Christmas and Week 32 and 5 days...

We had a very low key Christmas here at the Deaton Ranch. Memaw and Pa came in on Dec 15th, and left on the 28th. They were VERY helpful in getting the last minute 'stuff' completed before the twins arrive.

Being that my brain does not work all the time right now, I had started a list of things I needed to have done when they were here, and it was about 3/4 of a page when they arrived. After they got here and we started marking off things as they were accomplished, other items came to mind and I added them to the list. This increased it to 1 1/2 pages. They were like "I think we are moving backwards, not forwards....stop adding to the list!" HA! :o)

So I stopped.....and we got basically all of it done!!! VERY helpful.

So Christmas Eve marked us making it to 32 Weeks!!!! YAY! We are so happy to have made this very critical date in our pregnancy. I am as big as a house. To prove this point, Memaw took profile pictures of me at every possible opportunity!

Santa came, and brought E lots of dolls with doll accessories like a crib, stroller, swing, clothes, etc. He also brought her a Sandbox complete with an umbrella for outside. She was very excited. I would have to say the "top" gifts for her were the Superman Comforter for her bed (she -LOVES- superman, cuz Papa has superman stuff too); the Dora the Explorer Princess Dress (which she -immediately- put on and wore the rest of the day); the play tool set she got from her best buddy Elliott; a battery operated fish that swims in the hot tub/bath tub from Chuck; and all the doll stuff. There is something to be said about your daughter wearing a pink princess dress, sitting on a superman comforter, hammering :o)

We did manage to get some cool pictures from that morning. Memaw and Pa enjoyed some really nice gifts as well, sent in from all over. All of us kids went in together and got him a really nice dehydrator (per his request). Memaw received some really nice knives and pots; and they both received a really cool Family Tree framed, from Uncle Tim and Aunt Courtney.

The hubby received a really cool black fedora which he put on and wore most of the day. We bought each other a new digital camera for the family.

Pa made a nice pork roast for Christmas lunch, and I had two helping of EVERYTHING, including dessert!!! I scared everyone with the sheer quantity of food I was able to put away that day....mostly myself! :o)

We also enjoyed a visit from the LeGarde's during Christmas week. It was a very nice visit. And talk about it being a small world...within 15 minutes of my folks talking with Aunt Lisa, they discovered that one of Aunt Lisa's roommates in College was the daughter of a family friend of my folks when we lived in Greenville, MS!! We ate good food and had a fun evening laughing and visiting.

Today was another visit with Dr. G. Everything checked out okay; we are still doing well, and Dr. G. would like to see us hit 34 weeks.....she actually said she would like to see us hit 36 weeks, which means 4 more weeks! Ugh! I don't know if I will be able to hit that mark, but I will do my best. As of today I'm measuring 40 weeks (and we are only 32 weeks and 5 days). Baby Girl A is -still- breech and is measuring 5.1 pounds, while Baby Boy B is measuring 4.6 pounds (+/- .5 pounds).

So for some background info, E was born at 41 weeks and weighed 8.1 pounds.....I already have more "baby" inside me than E at term! ACK!!!

So we will be continuing to see Dr. G. every Monday morning for sonograms and checks, and we will keep all of you in the loop as best we can.

Here is hoping everyone has a safe and happy New Year!!

Love to all,
Cherise

Week 30 and 6 days...

Monday morning, E was standing on the stool at my sink brushing her teeth with the hubby. I was in the bathroom with them changing out of my pj's into my clothes for the day. E turned around to me and this was the exchange:

E: Oh Momma! Your belly is SO beautiful!
ME: Oh Thank You Sweetie! Did you hear that dear? E says my belly is beautiful.
HUBBY: {smiling} Well of course it is!
E: Papa! Look! Momma's belly is Great!
HUBBY: {smirking} Great BIG!!!

So much for my 'special moment' with E... HA!!

So Wednesday is 31 weeks......and we are extremely pleased!

We also saw our OB doctor Monday; she walked in the room and told us that we were 'her good news of the day.' She was very happy to see us still doing well, and having reached 30 weeks. She told us she -really- wanted to see us go another month (get to 34 weeks). Actually, we would not mind that either....the longer they stay in, the better off they will be when they arrive, which means a shorter stay in the hospital for them.

We took measurements and the sonogram indicates that Baby Girl A is measuring 3.7 pounds and Baby Boy B is measuring 3.3 pounds (+/- .5 pounds). I am measuring 36 weeks in gestational size, have gained 31 1/2 pounds and measure 44 inches in circumference; which means I have expanded by 4 inches in 4 weeks! YIKES! When the doctor came up with the 36 week number, she speculated that I might be growing out on the sides instead of just out the front.....now that is depressing....I am going to look like I swallowed large inflatable doughnut before this is all said and done. :-\

The babies have not really moved from their previous positions. Baby Girl A is still on the left side, facing 'out', in the breech position (head up, feet down). Baby Boy B is still on the right side, but is now more on his right side...last week he was facing 'in', more on his stomach....he is still kinda in an "L" shape with his head down and his feet curving over to line up beautifully with his sister's head! :o)

The babies enjoy several rounds of WWF a day....and they can go into the night and wee hours of the morning. It just takes one of them to start moving around to cause the other one to 'respond' with jabs and kicks.

The doctor is very pleased with their movement and amniotic fluid levels. Their heart rates and other internal organs are still looking great. The placenta previa is still in tact, with no indication of bleeding or rupture - SUPER DUPER YAY!!!!

She also told us that she will be 'on call' next week, and that we will be seeing her associate, Dr. W., on Monday. We asked what would happen if we rupture while she is on call....will Dr. W. call her to come in and deliver the twins? Or will Dr. W. deliver the twins? She kinda laughed and said "well, you just never know when a call will come in when you are on call. I might be in the bath tub, or just stepped out for a basketball game, or maybe I just poured a second glass of champagne for myself." She basically went on to tell us that ultimately, her idea is that both her and Dr. W. will be there to deliver the twins, a sort of 'tag-team' event if you will. She said she will bring me a glass of champagne when this is all over.....I asked her to bring the bottle :o) She laughed again, but said sure!

We also discussed the possibility that I may have started dilating. I keep getting the sensation of what I call "a foot falling out" when I stand up. She said, 'well, it could very well be a foot falling down, but because the placenta is blocking the cervix, it is staying in.' Now, if that train of thought does not freak you out just a bit, you need to go back and re-read this paragraph :o\

Bearing that in mind, we are keeping our eye on the week by week progress. We learned that we were a few day off in our counting, and that the weeks start on Wednesdays instead of Saturdays. This means tomorrow marks Week 31 and Christmas Eve marks Week 32. So we are a few days farther along than we had originally estimated. I will take every day that I can get! :o)

Last week we had a Momma Jo visit. E was very happy to see her. Momma Jo brought with her the first Christmas Presents to go under the tree. So now we have started trying to teach E 'Christmas Present Etiquette.' In the previous two Christmas' the presents did not appear until the day before Christmas, and then they were not really noticed. But she definitely noticed the boxes under the tree this time. She wanted to open them immediately. She does not do good with grasping time yet, so to tell her she had to wait 2 weeks to open them just went over her head. We also had to explain that she could not throw them or jump on them either :oP

On Wednesday afternoon, the hubby took the afternoon off and he, Momma Jo and E went to the Dallas Aquarium (way too much walking for me to go). They really enjoyed themselves. I got a full report from E of all the animals she was able to see when they got home. Momma Jo was a little disappointed that E did not want to take her hood off for the majority of the Aquarium visit....interferes with the picture taking :o) I'm attaching some of the photos she managed to snap.

