Happy Friday!! :) Back to 5 on Friday-----

1) Worked Mon, Tues, Wed...unit is very, very busy. We are at capacity now & likely sent some stable kids to Peds (we still follow them) to have at least 2 rooms open.

2) Boys were able to go to gymnastics Thursday night! They still love it! :) Both are getting better at the different skills.

3) Giselle had another appt this morning with the surgeon. All of her stitches are actually out now....yay! Moved up a size today and he thinks either 1 or 2 more size increases. Once we reach the final size we will be on the countdown to being done with dilations! The plan after he decides on the final size is: every day for month, then every other day, then twice a week, then once a week, then done! :)

4) Finally scheduled myself for a haircut next Tuesday...now to decide what to ask her to do.

5) Working this weekend and then very much looking forward to the nicer weather we are supposed to have next week!

Skipping the whole 5 on Friday this week. Couldn't think of 5 things to talk about haha!

Back to work now...it's been just as crazy as expected. Haven't gotten out on time yet and I'm back again tomorrow. Partly my own fault for requesting to do 10 hour shifts to ease back in. Well that was a flop because I haven't left at 5pm on any of the 3 days I've worked so far this week. Yesterday I didn't leave til 7:30pm. Everyone seems happy to have me back so that feels good. :) I think pumping also sets me behind too since it takes about 25 minutes from start to finish each time. Oh well, thank god I love what I do!

Giselle had another appointment with the surgeon today and he said she's healing perfectly. :) Moved up a size on her dilation and back again next Friday. He made it sound like we won't have to many more increases. Hopefully not. She is tolerating it much better thankfully.

-----5 on Friday-----

1) We toured 2 preschools this week for Austin (one in Huntertown and one in Auburn), called one (in Ft Wayne) and looked at a couple others online. Almost positive we have made a decision. Austin even picked the one we did out of the 2 we looked at. :)

2) Giselle had another appointment with the surgeon today. I ended up going down a size earlier this week (after talking to his rounding nurse) for her dilation because I was having trouble and she seemed to be in more pain. Thought he would be ticked at me but he said she still looks great and he was able to go right back up to the size he wanted and I'm hoping when I do it tomorrow it'll be fine. He said she will get used to it again and the crying won't last as long. :(  Can't wait until we are done doing it!! Back again next Friday...then maybe can start going every other week again. She still has her stitches and those could take up to 3 months to come out on their own. Fab. She is a strong little girl ...momma, not so much.

3) First family movie night tonight went pretty well considering their age & attention span haha! We obviously rented a kid friendly movie...Planes - Fire & Rescue (90 mins long) and they did awesome for the first half of it then started to get wiggly...by the last 15 minutes they were just running around the basement while Andy & I watched to see how it ended (hey it was a good movie!). Austin loved the popcorn...Mason didn't care for it but ate some. Definitely will try it again in the future.

4) My first day back to work is Sunday. :(  Sadness :( Thankful that I can ease into it by working 10 hour days every other day next week.

5) This freezing cold weather needs to leave!! I can handle winter weather but the sub zero temps make it near impossible to go anywhere with small children!

Giselle had her post op appointment this morning with the surgeon. He said she looks great and is healing well. He wants to resume daily dilations and started that in the office. She was not a fan. At all! :( Back again next Friday to see him. No end date yet for dilations.

She then had her 2 month appt. Pediatrician is happy with her growth and development!! :) She even smiled for her doc. Compared with the boys at this age she is still longer than they were and her weight is in the middle. Her head, unfortunately, is smaller. Girl thing? Petite thing? Her doctor isn't worried about it since it's growing on the same curve since birth. No shots today since they were done a couple weeks ago. Next appt in 2 months...still irks me that the appts aren't going to line up with her age.

Current favorites: being held, looking at books, looking at herself in the mirror, bath time, watching her brothers

Dislikes: being on her back for longer than 5-10 minutes

New skills: has rolled from belly to back a few times...but I think it might just be a gravity thing since she's propped up on her elbows/arms during tummy time to look in the mirror but who knows! She has also been smiling and cooing the last few weeks. :)

Overall Giselle's surgery on Thursday went well. We were admitted on Wednesday late morning to start the clear liquid diet (pedialyte was all that she could have). They started her IV and drew some labs (which ended up lost...). The surgeon's rounding nurse, who is always awesome and on top of things, rounded on Giselle in the afternoon. There was some hesitation with pharmacy about using the specific bowel prep ordered but it was all straightened out quickly and it was decided to start it in the evening instead of at midnight. So they put in the NG (tube that goes from her nose to her stomach) at 5pm and started the prep. It ran over 10 hours and she wasn't near as fussy as expected. Changed a lot of diapers during this time though ha! Labs were also redrawn at 9pm...after I kept asking if we knew the results of the admission labs.

Thursday morning they came in bright and early at 6:30am and said they were taking her to pre-op. I was quite surprised because no one told me that they would come way before surgery and have her wait in the pre-op area. Thought they would just come prior to surgery start time like in the NICU. Communication was lacking a bit during our stay. So I quickly called Andy (he didn't spend the night due to space in the room). He was planning to be up to her room by 7am so he was already awake. He met us in the tiny pre-op room where we stayed til 8am. They took her back on time. We went back to her room so I could pump and when we got back to the waiting area the OR nurse came right out and called us back...the surgery hadn't started due to a missing piece of equipment. They were missing the nerve stimulator that would help the surgeon know where to reposition everything. Ugg!! They had to go to another hospital to get it which of course caused a time delay and then the OR was taken by other cases. Her surgery ended up starting at 11am and took a little over an hour. Surgeon said everything went perfect and he was happy with the results! She was quite fussy when she woke up. :(  He decided to allow her to eat right away instead of waiting til Friday. :)

As you read on facebook she spiked a fever to 101.2 after surgery. We also learned that her white blood cell count was kind of high going into surgery indicating that she was likely fighting off something (she never acted sick prior to surgery). Since she was already on 2 IV antibiotics (started just prior surgery) there wasn't much else to do except keep her hydrated and give tylenol. Her fever finally broke by the 9am vitals check on Friday. Her repeat lab work showed that the white blood cell count only went down by a tiny amount which is ok since surgery is trauma to the body and can cause an elevation in and of itself. It was decided to continue IV antibiotics for all of Friday day and night and discharge Saturday. The packing in her rectum was removed Friday morning and she pooped all day!

Saturday morning the surgeon rounded and said we could go home! We went home on a oral antibiotic for the next 10 days (this would have been the plan regardless of the possible infection she had prior to surgery) and will see the surgeon this Friday for follow up. We will resume the daily dilations after that appointment. Don't know for how long ...hoping it's only for a few weeks and not months. I've read any where from 5 weeks to 3 months post surgery.

I was quite surprised by the lack of visitors at the hospital. I honestly thought people would want to see her. Maybe the illness season scared people away?! Was a bit depressing for me.

Sorry this was so long!!! Sometimes I get wordy so that I have the facts when I look back on past events.

Prayers please as we head into the hospital tomorrow morning to start the preparations for Thursday mornings surgery for Giselle. Pray that she isn't to fussy and hungry during this process. Pray for the surgeon and his team. Pray for Andy & I's anxiety. Pray that Austin and Mason do just fine without momma (and daddy on Thursday) for a few days. Pray that my supply doesn't tank during this upcoming 48 hours (or more) straight of pumping. I know God has this handled and he already knows the outcome but I can't help but worry and be anxious.

Will update sometime this weekend after she is back home. Feel free to text or visit in the meantime. :)

Before I start this Friday's post I want to give a small update....we figured out the rest of my maternity leave stuff and I will be able to stay off my full time!! :) So happy!!

-----5 on Friday-----

1. Giselle is 2 months old now!! Will do a full 2 month post after her 2 mt peds appt which isn't til Feb 13 due to her doctors crazy busy schedule and the fact that she's off next week. Hate not having things scheduled "on time" because it ended up making her 4, 6 and 9 mt appts all off since they have to be scheduled a certain amount of time apart. So she will actually be closer to 2.5 mts old for her appt. ugg to my ocd! She is up to 10lbs as of last Friday so I'm guessing even more by now. Will know her weight again next week when we go into the hospital for her surgery. She has been restless last few days so pray that nothing is up and its just a phase.

2. Week went fast again...I know I say that every week but what the heck..can't we have a boring slow week ha?!

3. Andy had 2 interviews with Tru Green this week. Job sounds promising but the hours would suck big time (12-8pm). He has applied 3 other places recently so we are hoping one of them calls soon so that he has options and doesn't feel obligated to take this job if offered.

4. Austin and Mason seem to be less stir crazy this week thankfully. Winter weather and toddlers do not mix! Austin played with his spirograph toy for a while today and when he was done he asked me if I would put the picture on the refrigerator. So sweet! :)

5. My anxiety is climbing and feel like I've been having more mood swings this week. Getting nervous about my mental health last couple days. Pray for me please.

