (yesterday)!! Time is moving fast and he is getting farther and farther away from his baby days. :(

Another big break between posts...sorry!

Shadowing at work went fairly well. I have medical staff orientation Monday and then Epic computer charting class on Tuesday...then I'll start "for real" on Wednesday. Crazy! To get the full 40 hours per week/80 hrs per paycheck I will be doing 6 12 hour shifts and 1 8 hour shift per pay period. Yuck on that! Put off finding childcare for the boys for too long...was in a bit of denial that we needed it I think plus we also thought we had it all figured out at the beginning of July. Oh well. We have some leads/ideas and will be hopefully making a decision soon. The next 2 weeks are covered so that does buy us a little bit more time. Just don't want to take them somewhere and have so much anxiety about leaving the boys with anyone besides Andy or my mom! Praying to go to nightshift once the neos feel more comfortable with me and I feel more comfortable with the size/criticalness of the unit.

Austin is talking up a storm!! Its so great!! :) He has all kinds of requests, phrases, sentences, etc. Doing awesome! He LOVES to be outside and loves to go in the basement to watch sports with Andy...aka run around like a crazy kid and dance to music during the commercials haha. :)

Mason has 8 teeth now! He also has 4 more either almost through or about to break through. Teething stinks. He is walking like crazy!! Loves to attempt to chase Austin. :) Loves to go for wagon rides and still loves to be held by his momma! :)

On a side note...Instagram is finally working for me again...sorry for the lack of pictures in the sidebar until today!

First couple shifts on the unit went great!! :) Went to one delivery, one c-section and one ground transport just to get a feel for how they do things. Staff on night shift seems very welcoming of the NPs ...hopefully day shift is as well when I spend a couple days on that shift after my general hospital orientation stuff this week. They were up to 29 babies when I left Saturday at 3am (can hold 31) so they were quite busy!! :) A little bummed I won't be able to fly (again) until after flight safety training which isn't until November. But...I'm sure there will be enough ground transports to go on since the neos dont like to do them haha! Excited to start working but also don't like leaving the boys...it's such a mix of emotions! Doesn't help that we still need one more sitter for the days that Kerry cant ....know of anyone?!

Long time no update! ---Keeping this as short as possible by updating on Mason and work.

Mason had a great first birthday!! :) His one year appointment was the day after his birthday. Everything looks great she said! He has 7 teeth now with #8 about to come through any day now. We decided to delay the milk challenge test til after his 15 mt appointment because she would like him sleeping through the night before we throw him for a "potential" loop. He has accidentally drank some of Austins milk (when he steals his sippy before we can get to him)....and this caused a big flare up in his ezcema recently. Not sure if the two are totally related though. His one year lab test for hemocrit came back perfect. :) So no iron drops needed. He did not tolerate his shots well...ended up with roseola about 5 or so days afterwards. :(

His first birthday party went well! He was a bit fussy/clingy at times due to still not feeling well but he did pretty good we thought. :) Got spoiled by everyone of course! :)

His sleep is slowly improving and he is also actually starting to nap more in his crib versus on me. He has been taking steps here and there for a couple weeks but really started taking more this weekend! :) Says mama & dada. LOVE his big brother and pushing cars/trucks across the carpet. Also loves to "cook" in his play kitchen he got from Gogo & Poppy! We have introduced coconut milk with mild success so far. His eating is also improving as well. :)


Work finally decided to compromise and let me start working early as a RN while they finish the credentialing and priveleges process since the delays have been totally their fault, which they readily admit to. I start my first shift tomorrow night. Doing 3 night shifts this week and then next week I have some general hospital orientation on that Monday (the 29th) and by law they have to have me attend the bare minimum of RN orientation so I will also by attending whatever that is (they haven't told me which sessions I need to attend yet haha). Goal date for me to be in my NNP role is the week of August 12.


Ok I said this was just about Mason and work but I can't do a blog post without including Austin! :)
He is doing awesome in speech! They did reapprove him for an additional 3 months of therapy (goes in 3 month increments) which we are happy about because he really likes his speech therapist and he (and we) is learning a lot. Loves to swim and go to the playground lately. Still very obsessed with trains! He also likes to read in his crib before naptime/bedtime. Very cute!

Sorry for the lack of updates.... just hard to get on the computer since its in our bedroom upstairs. After the boys are in bed I have stuff to do then I just relax haha. I'll update ya all soon on our (probably boring to you) life! :)

Another year older now...28! Kinda crazy...getting close to 30. Loved all the facebook posts, text messages, calls and cards. :) Had a great day home with the boys yesterday and then we went to the zoo & out to lunch with my parents today. Got spoiled rotten by everyone! :)

Really hard to believe that Mason will be ONE tomorrow!!! The time has gone fast and he has changed so much this first year of his life! He is pulling up on everything and briefly letting go here and there. Says dada & mama so far. :) Will be interested to see his weight/height at his one year appointment Monday morning! I have several questions for his doc so hopefully she has a few extra minutes for  me. :)

Praying that there is at least one more baby in our future. Andy is saying he wants to be "done with the baby stage." Thinking we just wont talk about the subject for a few months and see where we are then. I would really like a third little one next fall/winter or so.

Happy Fathers Day!! :)

Been bad about blog updates lately...Sorry! Quick recap of stuff going on around here. :)

~Austin is 2.5 today! Wow!
~So very loving with everyone, including Mason, most days. :)
~Calls his brother "Mango"...not sure why but its super cute!
~His speech is getting much better and he is starting to carry on short conversations. :)

~Mason says Mama now! :)
~Turning the big ONE a week from today!
~He still has food strikes 2-3 times a week...those are fun, food wasting days....
~Sleeping is about the same. Up at least once a night.

~Credentialing is moving along now...slowly.... if I think about it to much I get upset! Just focusing on my time home with the boys. :)

Serious new job frustration on Monday. I called the HR lady for PPG (physician group at Parkview) and asked for an update and just politely inquired why my friend was starting her new Family NP position and mine was still taking so long. Well she had a silly excuse and then told me that she would check on the status of  my credentialing and call me back.

She called back to ask for my email so she could send me a pre-application for credentialing.....right away I knew things were heading for the crapper. I filled it out and scanned it back to her. Then Medical staffing sends me my Application for Credentialing. Soooo....basically they were doing jack crap the last 5 weeks. :( The director for Medical Staffing blames NICU. The NICU manager wasn't sure what was going on but thanked me for being patient. They are trying to expedite my paperwork and hope it won't take much longer than 30 days. Ugg!! There's a possibility I can do my computer training/hospital orientation on June 17-18. So annoyed because every single time I talked to this HR lady I asked if I should be waiting for paperwork or if they needed copies of things. She is stupid!

So I've had to hurry around and make copies, find forms, etc. to mail back my application. I am still waiting on a few things but I mailed what I had so they could get started. Ridiculous. I explained to the medical staff direction how I left my old job already because I was under the impression that I would be starting at Parkview 30-45 days after my offer date (April 24). That's when he blamed NICU. Guess it doesn't matter now but hopefully it's all processed soon!

I am really enjoying my time off with the boys though. :) :) Some days are little more difficult than others and lack of sleep is adding to it as well. Mason likes to do this thing where he wakes up 5-15 minutes after I go to bed. Told Andy this morning that I should just go to bed after I put him to sleep at 8:30-9pm haha! I wish! There's so much stuff to do around the house lately that it isn't possible.


Also...please keep my parents in your thoughts & prayers. Abbey will be crossing the Rainbow Bridge to doggie heaven on Friday. Her condition has been progressing somewhat fast now. She is 14 years old and was still wagging her tail last night when I was there. :)

Quick updates:

We are moved in & mostly settled! :) Moving went well. Closing on both houses went well! Just have some decor type things to do and finish organzing some things.

Austin: Doing very well with his speech! :) Getting tall & able to do all the steps in the new house really well. Does well sharing with Mason most days.

Mason: Getting big...can't believe his first birthday is in less than a month! He is still just saying dada...wont say mama ..lil stinker! Food strike continues most days. He loves chasing Austin around the house!

Job: Still waiting. I talked to them last week and they don't think it'll be much longer thankfully. :)

In the midst of packing I figured I should update the blog before the computer gets packed up!

House: Had the final walk through last night to put sticky notes where the painter needs touch ups. Also had to note anything we wanted fixed. There are just a few minor things left for them to do (ie: vent cover in boys bathroom, weather stripping & permanent front door knob). Everything looks great and we cant wait to move in. I was wrong in thinking the rest of the appliances come this week...they will be delivered Saturday. The remaining ones are: refrigerator, washer & dryer. They aren't covered in the builders theft insurance so they don't get delivered til we get possession.

Current house is finally done with negotiation crap. The buyer has repeatedly told her agent that she is on a very limited income so we fixed some stuff and are giving her a hefty sum ($900!) to let her fix the rest (the rest of the decisions are more personal/up to her liking that's why we went the $$ route).

Austin: Talking up a storm! We LOVE it! :) "Heavy" is a common word heard lately...he likes to attempt to move/pick up the moving boxes haha! He is growing up so fast....fun to see all that he can do but sad that he is moving towards a big boy and less dependent on me at times.

Mason: Crawling everywhere! Starting to pull himself up whenever he feels like it. Putting himself to sleep off and on for the last week or so. I think he will like getting out of the pack n play and into his crib. It actually is scheduled to arrive today so he will sleep there starting Saturday night (silly to assemble in this house for just a few nights)! Hopefully all goes well!

Job: They are working on hospital credentialing and will be calling me with a better start date soon. They are shooting for early June. :)

Happy Mothers Day!! :)

We had Mason's baby dedication this morning at church. Such a sweet time. :) Then I got free Starbucks on the way home -- my favorite barista was working! Meeting Alan & Cassie at a halfway point with my parents after naptime to celebrate some more. :) Have a great day everyone!

