The Adventures of Nolan and Grace

remember me?

2010-09-27T14:50:00.003-04:00

Sorry I have been neglecting this blog. I really don't have much to type about - just a typical family.

Nolan just turned 4. He is still just a few inches too short to ride the roller coaster at carnivals (although last year he was able to ride. They upped the height requirement this year. Fortunately, Nolan is a very easy-going kid and was ok with waiting until he gets taller to ride again - of course, that was after a few tears.)
I was about to update his birthday ticker at the top of the blog when I realized that he will be 5! I know that is almost a year away, but 5 sounds like a big kid, not my little, baby Nolan.

Grace is crazy. One of her many nicknames is Little Trouble. She is full of energy and all the time getting into trouble. On her 2nd birthday, she climbed on top of her dresser during nap time and fell off. She got a nice big goose egg above her eye for her birthday. Guess I should have taken that as a warning that Grace and 2s will be full of danger!

I will add pictures at some point. You have got to see Grace's hair. She has the must beautiful blond curls on the back of her head (the front of her hair is straight).

At her 2 year appointment, she was 32" tall and 26 lbs. She is just below average height/weight for her age.

Nolan's 4 year check up should be any day now, just waiting on his slack mother (cough) to call the dr and set up the appointment.

Vote for Grace!

2010-05-17T10:38:00.007-04:00

We entered Grace in the Parent's magazine cover contest. We think she is the cutest little girl in the world, now we just need all of you (at least the 1 person left who reads this blog) to vote for her!

http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/318622

Cary's cousin, Morgan, took the great pictures at Easter.

update

2010-04-06T14:48:00.006-04:00

The kids are growing like weeds.
Grace is a big ball of energy in a tiny little body.
Nolan is so much fun now and he's a great helper.

We went to an easter egg hunt at First Atlanta over the weekend. They had a petting zoo and pony rides. Grace and Nolan loved the petting zoo! Grace wasn't so sure about the pony ride while she was sitting on the pony waiting for it to start walking. As soon as the pony started to move, she started to laugh. Nolan has always loved pony rides. He also started laughing as soon as the pony started to move.

here are pics of the the kids at a local park, the easter egg hunt, and easter (and pics of the easter egg hunt at my mom's on easter):

(I made Grace's dress and hair bow. I know the pic is sideways - just turn your head like last time and it's straight. You know if it took me this long just to upload with sideways pics, it will take about forever to updated with non-sideways pics)

and an video of Nolan saying his ABCs (he can do better, but that's all he wanted to do for the camera)

ABCs from eachoc on Vimeo.

I started making hair bows for Grace. I like making them so much, that I opened a store on etsy. There's a link to my store (MollyAnne Designs) in the right column of the blog. There's also a link to BooZeeba, the company with Mary Ann, Ellen, and me. BooZeeba specializes in dolls and travel tracks.

cuteness

2010-01-21T14:36:00.001-05:00

Some times I feel sorry for all the other kids in the world. No matter how hard they try, they can't be as cute as this.

Grace's hair is finally long enough to put in pigtails. Her hair sticks straight up whenever I pull it up.
I asked her to smile so I could get a picture of her with her pigtails sticking straight up. This is what she kept doing.

Santa

2009-12-17T16:39:00.003-05:00

parenting skillz

2009-12-04T15:39:00.000-05:00

a video of my great parenting skillz

Untitled from eachoc on Vimeo.

School

2009-12-04T09:17:00.008-05:00

The kids are in school now 3 days a week.
Cary got a job selling roofs (need a roof? call him!), so we put the kids in day care for him for go sell, sell, sell! His mom still watches them 2 days a week.

The first few weeks are school were a little rough. Now, the kids are adjusted and Nolan LOVES school.
The day care they are in lets Nolan be in the 3-year-old class even though he isn't potty trained (any ideas on how to get him potty trained would be GREAT!). Most of the day cares we looked at would keep Nolan in with the 2 year olds until he is potty trained.

Their first day of school happened to be picture day. Thought ya'll like to see the pictures.

Oh - and it looks like Grace will be getting her 2 front teeth for Christmas. She's cutting (at least) 2 teeth right now. In a few days, she will have 8 teeth - including both of her front teeth!

pictures

2009-10-29T10:51:00.003-04:00

from Grace's birthday party

(yes, I know the last picture is sideways. just turn your head.)

4 years ago

2009-10-05T13:31:00.003-04:00

4 years ago tomorrow I went to the doctor for a regular high-risk ultrasound. I had been feeling something in my stomach, but I thought it was just the baby moving around. I had no idea those were contractions that I had been feeling.

When they started the ultrasound, they realized my cervix was barely .75 centimeters (it should have been about 4 centimeters). The dr came in to talk to me. He asked me if I was still working. I said yes. He said "Not any more." He called my OB and a nurse wheeled me over to the hospital.

We had no idea about the roller coaster ride we were about to take.

2009-09-10T11:54:00.002-04:00

message from Nolan:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnjjjjjjjjjjjjjjqqqqqqqqqqqqqqbbbbbbbnnnnnnnnnnnm

Nolan will be 3 tomorrow. Don't tell him, but we're taking him to the train museum saturday. And we're getting him a backpack (he's been asking for one. i think its because dora has one.).

I have pictures from Grace's birthday I'll post later. Grace is walking every where. She has 4 words - mama, dada, daa (ball), and kaka (cracker). She has 3 teeth and she loves to chew things.

1 week!

2009-07-28T11:09:00.003-04:00

Grace. will. be. 1. in. 1. week. (and 1 day)

She is walking now. (Crawling is so 2 weeks ago.)

I have a great video of her walking that I can't get off my phone to upload! Argh!

She finally has a tooth! She got her first tooth and started taking steps on her own on the same day. Honestly, we knew the walking was coming - she's be cruising for months, but the tooth! that was a surprise! We were starting to wonder if she would ever get teeth!

Her birthday party is next week.

Nolan is still an awesome little boy. No new updates. (we are looking for volunteers to potty train him.)

videos!

2009-06-30T10:11:00.003-04:00

We took the kids to the fountains in Suwanee for our 5 year anniversary.

In the video with Grace, Grace is one making all of those noises. Her noises crack me up. She has started standing on her own. She will be walking on her own any second now. She still doesn't have any teeth!

Nolan is a great big brother. We were looking at pictures on the computer the other day. We came across one with Nolan and Grace on the floor playing with a toy together. Nolan looked at the picture and said "Gace." Then he went over to the toy and said "Gace" again. Then he walked over to Grace, gave her a kiss, and handed her a car. So sweet!

We are starting potty training with Nolan. Any one want to do it for us?

9 month stats

2009-05-15T08:40:00.003-04:00

Grace had her 9-month well baby appointment Monday.
She weight 18 lbs, 8 ozs and is 28 inches long.
She is the 50 percentile for weight and height and still has her tiny 25 percentile head.

She got a toe prick and 2 shots. She cried for about 10 seconds. The doctor was impressed by how easier Grace can go from her stomach to her back to sitting up. She's been going it so long and so easily that I forgot it was a milestone! The doctor was also impressed that Grace is cruising. She will pull up on anything - couch, cat, Nolan, table... - and start walking around it. She is starting to climb stairs, but has no idea how to get back down.

She babbles all the time. She moves all the time. She is just HUGE ball of energy squeezed into a tiny body. She so badly wants to be a big kid like her brother. She loves playing with him (until he pushes her away). And she loves stealing his food (until he pushes her away).

This would be a great place to insert a 9 month picture of Grace. Some one should take one....

wordless wednesday

2009-04-27T12:56:00.008-04:00

yeah, yeah, I know it's not wednesday, but you get the point.
pics from Christmas, Easter, misc, this past weekend at the game ranch and the zoo.

3 years

2009-04-24T13:03:00.006-04:00

Today is the 3 year anniversary of Caleb's death. Tomorrow we will be walking in March for Babies in memory of Caleb and all the babies who have died from premature birth and in honor of Nolan and Grace and all the other babies thanks to March of Dimes. Please take make a donation to March of Dimes http://www.marchforbabies.org/eachoc.

Look, pictures!

2009-04-21T15:15:00.003-04:00

ARGH! I went through all this work to update (with pictures!) and the pictures are too big. Sorry, you're just going to have to live with GIANT pictures for now.

nolan can now climb up to the top of the cat's scratching post. He likes to get to the top and meow.

See his finger? The blue one. He slammed his fingers in the car door. (ouch!) We went to an urgent care just to make sure nothing was broken. Everything is fine - it just looks nasty and the finger nail will be falling off any second now. (Which totally grosses me out, so I'm hoping it will fall off on some one else's watch) He will point to it and say "eww gross. ouch. be better."

We felt it was time to start drugging Grace...

First Baptist Atlanta Easter Egg Hunt
Train ride with daddy

eggs!

She was so hungry she could eat...her arm.

petting zoo (still at FBC Atlanta easter egg hunt)

Easter

These are all pictures off my mom's camera. We have more pictures, but our card reader is dead. I'll work on posting our pictures soon (by soon I mean some time between now and 2010).

umm...hi

2009-03-10T20:23:00.003-04:00

I wanted to wait to update until I had pictures, but I still have not downloaded the pictures from our camera. I'll try to do that this week (ha!).

Anyway - here's what's been going on the past few months (with no pictures!!)

Nolan is now driving and Grace is just started high school.

ok, so it hasn't quite that long.

Nolan (most of the time) loves being a big brother. He even brushed Grace's hair tonight and he was *almost* gentle. Some time, he is just jealous. The past few weeks we have been having major separation issues with Nolan. When I leave to go to work or go outside or drop him off at the church preschool or leave just go out of his sight, he will freak out. He evens bangs his head on the wall. I'm assuming this is just a phase. I hope he outgrows it very soon. It's so hard to leave when he's screaming and crying and banging his head.

Grace is "talking" all the time. She loves to eat her feet. She is moving around every where. She is trying so hard to crawl. But not crawling doesn't slow her down (most of the time - some times she'll get stuck in reverse and she'll get really mad).

Nolan got to play in the snow last week. We had about 1 inch of snow for about 3 hours last Monday. Today and yesterday it was been 80 degrees and sunny. Nolan has spent the past 2 days outside playing wearing shorts and a T.

At Grace's 6-month check-up, she weighed 17 lbs and was 25 1/2 inches tall. She goes back at 9 months. She still has a tiny head. Guess my kids where destine to have small heads since Cary and I both have small heads. Thanks ok. our small heads are full of big brains. ;)

What else do you want to know?
I'll work on the pictures.