Uggg so most of you probably saw my facebook status today about my screw up with maternity leave. Honestly did not know that I wouldn't get paid for all 12 weeks. There's a chance I'll need to return to work the week after Giselle's surgery versus Feb 22 (my current return to work date). I'm praying we can squeak by. Andy is thinking we may be ok but that also means we would wipe out our emergency $$. Guess that's what it's there for?! He doesn't quite share the same opinion but we'll see. My yearly bonus will also be coming next month so that would help a ton but last year it paid out on Feb 28 so I'm hoping it comes earlier in Feb this year!! Had other plans for that money though ha.

Getting very very anxious about Giselles surgery next week. I know when I explain it to people it may not sound like a big surgery ...and it technically isn't but there's still a small chance that if things don't go as planned she could end up with a colostomy. I'm also stressing about how she will do on Wednesday with only being allowed to have Pedialyte from 10am to midnight and then nothing after that (minus the liquid laxative that will make her poop all night). And of course also stressing about pain managament post surgery. Uggg :(  Also afraid we will pick up RSV while in the pediatric unit...my goal is to do 100% of her care if possible to minimize the time the nurses are in the room potentially spreading germs... (irrational fear I know but whatever).

Emotions are just running all over the place lately.

-----5 on Friday-----

1. Another fast week! We filled it with fun things though! :)

2. Austin got his 4 year pics taken finally. We used Portrait Innovations again like we usually do. They are pricey but always get several good shots to take home and pass out. :)

3. Went back to the play place at Jefferson Pointe again! Might become a weekly event until we are able to go to the outdoor playground by our house again.

4. Spent their gift cards to Barnes & Noble and got a lot of good books for all 3 of them. :) Love to read!

5. Giselle had another appt with the pediatric surgeon this morning. He said she looks great and we are still on schedule for surgery Feb 5. We will be admitted Feb 4 and be released probably Feb 7 as long as all goes as planned. We will have to continue home dilation for a while after surgery. :( Was hoping that wouldn't be the case but will do whatever we need to do for her!

Fast weekend! Saturday we spent the morning playing and hanging out (like every other day haha!) and then after Mason's nap we went to my nephews 1st birthday party! Sunday was a fairly low key day. I went to Target with Giselle in the afternoon and that was about it ha. We really need to get back to church...have not been yet with Giselle since the illness season has been pretty bad around here. Colts lost Sunday night which of course disappointed Andy. :(

This morning Giselle got her 2 month shots...boo to hearing the awful pain cry! :( Felt so bad! She did well all day and wasn't fussy like I expected. I asked the nurse to weigh her while we were there (wasn't technically a well child/ill child visit) and she is up to 10lbs exactly. Crazy!! I think her growth might slow down a little bit now since the 2 big newborn growth spurts are over. Packed away all the clean newborn sleepers today and put the 0-3 and 3 month ones in her drawer since her legs can't stretch out anymore in the newborn sized ones. Most of her newborn outfits have also been put in the to small box this past week as well. :( She has even outgrown 6 headbands so far haha! Just an FYI to those that are still in the midst of having babies...the Carters brand headbands run small! I think she has 3 (out of about 8) 0-6mts size ones from that store that still fit. It's ok though...this girl still has 10+ headbands to choose from when I remember to put one on her head!

Oh...and it must have been something in the air last week. The boys were listening much better over the weekend and were awesome today. We even got a chance to go outside for 30 minutes since the temperature wasn't super cold! :)

-----5 on Friday-----

1. This week went fast...so fast that I didn't even get some things that I wanted accomplished.

2. Boys liked gymnastics Thursday night!! Glad we decided to finally try it out. :)

3. This was a week of a lot of non listening with Austin and Mason. Not sure what the deal was. We did take them to the play place at Jefferson Pointe this afternoon and they enjoyed it. Was very nice to get out of the house and try something new!! Will for sure be going back probably once a week or so until its warm enough to go outside every day again.

4. Andy's healing has been slow...good thing he wasn't the one in charge of birthing our children hahaha! ;)

5. Not looking forward to Monday for Giselle's 2 month shots. :( She is getting her shots before her actual 2 mt appt due to timing on her doctors part/schedule (the nurse will do her shots) and the fact that we need to get her shots done well in advance of surgery....which is in less than 3 weeks. Crazy!

Some random thoughts on a Monday night:

-Today was very up and down...thankful it's over and tomorrow is a new day.

-Andy's vasectomy was today...I know it was the right choice for our family but its also kinda weird that we are done with the whole making babies/being pregnant part of our life.

-Work dinner tomorrow night to get to know the new Neo and NNP we just hired. Will have to ditch the leggings for real pants...good thing I bought a new pair of jeans with a gift card I got for Christmas haha..no seriously I have 2 pairs of jeans that fit and not even sure any of my dress pants fit anymore. Guess that's what happens when half the week I'm usually in scrubs (when not on maternity leave obviously ha)

----- 5 on Friday -----

1. Toddler poop regression is no joke. Almost to the point of us looking into secondary causes for this craziness....

2. Giselle has had some trouble realizing darkness = nighttime...thank goodness she's so cute otherwise being awake from 3am-7am might make me irritable ha!

3. Not finishing the morning cup of coffee leads to falling asleep on the couch at 2 pm lol :)

4. 6 week post partum check up went great. Giselle got this cute blanket from my OB that says "Handled with care by Dr. Kennedy". :) Got to start the lovely mini-pill tonight ...and watch for the inevitable supply drop even though its "breast feeding friendly". Hopefully wont have to be on it long since Andy is getting his vasectomy next week and "they" say it should take only 8 weeks til sperm count of zero. (dont worry they actually will run a test to ensure that before I stop the birth control).

5. It's Friday...how is another week done with?! Nephew birthday party to go to tomorrow! :)

Random thoughts for tonight....

Time is moving tooooo fast. :( Giselle is starting to grow out of some of her newborn sleepers and the gerber brand newborn onesies are getting harder to snap! Boo! She seems to be getting over her cold fast which is great. Have had a run of yucky poops all day so I'm hoping that doesn't mean anything unusal... Likes to keep us on our toes I guess.

My 6 week post partum appointment is Friday...crazy! Probably should take the time this week to shave my legs so I don't scare my OB/GYN haha! Excited about my new glasses which should arrive next week. :) Mason accidently broke my glasses Thursday so we decided that since they were around 5 years old that I could just get a new pair seeing how I wear them about half the days out of the week.

Austin & Mason are starting to get a bit stir crazy with not being able to go outside. Thinking of putting them in gymnastics (Andy's mom and sister both teach at Turners). Thoughts?

Had another appointment with the pediatric surgeon this morning. He said she is still doing great and he thankfully didn't change anything related to her daily dilation (I'll spare ya the details). She is also gaining weight fast so we went ahead and made one more regular appointment and scheduled her surgery. It will be February 5th at 8am. We will be on the Pediatric unit the day before (have to be there at 10am) so that she can receive a bowel prep to empty her stomach and intestines. Not looking forward to a potentially fussy baby due to her not being able to nurse! After surgery we will stay 2 days depending on how she does. Thank you for all your prayers so far and please continue to pray for her to have a smooth surgery and speedy recovery! I'm getting pretty anxious about it and really nervous about what kind of pain she will encounter.

Her reflux is also steadily getting worse. She doesn't have the other GI symptoms that would make me think milk protein allergy like Mason. I'm starting to think it could be caffeine/coffee related. Going to cut out my afternoon cup of coffee and go from there. She doesn't seem irritable but I would like to alleviate it as much as I can obviously.

Giselle was one month old yesterday! Hard to believe she's already been a part of our family for that long. It went by fast...likely because of all her appointments initally and then Christmas celebrations. She is growing well and settling in beautifully. Her big brothers adore her and love to kiss her head, talk to her and rush to her side if she starts to make a peep in her swing. :) Everyone tells me that she looks just like me...even complete strangers. Our baby pictures are identical...minus my extra chub haha (I was 9lbs at birth)! Her reflux remains but doesn't seem to make her irritable. She struggles with some gassiness which the surgeon warned me she would so we started some gas drops this week and they've helped a lot. She is a great nurser like her brothers thankfully. Sleeping for roughly 5 hours straight at night before going back to the every 2-3 hour schedule which I know will change when the next growth spurt hits! Our family feels so complete now and I look forward to seeing what the next month brings with her. :)

Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas! We did! Have been playing with our new toys...and watching a lot of Frozen. "Let it go" as well as pieces from the other songs are stuck in my head now ha! :) Up next on the blog will be Giselle's ONE month post...what the what...how is she already that old tomorrow?!