Quick updates:

~Everything for the new house should be wrapped up by end of Friday!! We have our final walk through Tuesday night with the one of the builders. :)

~Appraisal came back at a good value. Guess we don't get to know the actual number unless its way off. Whatev. So the buyer wants us to fix 2 things from the inspection and then we will be done.

~Packing...not going so well. Need to get more motivated I guess!! We just have a lot going on in general with furniture shopping, errand running, buying new stuff for the house, etc.

~Last day at St Joe is today then I am supposed to start at Parkview early next month. They are supposed to call me this week to let me know more details.

~Austin started saying "plane" and "apple" this week. :) He also says "deal" a lot when trying to get you to do something for him haha...its what we say to him as well!! :)

~Mason is a crawling machine! He goes everywhere and is getting really fast!

Busy, busy, busy....

House: They've not quite been able to stick to the posted schedule the last 2 weeks for various reasons. The permanent electricity was done Thursday but the electrician was unable to make it out to our house Friday to install our lights so that will be done Monday. Carpet was supposed to be put down Thursday & Friday...get there today and the carpet pad has been tacked/stapled down and the carpet is still rolled up. Assuming that will be done early next week?! On the plus side... the wood for the foyer floor arrived, the toilets and sinks are installed. The mirrors are hung. The pantry and closet shelving is all installed as well. The banister for the stairs is done. Shutters done. Driveway, walkway and sidewalk was also poured on Friday. So there was definetly progress this week!! :)

Current house had its inspection last Friday the 26th and then the appraisal this past Friday. Inspection did not find any major flaws with the house...just little stuff. We should hear back about the appraisal on Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully the house comes back with a value that is the same or more than what the seller & us agreed upon for the price!

Packing has started. We are now both parking outside and putting boxes in the garage as they are packed. Crazy & overwhelming at times.

Austin: Speech is going great!! :) Can't keep up with all the new words & phrases. Boys met their summer babysitter on Thursday and they seem to like her. :) Austin is also doing AWESOME at sharing toys with Mason lately...lets hope he keeps it up!! :)

Mason: 6 teeth! Eating his solid food better if it comes in a pouch...still mostly rejecting the homemade food and I think its because its mushier. Not liking puffs or the dairy free (made with coconut milk) yogurt melts. He also started crawling this week!! :) Crazy that he is mobile now but he is much happier since he can go where he wants.

Job: Work pulled a fast one on me and rejected my prn request!! Who turns down help?!? Morons. They claim they have 2, maybe 3, traveling NNPs coming in the next few weeks. Whatev. So my last day is May 8....I asked if I could extend my last day til the end of May since they didnt approve my prn request and they said no. I had given my "last day before prn status" as May 8 because they scheduled me for some back to backs at the end of the schedule and I was scheduled to work the day we are moving. So after May 8 I don't work again til I start at Parkview in June. HR is supposed to calling me early next week with a better idea of a start date...dang hospital credentialing...

Sooo....I got the job!! :) No details yet. The Senior VP of Womens & Childrens sent me an email saying that they would be extending an offer soon! That was at 8am this morning so hopefully tomorrow HR calls me with all the details. She said credentialing will take 30-45 days but I may be able to start the general hospital orientation before that. I'll keep ya posted.

We accepted an offer on the house! We close on the current house on May 23..buyer wanted that date specifically. We close on the new house May 17 and move in May 18!! :) So happy the basement issue didn't put us behind the date they had told us last week.

Lots going on now!! :)

Austin: Austin had a great speech therapy session Friday!! :) She was impressed by his words and requests. He has continued to use requests quite often now. He is getting so tall! I know I keep saying that but now he is opening the sliding glass door to let the dogs (and himself if I dont move fast enough) outside now. So we are keeping it locked most of the time!!

Mason: Mason is showing some more interest in solids again. He likes the fruit pouches that I've been trying with him lately. Only eats about a third of it so I save it & offer a little more again when Austin has dinner. Had a mucousy diaper Sunday...one time thing so I think I must have ate something with dairy by accident. His sleep is not improving much but I am just kind of used to it now. He sleeps fairly good for Andy still. He is so, so close to crawling! Crazy! Also is trying to pull himself up.

House: We had 4 showings on the house Sunday and we got an offer from one of them!! She offered a looow price so we countered and then she re-countered ...and we just accepted it! :) She wants to close May 23 and take possession that day...its a Thursday. So now we need to find out if she really wants to move in on that Thursday or if she can wait til the weekend. If we can move out the weekend before then it will be a moot point obviously.

We finally have all the lights for the new house! yay :) That was kinda exhausting to finish picking them out. I was being too picky I guess haha. So with all the rain we got ...our basement had a little issue. Currently our house has temporary electricity because the contracted electrician has been very busy with all the other work he does therefore the workers at the house where using a long extrension cord cable thing to plug in outside to the temp box to keep the sump pump running. Well with the rain...it shorted out and the sump pump obviously stopped working since we don't have regular electricity yet. So the basement got almost an inch of water in some spots. This is a big concern of mine during further storms. I hear bad things about basements but Andy realllly wanted his man cave. The builder ripped out all the affected drywall and had fans to dry it out. He is replacing it (at his cost) and hopes that it won't put us more than a week off the scheduled date that he had given us last week (May 17) but there is a possibilty that it won't put us off schedule at all.

We went over Sunday and the main floor and second floor are painted now. :) Fireplace is done. Trim board for stairway to the upstairs has been stained. (Our foyer will have real wood that is the same color as the stain applied to the trim board on the stair railing) The front of the house also has the starting work done for the stone to come soon. This week they are continuing to fix the basement, lay the floor for the kitchen, dining area & bathrooms and then install the cabinets. The first appliance delivery happens on Friday. We will take the lights to the house this weekend so they can be installed early next week! I have pictures to post but am at work so I'll post tomorrow. :)

Parkview is supposed to call tomorrow!! The senior VP emailed me today and said she will be in touch after the meeting.

Austins First Steps progress meeting went well. They are recommending 3 more months of speech therapy and will re-evaluate in mid-July. If he still needs therapy after that then we have to start looking into the school speech therapy offerings for our district. Hopefully we will be discharged from First Steps at our July progress meeting. :)

Lowe's was a success Tuesday evening...we got about 75-80% of the lights. Also got our door bell kit. We plan to go back Sunday and finish buying the rest. :)

Scheduled a Open House for Sunday the 27th for this house since it just won't sell! Ugg! If it doesn't sell by the time we are ready to close on the new one then we will likely delay closing til after June 1.

Re-check for Mason's ear showed that his ear infection is gone. His yeast diaper rash is also gone and we are cleared to go back to cloth diapers. :) He is getting another tooth on the bottom...pedi informed me. So over teething... can we get a break?? He already has 6 teeth...some aren't all the way through but still!

Still no word from Parkview...getting a little nervous!

Sickened and very saddened about the tragedy in Boston this afternoon. Why does stuff like this keep happening?? Its not safe anywhere!! Prayers to all who are affected and their family members.


We went to the lighting store that our builder has a contract/discount with today (Andy graciously took a half day since they are only open til 5:30). The "builder basic" catalog of discount options was not that interesting and was fairly blah....and pricey! We get a $1,100 lighting credit from the builder to use there or if we don't use this particular lighting company we can buy our own and then get the credit back at closing. The total for what we needed (and I wasn't to happy with most of it) came to ~$1900!! So ~$800 we would have to pay for stuff that I didn't feel was worth it! So off to Lowe's we went to price check and look around. We are for sure going to use Lowe's and maybe a few other stores to get our own lights, light bulbs, ceiling fans, doorbell, etc. So we will likely go back a few times this week & early next week after Andy gets off work to buy the lighting stuff we need since they will need all the lighting things at the house by next weekend. We got the final timeline for what's left today!! :) Looks like closing will be between May 15-17 if all continues to go well!!

All this week & half of next week they are painting the house!! Then next Friday, April 26 is the first appliance delivery (everything but the refrigerator...that comes later...did you know it's the most frequently stolen thing during new house construction?! Oh, you didn't..well we didn't know that either haha! crazy idiots ..who steals appliances?)


No feedback yet from yesterdays showing. Our realtor said the particular agent who showed the house yesterday is very slow at getting back with realtors to give feedback. They did use our toilet while they toured the house though....left the entire seat up....not sure if that's a good sign or not haha!



Austin has his First Steps progress report meeting tomorrow afternoon and Mason has a pedi appointment Wednesday morning to make sure his ear infection is gone. Also need to go to Target for regular errand running & to look at bathroom decor for the new house. I have a feeling we are going to be busy, busy until we move.

No news from Parkview yet....probably should have started the blog with that. :) I'll keep ya updated.

Sorry for going so long without posting a real update. :)

House: They finished the drywall/mudding/sanding last week. They are priming all this week and measuring/cutting for trim boards. The guy that helps with the interior selections talked to us yesterday and said they will be ready for our lights and mirrors around April 26th ...eekk! That's about 2-3 weeks before we thought they would need them based on the inital plans. Happy they are moving right along but....we haven't even gone to look at lights yet with so much going on lately! He told us we could buy the mirrors from them so we said heck yes haha! Just had to pick out the edge design & size for the 3 mirrors we need.

Current house had its second showing for a client on Saturday but they passed on our house. Their reasoning was stupid but hey...feedback tells us what else we can do to make the house look better & give us an edge. The to do lists for everything are sooooo long. Can't catch a break. The over a week of sickness kind of put us behind!