Memaw & Paw arrived yesterday early afternoon. They left AR just in time to avoid all the REALLY bad weather that hit. They will be here with us for the next two weeks, helping us with the last minute arranging and organizing for the twins. I am VERY grateful. I am sure for the next post we will have some Christmas activity pictures to share with all of you.

I guess that is all for now.

Love to all,
Cherise

Thanksgiving and 28 Weeks, 2 days...

Thanksgiving here on the Deaton Ranch was very quiet. Instead of doing a huge spread with lots of folks over, it was just the 3 of us (well, FIVE, counting the twins). We had a ham instead of a turkey (due to the size of the turkeys and our small group - just could not see us eating all that bird!).

Trying to engage E in the thoughts behind Thanksgiving, the hubby and I were going over the day's menu, among other things. One of our side dishes was to be a Spinach Salad. When I asked her if she wanted to help make the salad, she excitedly said "YES!" and then ran into the kitchen...now mind you, it was 8:30 in the morning...a little early for Thanksgiving Lunch :o)

But she was excited, and we wanted to encourage it. So the hubby set her up at the kitchen island with a bag of baby spinach leaves and a big bowl. She insisted on a spoon, so the hubby got her a serving spoon. "That's too big papa." So eventually she declared that a soup spoon was the right size. She then determinedly moved the spinach one leaf at a time from the bag to the bowl. He walked out to check on some other things, and reported to me that after about 20 minutes, she had managed to move about 1 cup of the spinach from bag to bowl (HA!) ...So he walked back up to her and this was the exchange:

"E, are you making progress?"
"No papa. I'm making salad."

When all the parades started to play on TV, she sat just mesmerized. She loved all of the floats and dancing and singing....she even clapped and joined in dancing when she deemed the TV performance worthy of her participation.

Later on we explained to her that Thanksgiving was all about being thankful for things we have, people we like, etc. She understood it best when we told her it was about naming the things that make us happy. Not too bad of a grasp for an almost-three-year-old.

Pregnancy is really wreaking havoc on my brain. For example, last night the hubby had spent a good bit of the early evening prepping and then starting a pot of beans (with the Thanksgiving ham bone) and a batch of cornbread muffins (which E assisted in preparing). Then when we were about 30 minutes from being ready, we had friends call and ask him to come over and watch their kids, due to them needing to take their dog to the emergency vet. So E and the hubby headed over, leaving me to "tend" to the muffins and beans. Seems pretty straight-forward: buzzer goes off, take out muffins, turn off oven, turn off burner under beans and cover.

Buzzer goes off.
Muffins come out.
Oven gets turned off.
Brain checks out.
Beans end up boiling out all of the water and scorching to the bottom of the pot.
Damn it!

Does it count as dinner if all you have are cornbread muffins???? Yeah, I didn't think so.

So Saturday was our Second Most Important Goal Date of 28 Weeks!!!! Everyone (but me) do some kind of break out dance of joy!!!!! So as of this posting we are at 28 weeks, plus 2 days!

My sciatic pain is still with me, but I have also developed pretty severe side and now back pain to go along with it. Our OB had suggested that I start taking hot baths in the evenings to help easy those tired muscle, which I was doing, and it was helping.....until E wanted to join me. Not so much on the relaxing as much as it was on the 'catch the slippery kid before she falls on me' end of the spectrum. But the hubby came to the rescue! He fixed our hot tub!!!! Now the funny thing is that sometimes my back/sides start to give out really early on in the day....like before noon. So he just turns the tub on and says "Go Float." You just gotta love a man like that! I have a maternity swimsuit, somewhere.....but that brain thing I was telling you about earlier, yeah that one... well I just can't seem to remember where I put it. So I just put on a bikini top with swim shorts and go for it. It is Quite A Sight, I must tell you...words fail to describe it accurately, although 'scary' is definitely included! HA! :o) And yes.....the purple rose has blossomed into a full blown purple cabbage! :oP

We met with our Doctor today and had another sonogram. Baby Girl A is in a breech position on the left side, while Baby Boy B is in a 'transverse' position where his head is kinda down and on the right, but his body then goes up and wraps around, and it ends with his feet near Baby Girl A's head. Very weird!

They are really starting to move and push off each other and everything inside me. There are several times a day where all of a sudden, I can't breath because one of them is pressing into my lungs. Or even better, trying to rearrange the location of my ribs....very uncomfortable, needless to say.

Today's measurements: I have gained 30 pounds to date. Baby Girl A is measuring 3 pounds. Baby Boy B is measuring 2.7 pounds. I am measuring 35-36 weeks along. For those of you keeping up with all of these lovely measurements from visit to visit, what this means is Thanksgiving Was Good!!!! Don't you just LOVE pie?!?!

We asked Doctor G what are we to expect going forward. She wants to see us every Monday, and will probably do sonograms every visit. At our current rate of measurement increases, we will probably measure like we are 40 weeks along in just 2 more weeks (which will only be 30 weeks in actuality). She told us some key warning signs to look out for, and if they should happen, to call the office immediately. She also said if they happen, she will most likely put me in the hospital. She would really like to see us get to at least 32 weeks, which is the Saturday after Christmas. I told her I'm aiming for one Saturday after the next! Just taking it one week at a time :o)

Side Note: The hubby's cousin, Isabel sent out a link to snapfish, and an album of their twins. Their two darlings are home and doing well! Yay! I'm including the link:

Click Here

You just need to sign up for a snapfish account, if you don't already have one, to view the pictures.

Love to all,
Cherise

Week 26 and 2 days...

So uncomfortable does not even BEGIN to describe my current condition. I was curious so I asked the hubby to measure me around 'my equator' (basically the circumference of my girth measured at the belly button): as of today, I'm 40 1/4". WOW!!!!! I never did measure how big around I achieved with E, but Memaw does tell me that she has pictures to prove I was Quite Large....ah, ya gotta love yer ma, no matter what she does! :oP

I have reached that point in our pregnancy where I'm not supposed to do anything....our next goal date is the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and I'm doing all my best to make sure we make that date and then some.

Well that statement is a little misleading. I actual do very little...period. Mostly due to the fact that I still have pretty severe sciatic pain and am having to wear a pregnancy support belt - like a weird pregnancy girdle of sorts. On top of that, my back hurts from all the weight in the front (see the measurement listed in the first paragraph). And I have been extremely tired....like I spend up to 16 hours a day unconscious...I did not have all of this with my pregnancy with E.

We had our pregnancy glucose test last week, and that came back fine, but turns out, I'm anemic. So back on the Iron Pills I go....and supposedly this will help with some of the extreme fatigue I have been feeling. The Doctor is worried about me having enough blood flow for the delivery, and then the stamina to care for the newborns afterward. Lord knows I can't be sleeping 16 hours a day with twin newborns!!!

We had another ultra sound today, and everything is progressing as they should be. Baby Girl A is measuring 2.3 pounds, and Baby Boy B is measuring 1.9 pounds. They are arranged Horizontally and Stacked....kinda like they are in bunk-beds. Currently, both of their heads are on my left side...so they have not gone into the 'head down position' as of yet...not that it will matter with a c-section. I'm not showing any signs of preterm labor, and the placenta previa HAS NOT MOVED ONE INCH (sigh). So we are still on track for the mandatory c-section.