My heart is also hurting very badly right now as well. My close friend Christy and her husband Nick received devasting news about their newborn son Colton this week. I cry every time I think of them lately. They've done everything right and yet life is still throwing them an awful curveball. Many prayers needed! Wish there was more I could do or say. :(

Giselle had her follow up cardiac echocardiogram this morning. First she had a EKG which was mostly normal. She was running a high side of normal heart rate at the time and it also showed some possible right sided hypertrophy (enlargement). The echo showed that her PDA (one of the shunts open in utero) had closed. Yay for that! It also showed that her PFO was still open and is measuring 2 mm. PFO stands for patent foramen ovale and it is another shunt that is open in utero and usually closes shortly after birth. The size of hers is small and will hopefully close over time. On her echo in the NICU they had also discovered aortic valve insufficiency which still remains on the echo she had today. The pediatric cardiologist wants to repeat her echo in May to see where things are at. She believes that things will be resolve on their own and feels that what is going on isn't going to negatively affect Giselle since she hasn't shown any signs of trouble so far. The very latest the PFO can close without her wanting to do any kind of surgical intervention is age 2.5 so we have time. Thank you for all the prayers! :)

In other news Austin had his birthday party yesterday and had tons of fun!! :) We've been playing with his new toys last night and today. He's even been great with sharing with Mason. :)

Mason successfully pooped on the potty again today!! Made it without getting any in his undies! Have to celebrate these things around here as much as I hate dealing with poop haha!

Slight delay on updating the blog...meant to do it Wednesday after the pediatricians appointments but ...obviously life and exhaustion got in the way haha!

Wednesday morning we had Austin's 4 year and Giselle's 2 week appointment..she was technically almost 2.5 weeks old but since Austin already had his appt scheduled our doc was nice enough to let her be added on. :)

Austin weighed in at 42 lbs 4 oz (90th%) and is 40 inches tall (45th%)! The weight percentile shocked me because he doesn't look like a chubby kid at all! She is estimating him to be about 5 foot 8 in as an adult based on this years height. He did great with all the developmental stuff she asked him to do. :) The one thing we need to start working on in preparation for preschool is tracing. He had a hard time tracing what she wanted him to on her paper. The handout we get with each well child appointment also says we need to start working with scissors during this next year...not sure I'm ready for that! It'll be a supervised activity for sure ha! He sure is growing up fast.

Giselle weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz (25th%), 20 in long (40th%) and her head was 13.5 in (15th%). Peanut!! Her head is so tiny compared to the boys at her age. Praying that it starts growing! She seems very alert when awake so I think her brain growth is on track! This explains why most of her headbands don't fit (hence why she usually doesn't have them on in pics lately). Doc thought she looked great and was pleased with her weight gain on sole breastmilk from Thursday night through this appointment so we got the go ahead to continue just breastfeeding and using formula whenever we feel it's needed. Her weight will still be watched by the surgeon at our biweekly appointments but I can also bring her in whenever to get weighed thankfully. We also decided not to start Zantac just yet. Since it does change the gut flora and can raise the risk of infection her pediatrician is really hesitant to start it since she will be having a surgery that will affect her intestinal tract. Giselle doesn't seem to be in pain from her reflux most of the time, just a couple times a day. If this changes or if she gets irritable then we will start some medication. She definitely is refluxing more and I feel like I need to remain very still after her feedings otherwise she really barfs! She is still sleeping on an incline (in her bouncy seat strapped in). Wish we hadn't given away our rock n play....didn't think baby #3 would also have reflux like #1 & 2...oh well. Need to start working on tummy time more with her is the only thing the doc suggested between now and the next appointment. :)

Today we had another appointment with the pediatric surgeon. He said she looks perfect. :) The daily dilation sucks for me as a mother but I guess I was doing it right because he was happy and wants to move to the next size. She actually pooped all over the table and managed to squirt poop on his shirt when he was doing it haha! Hate hearing her get upset though. :( Thankfully she stops crying as soon as its over. We will see him again in 2 weeks (Jan 2). Based on her growth there's a chance surgery could be before my maternity leave is over....she will still be so young though I feel.

Hopefully I can squeeze in more time to blog so that the updates aren't so long.

Happy 4th Birthday to our Austin Jacob!! :)

Crazy that he is 4 now. Time goes so very fast. I love my role as a mommy and I can't believe I've been at it this long now. Austin is very smart and very sweet. He has come a long way with the speech delay that he once had...wouldn't even guess he was in speech therapy for so long if you talked to him now. Hard to believe we will be looking at preschools soon. He loves being the big brother to Mason & Giselle. Also loves his trains of course and any outside activity. Need to start looking at soccer or t-ball for the spring! Going on errands alone with momma while the younger 2 nap is another favorite of his. :)

He enjoyed his birthday today and we let him open his presents from us this morning so we could play all day with his new train set. We also got him a book that has 9 Thomas stories in it and a lots of much needed new clothes. :) Ended the day with a visit from Gogo & Poppy and a birthday cupcake for him & Mason!

His 4 year appointment is tomorrow so I will post stats then.

Birth Story:
We went out to dinner the night of Andy's birthday, November 28. Went to bed fine but then woke up with vomiting and diarrhea around 4:30am. Figured I ate something bad and slept on & off on our bathroom floor/master closet ha! Contractions started around 7am and were more painful than previous ones that week & I was still feeling nauseous so I called in to work to let them know I wasn't coming in. Contractions started to get closer together throughout the morning. We decided it was time and Andy called my parents to let them know since they were going to be watching Austin & Mason. Dropped the boys off and got to the hospital at 10am. I was 3 cm and 60% so they watched me in triage for a little over an hour to make sure it was all real. Once I was admitted into a labor room my contractions started to slow down, ended up needing pitocin after they broke my water at 3pm. Really wanted to not get an epidural this time around and I made it to almost 8 cm before I got really tired and was having a hard time controlling my breathing during contractions. The anestheiologist got it in and it took effect everywhere except a spot on my left side. My OB was able to be present for my delivery! Started pushing at 8pm and Giselle Grace was born at 8:17pm! :) Andy cut the cord with her just like he did with the boys and took pictures while they dried her off. Meanwhile...I started hemorrhaging. :( OB said it becomes more of a risk with each child. They couldn't get it under control with just the normal massaging of my uterus so I got a shot of Methergine. That helped...for a couple hours.

She nursed beautifully after they did her measurements and foot prints which is something I didn't get to experience right away with the boys. We made it to post partum and she got to meet her GoGo. :) After nursing her the second time I started hemorrhaging again. Had to get a second shot. Very scary situation. The nurse came to take Giselle for her bath at around 3 hours of age. When they returned with her they also had a NICU nurse with them....didn't really register to me at first... was thinking "oh my work girls already want to come meet her!" Instead Giselle was going to the NICU and the Neo was coming in shortly to talk to us.

NICU stay:
Initially the Neo wasn't exactly sure what was going on since he didn't have all the studies. He told us it was a abnormality on the imperforate anus spectrum. He said there was an opening but it was not in the right spot and it was small. The next morning after the surgeon had a chance to look at her and the xrays he diagnosed Giselle with a perineal/vestibular fistula. Meaning her anus is anterior (close to her vagina) and her rectum is narrow. I won't go into the pathophysiology of this but can answer more questions if anyone has them. He dilated her that day and then plans for corrective surgery once she is around 10-12 lbs or at the very latest 6 months of age. We had a very short stay compared to other NICU babies. She was able to come home the same day I was released since she was eating and pooping on her own. During our NICU stay she had lots of studies done which I'm sure you read about on facebook. Besides following with the surgeon she will also get a repeat Echo of her heart on December 22nd due to aortic insufficiency. We don't anticipate the follow up echo to be abnormal, its more of a precaution.

So far.... at our first surgeon appt this past Friday he had to dilate Giselle's rectum again since it was already close to being back where it was. This process was pretty uncomfortable for her and for me to watch. I have to do daily dilation now to maintain the correct size and I'm hoping she gets a little more used to it soon since we aren't trying to make it any bigger. Giselle also had a swallow study done that showed severe reflux. :( We will be starting Zantac at her 2 week appointment, pediatrician doesn't feel comfortable starting it before that. Her weight was also down a bit so we are doing weight checks as well.

The next updates should be shorter and sweeter I hope! :) The boys love her and do this cute little voice when talking to her. I think we are adjusting to a family of 5 amazingly well so far. :)

Birth story, NICU stay, doctors appt, etc all coming soon. This has been the busiest week I've had in years!

--So uncomfortable...back and hip pain make me walk like I'm elderly most of the day for the last couple days! I hate to complain because I know it's a privilege to be pregnant...just very wore out at this stage.