Austin: Talking more and more!! Attempting to say some words that he probably shouldn't ... (example: guy flying through the parking lot at Target so I said "idiot" ...Austin attempted to say it as well). Good thing we aren't the type who use a lot of swear words. We did have a short period of time where he was randomly saying "damn" but that has passed thankfully! He is getting so, so tall! Just this week he has started turning on & off lights! Turning them on is easy...he has to reach a little higher to turn them off but still! :) Big boy! We have our First Steps progress meeting on Tuesday the 16th...they already sent me my copy of the paperwork for me to read. They want him to receive an additional 3 months of speech therapy. I am completely fine with it because he is making progress with Sarah and I think there's more that she can work on with him. Andy isn't too happy about it but I think he'll get there. The big thing with his speech is that he labels stuff (dog, cup, car, etc) but does not make many requests (more milk, need this, etc). They said usually requests come first and then labeling but it doesn't make him abnormal in any way. He has started saying "car ride" & "outside" ...those are two big requests lately. :)

Mason: Doing better...the runny nose, cough, and ear infection were really affecting his sleeping and eating. And now he's getting more teeth so he slept horribly Monday night (after I got almost zero sleep at work Sunday night) but tooth #4 poked through yesterday morning. I think tooth # 5 & 6 are very close to being through the gum line as well. He slept all night last night! :) Hopefully he sleeps well for Andy tonight while I am at work! He gets very close to leaning over to get in the crawling position from the sitting position ...but then he kinda just fakes out and lays on his belly. He can reach pretty far so I don't think he feels as motivated to crawl yet. He had several red bumps on his butt Friday morning (started noticing them last Weds evening) so we went in to see the doc and he was diagnosed with a yeast diaper rash. We have been putting the anti-fungal cream on twice a day and its looking much better. Have all these cloth diapers and I can't even use them right now! Most diaper creams & yeast infections are 2 big no-nos for cloth diapers. I stripped them all again just in case since I'm not totally sure when the yeast made an appearance for my cloth diapering mama readers out there. :) He is a very happy little guy when he is feeling well. :) Starting to clap more often now and also has been doing this cute hand thing when he wants to be picked up! We have his baby dedication on Mothers Day. :) (our church always does Mothers Day as baby dedication day for all the babies that have been born since the last Mothers day or any new members that have children and want them dedicated.) I am supposed to work the night before & that day....but we'll see.

Job: I had my second interview at Parkview on Tuesday afternoon with the two neos that werent able to attend the first interview. They were both nice and friendly. :) When I asked the one (other guy didn't speak very good English haha) about the timeline of decision making he said that I have the job already and they were just waiting for me to meet him & the other doctor. So that's very exciting...but I'm not getting my hopes up & putting in my resignation just yet. Who knows who else they might want to interview or if something crazy happens and they end up not being able to hire me. But he said I should hear something in a few days. Yay!!!! :) Hoping I can leave here by the end of the month because the May schedule is awful ...the other full time NNP is going on vacation for 10 days...so who gets to work tons during that time?! I also recently got called into the supervisors office for attendance issues..I've called in 4 times since I started working here and if I call in one more time I get written up. Punishment for being written up...no raise for a year. Haha...well good thing I just got a raise when our new Neo told HR we were underpaid. Morons.

blog update coming soon...have lots going on and we are getting over sickness!

Sick!! :( Austins sick, Masons sick, I'm sick. We have a few good hours then its all downhill again. Mason seems to be the best feeling as of right now. Hopefully we can get in nice and early at the pediatrician tomorrow morning. Supposed to work and I am out of vacation hours so it looks like itll be an unpaid day. fab

Lots to update on. Been a bit busy!

House: HVAC, electical and framing inspections have all been passed. Siding is up on the back and sides of the house. Front will have stone ...which is coming at a later date. They are working on insulation the first half of this week and then will be starting the drywall on Thursday. :)

Current house has been kinda stagnant....which is working out just fine because we've been busy with other stuff lately. If theres no action/offers in another few weeks then we will drop the price again I think. Andy & I are starting to think that the house won't sell until its empty since we just have so much stuff in it which seems to be making it hard for potential buyers.

Austin: Speech therapy is going well and he is repeating words and using more phrases every week! :) He has become quite the mooch though...every time we are eating something he says "a bite!" until you share haha! Very much a happy boy who just has the typical 2 year old meltdowns here and there. Can't wait til it is warmer so he can play outside which he loves to do!

Mason: Had his 9mt appt yesterday and he is doing great! 21lbs 14 oz (75th%), 27.75 in long (27th%) and his head measured 18 in (75th%). His dr isn't concerned about the suture that is closing early anymore since his head grew and it isn't affecting his developing. yay! :) He has 3 teeth right now (2 on bottom and one most of the way through on the top). She saw 3 more on top that she thinks are on their way in soon. Oh joy...teething is never fun! We are not going to be attempting the milk challenge test until after his one year appointment. She said with the symptoms he had & the research that has been done ...it just makes more sense to wait. She strongly prefers that I breastfeed until 18mts if he remains interested. :)

Interview: My interview yesterday went great!! They are a 31 bed unit & have been averaging between 18-22 babies the last 3 months. They did 88 transports for 2012...thats a lot!...about 30% of their admissions they said. The position will start as being 3 12hr day shifts and possibly down the road go to 24hr shifts. They have interviewed one other person & are hoping to hire two. So hopefully they offer me a spot! Right now they have a neonatologist in house 24/7 so they want the NNP there on dayshift to take a patient load (ill see my own babies) and do procedures, go to deliveries and go on transports. The 3 that I met yesterday strongly want the NNP to do transports...fine by me! I will be meeting the other 2 neos on April 9th but they said a decision could be made between now and then. Really hoping they can decide soon so I can just leave my current job asap! The commute will be soooo short! Being on day shift is a little nerve wracking with babysitting decisions but I think I will learn a ton more with being able to round on the babies and work more closely with the neos. I'll keep everyone updated! :)

So for those that don't already know...I have a interview next Monday, the 25th, at Parkview Women's & Children's for the open NNP position they have!! It's set to be a 3 hour interview with a tour included. :) I'll be interviewing with the manager, the medical director/neo, and 2 other neos. Then on April 9th I'll be interviewing with the remaining 2 neos that can't attend the March 25th interview. They are unsure of what my schedule would look like if I'm hired since they don't currently use NNPs and haven't for a few years. They are saying day shift at least until they have decided how many they will hire and whatnot. It is a 31 bed private room unit...so it's big! :)

Lots to talk about haha...very, very much enjoyed my (unplanned) week off! Worked Sunday and then was supposed to work Thursday (had jury duty so I couldnt work ...but then my case was cancelled) & now I'm at work today. It was awesome to have the week off!!! :)

House: This past week they finished framing Monday and then installed the front door, garage door, sliding glass door & all the windows Tuesday. On Wed through Sat they worked on the plumbing, heating and cooling. yay! :) Busy, busy...the HVAC guys were there on Saturday afternoon when we went to take pics.

Current house has had over 200 views online so far but no showings this week/weekend. Next weekend is super busy so of course they will probably be showings haha!


Austin: Did great last Friday with speech & this past Fridays session was cancelled due to his speech therapist being sick. He is saying more words and starting to say more phrases as well. He is very into his remote control car lately...has a hard time making it do what he wants but he loves for Andy or I to chase him with it haha! He is also doing better with being nice to Mason and they have been playing next to each other a lot lately. :) He even brings his stuffed animals over to Mason and has them kiss him on the cheek!

Mason: Tooth #3 is visible but hasn't quite broken through yet and I think I see tooth #4 ...both on top. Lots of biting of his momma right now! He is scooting everywhere on his butt! Last night he was up almost to crawling position but didn't go anywhere so I'm sure that's coming soon. :) Sleep has not been so well at night for him but I think it's his teeth. He tried peaches yesterday & seemed to like them. Going to try sweet potatoes later this week. He has his 9mt appt next Monday & I'm interested to see how big he is!


Have other news but can't share because I'm at work & afraid the nurses might be reading haha!

Mid week update!

First things first haha!! Service line director (fancy name for director I guess?) emailed me Monday asking if I was still interested in interviewing for a NNP position. Um heck yes I am! So I emailed her back and resent her my resume (per her request). She is working on setting up some interview dates with the manager and the physicians. Haven't heard anything since Monday. I've been religiously checking my email. Hoping to hear something today or tomorrow so that I'm not left hanging all weekend. But if I am then so be it....I've waited long enough I can wait a few more days. :)

Austin: Started saying "snow" after the freakish snow storm we had Tuesday evening. Also is stringing together more words to make a phrase. :) "mama read" "dada read" "gogo eat". He's also been telling the Starbucks peeps "bye bye" after I finish giving them my order in the drive thru. Its really cute to hear even though they obviously don't hear him. :)

Mason: Clapping like crazy. :) So cute to watch! Tooth #2 poked its way through this morning (or maybe last night while I was at work?). Slow down big boy!

House: They were planning to finish framing this week and then order the windows and doors to be delivered & installed. Neither of us have really had time to drive over there and look yet this week but we will go Saturday to take pics. :)

Another fast week!

Austin: Did great all week with being a chatterbox. :) Speech therapy went well yesterday and she said she's hearing more words ...I agree that he is saying new ones & he is also warming up to her so naturally he is a little more chatty when she comes over. Still has moments of shyness and then hiding in the kitchen when he gets overwhelmed. Going to be buying a potty chair Tuesday I think!