At our last meeting with Doctor G (last week), the hubby and I asked some more questions about the delivery. I did confirm that the hubby and Memaw can both be in the delivery room with me, just like when E was born.

I did ask what would be the procedure with regard to them if the mandatory hysterectomy comes to fruition (in the event the previa becomes accreta). She informed us that she would probably ask Memaw and the hubby to step out at that point...but my thought is, the babies will be out, so they can follow them while Doctor G finishes up whatever needs to be done. I will also remain conscious (via epidural) as long as 'things don't become dicey.' If dice happens, she will knock me out completely.

We did ask her what are her preliminary plans at this point for our c-section delivery. If things continue to go well, and we get to schedule the c-section ahead of time (versus a preterm labor situation), she will schedule it for a Friday. She said she intends on having my blood typed and crossed and units waiting in the OR before she ever begins to cut. She also said she plans to 'be quick', at which point the hubby asked why. She said she will have no choice but to cut thru the placenta to get to the babies; so she wants to go as fast as she can to get the babies out, and then start to assess what additional steps need to be taken.

She also wants to tie my tubes while in there, because an additional pregnancy after this high risk one will put my life in jeopardy. Enough said! But truthfully, the hubby and I had already decided we were done having kids after this pregnancy...if we had started earlier in our lives we might have more, but I'll be 39 when the twins get here, so we are calling it 'perfect' with the three we will have been blessed with! :o) Besides, as the hubby put it, we are ready to 'start getting on with the process of Raising Kids, and end this business of Having Kids.' Sounds great to me!

We also had another nice visit with Momma Jo last week. E really enjoys her time with all of her grandparents!

E is growing like a weed! She is 2 1/2 years old right now, and boy do we know it on some days! She is just getting us ready for when she will be a teenager, I think :o) Most of the time she is just great. She likes to play 'bat'....which means she holds the bat and you throw the ball so it hits the bat....she is practicing on actually swinging the bat and hitting the ball all on her own, but for now it is just easier to let her swing and you aim for the bat.

She also likes to help out in the kitchen. She is very interested in whatever you are cooking, and likes to help pour stuff and stir stuff....she also will let you know when stuff is boiling, by running up to you and saying "hurry! it's cooking!"

We are practicing with her daily on the concept of 'baby brother and baby sister.' She is catching on, and now calls most of her dolls 'baby brother-sister.' She also insists on having at least TWO around her, which is GREAT, considering there -will- be two around from the beginning! Practice makes perfect!

She has really settled into her school, and has decided 99% of the time, this is where she would like to spend her days....she gets to play with other kids her age and learn cool new stuff....and she sings all these nursery rhymes. Ones that I, frankly, had forgotten about. And of course, you have to ask permission to sing with her, or she will tell you "no, mommy, don't sing!" I don't blame her....Aunt Chantelle is the one who could always sing....definitely not momma! :o)

Love to all,
Cherise

24 Weeks and 2 grandma visits...

So life here on the Deaton Ranch has been moving right along....albeit slowly and largely :o)

I'm a couch-potato for all intents and purposes. I get to venture out about once a day, but if I over do it, I'm house-bound for 3-4 days to recover. My sciatic pain in my right leg is bad enough to warrant me wearing a pregnancy support belt (like a girdle) everyday....if I don't, I can't walk or stand or sit for very long.....and if I keep going anyway, I become bedridden, cuz laying down is the only way for the pain to stop.....which is not fun. Just call me the poster child for Slug-girl!

Also, I'm now big enough, that if I lean back too far in a chair or on the couch, I'm like a turtle on it's back.....stuck! :o|

Oh well, all for a good cause....

This month we have been blessed with two separate visits from both sets of our parents.....

First, MommaJo came for a couple of days to help me clean...YAY!!!! It was GREATLY appreciated! E really enjoyed her time with MommaJo! So much so, that on Thursday afternoon when the hubby went to pick her up from school WITHOUT MommaJo, E was very upset about it! :o( But we reassured her, that MommaJo would be back!

While she was in town, we went over to have dinner with Aunt Lisa, Uncle Alan and their gang. MommaJo did not get to attend the House Warming/Decade Birthday Party at their house over Labor Day weekend, so we took advantage of Uncle Alan's cooking, and brought her over to check out the new place. She took some pictures from our visit.

The next week, Memaw and Paw came in for a couple of days to cook and freeze some meals, and to so some sewing projects for me.....YAY!!!! Again, it was GREATLY appreciated! And again, E really enjoyed her time with both of them......Paw is a great 'tickler', and she is a fool for it! The house smelled so good for the three days of cooking! And now the freezer smells good too!!! Unfortunately, we suck and do not have any pictures from that visit....and yes, when the hubby brought home E from school to NO Memaw or Paw, she was very upset.....but we reassured her, they would be back!

Then we went to see the Specialist last Friday, for a follow up ultrasound, to check on the twins. They checked for all the internal organs on both babies. Everything was where it was supposed to be! The Doctor that was operating the ultrasound machine was very nice.....she was looking at Baby Girl's (Baby A's) brain, and she said "look! she has a pretty brain! you can tell her you saw it even Before she was born!" She was a really nice Doctor who obviously loves her job. After she took all the initial photos, the Specialist came in and reviewed them, and then took some of his own. They were 'ooh-ing' and 'ahhh-ing' over the pictures so much, we finally asked what was the big deal....did they get a new machine or something? No....they said the pictures are so clear and pretty because 'I'm not fat'... !!!! ...HA! I thought, good thing you are not ultra-sounding my butt! :oP God love them, I think they called me skinny!! :o)

He also checked on the previa, and it is still right where it was when they first discovered it. He also did a check to see if it has advanced to a definite accreta state, but he did tell us the test is just a visual test..."guestimate" if you will....and that we really won't know until Dr. G goes in to deliver the twins...but we are hopeful that the previa will NOT advance to accreta. We have a couple of profile shots of each baby and one shot of Baby Boy's (Baby B) foot.....don't you just LOVE baby feet!?!?

And then today we went to our regular OB appointment.....heartbeats sound good....moving around good....all the usual 'good' stuff....we go back in two weeks, but we don't have to see the Specialist again, unless Dr. G discovers something 'new' and wants a second pair of eyes.

I'm also attaching a little video we took of E dancing the other night....she LOVES to dance....she loves just about any kind of music as long as it is not TOO loud, and she lets us know when it is.....so far, she is not a fan of thrash metal, but we are totally polluting her with 80's music.....she likes to get her dance on before she goes for her bath....in this video, she is rocking out to Rick Springfield (yes, we went there...)

On another topic, the hubby's cousin, Isabell, and her hubby Charlie, welcomed their twins Ike and Sophie into this world on Monday. Ike's water broke late last week, so they put her in the hospital to monitor the kids and administer some drug therapy for the twins to help with their lung and brain development...they made it until Sunday, which was 32 weeks for her, and then stopped the drugs.....she went into labor on Monday and had them shortly there after.....Ike delivered first, but then Sophie started doing 'toe touches' in-utero and got stuck, so they had to delivered her via c-section. Both babies are in the NICU, but doing fine according to the latest email correspondence from Grandma.

We can't wait to see pictures of Ike and Sophie! That is a hint, by the way...