--Mason has been peeing on the potty 3 days straight now and even pooped on the potty today!!! :) We didn't even plan to attempt training him again right before I give birth but he was doing so well peeing on the potty before bath time that we thought we would just randomly ask him Saturday haha! He said yes and did it a few times that day and then while I was at work Sunday he wore undies all day for Andy and we haven't looked back. :) He does still wear at diaper at nap time and bedtime. So we are down to 3 diapers a day (Austin wears one to bed as well)!!! Crossing our fingers for no regression for either of them once we bring home little sister.

--No change at this mornings OB appt. Still 1.5cm & 50%.

--Had a great baby shower/sprinkle this afternoon with all the other pregnant girls at work. :) So blessed with a great work family! :)

--Running some errands and doing more Christmas shopping tomorrow so maybe that'll help progress things along!

A little catching up since I see the blog has had a lot of visitors this week (tells me the number but not the names haha!)

Sunday night I thought I was in labor due to the significant amount of lower back and lower belly pain I was having. Stayed the same for about 3 hours so we called my mom over to stay with the boys and got to triage around 8:30pm. Monitor claimed to show no contractions and my urine showed a UTI. So they sent me home on Keflex. I did not like my triage nurse AT ALL. So lets hope we don't encounter her when I am in labor for real!

Had a follow up appointment with my OB late Tuesday afternoon and just the regular test they do at every appointment still was pointing to a UTI so I am continuing the stinky Keflex. I am 1.5cm and 50% but her head is now more engaged. The pain that we now know is from this awful infection was much improved by this morning. I am still uncomfortable and feeling pressure and low back pain but nothing that points to labor yet. I go back again on Friday (already had the appt scheduled so she had me keep it).

The calls of asking if I'm in labor have started ...Andy's mom called today to inquire because his Grandma is leaving for Florida tomorrow. Luckily in this day and age most people are just checking Facebook for an update lol! :)

--Had my 36 week appointment today. :) My doc was out on a family emergency so I saw another one in the group. Weight is still the same as last week (lost some last time) which I hope is ok since she's supposed to be gaining all her weight right now. I am now dilated to 1 cm...and 50% effaced (thinned out) so that is quite a bit of progress since she couldn't even tell me the % at the last appointment. The OB today said he is on call this weekend and wouldn't be surprised if he saw me. Hope he's not getting my hopes up ha! It's all up to this baby girl but I'm ready and my body is ready...or my pain tolerance just sucks maybe?!

--Hard to believe that Austin will be 4 next month. Where has the time gone?! Just seems so old since the next step will be looking at our preschool options for next fall!

Quick updates---

--Had another appointment yesterday and I am still 0.5 cm dilated with a soft cervix. Felt progressivly more uncomfortable all week but I guess it didn't change anything ha! I am uncomfortable more than I am comfortable so that's real fab when you are trying to keep a smiling face and pleasant attitude. Go back again on Thursday.

--Got the boys hair cuts, Andy's birthday presents bought & the laundry caught up these 2 days off.

--Also bought Austin's birthday party invites this morning! Crazy that he is going to be 4 next month!! We are just having another small party like we've been doing with birthdays now...less stress & less cost but still surrounded by those that love us. :)

--Working tomorrow then it's my 4 day stretch off of work...but it'll be busy with a haircut Monday, 3 work meetings this week, a NNP interview at work, OB appt then back to work Friday & Saturday.

--Maternity leave please come soon...frequently counting down how many days left til her due date!

Just a short quick update before I start another busy week. Had my 34 week appt Friday at the end of the work day and Giselle is now head down! :) Worked Saturday and then today we got a couple things crossed off the to do list and spent some time at my parents since they hadn't seen the boys in a little while.

Back to work tomorrow for 4 days then another appointment Friday! Hoping to get the boys haircuts plus myself this coming weekend and get Andy's birthday presents bought.

Have been having contractions and significant back pain off and on all evening so I'm off to bed and praying she stays put for a bit longer.

Sorry for no Friday post. Had a busy work week so I was still recovering yesterday ha! Had a doctors appt in the morning which went well. My regular doctor had to take a last minute personal day so I saw another one in the group and he was ok. Everything checked out fine with me. She is still breech and has until 36 weeks to flip before the c-section word starts getting tossed around.

Austin and I went to Target to get things off our long list of random stuff while Andy was at home with a napping Mason. Today we went to the Halloween Zoo...it was pretty fun! Crazy busy but the weather was great and the boys looked cute! :) Back to work tomorrow and then 4 days off! Can't wait to go see baby Wyatt again next week ...and of course spend some time with my bestie. :)

-----5 on Friday-----

1) Flip baby flip! Getting nervous that she will stay breech. :( I am pretty sure she is not head down yet but maybe I'm wrong. Next appt on the 24th so we will know then. Prayers please that she settles into head down position soon because I am terrified of a c-section.

2) This was a big mail week at our house haha! Giselle's cloth diaper pail and liners arrived, Austins new dresser was delivered, Giselle's wall art from Etsy came in the mail as well as 2 new (to her) diapers! Poor Mason didn't get anything new with all this mail action.

3) Speaking of Mason....he has been peeing on the potty at night before we put on his night time diaper! Hoping to try all day potty training on my stretch of days off at the end of the month. He seems interested and will ask to sit on the potty during the day but he's only been consistent at the end of the evening lol!

4) Austin has been telling me he wants to "hold his sister" a lot lately. Such a sweetie! :)

5) Starting to feel more pain in my hip again like a couple weeks ago. Then today the lovely pressure down low started. She better hang tight for several more weeks! Part of me wants to deliver the week of Thanksgiving since I'm already off 4 days at the beginning of that week and part of me wants to be able to enjoy all the great food without being sleep deprived, recovering from all the pain, constant newborn nursing, etc. That makes me happy I don't get to pick her due date because I'm indecisive haha.

-----5 on Friday-----

1) OB appt this morning went well. :) Measuring on time, heart beat was great, weight was decent, and...she's breech. She has time to flip but the OB said trying the exercises that could coax her into flipping wouldn't be a bad idea. I figured she was breech based on where I feel her sharp knees and feet! At the appointment her head was just under my ribs on the right side. Glad I had her feel for position...so crazy how the doc can just lay hands on your belly when you are flat on your back and tell you where baby is!

2) Had a fairly productive day especially since I couldn't do much all week because of work ha! Besides catching up on some laundry, a target trip and some great play time with the boys we/I also ordered the wall hanging I've had my eye on for Giselle's room off of Etsy and then also ordered her diaper pail and cloth liners from Target (not carried in the store).

3) Boys have been crazy obsessed with their train tracks and puzzles this week. :) Always fun to see what they pick to play with. We've also been reading Halloween books they recently got from GoGo & Poppy!

4) Austin's new dresser should be here early this week...was supposed to arrive to the store last week but it was delayed of course. We decided to get him a "big boy" dresser and give his to Giselle since it matches her crib.

5) About time to start planning Christmas lists/shopping...love the holidays! Might actually be kind of nice to avoid crazy parking lots and long lines since we want to have all the presents bought early this year.

What a busy weekend!

~Passed my glucose tolerance test (yay!) & got the ugly Rhogam shot.

~Austin freaked during the rehearsal Friday night (bummer) and then we attempted to sit through a  long dinner. He got some very cool gifts for being a ring bearer from Aunt Kerry & Uncle Chase. :)

~He refused to walk down the aisle on Saturday...but he didn't cry or scream so no one knew thankfully.

~Boys had a great time at my parents while Andy & I went to the reception. :)

~Got to meet my bro and Cassie half way (in Wabash) for dinner tonight! Been a long time since we had saw them and the visit went way to fast (hard to conversate and keep 2 little boys behaving with no husband to help out). :)

~Not really ready for the new schedule that's coming at work for October and November...pretty sure the 4 day stretches that I have will be putting me in early labor by the time November is half done. Hopefully only 8-9 weeks of work left until maternity leave!

Had my "28 week" labs today and probably failed my glucose tolerance test. Lady drawing my blood asked me what I had for breakfast so I told her wheat toast with peanut butter thinking that I ate something good. She responds with "peanut butter has a lot of sugar"... fab. Hopefully the results will be back tomorrow. They also forgot to give me my Rhogam shot so I have to call them tomorrow anyway. Actual appointment went ok...I am measuring a week behind. If I still measure behind at the next appointment in 2 weeks then she will likely do an ultrasound for growth she said.

In the middle of all this I was also dealing with work drama so needless to say my morning pretty much sucked. Cried (I'm the crazy person that gets so irritated that I start crying ha!)...all the way home (appt was at the downtown office) and pulled myself together at the garage door since the boys were home and I don't need to be cranky/sad on my days off! It's amazing how hard it is for me to just let go and breathe sometimes.....