Mason: My little jumping bean! :) Still loving the jumperoo. His sleeping is getting better! :) Almost always sleeps til 5am..and sometimes later. His naps are also becoming more consistent for me & mom as well. Andy still has some trouble getting him to nap. His suture line seems a bit more rigid to me so I am looking forward to his 9 month appt later this month so his doc can feel it again as well. Really thinking of asking for a head ultrasound since his fontanel is still open and maybe x-rays? He has a sacral dimple....pretty sure I mentioned that during his NICU updates. Just wondering if maybe it's related? The NP in me says no...but I'm still very new considering all the information/disorders/etc that's out there.

House: Drove by the new house for the weekly picture and the first floor and the garage have been framed. Part of the second floor was framed as well so I'm assuming framing will be finished early this coming week. It's moving fast!! We had a showing on the current house this morning & will likely hear feedback on Monday. We moved around some more stuff (aka hid some more stuff) to attempt to make it look less "cluttered."

Andy's last Tuesday off is this week. :( Liked him having a day off every week but it's short term. One of the other tellers is going on maternity leave after this week so he & the other teller will be getting some of their hours back which he is very happy about haha! He will go back to getting half days on Wednesday when its his turn to work Saturday. So that'll be nice. :)

Another busy week...every week I tell myself that I'll do a mid-week post but it never happens! It's easiest to update while I'm at work since Austin loves to push the power button on the computer at home haha! If I wait til they are both asleep...it doesn't work either because that's when we clean, relax and attempt to stay awake long enough for a conversation haha. So be patient with me. :)

So lets backtrack to when I last left off.

Houses: Backfilling of the basement and the garage slab was poured last week for the new house. Looking good. :) They will be framing all this week and most of next week as well. It's going to really start looking like a house now!!!

As far as our current house, we had 2 showings on Sunday and we have one scheduled for this coming Saturday! Realtor said that we've been getting a steady amount of people "viewing" our listing online. He sent us the report for last week and I think it said 77 views. :) We got feedback from one person who came on Sunday...they told the realtor that they loved the size of the backyard and the fence but felt that our house looked cluttered. Umm hello!...once we move out all this stuff won't be here!

Austin: Speech went well again on Friday...(I missed it because I was at work). His ST brought her own toys and Andy said he loved that. They worked on popping the bubbles...(pop is a homework word this week) and she also had these small balloons that he liked. His other homework word is tie...kinda hard to incorporate that one right now because his shoes are either velcro or slip ons at the moment so we talk about tying daddys shoes and just saying the word in general haha! We are also working on more 2-3 word phrases. He has been saying "do it again" a lot more now when he wants us to read a book again, help stack another tower, etc. He is also obsessed with his potty time DVD. I really want to just go buy a potty chair & start sitting him on before bathtime & when he wakes up to get him used to the idea but I'm also a little afraid to start the whole process! He knows the order of events though...if he comes into the bathroom with either of us he will point to the toilet and say potty and then point to the toilet paper and say paper then he points to the sink. Such a smartie! :)

Mason: He is now 8 months old! Insane! New food this past week was green beans and he seems to like them better than the peas haha! :) He is steadily growing out of his size 9 month clothing as well. His dresser is about half 9mts and half 12mts clothing...just kinda depends on the brand/item of clothing. Such a long baby! He is really scooting backwards when on his belly and will probably start moving forward soon! He is obsessed with his jumperoo and thinks he should be jumping all the time so its interesting to try to hold him and nurse him now! His legs are always moving! Target is now carrying one brand of cloth diapers in their store so I bought one just to try. I like it...and Andy said we can switch to cloth soon just have a full plate at the moment of other things that our money needs to go to. I want to try 2 other brands since I've heard better reviews on other ones...Target needs to carry options in the store haha! Looking forward to the childrens resale event in mid-March so I can maybe buy some used ones, strip them, and see if I like them.

Work: Going to 24 hour shifts starting March 10. Yuck! :( Did find out today that my salary is increasing by $6K a year because they realized how underpaid we are. That's great news but I'm still cranky about the new shifts. Parkview ...please call soon!

Weeks need to start slowing down & being less busy...

Put the house on the market Monday night...but didn't make it to the realtor website til Wednesday night (yeah, our realtor is kinda a flake). He came & took pictures Thursday. Also put the nifty front door lock box on our door. So if you or someone you know is searching for a house...send them our way...or to the Re-max website. Price is negotiable.

Austin had his first session of Speech therapy Friday! Went well. She thinks he will learn fast! :) Yay for Austin! He is doing better at attempting to repeat words everyday. :) He kept telling Sarah, his ST, that he's two haha! Our homework this week is to work on "up" and "in". She said he's lacking in action words & those were the two she wanted us to emphasize when we play this coming week.

Mason is loving his food! I enjoy making it too...so easy, should have made more of Austins food when he was this little. He has had banana, avocado, apple, pear, & peas so far. :) He is attempting to move backwards when he gets on his belly now. He's also sleeping much better on the nights I'm home...wakes up around 5-5:30am. Sleeps til 7:30ish when it's just Andy.

Took a couple more pictures of our new house this morning. They made more progress than anticipated for this last week!!! Basement and basement walls are done. They've also put in the stairs to the basement (still wooden and not completely done yet). They've also started the floor for the main level. Yay!

Andy's car sold just before I left for work today. :) Sold for less than what he wanted but the guy was persistent with the negotiation process & they were able to settle on a reasonable amount!

Looking forward to having 3 days off when I get home from work in the morning!! Andy also has 3 days off since Monday is Presidents day and Tuesday is his scheduled day off each week! :)

Another eventful week. :)

Stakes were placed earlier this week to mark the perimeter of the house and yard. Then Wednesday morning we met with the builder and surveyor to go over the whole layout (in the snow...).  Basement digging occurred all day Wednesday. I stopped by after nap time to take the picture that is on facebook. :) Each Monday we will get a progress report email about what is planned for the current week so I will attempt to take at least one picture a week if there's actually something to show.

Austin will have his first speech therapy session next Friday afternoon. Very interested to see how it will go! Bummed that it took so long to get everything finalized. We have the 3 month progress meeting in April...but he would have only had 2 months of therapy by then so hopefully they can reschedule. He's been saying a lot more words lately and trying hard to imitate! He now tells us when he poops about 50% of the time so we are getting extremely close to potty training.

Last night Mason decided to start saying "dada"!! :) Got it on video as well. :) He whispers it then says it haha! This morning he looked right at Andy before he left for work and said dada. So cute!! Can't wait til he starts saying Mama! We are looking closely into making the transition to cloth diapers for him for several reasons. More updates on that as we decide. Any input would be great to hear. Gotta love pinterest for articles about it and my awesome cousin Stephanie who is a former cloth diaper momma!

Nothing new on Parkview yet. My friend Jess said they are going live with a new charting system tomorrow so the whole hospital has been busy so I'll continue to be patient. Work just dropped the bombshell that we are going to 24 hour shifts next month. Not sure how that will work for us.

Totally forgot to mention in the last post that Mason has his first tooth coming through!! Bottom right! Just barely in. :)

Lots to talk about for last week...maybe I should update more freqently haha!

My patience may finally be paying off. Jessica got me the new contact info for the new director of Maternal/Child at Parkview and....there's 2 open positions!!! I called & emailed her and she emailed me back requesting my resume. This was on Tuesday. Still haven't heard from her but I've heard they are slow so maybe she will be calling this week. The positions are not posted online yet...only internally so that might be part of the hold up. So we are praying, praying and doing a bit more praying!

On Tuesday Austin had his First Steps evaluation. It went smoothly...as smoothly as a test of development can go. He scored borderline on speech, social and adaptive skills. Therefore he qualifies for speech therapy. We had a meeting Friday to set goals and finish signing paperwork. Our income is too high for insurance to pay so we are paying out of pocket...but it's worth it (and a reasonable amount). Just waiting for the pediatrician to sign off on all the paperwork/evaluation and then our speech therapist will call us to set up his first session. He will receive one hour of therapy once a week for 3 months. We have a progress meeting set up in mid April where we will review his progress and they will decide if he qualifies for another 3 months. I am excited to see how fast he starts talking! He's already attempting to say more words. They said he has a great personality and follows directions very well. :)

We also had a meeting Tuesday afternoon at the mortgage company to sign some papers. :) Yay! :) Taking our last portion of the down payment check to the builder tomorrow! We still need to set up appointments to look at lighting at Trinity Lighting and at the 2 appliance places where the builder gets a discount. Lighting fixtures are going to be hard to pick I think! We kind of already know what type of applinaces we want. I'm only picky about the washer/dryer since what we have in this house are not stellar!

Still working on declutting, donating, organizing, etc. We have too much stuff!!

Here is a good link to explain it.

http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site3268/mainpageS3268P0.html

What a week!

Worked Monday and then finalized new house selections on Tuesday!...plus paid another huge portion of the down payment...

Then Wednesday morning both boys had (unplanned) pediatrician appointments. Austin has had a small bump on the side of this face since Saturday morning. It wasn't gettting better or smaller so I called to see if his doc could check it out. Turns out its a mild staph infection. She was able to open and drain it. We are doing triple antibiotic ointment and a bandaid for a week. She did not see any signs of cellulitis or further infection to warrant oral antibiotics. So far he has been leaving the bandaid alone! yay for Austin :)

Now for Mason... while we were there Wednesday morning I asked their peditrician if she minded taking a look at Mason's skull & sutures even though we weren't there for him. She was fine with it. I've noticed over the past couple months (maybe less) that his metopic suture (one by the forehead in front of the anterior fontanel) seems to be closing early and forming a ridge. She agreed. :( She said we will follow his head circumferences over the next 6 months and as long as they don't drop in percentiles he won't need intervention. If they do drop then we will have further workup to ensure that his brain isn't being affected and surgery to reopen the suture as a worst case scenario. It is reassuring that only one is closing too early (she felt all of them) because it can get serious very fast if more than one closes too early. His diagnosis: Metopic Synostosis.