You see those cute things on the right side of the screen?? Yep, the dolls and book marks and race track. Well, I finally started that company I talked to you about months ago with my sister and a friend. We are preparing for our first craft show now. We will have a booth at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Conyers March 28-29 and the Cotton PIckin Fair in Gay (5 points to anyone who knows where Gay, GA is) on May 2-3, come see our stuff and buy things! Or you can click on one of the cute items on the sidebar and it will take you to our etsy.com page. You can buy our stuff there, too.

I'm too lazy to proof - good luck reading this. ;)

Look instead of pictures, I have a video for you.
I was trying to make a video of Grace talking, but Nolan saw the my making the video and wanted me to take his picture. Sorry the quality's low. I took this on my blackberry.

grace and nolan from eachoc on Vimeo.

Grace loves to be naked

2009-01-05T13:32:00.001-05:00

Untitled from eachoc on Vimeo.

Haircut time

2008-12-20T07:28:00.007-05:00

We're taking Nolan to get his first haircut later today. I'll add before and after pictures later.

Grace smiles all the time - except when she's fighting sleep. She is 75 perct. for weight and height and has a tiny 25 pect. head (just like Nolan).

Nolan is a great big brother. He loves helping with Grace. He loves to hold her bottle and feed her. The other day, he fed her baby cereal. She ate more when he put the spoon in her mouth than she did when I tried to feed her.

Blues Clues time. Got to go..

I'm back.

Nolan's not a baby any more or even a toddler. He's a little boy. His hair cut reminds of my the boy in Love Actually (only Nolan's much younger).
On to the pictures...

Before

the hair cut started out ok.

after a few minutes, Nolan was done

Grace wanted to eat, Cary was holding Nolan, and I wanted to take pictures of Nolan, so carseat friend stepped in and helped hold Grace's bottle. She ate like this for about 5 minutes.

after (with the lollipop he got for being so good. His lips where blue from the lollipop the rest of the day.)

Grace and Nolan at my mom's after his haircut

While I was at my mom's we went to Macy's to get a few more gifts. We passed by the baby girl's section and saw a display of really pretty Christmas dresses. Grace already has a really cute dress to wear for Christmas, but we still had to look at the dresses at Macys. The dresses were so cute, that I got one for Grace for this year and next year!
this year's dress... (she'll wear the other dress I had for her on Christmas Eve)

next year...

anyone want to guess how much the dresses cost??
I'll wait..

Anyone guess $4.99? (and my mom had a 15% off coupon!)

I almost forgot about this....

We went to Christmas party at Moo's Saturday. During the party it started to rain. Since I'm such a good mom that I wasn't paying attention to Nolan and realized that he wasn't inside. I saw the open door and went outside to find him playing in the rain. Moo's mom helped get a jacket on Nolan very quickly so he could go back outside and play. He loves the rain.

Merry Christmas!

Hi

2008-10-27T20:43:00.019-04:00

someone's been very slack on updating this blog lately.

Where did I leave off?

Nolan had a birthday. A few days later we had his birthday party.

He got lots of great gifts - including money to sign him up for a gymboree/kindermusik/the music class/little gym type class. We haven't picked the class yet. Cary went back to work a few days after I went back to work and now I'm looking for a class to fit into our new schedule.
After his party he kept reaching for the cake and the sandwiches on the table. He had had some chips and some cake, so we kept moving the food on the table away from him. On the way home that night, I realized we forgot to feed him lunch! That's why he kept trying to get the food off the table. Good mom move #14563975.

Nolan is great big brother. He will hold Grace's bottle. If Grace is upset, Nolan will try to put her pacifier in her mouth or will hold her hands. Grace loves watching Nolan. Nolan loves giving Grace kisses and "helping" give her baths (he will splash the water while I bathe Grace).

Nolan has a ton of words now and he can sign a few words (moo loaned us some Signing Time DVDs - he loves them. When I need him to sit quietly, I'll either put in a Signing Time DVD or turn on Yo Gabba Gabba)
His words:
Daddee (daddy)
Yawney (mommy)
Tinkle Tinkle (twinkle twinkle)
Dar (star)
Ap Pul (apple)
Ca (car - don't know where he got the northern accent from)
Be nana (banana)
Papa (grandpa)
Gan mama or ampa (grandma)
Disty (misty)
Oscar (Oscar)
Go (go)
Peek a doo (peek a boo)
Try A Glu (triangle)
Circle
juice
nye nye (bye bye)
nye nye (night night)
wa er (water
no
up
down
dipull (diaper)
bubbles!
yum yum
cookie
cracker
Gigi (Grace - no idea how he got Gigi from Grace, but I love it!)
quack quack
meow
here
please
book
yum yum
door
book
tickle
cheese
shoe
fishy
luv you
thank you
and he barks like a dog (not a ruff ruff or a bow wow, but a full on bark)
He can sign no, rainbow, clean, wash hands, please, and go.
And he's trying to snap his fingers.
His Dr. wanted him to have about 20 words by the time he turned 2. I think he's got that.

Grace is getting big. She's been sleeping through the night for a few weeks now (it's ok to hate us). She is opposite of the boys. She loves to be swaddled - they both hated it. She loves to be held - Nolan was fine not being held. She doesn't like the bouncy seat - Nolan practically live in that seat. She does like the swing - the same swing that Nolan and Caleb both loved. She is drinking 6 ozs every 4 hours - she's a little pig!

What else have I been meaning to tell you?

Grace is now smiling and laughing (her belly and neck are her big ticklish spots)

I have a feeling that by now most of you are thinking "blah blah blah. We want more picture!" So, here are a few more pictures...

That's your update for the year ;)

BTW: Nolan still has not had his first hair cut.

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

2008-10-10T11:41:00.001-04:00

Caleb would have turned 3 today.

I had a whole long post going in my mind, but the kids are asleep now and I'm going to take a nap.

Quick update before I nap:
We just got back from taking Grace to her 2 month check up.
She weighs 11 1/2 pounds and is 22" long.
She is about 50% for height and weight and 25% for her head. (the exact same percentages for Nolan!)

I love my average kids.

Nap time............

home sweet home

2008-09-20T20:35:00.005-04:00

Cary came home from the hospital yesterday. After tons of testing, they think he just had something like the flu. But, this trip to the hospital (and the trip in Oct. 2005) has bought him a ticket to surgery. We knew that one day he would need valve replacement surgery. I think we were both hoping it would happen in about 40 years. He has been going to the doctor every 6 months to check his heart for any change. The original plan was that when they found a change in his heart, they would start seeing Cary every 3 months and start about a 1 year prep for the surgery. Now, the plan is to have the surgery sooner then later - maybe this year. Cary goes back to his regular cardiologist in 3 weeks. They will talk about a definite time line for the surgery.

So, during the last 2 weeks of my maternity leave I got a cold, I passed my cold to Nolan and Grace, Cary turned 33, Nolan turned 2, Nolan had his 2-year-old check up and his second birthday party, Grace went to the ER, Cary spent a few days in the hospital, and I found out that my husband will be having open heart surgery soon. I'm so done with this maternity leave!

Back to Grace and the ER. A couple of weeks ago (or was it just last week?) I went to my sister's house to go through the 2T boy clothes. (I have 2 sisters and 1 brother. We all have kids. When our kids outgrow clothes, we load them up and take them to my sister's house. When the next person needs clothes, they go through those clothes. This way no one needs to buy any new clothes for their kids. After Grace and my new nephew finish the clothes, we'll consign the clothes.) Just before we started going through the clothes we started talking about how Grace needed her fingernails cut (I'm sure you know where the story is going...). My sister offered to cut Grace's nails, so I handed her the nail clippers. Then there was a scream. My sister cut the tip of Grace's finger. Not a big deal, people do it all the time. So, why did I take her to the ER? Over 30 minutes after the cut, her tiny finger was still bleeding. I called my dr. She asked if I was close to the drs office. I was an hour away. She told me to go to the ER so a dr could be sure the cut didn't hit any tissue. We went to the ER. Everyone owwed and awwed over Grace. The dr saw her finger and decided it was just a superficial cut. When we got back, my niece asked me what happened at the hospital. I told her they had to cut Grace's finger off. (yes, I am mean. but it was funny!) I just laughed about the whole thing - I have 2 kids, I was bound to go to the ER at some point. Grace is all healed now. (but don't tell my sister, I want her to stay on the guilt trip and keep buying us things.)

Nolan is now 29 lbs, and 34 inches tall.
He now says bubble, balloon, booger, car, triangle, circle, square, papa, GG (grace - no idea why he says GG), twinkle, here, there you go, what's this, and lots of other things. He can sign rainbow (thanks to moo for loaning us a couple Signing TIme videos).
He is now a big danger to the cats.

I found him playing with my cell phone the other day. I thought it was ok. He had the camera on. At least I knew he wasn't going to have a 3 hour call to Japan, so I let him play. A couple of days later, I found about 5 pictures on my cell phone that looked like this:

I just put Grace down on her stomach. I looked back and she was on her back.
She is in the middle of a growth spurt right now. I hope she becomes a chubby baby. I heart chubby babies.

Everyone's asleep. Time for me to sleep!

Thanks for all your prayers and concerns for Cary!! We have and best friends and family (that includes all of you out there in blogland that we have never actually met).

Cary didn't want me to go back to work today

2008-09-18T15:30:00.003-04:00

Cary kept trying to talk me out of going back to work today. I kept telling him I need to go back to work - for my mental well being. I think most people with 2 or more kids will agree that work is great escape. Cary hadn't been feeling well all week. I told him I wasn't going to listen to him whining about not feeling well unless he called the dr. He called the dr Wednesday. The dr told him to go to the hospital. I didn't go back to work today.

It looks like Cary probably has another infection in his heart (endocarditis). He had the same type of infection 1 1/2 weeks after Caleb was born. That was fun. I was going from visiting Cary in the hospital to visiting Caleb in the hospital 30 minutes away every day - just 1 1/2 weeks after having a baby 13 weeks early. That was nice and stressful.

A little history for the newbies -
Cary was born with aortic stenosis. When he was 1 he had open heart surgery. The surgery was just a temporary fix. At the time, they predicted that Cary would need another surgery to replace the valve when he was around 25-30 years old. Well, he just turned 33 and hasn't needed the surgery yet. He goes to the heart dr every 6 months to check for any changes in his heart. When there is a change, it's time to start talking about surgery.

Back to now -
Endocarditis can cause damage to the heart valves. Since he's had it 2 times in just a few years, they are really checking him out. (endocarditis can also lead to death. I'm very glad the dr didn't tell us that until after Cary was feeling better last time. I'm not sure if I could handle knowing that Caleb and Cary could have died at the same time.) Cary checked into the hospital Wednesday afternoon and will be here at least one more day. So far they have taking tons of blood, they have done an EKG, TEE, echo, and a CT scan. (you can look those up on webmd - I don't know how to link this from this computer. "Why don't I just get my lazy butt up and walk across the room and switch computers?" you ask. Well, because I'm lazy.) A couple of heart dr have stopped by and a couple of heart surgeons have stopped by. The infectious disease dr (sounds all scary doesn't it?) will stop by later today.