Another busy weekend ahead of us with Kerry's wedding. Picked up Austin's ring bearer tux today and the shirt and coat are too big so the lady has to overnight a smaller size to the store and should be available late tomorrow morning. Lets hope the smaller size works! She didn't have what he needed to try on the day of the fitting so they just measured him and ordered from that. Now to pray that he walks down the aisle on Saturday! :)

So overdue for an update yet again. Just been crazy busy... this month is half over! With raising 2 little boys, being pregnant, working, housework, never ending laundry, errand running, baby shower planning for the bestie and attempting to do fun stuff as a family....doesn't leave time for much else haha!

The rest of this month is going to be just as busy or actually busier than the first half. Big childrens resale that I love to go to is Friday, Andy is in a wedding on Saturday and then Emily's baby shower is Sunday. Work and a OB appt will keep me busy next week and then Andy's sister is getting married that Saturday...so next Friday night and Saturday will be consumed with wedding stuff! :) Austin is a ring bearer in Aunt Kerry's wedding and he is going to be a cutie! :)

With the craziness we haven't done much else with Giselle's nursery. We did get some 0-3/3mt girlie clothes from Andy's friend so those got washed and folded into pile (need to buy a dresser still) and I *think* I am done buying newborn cloth diapers. Looked at cutsey curtains for her room but about fell over with the price tags so I think we might just stick with a light pink curtain that blocks the light (did the same with the boys in their nursery colors). 3rd trimester starts Thursday for me (28 weeks!) so we really need to get rolling with things since we know she won't be late and we will have Christmas shopping to try to get done before she makes her debut!

Hope everyone is loving the cooler weather! I sure am!! :)

~25 weeks today! This pregnancy seems to be going kinda fast lately! Had an appointment today and am up quite a bit on my weight...opps! No swelling and blood pressure is fine. Doctor said the gain was perfectly fine and to be expected since baby is packing on some weight now too....dont remember this big of a gain in a 5 week time span with the boys. Oh well. Hard to get appointments to match the OB schedule and mine ....felt like to long between appointments. Have my "28 week" labs and Rhogam shot at next months appointment and then I start going every 2 weeks for a bit then every week til she arrives! :) Spent the garage sale earnings on baby necessities to cross some more stuff off her list of needed items! Was fun buying pink towels, pink boppy cover, changing pad cover, etc. :) Still have some more stuff to buy and really need to get her furniture so we can put the room together.

~Boys have been active, silly and so sweet lately. :) We changed the bedtime routine up a little to see if that would help make it smoother. It's working so far. They still take their bath together around 6:30-7pm and then Mason goes to bed between 7:30-7:45 and Austin now goes to bed at 8:30 (if its a day I work this all gets bumped back/moved along a little faster since I don't get home until 7:10 or so right now). Mason now says "love you" before we lay him down...so sweet! Austin continues to be his chatty self and has been doing awesome with the potty/telling us when he needs to go. :)

~Going to be doing a trial run of a potential new work schedule for October. We will have some 10 hour days and some 12 hour days. Interested to see how it works out.

~Glad that the hot summer weather is almost over with. September looks to be insanely busy for me/us....hoping it doesn't leave me exhausted!

I seem to have fallen off the blogging bandwagon of updating consistently. Oops! :( Here's a short update. :)

-I've had quite the nice stretch off from crazy town (work). Friday morning we went to Target to get random stuff that we needed. Gotta love finding most anything you need at that store! Then that afternoon I met up with the other hostess for my bestie's baby shower which ended up not quite working out as planned but the invitiations got mailed out Saturday as scheduled thankfully. :)

-Saturday was Andy's sisters bridal shower! She got lots of great stuff for their new life together. :) Took the boys with me (since Andy was golfing with all the guys) and they had fun playing outside while momma got a lil too much sun ha!

-Andy's grandpa died last Tuesday so we were busy with the viewing, the funeral and family lunch Sunday & Monay.

-Today has been a relaxing day with cool fall like weather making me want a Pumpkin Spice latte! Only a few more weeks til I can get one from Starbucks! :) Taking Lacy to her yearly vet appointment soon and not sure we have much else planned for the evening.

-Back to work tomorrow, Thursday and Saturday.

Happy August! Ready for summer to be over so we can start enjoying some cooler fall weather. Nothing much to chat about. Just been busy ...and it doesn't appear like things will slow down to much any time soon. Feel like the "nesting" is starting early because I just want to clean and organize everything! Been clearing out stuff to prepare for a garage sale that a friend is having at her house in a couple weeks. So ready to start working on the nursery but haven't been able to do much except work on clearing her room out of random stuff (its been used as a spare room for the last year).

Life has been a little busy and lately I am to tired to get on the computer haha! Figured I owed an update though. :)

We had our big OB appointment Tuesday and found out we are having a girl! :) Everything looks great as far as her health. She is measuring small though (20-30th%). My OB said not to worry just yet and she will continue to keep measuring my belly like usual and if I start measuring behind in that respect then we will do another ultrasound. I'm happy everything looks great and there are no issues except a possible smaller baby.

Austin & Mason are doing great!! I had another 4 day in a row work week so that was difficult to be away that much. Austin pooped on the potty today and told Andy that he was going to go get a new train when I got home haha! :) Hopefully soon he will stop pooping as soon as he gets his nighttime diaper on! Mason also thinks he's ready to start potty training so we might do a practice run these next 3 days to see if that's really the case. They are growing tooooo fast!

Now its time to start cleaning out the spare room and turning it into a nursery! We are pretty sure the theme will be a vintage ballerina one. Andy really doesn't want to paint...the walls are a light tan like the rest of the house (minus the boys rooms). We are also still planning to use the girl name we have had picked for years: Giselle Grace. Not after the supermodel...Giselle is a famous ballet for those that dont already know. ;) I've always like the name and we both like the uniqueness of it.

-----5 on Friday-----

1. Sorry no post last Friday and this one is so late at night. Didn't have much to say last Friday so I skipped it and almost skipped today too. Worked 4 days straight....which in our until/my line of work is kind of intense!!!! I am exhausted. Love my job but its so mentally challenging some days. And now with being pregnant its physically tiring as well ha! Looking forward to 3 days off and know that my patients are in great hands. :)

2. The weeks seem to be going faster now...18 weeks yesterday! Less than 2 weeks til we find out gender. :) Cloth diaper addiction is a bit out of control so I had to force myself not to buy anymore til we know the gender. They are all used diapers from the b/s/t boards on facebook but still can get pricey! Almost to the total number that we would need for the newborn size so that's good.

3. Austin is now completely daytime potty trained! Still not liking to poop on the potty but its gotten better this week Andy said. Feel like I dont have much to say about either boy this week since I missed so much of it with them. :(

4. Mason is a eating machine! Can't believe how much he has been eating for Andy this week...sometimes out eats his big bro at meal time. He also has a new phrase "one more minute mama" ....this is something that Austin says when I say "time to go take a bath, time to get ready to leave, etc" haha!

5. Can't wait to sleep in this weekend...sleeping in is 8am at the very latest around here but I'll take it!! Enjoy the days off if you have them, attempt to enjoy your job if this is your weekend to work. :)

-----5 on Friday-----

1. OB appt today went well. The tech was rattling off how many weeks I was, blood pressure, etc today and she had my original due date for calculation so I asked her about it and she gave me the answer I already knew...as long as the first trimester ultrasound and your last menstural period due dates are within a week they don't change your due date. I had wondered why they added 3 days before but just went with it. So back to Decemeber 11th it is! Heart rate was in the 150's and I am measuring where I should...which was a little surprising since I feel smaller than I did with the boys. Oh well. Anatomy scan ultrasound is July 22. :)

2. Austin has done awesome potty training!! :) Still having trouble motivating him to poop on the potty but its getting there. We won't attempt night training him for a while because he doesn't wake up dry yet. He is incredibly chatty and has questions about everything. He told me tonight that he wants another little brother haha.

3. Mason is 2! Crazy how fast time goes! He is talking more everyday and said "bless you, bless you" when I sneezed today haha! He is also climbing up and down the stairs holding the rail versus crawling up the stairs now...big boy!

4. Tried to come off my diclegis (anti-nause med for pregnancy) this week and it backfired...went right back to how I was feeling before I started taking it so I got my prescription refilled and started taking it again tonight. Still get fairly nauseous at night and right when I wake up even when I do take but the all day nausea returned when I tried to stop taking it. Boooo.

5. Get to meet baby Max on Sunday!!! :) Can't wait to see my cousin's newest little man!!

-----5 on Friday-----

1. Baby #3 seems to be giving me less nausea this week. :) Still looking smaller than I did with the boys so maybe this one is a girl? I will be happy either way but have been worried lately that if its a boy he will feel left out with how close Austin & Mason are with their close age gap. Andy swears #3 is a boy....won't know til next month unless I can convince my OB to do a sneak peek ultrasound at my appt at the end of the next week haha!