Had a great day yesterday. :) Love being home with my boys and I want to work less!

Hoping tonight goes fast at work. Off Saturday and work Sunday. Hoping to make some more decluttering progress on the house on Saturday. We've thrown or donated tons of stuff already it feels like. We also took down the bifold doors in front of our washer/dryer since they are stupid and they always get stuck on the carpet! So now we have curtains in front of it.

Happy New Year! :) (9 days late ha ha)

We had our first appointment with First Steps yesterday to complete paperwork/insurance forms. Our evaluation is scheduled for Jan 22 (wanted a Tuesday so Andy would be home). Two therapists (for a non bias report) will be looking at 6 areas of development for Austin & it will take approximately an hour & a half. Interested to see what they say. We then have the third and final meeting on Jan 25 (if we for sure qualify) & we will decide goals for therapy. My cousin Amy has her twin boys in speech therapy with First Steps as well so it will be nice to have someone to talk to about it.

Mason is doing great at sitting up now. Rolling both ways is also going fairly well. He has a harder time getting back to his back once he has rolled to his belly sometimes. The past two mornings we have found him on his belly. Silly boy...causes a panic attack for his momma!! I remember when Austin started rolling over to sleep on his belly too ha ha. He is still liking his rice cereal for the most part but I think we will move to oatmeal soon since he has tolerated the rice with no difficulty.

Andy's day off for 2013 is now Tuesday ...which means my mom will have the boys more often since Tuesdays are never an option for me to work since one of our prn NNPs works one day a week every Tuesday. Maybe this is a sign of things changing for the better....wishful/hopeful thinking.

We are possibly going to start building sooner than February!! Andy said we technically have enough to put down for the builder to start building so it's more up to the builder if he can dig the basement in the frozen ground...or us if Andy decides it would be better to hold off til our house is a little closer to being ready to put in the market in case it sells fast. We meet tomorrow evening to finish our selections (paint, brick color, etc). I really hope our house sells in perfect timing so that we don't have to move into an apartment or something. If it doesn't then we have decided we will go the rental option or the rent to own option since we don't want 2 mortgage payments!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!! We sure did!! :) Boys got everything they needed...and wanted! Andy & I did as well. :)

Mason started rice cereal this past Sunday to celebrate his 6 month birthday haha! He loved it! Still loves it almost a week later. Thursday he started rolling both ways as well. Doing much better sitting up on his own too!! Just in time for their milestone pics at the picture studio tomorrow. :) He is still not sleeping through the night when I am home. Doesn't bother me...he will when he's ready. When I am at work he makes a little noise around 5-6am and Andy offers him his pacifier and tells me he falls right back to sleep til 7-7:30.

Austin loves his new train track we got him and his new World of Words Baby Einstein dvd that my parents got him. Those are the 2 current favs right now but he does enjoy all of his new toys. :) Called First Steps because they still hadn't called me to set up an evaluation time...our "service coordinator" is out of the office til January 2nd. So hopefully we will hear something mid week next week. Anxious to get his speech therapy started. He's already attempting to say more words each week so hopefully this will be a good boost to his vocabulary! Read, read, read to your little ones! Thought we were reading enough but now I have the "mom guilt."

Our family pictures arrived in the mail today but I didnt get a chance to open and look at them before I had to head back into work. Excited to see how they look!!

Busy week!

Monday: Austin had his 2 year appointment. Stats are to the right. He was in the 80th percentile for weight and the 25th percentile for height! 95th for head circumference...big noggin'! She was happy with everything growth wise. She is concerned about his speech...as are we. He should have 50 or so recognizable words (words only we can understand don't count). I would say he has about 20-25 words. She referred us to First Steps and they will see him weekly for the next few months. They have yet to call me back to set up an evaluation time ...but his Pedi said with the holiday it could take some time. He is very smart and she could see that. :) Expressive speech delay is our diagnosis. She said this will help with temper/frustration from him not always having the words to tell us whats wrong. His birthday dinner at Andy's parents Monday night went well. Got some cute toys & pjs.

Wednesday: Mason had his 6 month appointment. Stats are to the right. He was in the 40th percentile for weight and 50th for height. 25th for head circumference...which is about where he has been. Steady growth! :) She was happy with his head and body control. Said we could very slowly start cereal and then other solids. I'm not going to rush him because his tummy is already sensitive enough!! He tolerated his vaccines great and was fairly sleepy the rest of the day and a good chunk of yesterday.

Thursday: Met with the home selections coordinator to start picking out stuff for the house! We decided on: siding color, gutter/trim color, shutter & front door color, carpet, foyer wood choice, kitchen/bathroom flooring, fixtures/drawer pulls for kitched, counters, & cabinets. Sounds like a lot but most of it was kinda easy. Guess Andy & I just agree haha! We are going to go look at a house that has the same siding color that we picked so we can see the brick that the homeowners picked to see if we like it or if we want to pick a different color. Every house in the addition we picked has to have so many square feet of brick or stone on the front. So whats left to pick? ....lots! We go back in early January to hopefully finish our selections. Then later in January or maybe Feb we will go pick out appliances and lighting.

Our house has quite a bit of little things to get done before we can put it up for sale. Looking forward to sprucing it up ...not looking forward to figuring out how to arrange all the toys so that it doesnt look like Toys R Us in our living room! Might have to get a storage unit for a month or two!

We had Austin's birthday party for my side of the family (his mom wants to have her own little dinner Monday) last Saturday and it went well. Curious George theme was a hit and he still loves having the big balloon in the living room. :) He got some cute toys from my parents and grandparents. Didn't really like his cake again this year...maybe when he gets older haha! He did touch the icing though haha. :)

He was stuffy for his party and it progressed to major coughing and raspy voice on Sunday. He then was up in the middle of the night on Sunday night with the "barking seal cough". :( :( So we went in Monday morning to see the Pediatrician & he was diagnosed with croup. She said Mason just has a cold. Austin got oral steriods for 3 days. We have also been running a humidifier in his room for naps and bedtime since Monday night & it seems to help him fall asleep faster...maybe because its so loud! He seems to be completely better now.

Mason still has cold symptoms ...thankfully no crazy coughing like his big brother! Hopefully he is well soon!

Lots to talk about coming up this week.... Austins second birthday(!!) tomorrow, his two year appt Monday, Mason's 6mt appt Wednesday, & part one of house selections (siding color, cabinet color, drawer knobs, etc) Thursday. :) Glad I had enough PTO to take a day off this past week for Austins sickness and a day off this coming week since we are busy at home. :)


Only have about half (or less) of my Christmas shopping done. Yikes! Our tree is still not up! :( ...Maybe tomorrow night?!

Mason had his follow up GI appt (from his blood in stool fiasco last month). Everything looks great according to the doctor! He was 17lbs with no clothes and a dry diaper...(I believe this weight more than the one at the peds urology office since he had clothes & diaper on for that one.) He said we can start rice cereal at six months if his Pedi agrees as well. He recommended I make my own solids to eliminate cross contamination or use Beech-Nut brand since they are more strict with how they make their baby food versus Gerber, etc. I am nervous to start this whole food process!! He's finally in a happy place and I don't want to upset his tummy again!

We met with the builder to start learning more information on Thursday night. We have settled on a floor plan...we had looked at a home mostly built with the floorplan we liked online. So with this builder and wanting to live on the northwest to east side of Fort Wayne we are somewhat limited on housing additions. We are going to meet with him again on Monday morning and drive through the addition that has some lots that we can pick from if we like the addition. Kinda nervous about all the little things that might pop up with expenses....like for instance....we have to pay for the sidewalk in front of the house. Reasonable? yes. But I didn't think of that haha!

Mason's Pediatric Urology appointment was yesterday afternoon. Went well and we like the Doc from Riley. So nice that Lutheran has these outpatient clinics for different doctors to come in and do consults/follow ups.

We learned that there is nothing structurally wrong with Mason's penis. It is a skin abnormality (to put it in easy to understand terms) that developed very early on in utero. It is not genetic and there was nothing I could do to prevent it. Doctor said it is quite common and Mason has a very mild form of it. He said that there is no surgery needed unless we want him circumcised. Also praised our Pediatrician group....said many Peds would not catch this and would end up taking off too much skin trying to do the circumsion and the baby would have to undergo another surgery to fix it.

If we decide we want it done the earliest he will do it is at 8mts of age. He would be put under, get a spinal block (similar to an epidural) and then have the surgery. He did tell us that right now many baby boys aren't getting circumcised after delivery anymore. Mason would have full function of his anatomy and nothing would be hindered. So we are undecided at the moment on what to do. Luckily we have some time before we have to make a decision.

He is growing like a weed! ..... 17lbs 14oz but that was with his clothes and diaper on so I'm guessing he is more like 17lbs 8oz?

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! :)


Austin is now 23 months old....less than a month until he's 2! Better get party planning!! :) He has a new love of Veggie Tales ...my aunt got a bunch from a garage sale and gifted them to us. Alan & Cassie have been home since Wednesday evening and he's loving spending time with them!