And we send a hearty Congrats! to Isabell and Charlie!!

Love to all,
Cherise

Twins update at 19 weeks 3 days...

After a 24 hour delay to see our OB doctor, we saw Doctor Graham on Wednesday morning...(her office called to ask us to reschedule our Tuesday appointment to Wednesday, due to Dr. Graham being up all night Monday night performing an emergency c-section to deliver twins....talk about Karma!)

We were very relieved to talk to Dr. G. After seeing the specialist, I have to admit, I have been more than a little pent-up over this past weekend. The 24 hour delay just depressed me. But getting to talk with her, and have her answer our questions and concerns, really put us both back on even ground.

She said that she had experience in treating patients with cases just like mine, and being very successful at saving not only baby but mother as well. She also told us that we will not really be able to tell how bad the previa is until she goes in to do the c-section, but we will have a better idea a little farther along in the pregnancy.

She is so funny. She was trying to reassure us and said "it is really hard to say this without sounding like I'm bragging on myself, but before I entered civilian life, I was pretty famous in the military." She went on to tell the following story:

She was an OB doctor in the military (Air Force, I think), and 'in charge' of the OB department for the National Naval Medical Center (where all of the Army, Navy and Air Force personnel are treated...so to speak). She was coming onto her shift to be On Call, and checking in with the Interns and Residents. It was also the 'changing of the guard' time with the Interns...the old class had moved up to Resident status and a new class of Interns was coming on. The old class Interns were telling her what was on board for the day, which included a scheduled c-section. But upon looking at the patients information, she looked at the Intern and told them they were not going anywhere....the patient had a history of c-section births and had an indication of placenta previa. This patient had never seen her before and the Intern had been taking care of her during her pregnancy. She told him, 'you are staying thru to see this one to the end with me.' She rescheduled the c-section to after lunch, to guarantee that the nursing staff was fully awake and on their game. She also ordered 4 units of blood to be hanging before she ever got started. Long story short, it turned out to be the worst possible case scenario of placenta accreta, requiring immediate hysterectomy to save the mother's life; she delivered a healthy baby and did in fact save the mother....but she ended up putting 37 units of blood into her before the surgery was all over. Her heroic efforts quickly spread throughout the military, and an internal email went around basically saying "if you have a high risk OB patient, send them to Graham."

So!

We are in the Best Possible Medical Hands! She has successfully dealt with patients in our exact situation before. [Whew!]

She went on to tell us that the next 4 weeks are important, as they will get us to 24 weeks, which means viability for the babies. But the following 4 weeks, 24-28 are The Most Important....28 weeks will get us past most of the pre-term labor complications with the babies (for us, this will be Thanksgiving)....she ultimately would like to see us go to 37 weeks, as would we, to ensure the babies are good to go from the moment they are born.

She also reassured us that a hysterectomy would be necessary only with the worst case scenario of accreta. And these chances are small in comparison. In most cases, the placenta just detaches once she is in there, so no problem.

She said that she wants to see us every two weeks, but we will not necessarily do a sonogram every time. But if it will make me feel better, we can come in every week!

She did say that as long as I felt up to it, I could make dinner or do little shopping trips, or do a little laundry...the mundane things of life....but no lifting and no long trips.

We did talk about hospitals, and which one to go to in what type of situation. So the hubby and I are all clear on that plan.

Basically, we are back to being mostly calm, but still careful, and just waiting....

We are just looking at the next 4 weeks....and then will move on to the next 4 weeks...and so on, and so on.

So please keep us in your prayers and thoughts!
Love ya,
Cherise

The Specialist Speaks...

So today we met with the Maternal-Fetal Specialist doctor. Both he and his staff were very reassuring and nice.

Shall we start with the good news first? Yes, I think so too.

He confirmed that we are in fact, having one boy and one girl. Both babies are doing great and are measuring right where they should be at 20 weeks. All of their parts and organs and limbs and stuff all look great! So YAY!

Moving on to the not so good news: when he saw the Previa, he stopped and said "WOW! Now -that- is previa. You have -complete- previa, not a moderate or mild case...Complete."

So the bottom lines from this visit are as follows:
(1) Previa babies tend to be smaller on average, but we can't really tell at this point how small she will be, we will just have to watch them and see how the weight thing goes.

(2) There is a chance that the previa will NOT move (due to my previous c-section) and turn into something called Placenta Accreta. Kinda scary sounding...could mean I end up with an ordered 'C-Section' and a side dish of 'Mandatory Hysterectomy' that we were not counting on.

(3) The specialist said that if our OB was anyone -other- than who we are using, he would have to be way more involved in our pregnancy....basically, he said our OB Doctor ROCKS!!! Which we knew....and is why we use her :o)

(4) There is a chance that before we get to the end, I will end up hospitalized. He looked at the hubby and said "You will basically become a Single Parent." We had already wrapped our minds around this possibility, so this was not -new- news for us to consider.

(5) And lastly, I'm not to pick up anything 'heavier than a spoonful of gumbo.' Which by the way, is FINE with me! As long as it is PAW'S GUMBO! :o)

We go back to see our OB on Tuesday of next week, and will see what she has to say about all of the above....and add anything else that we need to be aware of...

If I could drink, I would be.....so all of you out there that CAN drink, please do so and think of me :o)

I'm a little (okay a lot) freaked out by this latest round of info, but I'm glad we have the info. If you are of the praying kind, please keep all of us in your prayers....these next few months will be hard on all of us....E is already kinda taking it on the chin with me not being able to pick her up and play with her like I used too....the hubby is pulling triple duty as employee, hubby and father....

We can definitely use any and all positive thoughts and prayers!

But hey! The Twins Are Doing Great!!! And in 4 more weeks they will be viable, should anything tragic happen, so that is really, really soon.....so we are keeping our chins up - all three of mine :oP

Love to all,
Cherise

Weddings & Sonograms

So the Texas Deaton clan drove up to Kansas City for Uncle Bin's wedding this past weekend. The event was held in a really cool old hotel that they have converted to a resort and spa The Elms Resort. They are really big into Truman there! :o)

At any rate, the hubby, E and I drove up to KC on Friday morning. It was a long ride, about 9 hours. E did pretty good, considering. At one point, the only thing she liked was when the hubby would spontaneously roll down the windows in the truck and all manner of stuff would start flying around. She thought that was hysterical! And we in turn, thought she was hysterical! You should try it, driving about 70 mph :o)

We arrived around 7:15pm, and took a pit stop at Bin and Carmen's house so E could get out and play with some cousins before we tried to drive up to the hotel and check in for the weekend. Memaw and Pa were there too, so it was a big fun time for all the little girls! E and Bella played really well together, and the twins (which are a little over one now) are getting so big! They can stand up, but not quite walk yet. I can -finally- tell them apart...if they are together.....if it is just one, I'm batting a 50-50 average....go figure. But they sure are CUTE!!!

So a little after 8pm, we headed up to the hotel with Memaw and Pa following us. Thank God for GPS!!! It was a little squirrely in the dark, but we all made it. E was so tired, but was NOT interested in sleeping on the air mattress we brought for her. She decided that the best place for her to sleep was between the hubby and I....and 'sleep' is being generous! She is a little talking windmill in her sleep...she gets that from the hubby!

