Weekend Wrap up~~~~

Most boring weekend at work in a looong time! Hate having to be there doing nothing when I could be at home loving on my babies....or helping with our stupid basement again!

The storm knocked out our power for 2 hours on Saturday. We, the bad homeowners we are lately, still didnt have our battery backup so the storage area in our basement got wet as well as part of the basement carpet. Our insurance agent said if we make another claim so soon then we will likely get dropped or jacked up prices so we didnt feel like we could call the water restoration peeps again. Andy worked on it for 3 hours after I got home (and after we ran around trying to get stuff after work) with a wet vac from my parents. We have fans and a dehumidifier (another expensive thing!) down there now but its ridiculously stinky and he worked on it for a few more hours again today. Thank god our sitter could come (both sets of parents are out of town too) over to watch our trio so he could be down there. We have a battery backup plus the battery now but need someone to install it. Everyone this weekend was tied up with the storm so hopefully tomorrow we can get someone scheduled. Next on the list is getting Stanley Steamer out to clean the carpet as a bandaid until we can get it replaced. Ugh.

Giselle is already 7 months old tomorrow and Mason has his 3 year appt on Tuesday. More updates on him after his appointment!

---Weekend Wrap up---

--Giselle had her monthly appt with the surgeon on Friday. He said everything is still looking good since we dropped down to every other day dilation so now we will drop down to twice a week dilation for the next month. Yay for Giselle!! :) We go back July 17th.

--Mason's 3rd birthday party was Saturday. We had a small but very fun party! Theme was Octonauts (disney junior show about sea creatures that "explore, rescue and protect"). Mason wasn't shy at all this year when opening his presents and sung right along when we sang Happy Birthday!! :)

--Father's Day and my 30th Birthday were jointly celebrated today! We hung out as a family of 5 for the morning then went to the lake for lunch with Andy's family and some outside playing. Came home and went out to dinner with my family at a favorite resturant of mine and my dad's. Busy but great day! :) All 3 kiddos were so well behaved.

-----Friday Five-----

1. Giselle had her 6 mt appt today! She weighes 16lbs (42th%), is 24.5in long (4th%) and her head measures 16.5in (34th%). Tiny peanut! Her doc was impressed with how well she sits up and said everything looks great! :) Got the go ahead to start some solid food and she is fine with me skipping rice cereal and going straight to oatmeal. Her & I are still concerned for her high risk of constipation so we won't be doing it every day. Excited to start making baby food again and hope I stick with it longer than I did with the boys. Giselle did ok with her shots...seemed more clingy than usual which is fine for my day off. :)

2. Play date with Emily and Wyatt this afternoon went well. They just stared at each other and Giselle did her new usual sqwaking here and there. Wyatt was pretty quiet and serious which is unlike him...he's normally so chatty. :) So fun to watch them interact.

3. Austin and Mason are enjoying all the outside time they can get. Last few days have been hot and humid so its been limited to morning and early evening but they certainly ask to go out frequently!

4. Dinner at my parents tonight and Austin kept beating my mom in this kids Bingo game she has! Smart boy we have! :)

5. Can't believe in just over a week Mason will be 3!! He is my sweet, generous and loving mama's boy. :) (really they both are at times but lately Mason really is)

Baby girl is 6 months old! How are we already half way to her first birthday?!? (or over half way since this post is late ha)

She doesn't have her 6 mt appt til next Friday, June 12th. So official measurments to come soon. She was 15lbs 5oz at the surgeons office on May 22nd though. Sucks that her appts are not on track but having one late appt early in life put them all late since there has to be so much time in between shots.

Likes:
-to be upright ...whether its sitting up, being carried or on your lap
-bath time
-interacting with her brothers
-trying to chomp down on every toy she can get ahold of
-shrieking or making a noise that kind of sounds like peacock (really need to get it on video!)
-being read or sung to
-snuggling with her momma

Dislikes:
-waiting...this girl is impatient ha!

She now sits up for long periods of time! We still usually put the boppy around her in case she gets wobbly. She will roll from belly to back if she is already propped up on her elbows but not if her arms are out to her sides. Today she rolled once from back to belly but couldn't get her trapped arm out ha!