2. Austin has been working on potty training all week! It's steadily getting better!! Had only one accident today. :) He is also becoming a crazy boy about wanting to know the name of every road we drive on and tries to request driving a certain route when we go places lol!

3. Mason is talking nonstop and it's so funny to hear what he says ... have loved being off this week to spend so much time with them! Some funny new phrases "wow momma!" "ewww, momma, bug!"

4. Almost all done with party preparations. Only things left to do are buy the food (tomorrow) and finish cleaning the house. Got the plates/napkins/table covers for 50% off online...major score in Mr Budget Man's world haha! Party city only had the invitations and the rest was out of stock so we hopped online and it was all 50% off so I'm guessing this theme is going bye bye from the store. Can't wait to see the cupcakes when we pick them up tomorrow!! I ended up not doing them because 1) it looked like more work than I could do & 2) all the supplies would have been more than the cost of having them made at a bakery.

5. This week off has been great and I'm sure the weekend will fly by with my birthday tomorrow, Mason's party on Sunday and his birthday on Monday. Might be picture overload this weekend. ;)

------5 on Friday-----

1. Baby #3 and this nausea is relentless. It's finally getting better during the day but morning time and evenings still are sucky. The newborn cloth diaper stalking obsession I have on the b/s/t boards for used ones is getting a lil crazy too haha! We didn't cloth either boy in the newborn stage so we have none. Even though this is our last baby we are still going to get some newborns since they keep their resell value very well. Up to 7 so far and would like 18-24. Still hoping to buy some off my lovely cloth diapering cousin since her newborn will be 6 months old by the time #3 arrives. :)

2. Austin is doing great! Soooo chatty! Having some sharing issues with Mason lately...was bound to happen now that they love basically the exact same type of toys now. Still loves to be outside. :)

3. Mason is also doing great! Saying more words/phrases every week. Current new faves: "ok momma" and "sing momma"! :) Still a big cuddler and loves the outdoors almost as much as Austin.

4. Party planning for Mason's 2nd birthday is underway. We are having a small family party and the theme is farm animals. :)

5. Getting one year closer to 30 next Saturday....crazy that my 20's are almost done!

-----5 on Friday-----

1. Finally starting to feel better. Had what I thought was bad allergies or a head cold starting Sunday and by yesterday morning I was still feeling bad so I went to the doc and they said sinus infection. So I'm on an antibiotic for 10 days. All day nausea is starting to get better each week...think the new medicine is doing the trick. Had a OB appt today for all the lab work and what not. Baby's heart rate was right around 160 which is great for this gestation! :)

2. Austin is officially done with speech therapy! He was making rapid progress so our last session was last week. He's growing up so fast! Hoping to tackle potty training very soon....he has been so resistant that nothing motivates him.

3. Mason will be 2 in just a few weeks! He has added a ton more words to his vocabulary and loves to play outside with Austin. :)

4. Landscaping is done! Patio project is being started on Monday and they are estimating only two days to do it!

5. That's all for now haha! Hopefully I won't be away from the blog so long next time. :)

--5 on Friday-- (several blogs I follow do this so I'm going to see if it helps motivate me to post more)

1. Yes, I am pregnant!! :) Due December 14th. We are excited! I am feeling awful just like I did with the boys. Hoping maybe third times a charm for not feeling sick til 20-22 weeks. This winter will be a busy time for birth haha!! I know 3 people delivering within 4 weeks of my due date already.

2. Austin's hand seems completely better now. He hurt it on Easter...sure everyone read about it on facebook. His big boy bed (round 2 since toddler bed was a complete failure) arrived on Wednesday. It's a twin bed that should last him til he leaves for college. So far he is excited about it but hasn't slept in it....still ends up on the floor ...and then in our bed. We'll get there, I'm not worried.

3. Mason is officially discharged from feeding therapy! Yay! :) He has come a long way. Still has progress to be made but the therapist felt comfortable with my skills and we all decided that it was ok for therapy to end. OT should be starting in the next month possibly....theres a waitlist and I could just decide not to go through with it since he borderline qualified for it. Another exciting thing that happened early this week...he had some cooked dairy and did great! So I talked to his doc on Tuesday and she said it was ok to just go ahead and do one serving a day as long as he had no symptoms. He has been symptom free all week!!! So we will likely not do the 2 year allergist referral appointment.

4. Patio has been decided upon! Just on the waitlist for the guys to come out to do it. Its an amish business and he's estimating up to 4 weeks on wait time til he can get our project. We are going to do stamped concrete and it will look like stone gray Texas flagstone. No...it will not fade/peel...already got that question. The way this business does it is by mixing the color in the concrete not just painting it on.

5. Landscaping is set to be done next weekend! Happy that its finally getting crossed off the list but will be kinda a bummer to spend our anniversary (the 10th) and potentially Mothers Day (the 11th) getting it all done.

Yay for SPRING weather! :)

Austin was so excited to go outside 3 times today! Can't wait til our patio is done and we can play more in the backyard. Mason also started shaking his head "yes" this week. So cute!

Our SLP told us today that Mason may not qualify for any more feeding therapy after the end of this month...he is doing that well! :) Won't get the offical word til our progress meeting next Thursday morning. Also at that meeting we will get to formally request OT for his sensory issues.

Austin is finally over his sickness....has been feeling himself for the last few days thankfully. Was very scary that first night in the ER! Still has a couple days left of his antibiotic (has to be on it for 10 days). He is so chatty and throwing some crazy tantrums when he doesn't get his way...hoping once we are able to go outside every day that it will help him!

Mason is growing and eating more and more every day of stuff that he couldn't before. He has added turkey dogs and corn to his menu line up this past week. :) Still hanging on to the bedtime nursing session but it's getting really short so I think he's about done with that too.

Work is crazy as usual. Sounds like the census has gone up on my 2 days off....hope tomorrow goes fast for me while I'm there!

Looking forward to dinner with friends tonight!!

Need to get better about blogging...sorry fellow readers!

--Austin is singing, saying his ABCs pretty well and couting pretty consistently to 10 now. :) Big boy! Crazy that we need to start looking for preschool for the fall!

--Found out this week that we won't really know much about when OT will start for Mason until our quarterly feeding therapy/IFSP progress meeting April 9th. That is when we/they can make the formal request to add OT. Kind of annoying but whatever. He is doing awesome with his feeding therapy though!!

--Hoping that cycle #3 is our lucky one. Won't know til early April.

--Work has slowed down just a lil bit which is nice. :) Think we all needed a break. Hope I didn't just jinx it haha!

--Soooo ready for nicer weather!

Cycle #2 also a negative...just in case anyone was wondering.  My cycle is so irregular since I've had the boys, makes things a bit more difficult!

Feb is done and on to March...crazy!! Time to wear green, eat green and decorate green. :) Have to enjoy St Patricks day with the Irish in my family. :) Got the boys their shirts to wear on the 17th ...to bad I'll be working!

No update yet on OT for Mason...talked to our ST yesterday and she said hopefully soon they will get back with me/us with a plan for what to do since technically First Steps can't have 2 therapists coming to your house each week...??...I dont know..think I could have misunderstood.

She did say that Austins clarity is improving really fast so that's great to hear!! Mason is also doing well too...actually ate some chicken today without puking!

I'm so ready for a break from work...today about put me over the edge (nothing to do with patient care thankfully). Looking forward to having Friday, Sat, Sun and Monday off!!!!!

So our speech therapist had the "joy" of delivering the news that she isn't qualified to do Mason's OT therapy and can only do his feeding therapy. Our service coordinator gave us the wrong impression so it's not her fault at all. So first steps will hopefully be in touch this week to arrange his OT for his sensory processing disorder/issues....really don't think we will need therapy long in that area once the feeding therapy is under control.

He had his first eval with her Friday after Austins speech therapy..figured we would just do it then since both boys were still in good moods/cooperating. She watched him eat a snack and noticed several red flags while observing and asking me questions. Some of the things I already knew from our feeding therapy sessions with Parkview Rehab but some of it was new. Was nice to have fresh eyes looking at his behaviors and it helps a lot that he knows her. So know we will have 3 appointments each week...Austins speech, Masons feeding therapy and Masons OT. Plus she recommended that we utilize the nutrionist that first steps provides to families once a month so I'm actually looking forward to meeting with her to get more ideas of food to try!

Kinda overwhelming to think about all this but we have a great support system and I have the flexibility of being able to schedule their appointments on my days off. I know others aren't so lucky so I am choosing to be optimistic and not whiny about the busyness/stressfulness.

The sneak peeks that the photographer sent me of the boys session are cute! Can't wait for all the proofs! I had her primarily focus on Austin since these are his 3 year pics but I of course wanted a few of them together. :)

This month is moving right along...a bit to fast!