Nolan and Grace spent some time at my parent's house last night and are with Cary's parents now. (Wonder if they will notice if I leave them there for a few days while I go home and sleep for more the 3 hours at a time.)

Any questions?

I know what 1/2 of you are going to say. We will call if we need help. (Rachel will be getting a call in a few minutes and if she can't help, Moo, you're next!)

Cary just got back from the CT scan.

I'll update on Nolan and Grace later. (I haven't forgotten that I need to tell you about Grace's trip to the ER) Wow! Too much hospital!!

Update!
Cary does not have endocarditis. He will probably be going home Friday.

Help, I have a 2-year-old!!

2008-09-11T21:47:00.002-04:00

Today is Nolan's second birthday. The big 0-2.
He had magic toast (french toast) and a cookie for breakfast. And we took him to Monkey Joe's this afternoon. He had a great time!

Grace is now 9 lbs, 6 ozs.

I have lots of stuff to tell you (like about Grace's trip to the ER), but it's 9:45 pm and my day is finally done. I'm going to bed. I'll try to update soon.

Free time

2008-08-25T08:39:00.003-04:00

Grace is asleep and Nolan is watching an annoying show on TV, so I actually have a free second!

Grace has been to 2 check-ups at the doctor. Her last visit was Thursday. She was up to 7 lbs, 10 ozs, and 20 inches long. She loves to eat. She is about 35% for weight, and 50% for height.

Nolan has started noticing Grace more now. He is usually pretty good around her. He has had a few times when he would be playing by himself perfectly happy until he saw me with Grace in my arms. Then he would turn into a jealous, whiney, 2-year-old. He rarely does that and it's just for a few seconds - it usually happens right around nap time. From 10-11am is a very hard time. Nolan's tired and doesn't want to take a nap, I'm tired and am very ready for a nap, and Grace will want to eat and have awake time. She doesn't know that when Nolan goes to sleep, everyone is supposed to go to sleep.

I didn't know that everyday I would have to decide if I want a shower, to clean the house, or take a nap during Nolan's nap. The shower usually loses. The nap usually wins. The house gets cleaned after Nolan goes to bed at night - if I can stay awake past 8 pm.

Grace likes doing this thing were she'll eat a full 4 ozs then cry for an hour becuase her belly hurts. That usually happens right after Nolan goes to sleep. I'll rock her and burp her and beg her to go to sleep so I can go to sleep.

Nolan has started his 2's. He is really trying to push us. He will start to do something he knows he's not suppose to do. He will look at us and say "no, no" and smile and do it anyway. I really don't know what to do when his like that, especially since right now all I want to do is curl up on the couch and take a nice long nap.

Grace is up. Time for me to go back to mom-duty.

pictures of Grace

2008-08-10T21:40:00.005-04:00

We came home Friday evening. We are adjusting to having 2 kids and no sleep.

Nolan is doing great adjusting to having a new baby at home. We have had a couple of rough spots with him, but he's back to his perfect self within a few minutes.

Cary and I were watching Dr Phil the other day. The topic was about parents pressuring their kids to be perfect. Dr Phil made a comment about how there's no such thing as a perfect child. Cary and I looked at each other and laughed - Dr Phil has never met Nolan. He is the perfect child (with perfect hair - he still hasn't had his first hair cut!). (of course I'm knocking on wood while I type this...)

It's a...

2008-08-06T22:21:00.005-04:00

(BTW I am mad at all of you who gave away the big news in the comments!)

The baby's here! We got to the hospital at around 8:30 this morning. They started me on pitocin to help increase my contractions at around 9 (it was a very low dose- 2 drops an hour). A little after 11, my dr broke my water. Around 11:30, I got an epi. It took forever for the epi to fully take effect. When I did finally stop feeling the contractions, I started feeling a lot of pressure. Around 1:30 the nurse came to check on me. It was time to push! Grace Rose arrived at 2:08 p.m. She weighs 6 lbs, 12 oz, and is 19 inches long.
Since it took so long for the epi to take effect, I didn't feel anything during the delivery! This was by far my easiest delivery - almost makes me want to do it again someday. almost. (but, I'm not that crazy!)

I saw my one of my drs when I was being moved from labor and delivery to mother/baby. She stopped and talked to Cary and me. She told me that every week her and the other dr talked about how surprised they were that I was doing so great and wasn't having any complications. They are thrilled that I made it to 39 weeks.

Grace is beautiful! Can't wait to share pictures! (Cary has all the pictures on his cell phone and I just sent him out to get me food!)

Grace is named after Cary's grandmother (Grace was her middle name) and my grandmother (Rose is her middle name).

Hi! Welcome to my labor.

2008-08-05T12:55:00.004-04:00

That's right the labor has started. I'm in the very early stages now. My SPAC have turned into real, productive contractions. At my check-up this morning, I was 2-3 cent. dilated and 80% effaced. The dr keep saying the "baby's head is right there." The plan is for me to go to labor and delivery between 6-7 am tomorrow. The dr will break my water to give my labor a little push. If needed, she will give me a low dose of pitocin. Her plan is to start all of this in the morning and for the baby to be here by tomorrow evening. (we'll see what the baby has planned.)

She did strip my membranes while I was there. I have to say everyone who has whined about that hurting - you're all wimps. It was like being licked by kittens compared to having a cerclage removed!

Now, we really need to get moving on picking a boy name! (Girl name is picked - and I'm still not telling you what it is!)

no change

2008-08-04T11:17:00.002-04:00

Thought I'd give you a quck update before I started getting the phone calls and emails. There's no change. We did go last night and had the eggplant parm. that has supposedly put many people into labor (I don't beleive it)*.
I go to the OB tomorrow at 10:30.

I'll update again in a couple of days, hopefully by then I'll have a real update (maybe with pictures of a baby).

*they have this wall of baby pictures. It's crazy how many babies have been born after the mom ate the eggplant. If this baby comes within 48 hours of us eating there, they will give us a $25 gift card and a little onesie for the baby. And the eggplant was yummy.

I have been having contractions, but I'm pretty sure they are just more SPAC.

6 more weeks of winter

2008-08-01T12:14:00.003-04:00

The fluid level is back to normal. It actually doubled in the past week! I asked the dr how that happened. He said the baby peed. So, if the baby had waited just a few minutes to pee I would be holder him/her in my arms right now.

Now, we're back to waiting for this baby to decide it's time to come out.

If there is no change by Tuesday morning, I will schedule a c-section for the end of next week.

I'm going to go walk a few hundred miles now. Then jog a few more miles. Then go to a bounce-house. Then I'm going to the resturant with the chicken parm. that supposedly makes you go into labor. Then I'm going to eat some spicey food.

possible eviction date

2008-07-30T09:11:00.003-04:00

Everything went well at the OB Tuesday. My blood pressure was borderline. Strangely, I lost weight. Not sure how that happened. I didn't schedule a c-section like I said I was going to. Why? Because the baby might be kicked out Friday. I go to the perinat Friday morning. If the fluid is still low, my OB wants to go ahead and do a c-section Friday.

My appointment is 8:30 Friday morning. I should be able to update by late Friday (either with news of a new baby or news of more pregnancy). If the baby doesn't come Friday, I will schedule a c-section for late next week.

Funny- When I first got pregnant I remember thinking how neat it would be to have this baby in August. Then my kids birthdays would be in August, September, and October. I never thought I would be this close to actually having the baby in August!

The possible eviction day is: August 1
(just possible date - not 100%. baby could change it's mind and stick around for a little longer)

sigh

2008-07-27T19:56:00.003-04:00

still no change.

I have changed the name of Braxton Hicks to SPAC (Stupid Pointless Annoying Contractions). I've been having SPAC for over 10 weeks now. They are driving me crazy.

I did get to squeeze in 2 more trips to labor and delivery this week - for nothing. At work on Wednesday, I started to feel really light-headed, so I called someone to check my blood pressure. It was 154/90 (they like the bottom number to be below 80. 90 is not good). I called my dr. She told me to rest for about 15 min, take my blood pressure again, and call her with the number. 15 min. later the number was something over 86. I called my dr back. She sent me to labor and delivery for monitoring. My blood pressure was great while I was at labor & delivery. I spent about 2 hours at the hospital. My dr did check my cervix again because I was having a lot of contractions. But, the contractions were all SPAC. My cervix hasn't changed (still 1-2 cent dilated, 50% effaced).

Trip 2 to labor and delivery was yesterday for a non-stress test. When I went to the high-risk dr Friday afternoon, my blood pressure was high again! I also found out that amniotic fluid level is low. (it was low with Nolan, too) Since my OBs office was closed by the time my dr visit was over, my OB told me to go to labor and delivery some time Saturday for a non-stress test. Everything looked great. My blood pressure was borderline when I first got there, it dropped to normal before I left.

No one knows why I keep getting these episodes of light-headedness and high-blood pressure, but at this point it's not a big concern. It's more just annoying - just like the SPAC.

I go back to the OB Tuesday morning and to the high-risk dr Friday morning. I hope not to make it to either appointment. ;)

I did put a cookie in front of my belly tonight and told the baby that if it wanted it, it would have to come out and get it. I went shopping with my sisters yesterday. We did a lot of walking. This baby is stubborn.

Oh -the baby is 6lbs.

blah!

2008-07-24T20:19:00.003-04:00

Baby is still nice and comfy in the womb. The cervix that has given me issues for for my last 2 pregnancies has decided to become the cervix of steel. I've been 1-2 cent. dilated and 50% effaced for about 2 weeks. My contractions are doing nothing but annoy me.

I go back to the high-risk dr tomorrow for another ultrasound. I go back to the OB Tuesday. If this baby is still stubborn Tuesday, I'm going to talk to the dr about scheduling a c-section the first week of August. I would prefer not to have another c-section, but this baby is being kicked out in 2 weeks one way or the other.

term

2008-07-22T20:29:00.002-04:00

I'm term and done. The baby's cooked. It's time for the baby to get out. If it doesn't leave on it's own, it will be kicked out in about 2 weeks (the first week of August).

I gained about a million pounds last week. I've had more stupid comments said to me (I know people mean well, but when I'm standing front of you do you have to ask if I'm still at work?). My ankle is swollen. I can barely put weight on it, which doesn't help with my walk. I now waddle and limp. (stop laughing at me!)