After her pediatrician appointment next week we will venture into the land of baby cereal! Not sure if I'm ready...she still seems like she should be a little baby. She is ready though...if Andy or I are eating something while holding her (frequent occurence if only one parent is home lol) she will try to grab it. Last week she grabbed a slice of cheese I was holding and tried to put it in her mouth haha!

Friday Five-----

1) Week is already over ...crazy! Work was crazy Thursday ...but a good crazy. I love the days where the adrenline is constantly flowing! The downside is that I only got to pump twice instead of three times.

2) Giselle had another appt with her surgeon this morning. She is 15lbs 5oz. He gave the ok to start every other day dilations...finally! :) We go back June 19.

3) Ordered some of Mason's birthday party stuff today! Looks to be a small crowd this year since several people already have plans. Hard to schedule stuff when there are several peoples schedules to take into account & it's summer. Just have to pick a day and run with it ha!

4) Boys have been showing a lot more empathy lately. If they get in trouble and I am upset...they will later ask me ..."momma, you ok now?" It's very sweet and it shows how fast they are growing up.

5) Speaking of growing up...Giselle has basically outgrown her bassinet but I am NOT ready to move her to her room. :(  #sadface #staylittleforever #lastbaby

Sorry for the long time between posts. Just have been busy most days...and not feeling up to updating this other days.

--Giselle is over her laryngitis that she had. It never progressed to croup like the Pediatrician had warned us about. Her echo revealed that she still has a small PFO so she will get another one in January.

--Baby dedication, our anniversay and Mothers Day went great! What a busy weekend! :)

--Our new sitter is doing great with the kiddos! :) They seem to really like her so far.

--Andy's work hours suck. He leaves the house around 6 am and gets home between 5:30-7pm...he never knows when the end time will be. Thankfully he only has to work 2 Saturdays a month. Two perks of his job..he gets overtime pay & he doesn't work if the ground is really wet. He ended up having Friday off since it rained so much Thursday night. Money wise we won't even miss the fact that he didnt work Friday because he already had over 40 hours in by the time he left Thursday night.

--Sleep around here has been less than stellar. My anxiety is increased right now and Giselle is also having a bit of sleep regression.

--Giselle is now grabbing her toes occasionally when she is on her back. She is also sitting up for short periods of time (3-5 mins) by herself. Big girl! Crazy how fast time is flying right by.

--Austin has not came to our bed in the middle of the night for several weeks now so I am counting that as a milestone for him!

--Mason continues to stay dry all night as well!

--Gotta look at all these positives happening here at home even though I miss all 3 like crazy when I'm at work and feel like I'm missing to much of their childhood most days.

How is it already May?! How is it that Giselle is 5 months old and Mason will be 3 next month?!?

Giselle's 5 month updates:
--14lbs 4oz last week at the surgeon's office
--sleeps from 9/10pm to 5/6am most nights now
--rolling more from belly to back
--rolls from her back to her side
--loves to sit up if you hold her trunk/midsection
--loves to "talk" and be talked to
--new found interest of being read to...she reaches out and touches the pages
--likes going on walks
--had her first ever trip to the zoo!

She is still sleeping in our room and is seriously about to outgrow the bassinet...the weight limit is 15lbs. I dont know what we are going to do because our pack n play got pitched and we haven't bought a new one. Andy thinks she should be ready to be in her room soon but I say its still to early.  :( ...and plus her room isn't finished yet ha. Havent done much to it since shes been born knowing that she would be in our room for a while anyways.

Crazy week and lots of ranting & some whining on my part so I've been avoiding the blog and updates. Soooo maybe just a bullet list of stuff going on in the Coak house?!