After a restless evening, we hooked up with Memaw and Pa, and Tim's family for breakfast....and then went exploring the hotel and property. We located the outdoor hot tub and the indoor heated swimming pool....and the SPA!!!! Memaw and Aunt Courtney opted for mid morning massages....me being just shy of 4 months pregnant, I opted to watch the kids :o)

Saturday was fun playing with the cousins and going through the rehearsal. Then we all caravaned back down to Kansas City for the rehearsal dinner at a Mexican Restaurant. E enjoyed eating her very first soft taco and trying the cheese dip. Pa gave a toast, that I'm sure, Bin could not wait -to end-!!!! But all in all, we really enjoyed meeting Carmen's family. They are a great bunch of folks who also can laugh at themselves as much as we laugh at ourselves.....so we all got along great!

After returning to the hotel, everyone without kids hooked up at the gazebo and sat around and talked and drank and laughed, and some of those with kids hit the indoor pool. As for us, E fell asleep on the car ride from the restaurant, and we took advantage of it, and fell asleep too! We are so 'party poopers'! :o)

Sunday morning we got to watch Bella until picture time, which started at noon. She and E just had a big ole time playing and running around outside. Then it was on to getting everyone dressed and ready for pictures and then the wedding started at 2pm. It was a nice ceremony, filled with funny moments....like when Carmen was doing her "repeat after me part" of her vows and got to the "in richer or poorer" part, she said "in richer or richer" and everyone, including the minister busted out laughing.....she just looked at all of us and smiled and shrugged her shoulders as if to say "what?".....hysterical! Later on, I told Carmen that we all needed a laugh, and Bin piped up and said "hey man, we have already done the poorer part....there is only one way to go from here, and that is UP."

The reception was great. After eating all they could, the kids decided someone just HAD to boogie.....so they took to instigating the dance craze that followed. There are some great pictures of the kids dancing with various people, and one short video of E dancing with her cousin Andrew below.

Eventually we dwindled out of the reception and regrouped later on at the indoor pool. All of us with kids that would be going into cars the next day for the long rides back to our perspective homes decided it was an EXCELLENT idea to wear them out in the pool! It worked :o)

Our ride back home Monday was pretty uneventful and remarkably quiet. Both E and I did a lot of sleeping on the ride home. And everyone was happy to get to sleep in their own beds Monday night :o)


New Topic:
On Thursday, the hubby and I went for our 17 week sonogram and were told we would be having One Boy and One Girl! We are very excited! This sonogram showed them both to be doing pretty good, and growing according to plan. We even got a really funny sonogram picture of Baby Boy with his butt in Baby Girl's face!!!

We also received some bad news. The girl is Baby A, or the one lowest/closest to the 'exit'. I have been diagnosed with a condition called Full or Complete Placenta Previa. It is the girl babies placenta that is causing this issue.

What this means for me is No Lifting of any kind, including picking up E. My life of Leisure just became more leisurely....I will be having ultrasounds every two weeks to see if it moves, and hopefully it will. If it does not, I have just won a door prize of One Scheduled C-Section! We are all just hoping and praying that it does not get worse, and I end up on some kind of bed rest or worse.

If bed rest does occur, the Grandma's are all on alert and have volunteered to come down and help out whenever we need them.

So!

If you are the praying kind, please keep us in mind!

Love to all,
Cherise







Link #1 to Some More Wedding Pictures

Link #2 to Even More Wedding Pictures

Link to Wedding Slide Show

The Monster Came Back....

So, remember the post about the scary monster in E's butt??? Yea, that was funny...well joke's on me.

That monster left her and came over to visit me......rat bastard!

About two weeks ago, I started to not feel well on a Thursday night. It became evident immediately that I had some kind of stomach bug. I was really hoping for a 24 hour bug...but I was not that lucky....by Friday night, I was beginning to think this could be a serious thing. On Saturday morning, I called the doctor's office, and the on call nurse called me in a prescription. She said if I was not any better by Sunday, I would have to go to the ER.

Needless to say, I was not better by Sunday. Funny thing about Sunday....the hubby was supposed to leave to go out of town for 2 days to NY for business. I woke him up around 7am to tell him he could not leave....and that I thought I was dying (drama much?)

We called back to the doctor's office, and they returned my call with the "go directly to the ER" response we were expecting. So we gathered up E and headed to Baylor. I guess we got checked in around 9:30am or so....they immediately hooked me up to an IV to try to put some fluid back into me.

They came in and drew blood, and then changed out my IV to one with 'sugar' in it...per my OB's orders....and everyone reassured us the babies were just fine....evidently I'm a great filter....so they are happily growing, and I'm in hell...that seems fair.

We were in the ER a LONG time....long enough that, thankfully, some of our friends came down to Baylor and picked up E to go and play at their house. Around 4pm, we were moved upstairs to an official room, and told we would be staying there over night, and until my levels 'looked better.'

So up we went....at this point they moved my IV from my right arm to my left (thank God! 'Cuz I'm right handed, and that was an issue). They came in twice and drew blood....again.....I went thru about 7 IV bags in the first 20 hours of being there....pretty miserable....

Sunday night the hubby went home so both he and E could sleep in their own beds....E had school on Monday, and he would not have gotten any sleep staying in the room with me....with all of the 'vital check interruptions' and me going to the bathroom all night (remember....SEVEN bags of IV.....gotta go somewhere).

Needless to say, it was not a very restful night....but the hydration worked....The hubby dropped off E at school Monday morning and then came back down to Baylor to stay with me.....another set of friends picked up E from school and brought her over to their house to play and eat dinner....we have really great friends!

Nurses came in again to draw blood Monday and by 6pm, my doctor came by to say that my levels were good enough to be allowed to go home.....but that I had a virus, therefore, no antibiotics...and that it had to run it's course.....so leaving, but still pretty sick....

Today is Saturday, and today is the first day that I have felt just 'pregnant sick' not 'virus sick.' So 10 days of ICK!

And all along, the babies are just fine.....totally weird.....I was told that while you are pregnant your immune system is suppressed quite a bit, so pregnant women tend to acquire more illnesses while pregnant than when not....so unfair!

But it all will work out in the wash, I'm sure.....we go back to the doctor this week for a Baby Check....that will ease my mind.....yes, yes, I know.....I'm neurotic :o)

Love to all,
Cherise

Week 11 Twins Update:

So we have made it to week 11 with the twins. We went to the doctor today and had another sonogram.

Despite my intense nausea, both babies are doing great! We were able to see arms, and legs, and even fingers on them. While we were having the sono, at one point, both babies looked like they were sucking their thumbs! {Note to self, start saving for braces now...}

Our doctor is great! We are very happy with the attention she is giving us and these babies, starting with -another- sono next week to start some more detailed measurements.

I will also be seeing an additional doctor, as our doctor put it, 'for another set of eyes.' She will be monitoring not only the babies and their independent progress, but me as well, to make sure we can make it as far along as possible. She said that while twins born as early as 24 weeks are viable, they do have lots of problems. So we want to get closer to 32-36 weeks. She also told us that she will want to see us every week starting at 28 weeks, so that will be a change from when I was pregnant with E. I think I got to 32-34 weeks before I had to go in every week....oh well!

So to help ensure we make it to 2009, there will be no traveling or anything energetic after November 1, 2008. We will be celebrating the holidays in Big D this year!

And speaking of big, boy will I be!! ;oP
I'm already pretty big for just 11 weeks, and I've only gained 4 pounds! I'm going to be obnoxiously huge when we are full term. I might even brave posting a picture at that time...we shall see....we shall see....