I'm done. I did my job. I carried the baby to term. Now, it's the baby's job to get out. Cary and I both told the baby this morning that it's ok to come out now. We want to meet him/her.

Anyway - the list. I went to amazon.com and put some stuff on a wish list.

Please don't feel like you have to get us something because I made this list. It's really just to give you ideas if you want to get us something.
There are things on the list for Nolan and the baby.
Nolan loves books. He actually reads so much that some of his favorite books are now in pieces. (some of the ones that are in pieces: The very quiet crickett, The going to bed book, Goodnight moon, Owl babies) (remember this for his birthday!)

We have all the basics for this baby. If this is a girl, we do need some preemie or newborn clothes. We have plenty of hand-me-down clothes, but most of my family has bigger kids, so there aren't many newborn girl outfits. We're set for boys newborn and preemie.

We have bottles, but we do need some new accesories.
We have a Bumbo, we need the Bumbo tray.
We have a boppy and a boppy cover, I would like one more cover.
It's all on the list.

My contractions have started to come back. I hope this baby has listened to us and will make it's grand entrance soon. But my mom's out of town* until maybe this weekend. I know she would like it if the baby stayed in until she got back. I'm not sure if I can wait. I'm having a hard time just smiling when people look at me say "Wow! You're really all out there. Really, you're all out there. I mean all out there." or "Wow! That's going to be a big baby." (By the way - it's not a big baby. They baby is about 5 lbs 5 ozs.)

*My grandmother is really sick. She's 91 and her heart is barely working. The doctors don't think she will make it much longer. My mom and dad are with her and some family in Mass.

Still no change

2008-07-20T19:32:00.002-04:00

Everyone who guessed I was going to have the baby this weekend was wrong. (unless something pretty drasatic happens in the next few hours)

My contractions, strangely, have actually calmed down since I got the cerclage out! I might end up begging my dr for c-section in week 39.

I am starting to get uncomfortable. My ankle has been killing me for days. Cary said it's because of all the extra weight I'm carrying. (he then took his foot out his mouth and apoligized about a million times for saying I am carrying extra weight.) It's great that I'm free, but I'm too tired to do anything! And it's 100 degrees outside!

One of Cary's friends asked me today if I am bigger then I was with Nolan. Umm, yeah. I've never been this pregnant before. At 35 weeks with this pregnancy I had gained less weight than I had with Nolan (but cookies were buy one get on free at the grocery store and now my weight has caught up - plus some). At 36 1/2 weeks with Nolan, he had been home for over a week. At this point with Caleb, he was about to have his third surgery, I had been back at work for weeks, and, little did I know, I was about to get pregnant again. That won't be happening this time. This will be my last pregnancy.

The list - I'll work on that now. I'll try to post something tonight or tomorrow night.

I'm free!

2008-07-18T07:22:00.003-04:00

The cerclage is out and I'm off all my restrictions! From this point on, I'm just a regular pregnant person.

Got to go - Nolan expects me to make him breakfast. I need to teach him how to work the toaster-oven. ;)

I'll tell you all about the removal later.

36 weeks

2008-07-16T19:50:00.002-04:00

I'm still here and still pregnant. I'm now 36 weeks and a day or two. I never thought I'd make it this far. It's so strange. It's like being pregnant for the first time! I have no idea what to expect for now on (until the labor starts - I've already done 4 times! 2 times each for Caleb and Nolan.)

I go tomorrow afternoon to get the cerclage taken out. It's a big deal that I made it this far, but the actual removal (from what I've heard) is not a big deal. They will remove the stitch at my perinat's (the high-risk doctor) office. The doctors says it's like a long pap smear. I have talked to others who had their cerclages removed this week. They say that it's just a few minutes of discomfort (some have had some pain) and you're done. The actual removal will only be about 5-10 minutes. There is usually a long wait (up to an hour) at my perinat office and I get another ultrasound tomorrow. I'm guessing that I'll be done and leaving the office at around 5. I hope to go out to eat with Cary after. When I get home, I'll update (I'll update Friday morning at the latest).

I'm more excited about making it this far then I am nervous about the procedure. I am annoyed at Cary (surprising, I know). He was making a big deal about the removal. I finally convinced him that the procedure isn't a big deal. Now I'm annoyed that he's acting like it's not a big deal!

Cary thinks I'm going to go into labor as soon as the stitch is removed. I think he's crazy. Many people have gotten their stitch removed and have still gone full-term. Some have even had to be induced! Sadly, when I told my dr and nurse what Cary thought, they agreed with him. I don't like it when people agree with him. I'm always right, Cary is always wrong. Simple.

I think we should start a poll. When do you think I will have and baby? Do you think it's a boy or a girl?
I don't want to know how much you think the baby will weigh. I have to push this baby out! I don't want to even think about pushing out a 9 lb baby.
The winner will get nothing!
Oh - and if you could also guess the baby's name, that would help. We still don't have a name. We have a girl's name narrowed down, but we have nothing for a boy. (No, I'm not going to tell you the possible girl name.)

Some people have been asking what we need for the baby. I'm working on a list. I'll post it here soon.

Now what?

2008-07-10T20:39:00.002-04:00

Do you see on my ticker that I'm in week 35? You know what that means? This is the longest I've even been pregnant!!

Today, after being annoyed at everything and everyone. My sister warned me that you spend your last month just being annoyed. Thanks for warning - a couple of days late.

Poor Cary is driving me crazy. He does sometimes deserve it. But, sometimes, he's just in my way - I need to be annoyed at some one and he the closest person.
Tonight he offered to go get me Sonic. I've been wanting a chili cheese pup (or 12) from Krystals. Cary thought a Sonic chili cheese dog would be the same. It isn't. I yelled at him for offering to get me Sonic instead of Krystals. (the nerve of him. not wanting to drive over 20 minutes 1-way just to get me a few chili cheese pups.) But, when he didn't go to Sonic, I yelled at him again for not going to Sonic. (it's basicly the same thing as a chili cheese pup. dah!)

He just needs to learn to read my mind.

He's also in trouble for leaving a wipes container and a carseat at his parents house. He explained his logic. But, whatever, that's not what I wanted! I want the wipes container and the car seat here. Why? Because that's what I want!

I'm still getting contractions - which annoys me. Still not enough to call the dr...again. I get about 1 to 2 good contractions an hour.

My feet are the size of watermelons. My belly is the size of about 5 watermelons. My feet hurt, my back hurts, my contractions are annoying. But, I'm kicking pregnancy butt! Over 35 weeks!

Enough whining...
I've had some interesting comments made to me. I thought it would be nice to use them as a guide for every one. Here is what not to say to a pregnant women:
(All of these have actually been said to me - surprising, all by women!)

Wow! You've gotten big!
Wow! You've swollen!
My daugther is due in 2 weeks and you're much bigger than her.
My friend is having twins and she's 1/2 your size.
Did you get bigger over the weekend?

person A: how much does the baby weigh now
me: around 5lbs
person A: (looking at my belly in shock) That baby weighs a lot more then 5 lbs.

person B: when are you due?
me: August 13
person B: (looking at my belly in shock) There's no way you're making it that long.

While I was trying to walk to the bathroom with a full bladder and a baby kicking my full bladder and not pee on myself. Some one looked me a said "you remind me of the opening scene of March of the Penguins."

People no longer talk to me looking at my face. They all look directly at my belly.

People I'm not that big! My weight gain is right on track. I'm days away for being 9 months pregnant (wow- that's crazy!). I'm supposed to have a belly. No need to point it out. I know it is big. It's about the size of a baby, a placenta, and aminotic fluid. Imaginge that.

Great, now I'm annoyed at myself for being annoying. Where is Cary? I need someone to be annoyed at...

Oh yeah, my cerclage removal has been scheduled for July 17. After that, the baby (who still does not have a name) will be free to escape.

bump

2008-07-07T21:50:00.006-04:00

I had a post all ready to go about how I'm about to hit 35 weeks and how I haven't been to labor & delivery yet.

Then, we hit a little bump (actually a couple of bumps).

My nurse came Saturday to give me the P17 shots (to help prevent preterm labor). When she was listening to the baby's heartbeat, it sounded irregular. She recommended that I go to labor & delivery just to get things checked out a little more. The baby's heart looks great. They think that when the baby would take a practice breath it would shift just enough to where on the doppler and heart monitor looked like the heartrate skipped but it was really just the baby moving. While I was there on the monitors, they noticed I was having some contractions. They gave me a couple of shots to stop the contractions and sent me home.

Sunday, the contractions came back. Monday morning I finally gave in and called my dr. She told me to go to labor & delivery for observation. By the time I got there, I was having contractions every 3 minutes! After laying around in the hospital for a few hours, the contractions settled down. My cervix is still long and I'm just a fingertip dilated so the dr sent me home. I'm on bed rest tonight and I allowed to go back to work and do my regular activties tomorrow.

Not sure how much longer this baby is going to stay in. But, it's ok. The hospital has me listed as being 35 weeks, 1 day today. Nolan was born at 35 weeks. If this baby ends up coming out this week, we'll probably end up with another cute, tiny, healthy baby.

Back to the post I started working on last week...
here is the most recent 3-d image of the baby
and a shot of my basketball-belly

33 weeks!

2008-06-24T09:21:00.001-04:00

just a quick note to let ya'll know that I'm still pregnant.

This is the longest I've ever gone without pre-term labor. Maybe I will make it to term....

3-D baby

2008-06-12T13:05:00.005-04:00

Everything is still looking great. Maybe I will make it to term (knock on wood).

Thought you'd like to see a 3-D picture of the baby.
We're still not finding out the sex of the baby.

And a bonus picture of Nolan in his baby pool.

OMG! I'm going to have 2 kids at home!
Time to panic!

2 weeks? or 9 weeks?

2008-06-07T19:55:00.002-04:00

I went into labor with Nolan for the first time at 32 1/2 weeks. I'm 30 1/2 weeks now. So, will I go into labor again in 2 weeks or will I make it to full-term?
No one knows. The drs are doing everything to get me to term, but with a history of 2 premature births my chances aren't good.

The stress is really starting to get to me (Cary will tell you - my emotions are everywhere!). I keep thinking about everything I need to do and I might only have 2 weeks left to do everything. Or I might have 9 weeks left. If I make it term, I'll have a scheduled c-section in week 39. The dr told me that at my last appointment. Then added that our first goal is to get me to 37 weeks or at least 35 weeks.

I told my drs I'm having 2-3 contractions a day. They were thrilled. How many people make their drs happy when they have contractions at 30 weeks? They were thrilled that I'm having only 2-3 contractions a day.