Boys are doing great and growing so fast! :) Austin's speech sessions have been fun and he seems to really like all the different stuff she has him do. Mason's feeding therapy/OT should be starting this coming week if all goes as planned. Work has been crazy, crazy busy. Cycle # 1 of trying for baby #3 was a negative. Hopefully it happens with cycle #2...if it does I will be off work for the holidays which will be super nice.

Also finally have Austin's 3 year pics scheduled for Saturday morning!! She did my cousins senior pics but normally does family type pics so we decided to give her a try. I wanted to get them taken closer to his actual birthday in December but just didn't get it done! Andy was also whining about how much Portrait Innovations costs so I had to do some searching haha

Super quick update:

~Austins speech therapy for articulation is going great--helps so much that its the same speech therapist as from first steps! :) We had to skip this week because of the below zero temps and me not wanting to take him out in it (and get into a cold car that would have sat in the parking lot for close to an hour).

~Had the final paperwork meeting for Mason's first steps for his speech & OT. Therapy will be starting soon but I dont have an exact date yet, we will be able to use Austins therapist so that will work out great. She feels comfortable handling his sensory issues and will let us know if she can't once she gets started!

~I'm sure those that follow me on Pinterest have some questions....no, we are not pregnant. But we are trying for #3 now. :) It's a new thing so I'll keep ya updated.

Soooo overdue on posting pics on facebook...maybe tonight or Friday depending on how late I can stay awake haha.

Not really much to update on but I'll attempt haha!

Christmas went well! :) Boys seemed to really be into opening presents and are having lots of fun with all their new stuff!

Austin was supposed to have his eval for continued speech therapy with his usual ST but because of the stupid weather it is postponed til next Friday morning. He will qualify but its a necessary step to do for insurance reasons. We have yet to have our final paperwork meeting with First Steps for Mason because first the lady was on vacation and then so far this week the schools have been closed and she has kids (and works from home) so I'm assuming that's why she isn't answering my email about scheduling a date. Kinda annoying because I absolutely hate being in limbo just waiting.

Austin now knows how to climb over his gate to get out of his room so any chance of nap time/rest time is out the window and he is now back to coming into our room around 4-5am which is what he was doing before we got the gate. So I basically am up twice every.single.night.....because the two boys usually don't wake at the same time. Luckily Mason has been nursing and then going right back into his crib easily ...in and out of bed in approx 20 minutes. I am starting to wonder when he will start the weaning process. I stopped pumping at work near the end of December so the nap time nursing session is pretty short. He is talking more and more every week which just feels crazy because babyhood is slowly being put behind him now. :(

Andy and I...well mostly I ... have been on the subject of baby #3 for a couple weeks now again. He is still pretty firm in his decision of not wanting anymore which is immensely frustrating to me.

Austin's birthday party and birthday were a success! He had a lot of fun and loved opening his presents!! :) He got some great toys and clothes! So hard to believe he is 3...seems grown up. He was saying "Happy Birthday" all weekend haha! We took him out to dinner at Applebees last night for his birthday after he opened his presents from us. He is even big enough for the booster seat in a restaurant now...crazy!

They both had Pediatrician appointments this morning (Austins 3 yr and Masons 18 mt). Those went well. Stats are to the right of the blog. Both are doing great she said. She estimates Austin's adult height to be 5 foot 6in based on his current height. Hopefully he is at least that tall...hard for guys to be short I think. No new concerns for either boy so that's great!

Mason had his First Steps eval for OT and to switch feeding therapy over to first steps (versus using Parkview Peds Rehab like we have been). He qualifies for feeding therapy and just barely qualified for OT services for sensory issues. Those will start in January. Until then we will either continue with Parkview or just take a break (since its near impossible finding dates/times that work) because I think I've learned enough to keep up with his progress these next couple weeks.

Starting to cross stuff off the Christmas to do lists....nothing like procrastination....really thought I would be better at getting things done early this year!

First things first....Andy got accepted to IWU to finish his Bachelors!!! Yay!!! :) He tentatively starts January 16. The university caters to adult learners so the classes are one after another and each once lasts 5-6 weeks.


So to recap the beginning of the month!

Tuesday, Dec 3 Mason had a GI appointment (follow up) and we are basically cleared from future follow up appointments unless something comes up. Peds GI doesn't think they have much left to offer us because we are in feeding therapy, have an excellent pediatrician, and a medically educated momma. So since he is still failing milk protein challenges we will be consulting a pediatric allergist when he turns 2. The GI doc said that the blood work for food (and other) allergies is more reliable once they are 2 years old. If Mason doesn't grow out of the food allergies by age 2 then the chances of him being allergic for his lifetime are greatly increased based on the experience and research that he's seen.

Later that day we had our intake meeting for First Steps for Mason. She was basically collected income and insurance info and I had to sign a bunch of forms. Two therapists (most likely speech and occupational) will come do an evaluation on him this coming Tuesday the 17th. We are pretty sure we will just be switching his feeding therapy over to First Steps instead of continuing to go to Parkview Peds Rehab... nothing against them at all but there have been several schedule conflicts and with First Steps there is a high chance Mason will be able to see the same speech therapist that Austin uses. (remember...ST's do feeding therapy too). :) We are interested in hearing what the occupational therapist says about whether she thinks he has a sensory processing disorder...if so he will get OT therapy as well. Or we can OT do both therapies...just kinda depends on what works out. Overall he is improving in what he will eat.

Lots on Mason...sorry about that!!

Austin had his school speech eval December 4th. I didn't like the therapist...or care of the test really but whatever. She said he qualifies for continued speech therapy for articulation. So basically he isn't as clear as he should be for age. He is leaving out 3 main letters (f, t, & k) and is having omissions/substitutions along with it. They recommend 30 minutes once a week. We have the option of using his elementary school for free ...but we would have to work around a very limited schedule to do so. The lady is only at his school 2 sometimes 3 days a week and only til 3pm. She wants me to take off the same day every week. I don't think that's fair to the other 2 girls I work with so we are going to talk to his current ST tomorrow about her private office sessions that she offers since she has other patients that aren't in the First Steps system. Austins last official day of First Steps ST is tomorrow morning. Crazy! So crazy that he will be 3 years old on Monday!!!

He is getting excited about his birthday party on Saturday! When we talk about it he immediately says "presents" haha! :) The big boy bed is going well...although we usually find him sleeping on the floor with his pillow & blanket. But at least he is sleeping through the night. Now to patiently wait for potty training. I just don't want to push him. Everything I've read and everyone I've talked to tells me that it will happen very quickly as soon as he is ready. So we are ready with Thomas the train & dog print undies!

Work is going well. :) My car is acting up so it's spending the night at the body shop & will be getting a look over early tomorrow morning by the mechanics. The power door locks keep blowing through fuses and the remote key fob doesn't work. Guy said it could be up to $600 to fix worst case scenario depending on what he finds. I say lets just get me a newer car since I'm ready for something different haha!!

Learned some extremely exciting news about a family member tonight. :) I'll be praying my heart out for her!

Long time no post. Sorry!

OT eval is still pending for Mason. Miscommunication I guess, I dont know. First Steps is coming to our house Tuesday afternoon to start the paperwork to get Mason evaluated for feeding therapy & possibly an evaluation to see if he has sensory processing disorder. I still don't completely understand the disorder and I was reading a book about it but then couldn't renew it because someone else had a hold on it at the library. If he's diagnosed I'll for sure be buying some kind of book to help us!

His feeding therapy is going fairly well. Seems to be progressing and he is eating more food but not necessarly more "toddler" food.

Austin is so close to being done with his First steps speech therapy. :( We will miss his ST but if the school says he still needs therapy (his articulation test/eval is Wednesday morning) then we have the option of using her as a private ST versus using the school. We will just have to see what they say. Happy she informed us that she does private ST as well as her job with first steps. As a bonus if we switch to first steps with Mason we can request to have her be his feeding therapist as well. :)

The boys are doing great and growing fast!! We did move Austin to his toddler bed almost a week ago. It's an adjustment for all but I think he is starting to do better with it. :)

Feeding therapy went fairly well this past week. :) Mason seems to be making some good progress. She sent us home with some more handouts on stages of accepting a new food. Interesting how it how ties together. She also hit me with a suggestion of having him evaluated by a occupational therapist to see if he has a Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). We talked about signs of it and I agreed that yes he should be evaluated so she is going to get a referral from his pediatrician so that insurance will pay/be more likely to pay. Either way we would do it but I know we need to follow the steps of the insurance process. Hoping that she calls me tomorrow with a date/time or at least is able to tell me by this weeks session.

In the meantime I am reading a book about SPD for more knowledge. I've heard of the term before and have wondered about it for the last month or so. Theres a lot that goes into the diagnosis and each child that has it doesn't fit every single criteria for it. Feeling overwhelmed sometimes when I think about all this. Mason is a complicated kiddo. I'll keep ya all updated.