We hope to find out the sex of the babies around the end of September, so you guys will just have to stay tuned!

Love to all,
Cherise

Viruses, Medicines and Monsters...

It has been one long week here at the Deaton Ranch...

I'm in my 9th week of pregnancy with our twins, and they are kicking my butt! Not literally....they are not that big yet.....but figuratively.....I was NEVER this sick with E. I told my older sister, who was green from conception until delivery will all three of her boys, that my kids are channeling her boys! In fact, I'm beginning to think I must be having boys! Which would be okay with us.....but still!

I've been a little sick on top of the 'normal' pregnancy sickness.....so somewhere between the prenatal's (yuck!), the antibiotics, the sinus medicine and the Tylenol, I basically want to throw up from dawn until dusk.

But hey, why stop there???

Starting a week ago, E also got sick. After a rough weekend, we took her in to the doctor on Monday. After checking ears and chest and gagging her with a throat swab, he declared it a virus....no dairy and it had to run it's course.....Motrin and Clear liquids for her. We could hardly get her to eat anything, much less drink anything. She was straight-up miserable. I tried all kinds of drinks to entice her....we were worried that she was going to get dehydrated due to all the poopy diapers......I finally got her to drink watered down lemonade...Yes! But all she wanted to do was lie on the couch or the floor and watch tv or sleep. It was very unlike her....well, she is addicted to Noggin, but not like this....it was very sad.

Well the fevers didn't subside, and with next to no food, and only lemonade, the hubby and I brought her back in to the doctor on Wednesday. Again with checking ears and chest, but this time, she also got stabbed in the finger :o(

Blood work came back okay, but they prescribed an antibiotic just in case she had a touch of the 'swimming pool bug' going around here in Dallas.

The hubby and I were just waiting for all the pooping to stop. She went thru 15 diapers in a day....one after another there for a while....it was awful.

Thursday morning she turned a corner and the fevers stopped. She became more active and wanted us to play with her, which was a great sign! Now if only the pooping would stop, cuz I gotta tell ya, by this point, I'm in hell. A nauseous pregnant woman dealing with tons of poopy diapers does not make a happy household.

The hubby stepped up and did a lot of the cooking this week, which was greatly appreciated!

Last night, everything was looking up....E had been playing and eating and drinking during the day, so we are definitely at the end of this episode...

She had been playing in the corner with her baby dolls, and singing to herself...then she stopped, came up to us with a panic look on her face and said "there is a scary monster". We looked at each other and then at her...."where" I asked? She said "there is a scary monster in my butt."

Honey, don't I know it! But hopefully he will die very, very soon!

Love to all,
Cherise

And the Number is in....

Well...where to start, heh?

As a lot of you know, the hubby and I have been trying for almost a year for another child. We finally hit pay-dirt in June. After I took FOUR pregnancy tests (you know, just to be SURE), we went in to the doctor's office to confirm our pregnancy. They smiled and stabbed me in the arm and said, "We'll call you in a week with the blood test results." So technically, that was pregnancy test number 5.

In the meantime, I'm turning green on a regular basis, and am totally exhausted...all the typical trappings of a first trimester pregnant woman. They call to confirm (again) that we are in fact pregnant. Yay! We do the happy dance, and schedule an appointment for last week.

Last week we show up and do all the paperwork for the beginning of the pregnancy...what medicine's you can take, what you can not take.....they tell me I'm considered High Risk, so I will be seeing a specialist at least once during the pregnancy.....and just to make -sure- they do ANOTHER PREGNANCY TEST.....for those of you playing the home version, that makes test Number Six!

One of my friends laughingly told me I will get one kid for every pregnancy test......that is so Not Funny....really.

We also scheduled the sonogram for today.

So today was Sonogram Day One of this pregnancy. Being that I am 38, to be 39 when I give birth, sonogram's this early are 'normal.' And unlike with E, we will be having more than just one or two of them this go round.

Well, needless to say, I've been super nervous about all of this. We were showing a high risk of Twins the month we conceived, with a possibility of Quads (due to the fertility drugs we have been taking). Now if that doesn't just freak you out, you must be in a coma!

So I had kinda convinced myself that I was just having one.....one is a nice number, and it worked out so well with E. I would be perfectly happy with a Singleton. And even two would be okay.......three would be a little much......and four would cause me to drink....A Lot!

The hubby, sensing my tension, decided to tease me about having 8.....as in the quads all became twins.....he has a sick sense of humor.....I just love him for it! :o)

So we go back to the sono room, and are talking with the technician and she is just beginning to say something, when she starts laughing.....she had seen our file and knew the chances for multiples, but didn't think it had taken since we cut out a few of the fertility options in June (due to the risk of multiples that month)......she was laughing because she had started to say out loud, 'I don't think you will be having multiples' but had to stop......because it was IMMEDIATELY obvious to her that we are, in fact, having TWINS!

So if you placed your money on Twins, you are a lucky winner!!!

The babies will be due February 25, 2009....but that is a 40 week due date, so they will probably come earlier than that date.

We are very happy, but I'm a little numb with this info. It has not sunk in completely yet......we are gonna have to get a bigger vehicle!

As my sister in law (who also had a singleton, followed by twins told me), "You just went from a Party of Three to a Party of Five." It will be a lot different.

The Deaton Ranch is gonna be getting a lot bigger next Spring!

Love to All,
Cherise

To the "Big Goose"...

Today was a sad day for us. After a long year battling kidney failure, we had to put down our dog Lucy. She had been with the hubby for 13 of her 15 years, and she will be missed. I'm attaching the email he sent out letting our friends know of her passing:

All,

It saddens me to say that my big dog, Lucy (the "Goose"), passed away today. She had been struggling with kidney failure for about a year, and had finally reached the point where she was simply too ill to continue. So, with the compassionate help of Dr. Scott, we released her on to a better place.

Given that she's been sick for a while, it's easy to think of her that way, but that's not her, and not how she should be remembered. To help everyone else remember her the way we do, I'd like to revisit a few key episodes from our time together:

* the "squirrel" incident

When I first got Lucy, I lived in a house that was frequented by squirrels, and the thought of actually -catching- one drove Lucy absolutely nuts. Whenever a squirrel would come on the deck, in front of our big picture window, I would point it out and say "squirrel!", and it got so that she would go crazy for the word alone.

So, my friend Mark had a dog named Maggie. Maggie and Mark had this act where Mark would set her down, look into her eyes, and say (where, as near I could tell, could have been -anything-, as long as it was said in a special way). Upon hearing the "magic words", Maggie would explode into action, running all over the house barking. The variable nature of the trick made it look like Maggie had a big vocabulary (and maybe she did), and I thought this was great.

My downfall came when I tried to emulate it.

The main challenge to overcome was that, unlike Maggie, the only word that worked for Lucy was 'squirrel'. I thought to myself "How can I make it -look- like Lucy knows more words? I know - I'll -whisper- it to her, so no ever knows what the -actual- word is."

So, in front of a group of friends (always try new things with an audience!), I sat her down, looked her in the eye, asked her some question (like "Lucy, who's going to win the Presidency in 2000?"), waited for dramatic pause, and then leaned close (my undoing) and whispered the magic word.

Lucy, of course, exploded straight up, head-butted me square in the teeth, busted both of my lips, and generally entertained everyone as expected.