• My dad was diagnosed with Basal Cell Carcinoma a couple weeks ago and started chemo this week. The doctor said this has a 85% cure rate so that is promising. Prayers for him pretty please!...and everyone better be wearing their freaking sunscreen this summer or you can risk getting a lecture from me!
• I'm starting to really want a vacation or some kind of break from my job. My hours are super long and I arrive home at bedtime on the days I work. I think sometimes who I'm working with on certain weeks (the docs are on for 7 days straight then switch) also plays a part in my job frustration lately. The kiddos are growing up too fast. I do cherish my days off and try to make them quality days but lets face it...I also have to cram in any appts, errands, housework, etc
• Giselle still has another month of daily dilations. The surgeon says she still looks great but wants us to continue daily until our next appointment May 22. Had to laugh out loud in my class I was teaching at work...there is a section on dilation after surgical repairs similar to what Giselle had and it said approx 2 weeks of dilation after surgery. Yeah freaking right. Her healing has been textbook and we are almost 3 months out from surgery.
• Got a speeding ticket Friday...enough said. Had all 3 with me and Austin kept asking "Momma who is your friend talking to you at the window?" Haha!
• Andy has basically decided that school is not for him so he's not finishing. He was dragging his feet not wanting to tell me. I know he doesn't like school and it was evident from all the stopping and starting of classes and changing his major a bunch of times. It's frustrating and disappointing but I can't make him get a degree. I just hope our children will value education and want to go to college.
• Thanks for hanging in for the long blog post where there wasn't much fun stuff to read.
• Hoping for a better week!

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

1) Been a little crazy around here for multiple reasons. We bought a new car for me last weekend! Very exciting & much more room! Its a GMC Acadia in case you missed it on facebook.

2) Andy accepting a landscaping position with CL & S Landscaping and started yesterday--so far he likes it! He found out about the job from someone we know so that's a plus. Downside is having to have child care expenses again ha! For right now he is working part time (the week days that I have off plus an occasional half day Saturday) until the girl that we hired can start in mid-May. We didn't want to go back to a in home daycare (or any daycare for that matter) due to the high cost. It would have been $300/week for all 3 if they went back to the in home that we were using. So now we are going to be paying our new sitter a daily rate which makes more sense to me. Still nervous about leaving them again though!!

3) Finally nice enough to go outside most days now! Actually went out a couple times on both of my days off this week. :) The boys got to see some turtles by the pond in our neighborhood which was really neat. Other than taking walks they like to race each other up and down the driveway and play catch in the grass lately.

4) Giselle continues to grow and grow! Lately she has quite the ability to get really loud if she thinks you should be near her or picking her up. Its not really a mad cry but more of a sqwaking babble lol. :)

5) Working the weekend and hope it goes fast!

Giselle had an appt with the surgeon yesterday and we ended up moving up a dilation size. I feel like I should just take things one appt at a time with this guy! We go back again April 24th and he thinks she may be able to go to every other day dilation after that appt but I'm not holding my breath. He still thinks she looks great and said she has good tone in her rectum.

Giselle then had her 4 month appointment today with the pediatrician! :) She said she looks great and was impressed with her trunk strength when she had her in a sitting position. She is a tiny thing when looking at the growth chart though ha...she seems big to me but guess I'm wrong (or just used to my babies at work ha). She weighed in at 13lbs 5oz (20th percentile), is now 23.25 inches long (5th percentile) and her head circumference is 15.75in (25th percentile). She was not a fan of her 2 shots but didn't mind the oral rotavirus vaccine. Had two big fussy periods today but napped a long stretch between them. Hoping she does well for Andy tomorrow while I'm at work. Think we must have had a newer nurse giving the shots because both legs have a reddish bruise. Have never had that with either boy or with her 2 month shots so I'll be keeping a very close eye on her thighs.

Also scheduled her repeat Echo...it will be May 8th. Her pediatrician did not hear her murmur today so that's promising that the cardiologist won't see the open shunt anymore on her echo next month.

Austin and Mason have been loving every chance we get to go outside lately!! :) They've also taken up a new love of playing with their Planes (from the Disney Planes - Fire & Rescue movie). Working on counting and ABC's with both and Austin can sing the whole ABC song with no help now. :)

And...last but not least...Andy got a job! It's with a landscaping and design company. Not in his field but he has experience doing landscaping so it'll work and he's excited. The pay is good but the hours have the potential to be a bit crazy. Now to get the sitter issues worked out. The company is being flexible with his start date since its contingent on us getting childcare arranged.

Crazy that Giselle was 4 months old on Sunday! She is growing fast and developing such a cute personality! :)

Likes:
-to be upright
-to be held facing out
-to hold onto her burp cloth, blanket, owl lovey
-her big brothers "reading" and talking to her
-to be chatty :)

Dislikes:
-laying flat for to long

She is a pretty easy going girl. She also started rolling belly to back consistently this weekend as well. She is in size 3mt/3-6mt clothes with some of her 3 mt sleepers becoming to short. I don't have an exact weight or length yet. Her 4 mt appt isn't til next Wednesday, the 8th. More updates after that appt.