Austin was quiet during speech this week...he had a runny nose and a small cough Friday so I think that was impacting him a bit. He was saying a lot of yes and no instead of just shaking his head so that's good. :) His speech therapist continues to be impressed with his progress and we are crossing our fingers that we won't need to go to speech therapy at school after he turns 3 (and ages out of First Steps).

Birthday party planning is underway for our big boy! :) We have decided to keep the guest list small since that seems to go better with their personailites (and Andy's). Also really hoping for cooperation when I try to potty train on my 3 day off stretch later this week! Third times a charm?!

Prayers for life to calm down just a bit. It's been hectic and somewhat stressful in every area.

Dairy farm visit was fun! :) Austin talked about cows the rest of the night and has brought it up a few times since then. :) He is so chatty now and soo very sweet.

Since Austin is about to age out of First Steps at his 3rd birthday we will have our "articulation test" at the elementary school a couple weeks before his birthday to see if he still needs speech therapy before school would start for him. That appointment is December 4th. Pray that he does well! I've been starting to plan his third birthday!! Crazy...how is my firstborn almost 3?! The theme will be Thomas the tank engine...of course. :)

Mason's second feeding therapy session went much better than his first thankfully! It was with the other therapist....we won't always have the same one due to my work schedule/their availability. Luckily it's just one lady or another so it's not too many faces to get used to for him. He did most of what she wanted and she was better at explaining things than the therapist we had last week. Mason actually ate a few pieces of banana for me yesterday as well. :) Small progess. Still having difficulty explaining what it means to those that aren't as familiar but I try. Andy's grandma asked me if he was just lazy... ugg no....was hard to find the words to answer her. We still have the possibility of it being a congenital stricture or the esonophilic esophagitis but for right now feeding therapy is looking like it might be what could work. The prilosec (reflux med) did not appear to be changing anything after 2+ weeks so we have stopped giving it. So his waking up at night appears to not be reflux related. Didn't hurt to try to see but now we know.

Have decided to keep this a family blog ...as in very little mention of work. I have a strong feeling that someone is watching/reading everything I do because I got called into a meeting about facebook a week or so ago ...so now...you will have to guess how work is going haha!

Mason had his first official feeding therapy session this past Wednesday. He was not impressed haha! He did participate a little in touching the food she put on his tray but mostly wanted to sit in my lap. She was kind of "in his face" a little much for me but maybe we are just used to Austins speech therapist who seems really at ease with little ones. :) She gave us some "homework" and some handouts to read.

The nurse for his GI doc also called and said it's to early for allergy testing so she wasn't sure why the therapist was recommending that for right now. The earliest they could get reliable results would be age 2. We still haven't met with the pediatric dietician and it sounds like we might not. The speech therapist lady is thinking she can just pass along the food journal and weekly weights and get his opinion and recommendations. I personally would like a better idea of how many calories to aim for but I'll bring it up next week if she doesn't let me know herself. Mason had a couple day stretch where he was eating a few puffs a day and now he has regressed and won't touch them. Stinker!

Can't believe he is already 16 months old. He runs everywhere! Also has 10 teeth now with 2 more working their way through.


Really hoping the weather gets a bit more sunny after naptime because we are planning to take the boys to the only dairy farm in Fort Wayne for their fall festival. This is the first year this farm has done this and this happens to also be the last weekend for it before they close to the public. Nothing like procrastination on our part haha. Austin is excited to see the cows! :)

Mason had his feeding therapy evaluation yesterday morning. It went ok...just asked me lots of questions and took a lot of notes. We are going to write down everything he eats/drinks for the next 7 days along with behaviors occuring during mealtime and how we respond to them. Then we will meet with the pediatric dietician...who also happens to be the NICU dietician so I see him weekly or so in the unit with our neonates haha. So *maybe* we will get some answers soon?! I dont know.

The speech therapist (that's who handles feeding behavior in infants/children in case ya didn't know) went over how the weekly therapy would work for Mason. She questions potentially more allergies...asked me if I noticed reactions to stuff he's had lately...when I couldn't give enough evidence of a no answer she decided to suggest the food journal.

She will send her notes and potentially plan to his Pediatrician and his GI doc. Then we go from there after all the docs collaborate and the peds dietician gives his input. Sounds like life is about to get even more busy.


Austin continues to do great and I'm hoping to introduce potty training (again) on this 4 day stretch that I have off starting tomorrow. :) Hate writing a blog post without including him haha. :)


Acuity at work has been SKY HIGH!! Everyone is ready for a break. I was busy until 6:53pm tonight and I leave at 7pm (yes I actually looked at the clock haha!). Talk about barely getting done before its time to leave. My lunch was inhaled in about 5 minutes today because I got called down to a stat c-section too...It's just been insane for about 2 weeks now. We all blame the 50 shades of Grey triology still having an effect on the baby boom lol! ....in reality it's likely because of the new Maternal-Fetal Medicine doc that started within the last few months so we get a ton of high risk babies since she has her patients deliver at Parkview.

Mason had his GI appt last week. Went ok. We are going to trial using Prilosec for 2 weeks at bedtime to see if he does have reflux affecting his sleep. So far it hasn't helped ha! He said his first recommendation would be a feeding evaluation...which we already have set up for Wednesday morning so that's good. We did talk a bit about the possible workup and diagnosis for Eosinophilic Esophagitis. He also mentioned the somewhat likely possibility of a congenital stricture in his esophagus which does makes sense since it wouldn't have affected him when he was a infant and only drinking breastmilk/or his puramino formula.

To evaluate for EE we would have to sedate him for a endoscopy to take a biopsy of his esophagus. To evaluate for a congenital stricture he would have to have a swallow study which would entail him drinking his formula with barium contrast mixed in to they could watch how it travels on xray.

Anxious to see how his feeding evaluation goes. His GI doc did say that the nightime wake ups could very likely just be that he is not developmentally ready to sleep alone all night.

Prayers appreciated!! :)

Sorry it's beens so long without a post...yes I know I start just about every blog post with that. Life has been a tad overwhelming lately.

Mason had his 15 month appointment Sept 17 and was diagnosed with a feeding delay. I knew it was coming so I wasn't blown away or anything. After a insurance snafu (because they are on mine now & nothing with Parkview has been easy) we have an evaluation at the feeding clinic on Oct 9. We will see his GI doc on this coming Thursday because he also failed his milk challenge test. So back to the feeding delay...basically it means he has a combo of: oral aversion (doesn't want anything in his mouth), texture aversion (doesn't want anything higher than stage 2 babyfood), and gagging/choking when he does put something solid in his mouth. Yes...all fun things for the peeps that feed him. :(  Depending what GI says and the feeding clinic therapist says he stands a chance to get worked up for Esoinophilic Esophagitis. But at a minimum we are looking at weekly feeding therapy. We are still breastfeeding (3-5 times in a 24hr period) and he is drinking cocunut milk and his speciality amnio acid formula. He also does not sleep thru the night so we will revisit adding Prevacid or some other reflux medication when we see GI this week.

As far as milestones ...he is doing great!! :) He says mama and dada. Also says "baa" when he sees a sheep in a book. Understands where to go when we say "bathtime", "time to eat" and "where are your shoes?" Still LOVES to read...he will read by himself and loves to be read too. Currently new love of being sung to...I'm not a big singer but his new daycare lady is.

Austin is getting so big and learning so much every day. :) Amazes me that he is almost 3!! Talking like crazy and goes outside every chance he gets. He will have his official school speech therapy eval in November so I'll keep ya updated. Glad he is doing so well since it sounds like Mason might start needing more specialized care soon.

Speaking of daycare. We finally found an in home daycare that we think may be a great fit. I won't go into the people we interviewed because it'll take forever. I did end up leaving our name on one of the daycare centers waitlist just in case. The ladies house that the boys go to now is the in home daycare that the other NNP at work has been using for the last 18 months for her little girl. Boys did great their first week there. :)

Work has been busy and mentally exhausting most weeks. I do love my job but still am anxious to start doing some night shifts since I feel like I miss a lot of the boys daily life when I work 12 hour days!

So ready for the fall weather to stick around for good. :)

Busy! Thats all I have to say about the last couple weeks.

Work is going fairly smooth from a patient care standpoint. Did have a very rocky transport/admission/death last Wednesday but the neos basically took over when they saw how bad this trainwreck of a baby was becoming. Thankful that it could be converted into a learning opportunity versus me being super stressed. I've been seeing between 4-6 patients when I work...depending on which neos are on that day... (control freaks...they know it and the nurses tease them haha). So far the work part is going great. Paperwork issues are still being sorted out and I'm still waiting on some final stuff related to insurance and whatnot.

Childcare...ugg... impossible...denial...anxiety....stress....mommy guilt...deserves it own blog post...

Boys are doing great!! :)

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. :)