* swimming down the duck

One fine Sunday morning, I decided to take the girls (which, at the time, meant Lucy and Lori) for a walk down by Whiterock Lake, and I decided that a good place to do this would be on the north end, by Whiterock Boat Club.

So, I pulled in to the gravel parking lot and, seeing that no one else was around, just opened the door and let them out.

Lucy made a beeline for a flock of ducks standing by the water, and, I'm sure, was gratified when they scattered like, well, startled ducks.

Some of the ducks, however, made for the water, and Lucy followed them in. Once in their element, they had the upper hand and easily swam off around the docks, leaving her in their wake. Lucy was not one to be shaken off so easily, however, and disappeared around the docks after them, gamely trying to swim one down.

As she disappeared behind the pilings, I thought "crap! once she's out of sight of the shortest path back to dry land, she's going to exhaust herself and drown!". I was going to have to run out on the docks and rescue her. This was Problem Number One.

Problem Number Two was that Whiterock Boat Club was a security-conscious organization, and the docks themselves were a minor fortress consisting of:

* an initial security gate, set in a large blank wall
* a halo of barbed wire on standoffs around said large blank wall
* a 50-foot walkway, followed by another security door, this time set in the side of the small building that the walkway dead-ends into

When push comes to shove, you do what you gotta do.

I circumvented the first wall by using the standoffs for the barbed wire as hand and footholds (stepping gingerly over and around the wire itself), ran the length of the walkway, jumped up and grabbed the edge of the roof of the building (into which the second door was set), and hand-walked (dangling by my fingertips) around to the nearest dock. MacGuyver would have been proud.

Sure enough, Lucy was in one of the slips, paddling around and futilely searching for a way out.

I grabbed her by the scruff, hoisted her onto the deck, and breathed a sigh of relief. At which point she, being totally exhausted, slumped over and back into the water. So, -again-, I hoisted her out by the scruff, but onto a wider bit of the deck, where we could both safely catch our breath.

Which brings us back to Lori (remember Lori?). When Lucy and I got back to the car, I learned two things I didn't know before: 1) Whiterock Lake is surrounded by a 5-foot band of black crud and 2), this crud sticks to dogs. Lori looked like the proverbial "tar baby" from "The Song of the South"!

Fortunately, getting -out- of the boat club was easier than getting in (the doors are only locked from the outside), and the main security gate was still standing open. I took Lori onto the walkway, past the band-o-crud, and, a few by-the-scruff "dunk-ings" later, she was good as new.

* the feather comforter

I used to have a feather comforter.

One day, I came home from work, went back to my bedroom, opened the door, and was greeted by a fantastic sight. To better appreciate it, I turned on the light, which, in turn, turned on the ceiling fan.

As you may have guessed, the dogs had gutted the feather comforter and were reveling in the wreckage, running in circles and leaving rooster-tails of feathers in their wakes.

With the fan on, it was like a life-size snow globe with live dogs.

I had to laugh - you've never -seen- happier hounds!

* paying a visit to the neighbor

I got Lucy from the ASPCA as a grown dog (the in-house vet estimated that she was about two years old). She had her ways, and I had mine, and it took a while for us to find a groove that worked.

In the meantime, there were some issues. For one thing, she was an escape artist. If I tried to crate her, she could literally burst the crate at the seams. If I tried to put her out in the yard, she got out. Sometimes she showed up in a few minutes, sometimes in a few hours, once I had to go get her back form the pound again, and once she went to see Jim.

Jim and his wife Jeannie were my neighbors at the time. Jim was the inventory manager at a local West Marine, and Jeannie did interior design. Nice folks. On this particular day, Jim came to my attention at 4:00 in the morning - he was pounding on my door. When I opened it (after briefly considering whether I -really- wanted to confront whoever would pound on my door that that time of night), Jim pointed at the ground and said "is this your dog?". Sure enough, it was Lucy. I said as much, Jim went his merry(?) way, and Lucy and I went back to sleep.

Later that day I got the full story. It seems that Jim had to go into work early that day, and had to bring in several boxes of paperwork. He had to make several trips to get all of the boxes loaded, and, in order to avoid waking Jeannie, he left the door open and the lights off. On his last run, he tripped over a "big hairy thing" in the hall. Lucy.

Needless to say, it freaked him right-the-heck out, and he took a "kick now and ask questions later" approach. Only once they were both out in the pale light of the streetlights did he recognize his adversary.

* the great flood

Finally, the Lucy story of all Lucy stories (from my perspective, anyway).

As I've said before, Lucy was an escape artist, and refused to be crated or fenced. She was also sort of destructive, so I couldn't just let her have the run of the house. So, I decided to try keeping her in the master bath during the day.

This worked ok for a few days, but then, one day, I came home to an odd sight. My yard was full of water. I didn't know what it meant (yet), so I shrugged and went inside.

All was normal in the foyer and the hall, but my first step into the master bedroom went "squish". What the?! When I turned on the light, I saw water GUSHING out from under the bathroom door, making a 'vee' of suds in the carpet. I cautiously opened the door. The master sink was running full blast, with a bar of soap plugging the drain. Lucy had leapt up onto the counter to look out the window, kicked on the water, and knocked in the soap.

Where was Lucy? In the tub, staying dry.


She wasn't always a 'good' dog, and she was frequently a pain in the rear, but she was ALWAYS funny, and we're going to miss her.

-The Deatons

Swimming Lessons....not a fan so far

So this week began our two week class for Swimming Lessons for E. She is Two and likes getting in our pool, so we thought it was time to start with the lessons.

She is NOT a fan.....this whole business of 1-2-3-big breath-dunk, well lets just say, I think she has inhaled more than her body weight in pool water.

Today was day three. She just gets more hysterical with each passing minute. It just breaks my heart. I know that it is totally necessary, and we Have to do this, but I can't help feeling a little guilty....it is obvious that she is in hell, and thinks she is going to die with each movement in the water.

The hubby went with us on day one, but has had to work since then, so it is just her and I in the pool with the instructor....no moral support...well that is not exactly true....one of my very best girlfriends, CMK, has her kiddos in the same class....in fact, E's boyfriend (CMK's little boy) is in the class with her....he has already had 1 week of lessons, so he is passed the freaked out screaming phase.....he just grins so big! He is such a cutie! E picked a good one for her first boyfriend :o)

So maybe next week she will be a little more comfortable with the drowning sessions....I mean Swimming Lessons :o\

And no, we don't know how many babies are due yet.....maybe in another few weeks.

Stay Tuned!
Love to all!
-Cherise

Good News!

Well, E has been getting better and better with school. Today when we picked her up, she said "I want to go back to school." Yay! She likes it! So despite the small tearful goodbye in the mornings, which we still have, she really does enjoy her time, and friends and teachers. We are so lucky to have found such a wonderful place to have her attend. E made the hubby a nice "Happy Father's Day" picture, which was laminated, and contained her palm prints. It is Very Nice, and he just loves it!

Also, I've decided NOT to go back to work......
On account of being P R E G N A N T!!!!! We just found out, and are not very far along (like 2 weeks), but we are VERY excited! It took almost 1 year, and WAY TOO MANY drugs, but it finally worked!!! We think the new baby will be born around the same time as E's birthday, late February/early March 2009.

And I know the burning question on all of your minds: How Many Are In There??? Well, we won't find out if we are having more than one until we are at least 8 weeks along, so we will ALL have to be patient. But for now, we are just hoping for a healthy BOY!!! :) But we will take what ever comes along.....and however MANY come along!