Mason is 5 months old & growing fast!! Outgrowing a couple of size 6mts stuff. Crazy! He is now starting to sit unassisted for about 5 seconds at a time. Yay! One step closer to him being happy because he is not a fan of laying down! Allergy issues seem to be ok at the moment...momma hasn't eaten anything that has upset him lately. :) He is very grabby with food (or anything else) that you have in your hand though so I think he'll be ready for cereal after next months appointment. We see the Pediatric Urologist on Friday to have his boy parts evaluated and determine the course of action needed.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend so far! :)

Coak House Update:

Just when things are under control...Mason wakes up Thursday morning and poops....and it looks very suspicious. TMI alert...his diaper had red mucous like stuff mixed with the poop. Oh great! :(  Then 45 or so minutes later another poopy diaper. This one had red streaks in it. Call Dr. Mallah and leave a voicemail for the phone nurse. She calls me back around 10am and says "Please come in! Before 12!" So we do. She does the hemoocult (test for blood in stool) and it's positive right away. :(

So we wait for Dr. Mallah to come in and see us to tell me the next plan of action. In short, I am eliminating beef and continuing to restrict soy and now restricting nuts. Why beef you ask? Well beef and dairy are soooo closely related since they are from the same animal. So it's the logical next step. It's a possiblity that I just ate something that wasn't labeled right or was "contaminated". We did every other feeding of the speciality formula from Friday-Sunday and I pumped (ugg). Today I haven't given him any formula since his poop is back to "his normal". On the plus side he weighed 16lbs at the office. Gaining just fine. :)

He also is laughing!! Not a lot but he is doing it finally!! My friend Jessica got some good belly laughs out of him yesterday while we were shopping. :)


Austin is back to saying "Pee!" He had stopped for a couple weeks but started saying it again this weekend. Andy said he also said "poop" yesterday while I was gone. Thats promising because we are hoping to start potty training in a couple months. He has also added some new words lately..."coat", saying "ruff, ruff" for dog, "ghee" for grandma, ...I know there's more but I am spacing on what they are.


I had a phone interview on Wednesday for Bronson Methodist in Kalamazoo. They were very pleased with how it went and said I was "eager." They went me to come up for a tour and lunch with the neonataologists at the end of the month. Glad this new recruiter is working out for me. Its nice to be able to hear what the other side thinks after an interview. This position is rotating days and nights, still 16 hour shifts and it is about 10-15minutes farther to drive. So ...not really sure what I want to do. Its a much bigger unit (45 beds with 5 step down beds) and they do most surgeries there. So I would get a ton of experience from the bigger unit size plus being able to learn from the neos while I am on the day shifts. But....I'm still crossing fingers and praying almost daily that Parkview is able to post a position early next year.

Mason had his 4 mt appt on Monday! Crazy! Stats are to the right. His weight puts him in the 55th% and his length puts him in the 45th%...he's longer than Austin was at this age. His head is 16.5in which is the 25th%...kinda has a small noggin'.

He is in some 3-6mt size clothes but mostly size 6mts. So long!! Dr. Camille wasn't worried about his development like I was. She said we will adjust for his age and that I shouldn't compare him to Austin. She said Austin was above average on most skills during his first year of life so comparing Mason to Austin just isn't fair. She did say he needs more tummy time...he is not always a fan but we will continue to do it in 5-10 minute increments several times a day with hopes that he likes it better soon. She was very happy with his head control, trunk control, tracking and weight bearing on his legs. Yay for Mason!! :) He tolerated his shots/oral rotavirus vaccine ok.

Austin is on a BIG dada kick right now. If Andy is at work its... "dada, dada" several times a day until he gets home from work. Happy that he loves to be with Andy. Less anxiety for me when I'm at work! His latest obsession is throwing ...and attempting to catch a ball! Of course Andy is thrilled about this. :) The 2 balls we got him are big...almost the size of a volleyball but much lighter.

Sorry for the complete lack of updates!! I've been very busy and when I do have downtime I am usually attempting to go to bed early or browsing Pinterest (obsessed!). Updating from work since there are currently no distractions. :)

Austin: Doing great! Never did his 21 mt post and he will be 22 mts in a couple of days. Bad momma! He likes repeating words right now...or at least attempting! Started saying "ha ha" this week. Andy said he said "no nigh nigh" the other night when he put him to bed while I was at work. He goes to bed very easily so I think he just wanted one more book read to him. Getting better and better about saying "I pee" or grabbing himself. Wonder how soon it'll be before he tells us before he actually does it?! No rush on potty training...I've heard it can backfire greatly! I am worried about his vocabulary a little bit...hence the obsession with blogging about his words and phrases. He doesn't have very many kiddos his age to interact with often so we are attempting Sunday school/nursery at church more often to see if that helps. He is a great sharer of toys (and sippy cups) so far. :) He is almost completely in size 24mts/2T (depending on how the brand does their sizing). Crazy to think his second birthday is in a couple months! We are pretty sure we are doing a Curious George theme.

Mason: Also doing great! Missed his 3mt post...gotta put blogging on my to do list I guess! His reflux is soooo much better!! He still averages 2-3 outfits a day but even then it's not massive amounts of reflux going everywhere. He coos a lot! :) Not laughing yet and not transferring objects from hand to hand yet (2 things Austin was doing by his age)...Andy keeps reminding me that we have to correct/allow time due to his early age...which I know but it's hard not to compare them. This little guy LOVES to coo though...very, very chatty! I've been trying to get it on my phone camera but as soon as he sees it he just stares at the case and stops cooing. Stinker. Drooling has started....really hope teething isn't close behind that. Tolerating the Nutramigen AA when needed.

Work: Going well. Staying steady at 6-8 babies (we can hold 12). Got my first speeding ticket on the toll road...guess I was due for one since this was the third time I've been pulled over since I started working here. ugg. I had gotten out late & needed to get home so Andy could get to work at the time he told them he would be there (he goes in late on the days where I work the night before since I don't get home until 8:45-9am). Cop was not sympathetic haha! Not looking forward to working the holidays this year. So far I'm working Thanksgiving Eve (which is fine) and Christmas Eve (sad about this one and trying to see if I can do something else!).

Misc: Manager for Parkviews NICU emailed and said she is thinking they will get approval to post a NNP position early next year. Hopefully they find room in their budget! We have decided that we are going to be building a house!! Starting in March-April of next year! We are excited...we've been talking about it for several months and have been trying to map out budget wise when would be good and that is the timeframe that we have decided upon! :) We haven't really started looking at housing additions yet...only looked at The Oaks so far. We will more than likely build in an addition since the builder pays for the lot so there is no upfront fee. We have talked with Brandon & Kelly (Andys sis & husband) since they are currently building their second house...they've had some good tips about what to look and who to talk to.

Hope to update sooner so its not such a looooong post next time!!

Work: Started Sept 10th doing evening shift with the other full time NNP for Mon-Thurs. That went well. :) Did 8 hr day shifts the past 4 days with one of the neonataologists...she said I did great!! :) On my own now for 16 hrs (3pm-7am). I've done 2 admissions and one transfer out (to St Vincents for surgery) now. :) Also went to some high risk deliveries and a very high risk c-section.

Austin: Doing awesome! :) Loves to climb now, which can be scary! He loved being at my parents this week and especially loved that my dad gets home at 4pm so he could spend a whole hour outside (while my mom staying inside with Mason) til I picked him up around 5. :) He hates to come back inside most days. Still waiting on more teeth to come in....teething takes forever in this house! He also is getting very good at walking next to you and staying next to you when walking from the house to the car (Andy parks outside and did drop off at my parents this past week so he got lots of practice walking to & from the house).

Mason: Doing much better. Saw the GI doctor on Sept 13th & he confirmed a milk protein allergy. He also recommended that I limit or cut out my soy since 50% of babies with milk protein allergy also have a soy protein allergy. He weighed in a whooping 13lbs at the office! His symptoms are much improved over the last couple of weeks. He had to have one bottle of formula Tues, Wed & Thurs because I didn't have enough breastmilk :(...and he did not tolerate it well. It was Similac Alimentum which is made for babies with milk protein allergy...well I guess the milk protein is only partially broken down. So we now are going to be using Nutramingen AA (different than regular Nutramingen you see in the store) if we need formula and see how that goes. His GI dr gave us a sample can to try and if it works we will have to special order it. Hopefully he doesn't need much formula anyways. He is very smiley and coos often. :) Tried the bumbo seat yesterday and he liked it! Still loves to watch his brother play! :)

I'm sure there's more to write about but that's all I can think of for now! Updating the blog from work...seems easier than trying to do it at home where there's always something else that needs to be done!

Update coming soon (no later than Friday).....been way busy and very tired!! Lots to talk about though.

Whew...this week was long and fast at the same time.

Mason had a rough week! We started Prevacid Tuesday (after a pain in the butt process to get it from the compound pharmacy)...not sure it's working any better than the Zantac though. Need to give it a few more days I think. Wednesday & Thursday were awful in terms of fussiness and reflux. Called his pediatrician Friday because I was feeling so very helpless. She is out of ideas and referred us to the pediatric GI group here in Fort Wayne. We have an appointment this coming Thursday morning.

I am upset that my maternity leave wasn't as enjoyable as I thought it would be. Mason certainly has his happy times but I wish he felt better. I've struggled with guilt from the day he was born. First with being mad at myself for wanting to deliver since I was over being pregnant, then stressed and guilty about him needing the NICU, and now wishing that I could do more to help him.

The milk elimination diet isn't going too bad. Currently missing Starbucks real whip cream and Reese's peanut butter cups. Oh well. He's worth it! Hopefully the GI doc has some answers or ideas. I'm sure they'll want to do some diagnostic testing or bloodwork. Gah...more pain and uncomfortableness for my sweet little boy.

Nervous about how things will go next week with me working 4 days in a row...bathtime/bedtime routines can be tricky when only one parent is home!

Austin is becoming quite the repeater with words. It's cute to hear him repeat stuff! :) Currently loving stickers, Little Einsteins DVD and Curious George. Love him so much!

Mason is also cooing more and smiling more when he is awake and happy. The reflux doesn't seem to be keeping him from gaining weight...he's getting some cute chubby cheeks! :) Love him!!