Totally flaked on a Friday post. This week was a little crazy.

Worked the weekend & Monday. Woke up Tuesday with shingles on my left leg. Almost didn't even go to the doctor but decided that with my 3 small children I should make sure I knew what it was. Doctor said that as long as I kept it covered and washed my hands immediately after touching it that our kiddos would be ok and I would be ok to work. Small side note...did you know that when you get shingles before age 40-50 that it is almost always brought on from stress?! Interesting... Was able to work on Thursday after clearing it with our medical director (don't really have any time to take off since I need to save it in case one of the kids is ill).

Came home Thursday to a mostly flooded basement. Andy texted me around 6:30pm at work with the news. It was a big freaking mess! Thankfully my parents came over as well as our insurance agent who also happens to be a family friend. We are thinking our sump pump had some kind of mishap because my dad was able to get it going again after messing with it...which actually got rid of all the standing water. Water Out made it there around 9:30 and stayed til almost 11pm. They used the industrial sized vacumms to suck a lot of water out then put a gazillion big fans and 2 huge dehumidifiers in the basement. They came back again Friday afternoon and then again today. They ended up having to bring another dehumidifier today. Their plan is to come back Monday and unplug everything and hopefully start the shampoo/deodarizing process if time. If not then it'll be scheduled asap. The insurance adjuster is coming Tuesday morning. In the meantime my house stinks like wet,  musty grossness. We actually left the house 2 different times today just to get away from the stink ha! It's not unbearable but its noticeable. They said it would get worse this weekend and be gone by the time the carpet is cleaned. If it isn't then we submit for new carpet to the adjustor. Ugh.

We actally do use our basement quite a bit so thankfully this was caught early. We think there was only about a 15-18 hour span when it all happened. As of right now we haven't noticed any drywall damage thankfully.

Sorry for no 5 on Friday...Giselle had other plans and I didn't get to bed until after midnight last night and then worked today. So just a recap of the week. :)

-Worked Monday, Tues & Wed.
-Boys had gymnastics on Thursday night!
-Finally mailed back the paperwork and deposit for Austins preschool! Now to pray that they still have a spot for him.
-Giselle had her surgeon appt Friday and everything still looks great he said! Moved up a size...the final size!! We go back in 2.5 weeks (would have been 2 weeks but they are closed Good Friday so we go back the Tues after). Very exciting to be done with the weekly appointments!! :)
-Celebrated my mom's birthday Friday night! :) Wish we could have celebrated all together but my brother and I work opposite weekends most months. :(  They just got into town around 7-8pm & we are hoping to get together for a real quick visit at our house after I get off work tomorrow and before he heads back home.
-Also...we have a new toddler milestone in our house....Mason now naps diaper free!!  :)

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

1) Hair cut on Tuesday! Still getting used to it though haha! I ended up just having her trim it and add some layers....and then had her do some side swept bangs. Have a learning curve on how to style them but I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. They were pinned back when I worked Thursday & theres a good chance they will be most days I work since I dont leave myself much time for getting ready in the morning.

2) Was able to take the boys outside to play on Wednesday finally! We were only out for about 20-30 minutes but it was worth it. They pushed their mowers on the sidewalk, each took a turn with the trike and they "shoveled" some of the remaining snow on the sidewalk. :)

3) Giselle had her weekly appt this morning. It went well, he moved up a size and said probably just one more size increase before we can start spacing appointments out. So back again next Friday. Her weight stayed almost exactly the same as last week which was a little concerning to me. I know they start to slow down on gaining around this time but the worrier in me couldn't help but think maybe she's not eating enough. She was 12lbs 8oz last Friday and 12lbs 6oz today.

4) Date night tonight! First time out alone since Giselle was born. We went to Logan's Roadhouse for dinner and then to AT&T to get my new phone since I was eligible for an upgrade. My parents had a fun time watching our trio. :)

5) Looking forward to my friends Jamberry Nails party on Sunday....have never tried it before and hoping I like it! :)

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. :)