More Later!

Love to all!

Camping, School and Selling Houses

Have you ever been camping? Well, I had only done so once, that I could remember, and it was NOT a positive experience.

Well, all that changed over Memorial Day weekend. The hubbies family gets together every Memorial Day weekend for a big family camping trip in Arkansas. We slept in tents, and cooked over campfires and Coleman stoves. One of the families brought a boat and let the kids wake-board and water ski. E played in the water and had big fun throwing rocks. The water was chilly, but the weather was perfect!

We all ate good, and had a really good visit. The hubby tried to help one of the kids fly a kite on the peak we were camping on, but the wind would not cooperate. Momma Jo brought E some bubbles, a big ball and sidewalk chalk, all of which were a big hit with all the kids. Grandma did not camp, but came down from the Village a couple of days to visit during the day. She also brought E containers of Strawberries, one of her favorite fruits! Yum, yum! One evening, one of the uncles/cousins cooked steaks for everyone....fantastic! The next night, the hubby cooked up jerk chicken and pineapple-soy chicken, and I supplied smashed sweet potatoes.....they seemed to be a big hit, so we were pleased.

I have recovered from my bad camping experience, and would -definitely- do it again! The hubby is thrilled, and already planning our next outing. And I have gathered up a bunch of 'must bring next time' and a bunch of 'don't bring next time' lists! :o)

E has completed her second week at Montessori school. She still cries when we drop her off, but even that is starting later and later, and ending pretty quick. She is always so happy when we pick her up. The other day, when I was returning from picking her up, I told her that the K family was coming over for dinner, and she would get to play with her friends, the K Kids...she immediately got excited and started say "and Noah, and Mia, and Ms. Connie..." just listing off her teachers and other classmates. I thought, wow, this dinner party just got BIG. :o)

So we are convinced that she really does like school, just hates being dropped off. We are hopeful that tis will not continue for too much longer.

On a different topic, We Sold The Old House!!!!!! We are so relieved! It only took a little over one year to do so, but it is all over now! Yay! Now we are down to just the one house, and we have a pretty aggressive plan to try to pay it off early.

The hubby is considering a job change and I am still looking for a new job myself. Those two fronts keep us pretty busy.

It has reached 90 degrees pretty consistently, so we are definitely in the throws of 'swim season.' I was joking with the hubby, and asked, 'once we get our finances a little more stable, can we hire a pool-boy?' He laughed and said, 'no, let's get a maid instead.' Yeah, that's sound better. :o) But I do wonder, who is going to clean up -before- the maid arrives?? Hhmmm.....

We shall see....we shall see....

Love to All!

School has started....we are on Day Four...

So....we started E in Montessori School on Monday. I'm attaching her picture in her school uniform. Sure, she looks all happy in the picture, but that expression did not remain.
Once we arrived, she remembered the last time we were here, she was left without us all day! NOT HAPPY! She cried for about 20 minutes. I know this because I was in the lobby with the hubby filling out the remaining paperwork, and I could hear her. It was heartbreaking.
By the time we left, we peeked in and she was sitting with one of the teachers playing with a doll, dressing and undressing it, but all red-faced and puffy-eyed.
So we left. Then it was my turn to cry. The hubby called to check on her a few hours later, and was told that she cried that morning, but had recovered and enjoyed the rest of the day, with a few intermittent crying episodes during the day.
We have her scheduled until 5pm. However, around 2:45pm, the hubby starting asking me -repeatedly- if I wanted to go and get her at 3pm. Finally I asked him if HE wanted to go and get her....or if he just wanted me to say I wanted to go get her so HE didn't have to admit that HE actually wanted to go get her! Whatever....we went and got her at 3:30pm.
She was sitting at the table having her afternoon snack, looked like a little peanut butter sandwich. The teachers saw us watching through the window, so they gently started encouraging her to eat her snack. Eventually they asked her if she want to save it for later, and wrapped it up in a paper towel. Then off for a quick hand-washing.
Then they told her that we were there. She started looking around trying to find us, and doing a little 'happy dance' with her feet.
Finally she saw us looking at her through the window in the door. She yelled "MAMA!!!" and started running toward the door. Then she stopped, put the sandwich on the floor, and continued running, into my open arms. She was so happy to see us! And we were very happy to see her!
The teachers all reported she had done well for the first day. She passed out hugs and told everyone bye, and we headed to the house.
The hubby and I had discussed during the day, what could we do to help her during this transitional period. So we had landed on putting her to bed a little earlier, and seeing if she would be up by 7am, and focusing on continuing her 'normal morning routine' before getting ready for school. We did not do this on Day One.
So E went to bed at 8:30pm, instead of 9, and went right down. In the morning, the hubby went into her room at 7am, and turned off her sound machine and left the door open....she toddled out shortly thereafter.
The morning of Day Two at home was more 'normal' for her. But the drop off resulted in the same reaction. Screaming and crying and clinging to my legs and then trying to climb into the hubby's arms. Not a good scene. But we did not hang out in the lobby this time. I did not cry today, but yes, I called later on in the morning to check to see if she had calmed down. She had, and was having her morning snack with her classmates. All was good. And the hubby and I even managed to refrain from picking her up until 4:30pm.
Day Three: We went through the same early-to-bed, early-to-rise routine this morning. She woke up a little weepy. She cried a few times during the night, so I was not surprised. We went through our regular routine, with the exception of her starting to whine a little bit when we were getting her dressed. She started to cry when we put her in the car seat, and she only stopped when we distracted her by pointing out all of the buses on the streets as we drove (E is a FOOL for School Buses). But, again, screaming, crying, clinging when we left. This time, the school administrator told us to not go into the classroom. Just walk to the door and let one of the teachers come and take her from us, without going into the classroom with her. This will help coral the children already in the class, and help to prevent anyone accidentally getting hit by the door or trying to escape. She was still crying as we walked out the front door to head to the truck. Today I backslid. I started crying too. But pickup time came at 4:30pm, and we found her outside with her class, happy. REALLY happy once she saw us :o)
Today is Day Four. Although she slept good last night, I think the jig is up. Today she started full on crying when we started putting on her school uniform. She kept saying "momma I want to go home." I kept saying, "E, you -are- home." But I knew what she meant...that she wanted to -stay- home. She cried through her requested breakfast of cereal with milk and a banana, of which she ate very little. She cried as we were getting in the car. She stopped on the drive over, but, alas, started up again the second we stopped in front of the school. As we entered the building, we could hear other kids crying. When we walked to E's class, one of the teachers came to unlock to door. Evidently, there were two new children today in her class, and one of them knew how to operate a door knob! So as we dropped off our crying child, bringing the total number of crying children in the room up to THREE, I started crying before I even got out the front door. "She hates it" I told the hubby. He said, "she hates the drop-off, but she is always happy shortly there after." He is worried that I might have problems dropping her off tomorrow.
You see, he is going out of town on business today, and will not be here to either pickup this afternoon or drop off Friday morning. I told him, yes, I will still bring her...and leave her ...until at least 3pm.
But I have to be honest. All of this crying is really starting to get to me. I'm not a big 'crier' and this is just starting to wig me out a bit. Could be all the hormones I'm on too...
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to Saturday......when there will be No School! Yay!! And hopefully no crying....for anyone!
Love to All!