Can't believe it's already Friday again. Only one more week of maternity leave. :(

Plans to go see my cousin, her husband, their twin boys and new baby girl tomorrow at my Aunt & Uncles house! Yay! This is the cousin who has twins 6 days older than Austin and a new baby girl almost 4 weeks younger than Mason. Should be great fun! :) They live south of Bloomington and will be at their parents for the weekend which is just under 2 hours from us so they planned a family get together so everyone could meet the newest baby...Lillian. :)

In other news...I am so happy I passed my boards!! :) So nice not having to study everyday!!

Milk free diet is going ok. Having some frustrating moments when I crave something that I can't have but I know it's worth it and it's short term in the grand scheme of things. Mason's symptoms are slowly improving. :)

Milk Allergy in Infants

Milk Allergy in Infants

Good link to information in an easy to read format. :)

Busy, busy week so I decided not to blog til today! Didn't really have a lot going on...just the usual 20 million outfit and diaper changes a day. Learning how to do most everything one handed since Mason is quite the fussy boy.

Mason is 2 months old now! His appointment was today and he is 11lbs 9oz (50th%), 21.75in long (12th%) and his head is 15in (12th%). Sooo...he's longer and weighs more than Austin did at his 2mt but I think his head is smaller. Will have to look it up. I think that contributes to him still looking more like a newborn than a infant.

Lots of stuff covered at this appointment....

For starters: we will be adjusting his milestones due to his somewhat early arrival. I didn't think 3 weeks would matter but she said that it would. Already have evidence of that since he just started smiling this past weekend and hasn't done it everyday yet. He started some cooing earlier this week and that has increased in the last day or so. :) She does think he will roll over early since he is so hypertonic (tight muscles for non medical peeps) due to always splinting/guarding himself against the pain of reflux.

She did increase his Zantac dose since he gained a bit more weight so that should help. He was increased to 0.8ml twice a day at the 6 week weight check and she increased him to 1.2ml twice a day today. Recheck in a month to see if the dosage is still working.

I've got a feeling we will be seeing the insides of doctors offices a lot in the coming months...

So onto the milk protein allergy issue. His stool was tested on Monday for blood. It was negative. With a (undiagnosed/untreated) milk protein allergy the blood in stool may not show up until the baby is a few months old due to the chronic inflammation. So it wasn't unreasonable that his was negative. Based on his many, many symptoms that matched the milk protein allergy she went ahead and diagnosed him with it. He should start to get better in 2-6 weeks. Takes a while for the milk protein to leave my system and his. I had already started the new diet this past weekend but was not completely aware of what all I need to avoid. I know have the ingredient list of what I can't have so I feel more confident. Whey and casein are milk protein derivatives....they are in everything it seems like! Had to throw out my "dairy free" coffee creamer yesterday because it has sodium caseinate in it. If he is not much improved in 6 weeks we will do bloodwork. I'm sure I'll keep ya updated. Random factoid of the week...Oreo's are "safe" for me to eat! haha :)

Also this allergy is completely different than lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance is actually rare in babies....while milk protein allergy is uncommon in adults. There is a good chance Mason will grow out of this as his intestine matures! We will do a "milk challenge" test around 9 months of age. Could take up to 5 years (or more) to outgrow the allergy. Doctor said most outgrow it around 1-3 years of age.

Next on the issue agenda: his penis. My poor lil guy has penoscrotal webbing. Not sure how much detail or if I've even talked about this on the blog. It isn't dinner table conversation and I don't want to gross anyone out. His isn't terribly noticeable...actually wasn't caught until they were prepping him for his circumcision. So no circumsion for him until he sees a pediatric urologist to determine the course of action. We see the pediatric urologist on November 30th. He comes once a month from Riley Children's Hospital to the Lutheran Pediatric Outpaitent clinic to see kids and do consults and followups. So we will see him on his November visit to Ft Wayne. He didn't want to see Mason til he was 4-6 mts of age. If he needs surgery and then circumcision it will be done at Riley when he is older than 6 mts. Do yourself a favor and don't google it! It comes up with a bunch of adult men with the disorder and the extreme versions of the webbing. His is minor.

I think that's all I wanted to blog about with regards to his appointment. Other than his few medical issues she is very happy with his weight and his development thus far. :)

Austin is 20 months old now! Getting closer to 2! He is quickly growing out of 18mt shirts but most shorts still fit...even have several pairs of 18mt pants from spring that fit. Must have a long torso I guess! He is continuing to learn new words and loves this new movie series we got him. Little Einsteins...there are 4 "episodes" on one dvd. The one we got is about a rocket ship that saves the day in each episode. It's a good distraction if I need for him to stay quiet! He is starting to attempt to repeat what we say. :) This morning Andy and him were saying "clock" back and forth. He has a small desktop type clock on the shelf above his changing table so he sees it often.

Mason had his first time away from Andy or I yesterday morning. I had to renew my CPR so my mom watched both boys for me! :) They did great she said. :) I wasn't gone too long since I had done most of it online including the test...just had to go do the skills checkoff portion of it.

Mason seems to be getting a little better with his fussiness...it's still a daily thing but doesn't seem as extreme most days. Finally! Reflux is still there...we average 2-3 outfits on a good day. Still waiting for the lil stinker to smile! He halfway smiled in the bathtub the other night so it must be coming soon!

11 days til I take my exam...getting pretty stressed and anxious.

I meant to post yesterday...wanted to do a "Weekly Wednesday Check-In"...(stealing the idea from another blog haha!)

Anyways...this has been a long week. Mason's reflux is acting up and he's back to being fussy and not wanting to sleep much. Poor guy...just when I think we are seeing an improvement, we have a backslide. He started the day at 4am today! This momma is tired!

Other than his fussiness he has started to coo and make a couple other noises a couple times a day. :) He is also enjoying his playmat more and LOVES nature noises...he likes the nature noise option on his playmat so much that I downloaded a nature noise app on my iphone. :) Helps a ton during the fussy times! Really hoping he will smile soon. He's come close but nothing yet. Worries me a tad since Austin started smiling at 5 weeks. But they are all different. He loves his bath and loves to be held! :)

Austin is learning new words almost daily now!! :) This week he has added: "pee" and  "read" so far. He also says "pa" now when stealing Masons pacifier to give to him or us....or to run away from us with it. He says "pee" when hes wet and grabs himself. Haha! Getting closer to potty training time I guess! Also says "neigh" for horse...did I mention that already in a different post? Hard to keep track. Still loves to be outside and is glad that he can go outside more since its starting to stay cooler longer in the morning.

We are getting into a better routine and I'm starting to be much less stressed about handling it all now.

Taking my NCC exam on the 27th. Took a practice test last night and got a 84% ...feel like I'm getting more prepared now. Been very consistent on studying lately. Fear of failure is a huge motivator haha!

Looking forward to the much cooler weather today through Sunday. :)

Mason had a weight check today since he is on Zantac. He is 9lbs 11oz now! That is some crazy weight gain!! So, of course, his dose needed increasing. He won't go back now til his 2mt appt which is on the 24th.

Fairly confident he doesn't have a milk protein allergy now. Most of the symptoms he had that I thought were related seem to be diminishing now. His diaper rash is improving slowly...we are now going to do cortisone twice a day for two weeks with hopes that it will get rid of it for good. She thinks he must just have fairly acidic poop! He seems happier the last few days. Enjoying the playmat a bit more...likes the nature sounds on it but not the music...must be overstimulated easily!

Austin is doing much better with the whole adjustment. Less and less tantrums each week. :) :)

HR finally finalized all my salary, bonuses, & contract! Still waiting on credentialing approval but I think it'll all work out. Have to submit 3 more things and should know for sure by the end of the month. I am signing a two year contract...they don't have a one year option. If another hospital that I'm interested in ends up interviewing and hiring me before my 2 years are finished then we will have to pay back the money (not all...it would be pro-rated). Figured I might as well just sign on so I can get the retention bonus. Hard to tell the future! They do theirs very nicely....half with the first paycheck and the other half at the one year mark!

We are going to be preparing Andy's car to sell by next month so he can get a newer one and we are going to be starting some home improvement projects to get this place ready to sell!  Lots to look forward to. :)

Happy (belated) one month to Mason Andrew! :)

Mason is starting to be more alert now and is falling into some sort of a routine/schedule. He was 8lbs 5oz on Friday. We go back for a quick weight check August 2nd to see if his Zantac dose needs increasing (she thinks it will by then). For the last week he has been sleeping from 11pm to 3:30 or 4am! Very nice. :) He is fairly fussy in the late evening (6-9ish pm)...which can be a bit tiring. Really starting to like his baths which we've been doing every other night. I find that he does calm down easier on those nights so I think we'll start trying to do them every night like Austin. Makes for more work obviously but oh well!

Austin got his first "big boy" haircut today...we went to Great Clips and they cut off all the curls and really made the rest of it short. The girl was extremely fast and did a great job! He was pretty nervous and started crying a few times. I think he is used to his Aunt Cassie. :)

I've finally got all my fees paid and the rest of my paperwork submitted for credentialing & privileges for work. Long process. The peeps that decide everything meet again on Monday (they meet once a month). Hopefully all my stuff is approved the first time around. There is a possibility that I wont have to do the on call hours....or at least not right away. That would be fabulous! I'll know about that next month. They also still havent finished deciding my salary & benefits....that makes me a bit frustrated. Hopefully its all finished soon.