Nolan is still growing. He's quickly approaching his terrible twos. I'll try to post pictures of him. Cary got some good pictures of Nolan at the pool a couple of weeks ago. (I'm not allowed to go to the pool, so we got Nolan a baby pool. He plays in the pool and I sit next to the pool.)

Boring is good

2008-05-29T13:42:00.002-04:00

I went to the doctor yesterday. It was another nice, boring appointment. I love those. The baby is about 2 lbs, 13 ozs. Everything looks great. We still don't know the sex!!

I go to the OB next week and back to the perinat in 2 weeks. I hope things continue to be nice and boring.

I'm *almost* enjoying my boring pregnancy.

Circle

2008-05-19T08:43:00.008-04:00

We all know Nolan is a genius . Thought you'd like to hear the latest genius thing he did:

Saturday night we were at a friends house. He looked up in the sky, pointed, and said "circle." I turned to see what he was pointing at - there was a circle-shaped moon.

A couple of weeks ago we were at another friends house. Nolan was playing on my friend's son's toddler bed.
He would get up on the bed, crawl around, lay down, and get back down. One time when he was getting up on the bed, he stopped, turned to us and said "I get up here."

The dr told us he would start putting 2 words together. She didn't mention anything about 4 words! What really impresses me is how clearly he saids his words. Most of his words, anyone can understand. He only has a few in baby language (i.e. "gaa" for ball)

Pregnancy is still going great. No changes. I go to the OB every other week and to the perinat every other week. I'm still getting my weekly 17P shots (they help prevent preterm labor).
I have now made it past the gest. age when I delivered Caleb. That was a great day. In the next couple of days, I will start my 3rd trimester.

We still haven't found out the sex of this baby! Cary thinks it's a boy, I think it's a girl.
We do have a girl's name picked out. We had a boys name picked out until I mentioned another name I heard. Now we have 2 names for a boy.

Nolan's week

2008-04-28T09:11:00.003-04:00

I'm still here and I'm still pregnant.
Everything is still going perfect with the pregnancy. Starting next week I'll be seeing a dr at least once a week - either the OB and the perinat (the high-risk dr).

Here is post I wrote weeks ago, but never posted. I'll add pictures later. I'm so tired - between working full time, chasing after a 1 1/2 year old, and being about 3000 weeks pregnant, I'm exhausted.

We went to the aquarium Thursday (April 24). We make a point to spend the anniversary of Caleb's death together as a family every year. We had fun. Nolan enjoyed the fish. His favorite was the beluga whales.

We took 2 pictures before our camera batteries died. Just before we left, we got some batteries at the gift shop and went back to the places Nolan really enjoyed for pictures. But, he was done. We took a couple of pictures and left. Nolan was asleep before we were out of the parking deck.

He has learned so much this week. He is a little sponge.e
He now says "no, no, no" and shakes his head.
When he hears "yes" he will node his head and sometimes say "yes."
He makes a fish face.
He makes elephant motion.
And he started saying "apple" and "circle."
All this week! (which was actually a couple of weeks ago)

Nolan stories

2008-04-09T13:14:00.010-04:00

These stories have been building up waiting for some one (cough me cough) to tell them to you. So, here are some Nolan stories.

The other day Nolan was playing with a reese's easter egg. It was time to start making dinner. While I was walking to the kitchen I shouted back at Nolan ( jokingly) "You can have it if you can open it." I didn't think anything more about it. Until Cary said "Did you just tell him he could have that?" I said "Yay, if he can open it. Why? "
Cary: "It's in his mouth."
Me (while quickly going into the living room to see what Nolan was doing ) : "The whole thing?"
Cary: "Yes"
I walked into the living room to find the empty wrapper on the couch next to Nolan and the whole reese's egg in his mouth. I looked at him and said "You ate mom's candy." He gave me this look like "You said I could have it."
The boy loves his candy and I did say he could have it..

The other day Nolan and I were in his room playing. A couple people walked by outside talking to each other.
Nolan looked at me and said "Who dat?"
I guess Cary's been teaching him ebonics.

He got an ABC puzzle for Christmas. If I ask him to show me his ABC's, he will go sit on the puzzle. If he hears someone singing the ABC song, he will "sing" with them.

Nolan's words:
lalana = banana
daa = ball (some times gaa)
who dat = who is that?
what dat = what is that?
what dis = what is this?
kitty cat = kitty cat
mama = mommy
daddy = daddy
gone gone or all gone = all gone
panting or barking = dog
eow = meow
isty = Misty (one of our cats)
Inka = Minka (Cary's parents' dog)
oom oom = vroom, vroom - every time he sees or rides in a car you will hear oom oom
ka ka cake, ka ka cake (with clapping) = patty cake, patty cake
issy issy ider = itsy bitsy spider
Hi = hi
book = book

I'll add to the list as I remember words - he has a lot!! He is a verbal freak. He has more words then the average 1 1/2 year old. (of course, you knew he would have some freakness - he did come from Cary and me. ;) )

note: my computer does strange things with letters while I type on blogs. I'll correct any typos later - on a different computer.

videos

2008-03-31T21:43:00.003-04:00

I should put words and stories to go with the videos, but I'm tired and I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll tell you about them tomorrow.

Nolan vs Oscar from eachoc on Vimeo.

Nolan and big ball from eachoc on Vimeo.

Oh - and I went to the dr today. Baby looks great.

Little One

2008-03-20T15:42:00.005-04:00

So, I was cleaning off my computer and found this picture.

It's been on my computer all week waiting for you to look at. What took you so long?

The little one at 19 weeks:

A real post with more words and pictures of Nolan coming soon.

I'm all stitched up

2008-03-01T20:13:00.003-05:00

The surgery went well. It was my first time at this hospital. It's a new hospital _ I think opened in 2006. The staff was great. My surgery was scheduled for 12:30. The surgery started at 12:49. How often is a hospital that on-schedule?

The baby was to wiggley for them to get the heartrate on the dobbler, so they had to do a ultrasound. When the ultrasound machine arrived, it was followed by about 5 nurses and my dr. The nurses rarely get OB patients in the outpatient surgery area and they all wanted to see the ultrasound of the baby. We were all a little disappointed when the dr got the heartrate right away and started to turn the machine off. After the collective disappointed "awww," he looked at the baby a little more.

The surgery lasted about 10 minutes. They gave me a spinal instead of an epi. A spinal is basicly a shot and lasts for a set amount of time. The epi is connected to a IV and can be added to for an unlimited amount of time (which is way it's preferred for labor). When I had the epi for the cerclage with Nolan it hurt so bad. I was dreading that needle in my back again. The spinal didn't hurt nearly as bad and started working immediately. It was great. I loved the spinal.

Cary dropped me off at the hospital yesterday morning. I made him leave at 11. There was no need for him to set around the hospital for 5 hours. Cary and Nolan spent the rest of Friday at Cary's parent's house. My sister picked me up from the hospital at around 4, took me home, and got my meds for me. I slept the rest of night - except for a few minutes when I woke up when Cary and Nolan got home to tell Nolan "goodnight."

Cary got up early this morning when Nolan woke up. Cary changed Nolan's diaper and brought him downstairs. Cary put Nolan in his highchair, I fed Nolan breakfast, and Cary got him out of his highchair. Then, I sent Cary upstairs(after I promised him I would be ok) and Nolan and I played until my parents got there. My parents took Nolan for a day with grandma and grandpa's. They brought him back at bedtime. My mom put him in my lap, I read him a bedtime story, and my mom picked him up and put him in his crib. It worked out great - I got to do my normal mom things without picking up my not-exactly-small Nolan.

Moo stopped by with donuts and diapers (I didn't realize there was a baby out there with thighs bigger then Nolan's). My friends from down the street stopped by to check on me. Cary had plans today and left shortly after Moo stopped by. It actually worked out really well. I was able to sleep all day (and have full control over the remote). And after I over did it this morning while playing with Nolan (after I promised Cary I would be ok), I realized it was best for me to do nothing but sleep today.

I was in a lot of pain when I got home last night. I'm much better now. My discharge orders said I can go back to normal activities tomorrow. I hope my pain agrees. Tomorrow's supposed to be beautiful and I would love to take Nolan to Moo's playground (but, no driving while on pain killers!).

I go back to the doctors (the OB and perinat) Tuesday morning. My perinat (the one who did the surgery - BTW it was the same dr who did what my OB's called the "cerclage of steel" with Nolan) said I can go back to work Monday morning.

I have ultrasound pictures of the little one and a video and pictures of Nolan, but I'm a big slacker and haven't posted them. I'll post them some time - between now and when little one arrives (July 9 is my goal - August 13 is my due date).

slacker

2008-02-28T09:19:00.002-05:00

ok, so I'm been slacking on updating.

Nolan has a million teeth. He's walking like he's been walking for years. . He has no idea what's going to happen in a few months...

On the new baby news:
The little one weighs about 4 oz. Everything looks great. We're still not going to find out the sex of little one.
My cerclage will be placed tomorrow at 12:30. (I can't eat after midnight tonight!!!)
The cerclage is a stitch that will be placed around my cervix (kind of like a drawstring) . The stitch typical gets removed at 37 weeks (but we all know I probably won't make it that long).

I will start weekly P17 shots next week.

I'll post links at P17 shots and cerclage later today so you can go read about them.

My belly is getting very big, very fast. Guess that's what happens with #3.

An update!

2008-01-28T20:19:00.000-05:00

I promise I have a good excuse for not updating, but first things first, I still haven't finished telling you about Disney!

Nolan and I had a blast. He loved the Dumbo ride (his first ride!). I was easy on him to begin with. Then, I slowly raised our Dumbo car and waited for his reaction. He laughed. The higher we went, the more he laughed. We rode It's a Small World more times then I can count. He loved waiting in line watching the clocks tick.

The first day there, we went to a character lunch with Pooh and friends. I don't like Winnie the Pooh. There was no Pooh in our house. Pooh and pooh things were not welcomed in our home. Nolan had never seen Pooh before. A few characters came up to us. Nolan smiled. Then, Pooh walked up to us. Nolan turned around, looked at Pooh, and smiled the biggest smile I have seen. He loves Winnie the Pooh!

I couldn't decide on Nolan's souvenir. One of the last days, we found a big Pooh. He was cranky, so my mom handed him the Pooh to entertain him while we walked through the store. When we were done at the store, I decided he needed that Pooh. I went back into the store the got him the Pooh. When I handed Pooh to him, he gave Pooh a big hug and kiss.

We heard Pooh, Tiger, and Eeyore where at Epcot for a character signing. We had to go. Nolan was getting tired and cranky. He wanted a nap. He was just started to fall asleep when I picked him up and took him into the room to see Pooh and friends.
His reaction:

He loves Pooh!