19mts & 3wks

Hard to believe we have a 19 month old and a 3 week old now! Life is BUSY! :) But we love every minute of it! :)

Austin is learning about one or two new words a week. He's recently added "door", "bye dogs", and "whale". He is getting taller and some 18mt shirts are getting short....more incentive to go shopping haha! He brings me his shoes several times a day to go outside...unfortunately, lately I've had to say no, its too hot. We did let him go outside last night right before his bath since its wasnt terrible out but he still came in sweaty! Needs a haircut and we are trying to decide how short we want to go.

Mason is still refluxing alllll the time. He does have his good days where its not as frequent. I took him back to the dr yesterday to see if his Zantac dose needed increasing or if there was something else we could do or try in addition to the other reflux precautions we were doing. He weighs 7lbs 14oz now! So he's gaining just fine with the reflux. She didn't increase his dose, she wants me to try to only do one side per feeding and see if volume restricting him a lil bit will help. He, of course, wanted to eat more frequently last evening but the reflux did seem a little less. We'll see. We go back Friday to see if his weight is affected at all by the new plan.

My to do list is very slow to get things crossed off lately. Work has already started emailing me about my about the rest of my nnp paperwork and orientation. Realllly need to start studying more for boards. Pray that I can find time to fit it all in!

Weight recheck showed Mason to be 7lbs still. Dang it! I'm glad he didn't lose but wished he would have gained. We are starting Zantac tonight and have another weight check Monday morning. The reflux/spitting up has not gotten any better as the week has gone by. Was hoping it would.

Pictures this morning for his birth announcement turned out well...she must have been somewhat slow in her office since we were able to go pick up the disc this afternoon. :)

Austin had his first act of meanness towards Mason. He slapped him on the forehead this morning while we were packing up to go to the Pedi & our picture appt. Both babies cried. :( Not sure what provoked him to hit his brother. The rest of the day he's been giving him kisses...lets hope that continues!

Mason had his NICU follow up appt with Dr. Camille today. She said he looks great! :) His weight was 7lbs even ...she thinks that he is just peeing out all the IV fluids he had while in the hospital. But to be safe we are going for a weight recheck on Friday. He did grow in length though...hes now 19.75in long which puts him in the 20th%! His weight is currently in the 10th% as well as his head circumference. He's a tiny guy. She didn't see a need to have us supplement with formula since he is peeing with every feeding and pooping with most feedings.

She looked over his penis and decided that she agrees with the other pedi that was on call this past weekend. He will have to see a urologist if we want a circumsion. She will make the referral for it at his 2 mt appt. The pediatric urologist is in Indy at Riley Childrens Hospital. She said he will want to evaluate him around 4mts of age and then if we proceed with wanting him to have it done it will be performed sometime between 6mts to a year of age. Guess we have some time to think about it. It is an outpatient surgery but would require him to go under general anesthesia.

Mason is also still spitting up with every feeding no matter how much you pace him or burp him. Dr. Camille said we could start Zantac after Fridays appt if he is still doing it so frequently or we could wait it out and see if it gets better by his 2mt appt. Austin was on Zantac for a looooong time so we may be heading down that road with Mason as well. He doesn't seem to be in pain from it (like Austin was) but he does gag right before some of times...to warn us I guess!

Austin continues to be a great big brother! :) He now says "brother"! :) It is fairly clear but doesn't sound exactly like how we would say it.

Decided not to put the NICU notes on here since they were all on facebook for everyone to read. :) I'll just jump in with regular updates!

We are HOME now...as a family of FOUR (or six if you count the dogs)!!!!!!!!!! :)

Austin seems to like Mason...he likes to put his pacifier near or on him, likes to attempt to put his hat on him and points/touches his hair, nose, toes and eyes. :)

We will be seeing Dr. Camille sometime next week...have to call Monday to make the appt. and we will be seeing a urologist soon I imagine. We are also going to be getting his Legacy Portraits done Monday I hope. Legacy Protraits is something offered (for a fee) at the hospitals around here. They also have their own company to do other baby photo shoots and family pics as well. Since Mason was a NICU baby we have up to 2 weeks after he gets home to come back in and get his newborn birth announcement pic done. So be watching your mailbox!

Mason's Birth Story--the highlights:
~2 pm Stronger contractions started at home on Friday June 22 (had been having them off & on for a week)
~4:30pm Decided it was real and we should head to the hospital soon.
~6:30pm arrived to the ER & was taken to L&D triage
~6:40pm assessed and placed on the monitor...dilated to 1.5cm 50% or more effaced...contractions every 9 minutes
~7pm walked around the L&D and postpartum unit to see if any change would be made after an hour
~8:15pm assessed and determined to be 2-3cm and 75% effaced...OB said that was great progress and decided he better admit me to a room
~8:30pm admitted to our L&D room!
~8:30pm-midnight...IV placed, frequent checks, slow progress somewhat... Mason's head was not laying fully on my cervix so they couldnt break my water or start my epidural...this is when we start to realize that Mason is in charge & we can't do much about it!!
~Midnight...Mason decides he is ready for action and is found to be in the correct position...nurse breaks my water....during a contraction (not on purpose)...very painful because of that!
~Epidural shortly after that...goes in just fine...but then my blood pressure got extremely low and I am given an emergency drug to keep me from passing out
~Midnight to 6am progressed from 3cm to 5cm and 80% effaced ...slow progress...contractions every 1-3 minutes!
~7am my OB (who was on call) comes in to say goodbye and that he is bummed he wont be able to deliver Mason...assures us that Dr. Haley is great and we will like him
~7:30am 6cm & 100% effaced...nurse recommends alternating from side to side every 30 minutes to attempt faster dilation and his head to move down
~8:30am...feel tons of pressure...ask the nurse to recheck me...found to be 10cm and his head is right there! I seriously asked her "Are you sure?" haha...took all night to get to 6cm and then I go from 6cm to 10cm in an hour so of course I didnt believe her!!
~8:45 start practice pushes with the nurse...we do 3 rounds of pushing with contractions and she says "stop...time for Dr. Haley"
~2 more rounds of pushing with contractions and Mason is out!! 9:13 am! :) He weighed 7lbs 2oz and is 19.25in long! Was doing fine right after birth but within 5 minutes developed all the breathing issues that lead him to the NICU.

Stayed tuned for NICU notes. :)

Stayed tuned for Mason's birth story and NICU updates.

Austin had his 18 month appt today with the Pedi. :) He did pretty well considering he's starting to remember that the nurse does the shots! Luckily he only needed one and he's now done with vaccines until he's 5! YAY!

He is 26lbs 14oz (65th%), 30.75in long (10th%) and his head is 19 5/8in (95th%). Growing, growing, growing! :)

He loves Dr. Camille! He immediately started pointing out his body parts to her like a good boy. She said he is a smartie ...he started waving bye-bye near the end of our conversation and she said that is great because he is able to tell by listening when a convo is about over. :) Proud mamma! She said to hold off on toilet training (I'm not in a rush anyways) until he is able to tell us he pooped. Gave us a handout on a good way to start the process and what to expect for when the time is right. He doesn't go back to see her again until he's 2! Crazy! Of course, he'll still see her everytime we bring Mason in. :)

Still having contractions off and on but nothing regular (work was a little more difficult to handle than usual)...maybe I'll go into labor tomorrow and Mason & I will share a birthday?! Gotta go downtown and get fingerprinted & get my background check done for the state for NP stuff. Its neverending with the crap that I need to do and new things keep popping up it feels like!! Got my "approval to test" letter from the NCC so I can schedule my test between now and Sept 20th it said. Still planning to take it in August. Got a call from Helen deVos Childrens hospital in Grand Rapids, MI but Andy doesnt really want me to take the interview since he doesnt want to move to Michigan ...or at least not there. Its 3 hours away. I think the only city he would move to in MI is Ann Arbor since he's a huge U of M fan. :)

36 week appt today. Lost a pound from my appt 2 weeks ago. Maon's heart rate was normal but I forgot to ask...bad momma! Measuring on time. Got my GBS test done. Dr. L checked me and I'm 1.5cm dilated and 50% or more effaced/thinned out he said. So a tiny bit more progression since Thursday night when I was in L&D triage. He said to expect Mason to be born around the same time as Austin or earlier since that is typically how it goes with subequent pregnancies. Based on my continued contractions off & on he guessed later this week/weekend he may make his arrival. Still had me schedule an appt for one week though just in case!

The back pain has been horrible!!! By the end of the day I can hardly walk without shooting pain. I have a bad feeling that this labor is going to be more painful than with Austin but we'll see. Dr. L said its likely from lifting Austin so much but he didn't know for sure. Contractions have been anywhere from 8 to 18 minutes apart when I do have them. Still not regular and I wonder if they will be...they never got timeable/regular with Austin til they broke my water.

Scheduled to work tomorrow night and Saturday night. Austin has his pedi appt Wednesday and my birthday is Thursday. Eventful week but we would be more than happy to add me going into labor to the mix!

Happy 18 months to Austin Jacob!! :)

He is growing and changing so much each week it feels like! We go to the Pedi on Wednesday for his 18mt appt.

Some new stuff:
~10 teeth total...5 on top and 5 on bottom :)
~says "go" & "go away" in addition to the other words he's been saying
~correctly points to: belly, nose, ear & hair (learned them in that order)
~blows kisses about 50% of the time that he's asked to...would much rather wave!
~says "moo" when asked what a cow says or if pointing to a cow
~correctly points to cow, bath tub, dog & computer in his "100 words" book
~does pretty good brushing his teeth given his age! :)

Still loves to be outside, take a bath and throw the ball for the dogs. He eats pretty much whatever you put on his highchair tray. Current favorites: blueberries, ham, cheese, green beans & hard boiled eggs.

We hope/think he is ready for Mason's arrival. :) He says "baby" whenever he sees someone smaller than him...that's a good sign right?! :)