We did a ton at Disney. I got to ride all the roller coasters. Nolan got to play with his cousins and ride all the kid rides. We had a great time. I'm ready to go back. We all had our digital cameras there and ended up with hundreds of pictures (plus the Disney PhotoPass pictures!.) I'm guessing there are close to 700 pictures of our trip floating around. I'll put mine in flicker one day so you can look at all of them.

Now, on to Christmas: Nolan wasn't really into Christmas this year. When we started to open the last present at the last party, he started to get interested in unwrapping the presents. The biggest Christmas news is that he started walking on his own! He was walking for months holding a hand or two, but not by himself. On Christmas day, by brother looked at Nolan and asked him if he could show him how he walks and Nolan started walking. He took about 5 or 6 steps on his own and walked on and off the rest of the day.

Now, he's walking fool. He loves to walk. We went to the grocery store tonight. When we got back, I got him out of the car and put him down so he could walk to the door. He turned around and started walking down the street! (it's a very low traffic street - our town home is next to the end unit and the end unit doesn't have a car) When we go somewhere, I open the door and he walks to the car. It's great. He is such a big boy now. He has about a million words - mama, dada, kitty, mea (meow), inka (grandma and grandpa Locke's dog, Minka), grandma or grandpa (we're not sure which one he's saying), quack, tickle, gone, dank u (thank you) - I don't remember all of his words! He calls the cats. They will hear some one calling them, come running, and stop just short of Nolan when they realize they are about to fall into the Nolan trap. He is really getting into a great age. It's so much fun watch him walk around exploring. He loves to laugh and to read. His newest favorite thing is to walk around with a calculator in 1 hand. He loves my calculator.

Anyway, my excuse for not posting. Any guesses? Pretty sure you just guessed right.
Cary got me pregnant again.
(ok. so it took 2 of us. but, whatever I can totally blame him since he will never read this!)

I'm due August 13, so I'm expecting to meet the little one in July. July 9 will be 35 weeks, anytime after that will be ok for little one's entrance (or would it be exit?).

I've already seen my OB and my perinat (the high-risk dr). I've had an ultrasound. I saw the little one's arms and legs and head and heartbeat. I go back to see both of my drs Feb. 4. At that time, my perinat will schedule my cerclage (remember from last time? the cerclage is a stitch they put around my cervix to keep the baby in) for that week or the next. I will get weekly P17 shots again starting at 16 weeks. My drs assure me this pregnancy will be more like my pregnancy with Nolan.
I will be 12 weeks Tuesday. I'll add ticker at the top of the blog so you (and me) will know how far along I am.

How's that for an update? Did I leave anything out?

(By the way: I'm tired and don't feel like proofing this. Sorry for any mistakes, but I need my beauty rest!)

The Santa picture

2007-12-20T10:53:00.000-05:00

Disney part 1

2007-12-11T14:00:00.000-05:00

Videos!

Disney 2007 from eachoc on Vimeo.

Nolan walking with my mom at the petting zoo in Animal Kingdom. I was trying fancy stuff with the camera, just turn your head to the side and everything will be ok. Don't worry, I won't try that again.
Nolan was trying to pull the lamb's ear. He also sat in the dirt a couple of times- that's why he has a big dirt mark on his shorts.

Disney 2007 from eachoc on Vimeo.

We went to Chef Mickey's our last day at Disney for Ian's (Nolan's cousin) first birthday. He was waving a napkin, but he kept dropping it. You can see in the video how easily he is distracted by food.
(see the other baby head? The one by sister? That's Ian.)

3 days

2007-11-28T17:00:00.001-05:00

In 3 days Nolan and I will be in Disney World.

My sister and her herd are picking us up at 6:00 am Saturday morning. We will load up her minivan and start the 8 hour drive with 3 kids. My other sister and her herd are picking up my parents and driving down in minivan #2. My brother and his herd are driving a camper/trailer down and camping out at Disney (they're crazy!). We come back next Saturday.

I'll have lots of pictures for you when we get back.

Nolan's added 2 more words - tickle and cookie. He has so many words now, I've lost count. He is finally starting to show interest in walking. If we make a lot of noise, we can distract him enough for him to take a step or 2 on his own.

I need to do some laundry and start packing 'cause we're leaving for Disney in 3 days!!! jealous?

I've been tagged

2007-11-09T23:01:00.000-05:00

Moo tagged me.

Here's the meme:
- Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
- Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
- Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

You people already know everything about me, so this will be hard.

1. I am the "1 out of every 500 people tested..." I get that reaction. The cotton mouth with zyrtec. The drowiness when medicine wears off (not when I first take it, but 4 hours later when it's leaving my system). The whole preemie thing. I am a freak (and proud!).

2. I'm working with my sister to start making and selling diaper bags and accessories.

3. I'm building a website for the diaper bag company (the name's a secret until the website is up and beautiful) and for Cary to sell "designer inspired" sunglasses.

4. I don't know anything about the web or how to build websites.

5. I was addicted to Rock of Love with Bret Michaels.

6. When I was going through boxes of my junk my parent's had in storage. I came across a poster I had of Bret Michaels. It's now on the fridge. Cary thinks it's funny. (he was also addicted to the show, but I'm sure he won't admit it)

7. I don't think I know 7 people with blogs to tag.

The tagging:
for fun
1. Alyson
2. Heather

To help the NaBloMoPo suckers
3. The Princess
4. Becci

For a distraction
5. Catherine
6. Sarah
7. LagLiv

Now I have to go leave these people comments to let them know they've been tagged.

Our Little Puppy Dog

2007-11-01T20:57:00.000-04:00

I tried to get a cute still picture of him. It didn't work.

hi

2007-10-30T20:51:00.000-04:00

I'm still here. Been busy.

Nolan's still not interested in walking. He will cruise on everything. He will stand on his own for a few seconds. But, no walking. He is the master crawler. He is fast. Very fast. He gets to where he wants to go, so I'm not worried about the not walking. Just something to pick on him about. Every time I see another 13-month-old walker, I point them out to Nolan. Then Nolan will look at me and say "I'm talking and crawling. Beside, it takes a lot to stand and walk with all this chub."*
His new favorite hobby is reading books to mommy and daddy. I will try to post a video of him reading soon.

What happened to fall? Did I miss it? It went from 80 degrees to 40 degrees overnight. I went from wearing shorts to digging out my winter jacket. But, now Nolan gets a new wardobe**!

Oh, and YoBaby does not think Nolan is cute. He wasn't a finalist in the photo contest. On to the next contest...

* ok, so he doesn't talk that clearly yet. But he does read and he does have words and he does have a lot of cute baby chub.

** all hand-me downs thanks to my sisters and Hedda! I have a stash of winter clothes for him up to size 24 months.

another birthday without my baby

2007-10-11T09:29:00.000-04:00

Caleb's 2nd birthday was yesterday.

We survived. Mainly because I avoided everyone. Sometimes that's the best (or easiest) way to deal. I stayed off the computer to avoid all the emails and the few people I did call, we talked about other things.

I am grateful for everyone's thoughts, prayers, emails, text messages, and the flowers my family sent. It helped me get throught such a hard day.

Who knew it would get harder every year?

Nolan and his cake

2007-09-21T11:49:00.000-04:00

Most of his cousins' heads are also in this video.

It's a long video... be patient.

Nolan and his cake from eachoc on Vimeo.

Nolan's 1!

2007-09-12T20:22:00.002-04:00

Nolan turned the big 0-1 yesterday. Everyone was being sad about 9/11 while Cary, Nolan, and I (and everyone else with a 9/11 birthday) celebrated.

We had Nolan's birthday party Saturday (on Cary's birthday). Nolan did great. He was in a great mood Saturday. He did awesome with all the people (we had about 20 adults and 10 kids).

He is now talking all the time. He says mommy, daddy, cat, and book very clearly. His favorite word is book. He will see a book and say "book, book, dook, ook, book, ook, book.." over and over again. His birthday present to me was to look at me and say "mommy." my present to him was a big bruise on his forehead. (he slipped in the tub and hit his head. I held him and cryed while he looked over my shoulder and laughed at a cat.)

He is still walking with help. He's crusing the furniture. He's pulling up on everything - cats, other babies, couch, tables, legs...

He's 12-month well baby check is tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait to find out how much he's grown!

Anyway I know you really came here for pictures, so here you go:

Video to come...

Happy (almost) Birthday, Cary!

2007-09-05T13:38:00.000-04:00

Cary's birthday is Saturday.
He'll be 32.

Happy Birthday!

The countdown

2007-08-29T10:28:00.000-04:00

Do you see that ticker at the top of the page? The one that says Nolan will be one soon?

Can you believe that?

Time flies.

BTW: He's starting to walk with assistance.

back to the stroller talk

2007-08-15T20:46:00.000-04:00

A long, long time ago in land right down the street I borrowed my sister's kids and went stroller shopping. Sarah (8), Sam (5 in Nov.), Nolan, my sister, and me met at Babies R Us and tried out strollers. Here's a quick review on the strollers we tried (I didn't try the $329 strollers):

Combi
pros
easy to steer
folds down to nothing
can steer with one hand
carryng strap

cons
Sam's legs were too long to fit on footrest
when he put feet on footrest, his knees where in the bar (bar is removable)
not as easy to steer with a 5-year-old in it
don't like the basket

Chicco
the inexpensive Chicco
pros
lowest price
carrying strap
comes with rain sheild

cons
steers ok
recline does nothing. Sam couldn't tell any difference when I reclined the seat.
lower weight limit
tiny basket

Graco Ipo
pros
carrying handle (after playing with a carrying strap and carrying handle, I think the carrying handle is easier)
reclines flat
can un-recline with one hand!
50lb weight limit
easy to steer with *little* Nolan and Sam
easy to fold
big basket

cons
kind of on the heavy side for an umbrella stroller

None of the strollers we looked at had cupholders and they all had removable canopies.

I've used our new Graco Ipo a couple of times and I love it - well worth the $70. The Graco is similar to the high-priced McClaren's, but is much more affordable. More importantly, Nolan likes it.

Speaking of Nolan:
Did you know he will be 1 in less then 1 month?? Time flies.
He's pulling up now. He is just starting to cruise the furniture. He now says "cat" instead of "kaka."

I had new pictures of him taken over the weekend at Picture People. While there, I entered him in the YoBaby photo contest. See the pictures here. The second picture - the one were he's in just a diaper with the blanket around him and a BIG smile - is the one I entered in the contest. If you look closely at the one with the black background you can see a little bruise under his eye. I love it. He looks all boy.

Dancing King

2007-08-13T15:07:00.000-04:00

dancing king from eachoc and Vimeo.

Sometimes it's just so hard...

2007-08-08T12:46:00.000-04:00

to have the cutest baby in the universe.

got stroller?

2007-08-05T20:02:00.000-04:00

We got the Graco Ipo.
But now it's 8 pm Sunday and I haven't started the laundry. Either I tell you about the stroller now and skip laundry or I tell you later and Nolan and I wear clean clothes tomorrow.
I'll tell you all about it later.

By popular demand...

2007-07-23T20:49:00.000-04:00

another video...

Untitled from eachoc and Vimeo.

Nothing new on the stroller front. I have a 15% off coupon for babies r us for this weekend. I'm going to look at the Graco and Chicco Saturday morning.

The stroller post

2007-07-16T19:43:00.000-04:00

It's time for big boy to start riding around in a smaller stroller.

I need your advice. I don't want to pay a fortune, but I want a good quality lightweight stroller that will last a long time.

I've heard good things about the Combi. This model is right at $99. I also found a store with the model up from this one in last year's color for $99.

I've also heard good things about the Chicco - $59 for the first one, $89 for the second.

I came across an article in Parent's magazine about the UppaBaby G-lite - $99. Only 8.3 lbs!

While reading the reviews on these, I came across another stroller. The new Graco Ipo has great reviews - 4 1/2 stars at babiesrus.com. It's on sale for $79.

Here's what I want:
lightweight
high weight capacity - I don't want Nolan to exceed the weight limit in 2 weeks.
easy to fold - preferably one-handed
easy to steer
taller handles then a cheap umbrella stroller
room for storage - the more the better
did I mention lightweight?
recline

things I'd like, but don't need
carrying strap
machine washable seat liner
cup holder
stand when folded
iphone

I want all that for under $100. Nolan and I are going to Disney in December with my family. I want a stroller that will be easy to load on and off the buses to get from the hotel to the parks. And something he will be comfortable in all day and something I will be comfortable pushing around all day.

Right now, Combi and Chicco are in the lead. UppaBaby was in the lead, but the only place in Georgia that sells UppaBaby does not have an UppaBaby G-lite to try. If I'm going to spend $100 on an umbrella stroller, I want to test it first. I also don't think it reclines. My sis and E both have Combis and love them. The Chicco is less expensive. I don't know anything about the Graco.

So, what's you opinion? Any more strollers to add to my list? Any suggestions or comments on these strollers?

Crazy baby

2007-07-06T21:07:00.001-04:00

Nolan was in his exersaucer the having a blast the other day. He had his head back looking at the ceiling bouncing like crazy having a great time. So, I got out our little digital camera and videoed him.

Enjoy

Exersaucer from eachoc and Vimeo

(co-star in the video - the tail, the meowing - is Oscar)
(click on the video to start it)
(be patient with me, this is my first blog video)

Fireworks

2007-07-06T20:45:00.000-04:00

You know how there are the babies who cry at fireworks and the babies who don't. You never know which one you have until the first time you take them to see fireworks.

I took Nolan to see the fireworks by my house on July 3 (I live in best city! 3rd of July fireworks is such a great idea.) with my sister, her husband, their 2 kids, my neighbor, and her dog. I was nervous about Nolan's reaction. I had no idea which baby is was going to be - the screaming, crying baby or sleeping baby. He was neither.

Nolan is the baby who laughs at fireworks - big baby giggles. He was laughing so much he had all of us laughing, too.

He had such a great time at the 3rd of July fireworks that we did it again the next night. This time with Cary, his parents, and his grandmother. (Cary had 2 softball games Tuesday night, so he wasn't able to make it to fireworks round 1. He plays softball in a stupid, stupid city.) The fireworks started and Nolan starting laughing again. The second time, his attention span was much shorter. He was done with the whole fireworks thing after about 5 minutes.

July 3rd

I have the best baby.

Rubber ducky

2007-07-01T19:47:00.000-04:00

Nolan's outgrown his infant bath tub. Now, he gets his bath in a giant rubber ducky. He loves rubber duckies. At bath time, I'll gather his rubber duckies in put them in the ruber ducky tub with him. He loves it. His first bath in his "big boy" tub, he washed the rubber ducky's head. Now, he lays back all relaxed with his feet kicked up on ducky's shoulders.

I loaded up his infant carseat, bouncey seat, swing, baby bjorn, bebe sounds, and boppy pillow and took them over to my parents house for storage. Nolan's outgrown all of that stuff. We lowered his crib this week. He's gotten so big.

pictures of the big boy in his rubber ducky bath tub

Really, it's time to call Mensa

2007-06-22T10:39:00.000-04:00

Based on research, senior boys are smarter their younger brothers.

Senior boy: the first born or, if the firstborn had died in infancy, the next oldest.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070621/ap_on_sc/birth_order

Another reason why our next kid needs to be girl.
That and the fact that I'm going to dress the next baby in girl clothes
and we're out of boys names

and no, I'm not pregnant! No new babies for me in 2007!!

back from the dr

2007-06-12T20:20:00.000-04:00

Nolan's head is still in the 25th percentile.
He is now in just the 50th percentile for length.
He got a promotion in weight! He is now in the 80th percentile for weight.

He is 28" long and 22 1/2 pounds.

He got a clean bill of health today. No shots. They did take a toe-prick to check his iron, which is excellent.

The doctor was very surprised that he is talking. She doesn’t consider that he isn't sitting up from lying on his stomach yet. He's doing great with all of his other motor skills, so she's not considered. He even showed off some of his fancy skills - like a passing an object from one hand to another, standing assisted, sitting without help, babbling, and reading. (He read his "who loves baby" book. We have 2; 1 with pictures and 1 without. He read the one without pictures at the doctor's office.)

For the past almost 2 years, I have always said Caleb was a great baby. He was a great baby. He was very easy-going. He rarely cried or was upset. But, I'm just now realizing how sick he was. When I was right in the middle of it, I rarely thought of him as sick. He was just not finished growing yet. Now when I look back, I realize he was sick. It's just a different definition. He didn't have a cough or runny nose or a fever, but he was never 100% (or even 70%) healthy.

I've seen this poem a lot lately:
If tears could build a stairway
And memories were a lane
We would walk right up to Heaven
And bring you back again

I wouldn't bring him back. He's healthy now. He's wireless. As much as I miss him, I know Heaven is the best place for him. I'll see him again one day. And that day can't come soon enough.

Time to call Mensa

2007-06-09T16:41:00.000-04:00

Nolan's not pulling up on anything. He's not going from his stomach to setting up. But, he's talking.

We've been working on "momma," "dadda," and "bye-bye." But, he has choicen to say "yeah," "hi," and "ka-ka."

We went to store a couple of weeks ago. Nolan was tired and cranky. The lady in line in front of us looked at Nolan and asked "Are you tired?" He stopped whining, looked at her and said "yeah." Cary and I looked at each other in total shock. That's the first time we heard him say something that was unmistakenly a word.

A few days ago Nolan smelled very bad. I looked at him and asked "Do you need a clean diaper?" He looked at me and said "yeah." (maybe this means he'll be easy to potty train. maybe. hopefully.)

He says "hi" to me every morning when I get him up for breakfast and every evening when I get home from work.

Every time he sees one of our many, many cats he says "kaka." Not sure if it's kitty cat or kitty.

He is trying to crawl. He'll get up on his hands and knees and knock back and forth. He should start crawling any day now.

He's standing assisted. He will stand for about 1 second without any support. He loves to stand.

His new favorite toys are rubber duckies. He gets a huge smile everything he sees one. Then, like everything else, he will put the ducky straight into his mouth.

He goes Tuesday afternoon for his 9-month well baby check-up. I'm guessing he's close to 25 lbs. I saw a 1-year-old at the store today. She was tiny compared to Nolan. I can’t wait to find out what percentile my tiny 5 lb, 5 week early baby is in now.

Look what I have...

2007-05-23T20:26:00.000-04:00

Pictures!!!

why did you wake me up? We left for Callaway Gardens way past Nolan's bed time.

Vacation time!!

Butterflies at the Butterfly Garden

Nolan at the Butterfly Garden

Sleepy Nolan

Nolan and me (check out those chubby thighs - Nolan's, not mine)

day 2 - Nolan could barely contain his excitement

WalkAmerica - April 28 (1 year anniversary of Caleb's memorial service)

Cary walking

Nolan "walking" in his "I'm the little brother" shirt

Nolan and me crossing the finish line.

Thank you to everyone who donated. We raised over $500. Not bad for our first time.
Next year, all of you will walk, too. Right?

any one miss me?

2007-05-17T19:36:00.000-04:00

What a crazy couple of months!

Where did I leave off?

We took a trip to Callaway Gardens in April. Neither Cary nor I wanted to be at home for the anniversary of Caleb's death, so we went to Callaway. It was nice. Nolan loved the butterfly garden. We have great pictures of him in his fishing hat at the gardens, but they're on the dead computer. I hope to get them off the dead computer very soon.

Mother's Day was great. I finally got to have a Mother's Day with a living baby. Cary made me breakfast. Nolan gave me smiles. It was great.

I got Nolan's 6-month pictures taken the day before Mother's Day (I know I'm 2 months late).
Here's a link to Nolan's pictures: http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/my/images?tk=ebe25e1e-1b22-481b-a15b-c4fdf06f3e7e
You can see his teeth. He has almost 3 on the bottom and 1 coming in on the top.

He will be crawling very, very soon. He will rock on the his hands and knees and end up going backwards. He hasn't quit figured out how to go forward. He loves to stand up. And he LOVES animals. When Nolan sees a cat or a dog he will get a huge smile and squeal! Oscar will let Nolan pet him. Our other 2 cats are still deciding if they like Nolan.

Time for Nolan to go to bed. I'll try to add the pictures soon!!

I'm still here

2007-05-09T09:16:00.001-04:00

and the computer's still dead.

Will update with pictures, soon!

computer crashed

2007-05-02T06:59:00.001-04:00

I had a new post with pictures almost ready when the computer crashed. I'll try again tonight.

WalkAmerica is TOMORROW!

2007-04-27T09:17:00.001-04:00

I've been trying to post about donating to the walk, but April has been an insane month!

All of you know my stories, but here's a quick recap:

When I was 26 weeks, 2 days pregnant with Caleb I went to the specialist for regular check-up. The checked my cervix length. It was pretty much gone - it was measuring almost .75 cen. They sent me directly to the hospital. With the help of medicine and strict bedrest, I was able to carry Caleb 4 more days. He was born October 10, 2005 at 26 weeks, 6 days gestation. Research from March of Dimes helped develop the medicines that helped me carry Caleb those 4 extra days. I can't even begin to tell you all the things MOD helped develop that Caleb used during his life.

Story #2: MOD's research helped stop my contractions with Nolan at 32 1/2 weeks. With both babies they gave me a shot to help speed the development of their lungs by one week - again from MOD! I strongly feel that shot is what kept Nolan out of the NICU. MOD also help develop the shots I got weekly with Nolan.

Please donate to WalkAmerica.

I am walking in memory Caleb and in honor of Nolan.

Help save babies!

Donate online at http://www.walkamerica.org/preemiehood. (there's link to this site in my links section)

There's still time to join my walking team!

(and if you donate I'll post pictures of our trip to Callaway Gardens!)

You've got a friend in me

2007-04-16T13:55:00.000-04:00

countdown to 30

2007-04-12T21:15:00.000-04:00

You would think I would do something special for my last few hours in my 20s. Instead, I'm doing what most people older then dirt do. I'm going to bed.

Here's something for you to think about until my next post:
I want a light weight stroller for Nolan. We're going to Disney in December and I don't want to take his huge, heavy stroller. I want the seat to recline enough for him to nap comfortably. I want a basket and cupholders. And I need to be able to fold the stroller with one hand while holding Nolan in the other arm. Most importantly, I don't want to spead a fortune!

To celebrate my birthday tomorrow I'm going to the tag office to renew my car tag then I'm going to work. Exciting, isn't it?

Goodnight. The next time I post, I'll be old. I may need bi-focals and a cane.

stuff

2007-04-11T08:48:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't updated lately.

Here's run down of what's going on:

Nolan's 7 months old today.

My boss was killed in a car wreck April 1.

I will turn 30 Friday the 13th.

It will be 1 year since Caleb died on April 24.

I will be out of town part of next week for work stuff.

I'm not going to work April 23, 24, 25. I'm going to stay home and be sad.

I'm walking in WalkAmerica in honor of Nolan and in memory of Caleb. There's a link to the walking team in my links. Please donate money or join the team and walk with me. I was going to do a big long post about this, but I don't have the time or energy.

2 trophies

2007-04-01T20:14:00.000-04:00

Nolan won a trophy for runner-up voters choice precious catagory (all the babies who recieved the money votes won this).

He also won runner-up judges choice for comical (this one only a few babies won).

Over $13,000 was raised for CHOA! Last year they raise around $7,000.

Thanks for voting!

I have pictures of the trophies, but it's dinner time for me. I'll try to finish this update tomorrow night (didn't I say that last night, too?).

I started my day by stepping in cat puke

2007-03-31T11:56:00.000-04:00

Cary's out of town this weekend. It's just me, Nolan, and our many cats. One of the many cats puked last night - a couple of times - and didn't bother to clean it up. Always fun to start your morning by stepping in cat puke.

Nolan's 6-month well baby check was yesterday. He weighs 19 pounds, 11 ounces, and is 27 inches long. He is in the 75th percentile for weight and height and 25th percentile for his tiny head (he gets that from me and Cary). He is rolling over both ways now and is starting to scoot around.

He just realized it's lunch time. Got to go.

I'll try to finish this update tomorrow after he wins the baby contest.

Remember to go vote for Nolan!

Vote for Nolan!

2007-03-30T13:11:00.000-04:00

The voting is today and tomorrow at Discover Mills for the photo contest I entered Nolan in earlier this month.
He is in the comical and precious categories.
If cost $.50 for each vote and all the money goes to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (where Caleb spent many, many months).

Here's how you vote fo Nolan:
Go to Discover Mills today or tomorrow between 10 am and 7 pm.
The pictures are displayed at the end of the food court in front of Sketchers.
Nolan's pictures are on the end by the custom imprint kiosk.
Go to the voting table and tell them you want to vote to Nolan Locke.

All the money goes to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta

Here is what you're looking for:

up to 21 lbs?

2007-03-23T09:11:00.000-04:00

After Nolan's bath last night, I decided to dress him in his robe until bedtime. I checked the size on the robe. It said up to 21 lbs. Great! That should fit Nolan with no problems. He barely ate while he was sick. He's probably down to a tiny 18 lbs now.

So, I put the robe on him. The sleeves ended up being 3/4 length, I couldn't tie the belt, and the robe was barely long enough to cover his diaper.

Nolan's holding his own bottle now. He's going to start driving next week.

No more sick house

2007-03-21T19:13:00.000-04:00

No more colds or flus around here.

Nolan has finally started to act like himself again.
He woke up at around 2:30 this morning. We kept hearing him talking and laughing in his room. Cary went to check on him at around 3:30 am. Nolan was on his stomach talking and laughing at the cute, chubby baby in the mirror. He would push himself up to the edge of the crib so he could touch the mirror. He talked to himself in the mirror until around 4 am!

We are getting him back on his pre-sick schedule. He wakes up at around 7 am, I feed him then go to work. Cary feeds him at around 12:30 and they play the rest of the day. I feed him again when I get home at around 5:30. Then I put Nolan to bed at around 7. Every other night he gets bath. He is starting to figure out that he can splash.

The schedule's great. I end up with some time to do stuff like update this blog, clean the house, pay bills, watch some TV, and eat dinner. (mainly, I sit on couch and watch tv.)

I found out more about the photo contest I entered him in. You have to go to Discover Mills to on March 30 or 31 to vote from him. I didn't realized you couldn't vote online. If I had known that, I might not have entered him. (who am I kidding, I still would have entered him.)
I won't get a copy of the pictures I entered in the contest until after the contest. You know I will post them!

It's TV time.

Enough with the sharing

2007-03-16T15:13:00.001-04:00

Nolan gave me his cold. (the same cold that Cary gave to Nolan.)

I've been up until 1am with Nolan almost every night this week. He just want to be held. He looks like he feels miserable.

And to make him look even more miserable, he now has tears when he cries.

His sick pout is one the cutest, sadest things I've even seen.

the good, the bad, and the sick

2007-03-12T19:49:00.000-04:00

I entered Nolan in the photo contest Friday. I entered him in the comical and precious categories. I'll give you more info - like how to vote on Nolan - later.

Nolan went to his follow-up head dr appointment Friday. Nolan did great with the head scan. Last time he threw a big fit, another dr had to come in and help hold his head, and they still couldn't get a really good scan. Friday, Nolan stayed still for the whole scan (that last about a big 3 seconds). Nolan now barely has a mild flat head. The front of his head is completely corrected. There is a little bit of flatness in the back. The dr said since Nolan's head is barely even mild, there's no need for a helmet!! Yay! (And another yay that we are finally done with the Children's Hospital. knock on wood We had our first trip to one of the Children's Hospitals Oct. 31, 2005.)

Today was supposed to be Nolan's 6-month well baby check up. But, yesterday things changed. Around lunch time, I went to check on Nolan and noticed to he was very hot. I took his temperature. He had a fever of a little over 100. He was starting to sound congested and he was getting cranky. It was 1:30 am before he finally feel asleep in his crib. He just wanted to be held. Cary came down with the flu Thursday (the flu shot didn't protect him!). We think Nolan might have gotten it from Cary - or the photo contest with all the babies Friday or the doctor's office or the kid's birthday party we went to Saturday.

Nolan's fever wouldn't go away lat night and I noticed little red spots on his belly. I called his dr around 10 pm Sunday night. She said to bring him in this morning. He has a virus and a little rash (probably from the virus). We are giving him tylenol, something for the congestion, and nasal drops and he will be sleeping with his bed wedge and his humidifier the next few days.

I did get to find out his weight. Are you ready for it? My little 5 lb baby now weighs 19 pounds!

He'll go to his well baby check next week. He has plenty of room for all the shots in his chubby baby thighs. (Is it bad that I call him Chubb-o?)

Today I stayed home from work and took care of the sick babies. I'm exhausted.

photo contest

2007-03-06T16:34:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm entering Nolan in this contest.

We will have the pictures taken Friday. I'm planning on entering him in the Beautiful and Precious catagories - depending on what he does in the pictures.

The contest benefits Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (2 of the 3 hospitals Caleb visited, and where Nolan's flat head dr is)

His picture will be displayed for voting at Discover Mills on March 30-31 from 10am-7pm. Please stop by and vote for him.

To the people who work in my building (I know you're reading this!): Please run over to Discover Mills during lunch on March 30-31 and vote for Nolan.

Remember this benefits Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

I'll post the pictures as soon as I have them!

Thanks!

I'm also entering Nolan in the Pottery Barn Kids photo contest. The winning photo appears in the PBKids catalog.

Ever wonder

2007-03-02T13:35:00.000-05:00

if people just say your baby is really cute just to be nice or if your baby really is that cute?

I have mom-goggles. I think Nolan's is one the cutest babies ever (tied with Caleb, of course). I'm going to enter him in a photo contest. I guess that will tell me if he is as cute as I think he is.

People tell me Nolan is the perfect Gerber baby, with the perfect round face. I, also, think Nolan is perfect.

I mean, come on, look at him...

This is the picture I'm entering in the contest (after some cropping).

or maybe this one

or this one

blog-pinions

2007-02-28T19:59:00.001-05:00

My friend is doing a speech and wants our help. Her speech is about blogging.
Here's how you can help:
Leave a comment telling how you feel about employers monitoring blogs (if it should be done or not) and what you think about people being fired for what they post on their blogs.

Feel free to ask your readers, too - just let me know in the comments that you're talking about this on your blog.

Here's how I feel:
I don't think employers should monitor blogs, unless they have reason to believe something is being said that will jeopardize the company. But, since blogs are public there's no way to stop employers from monitoring. (I bet mine is reading this right now. waving "hi employer.")

Unfortunately, GA is an employment at will state. You can be fired for anything. If you wear a green shirt to work and your boss doesn't like green, you can be fired. So, based on GA law, you can be fired for your blog. That doesn't mean I think it is right. Blogs are online diaries and I don't think you should be fired for what you write in your diary. But, blogs are also public, so you do need to watch what you write. If you write something the company feels can jeopardize them, they should tell you what they found and give you chance to remove it.

I think the whole blog thing is something companies need to address. I don't think they should patrol blogs or tell you what you can or can't write. I do think they need a policy about blogs.

Edited: This is how I feel about blogging at home on your own time. Blogging at work is a completely different issue. I feel when it comes to blogging at work, you should follow the same standards as all other personal things - like personal phone calls, checking you personal email, reading a book, etc. Your employer does have the right to know what you are doing on company time with company property.

Hope this sparks some conversation for Friend's speech.

On to Nolan things:
Nolan learned how to blow raspberries. He does it all the time now, even when he's eating.

He's rolling everywhere and he's trying to crawl! (poor cats have no idea what's about to happen.)
We put him in the crib at night on his back with his head to the door. We when get him up in the morning, he will be on his stomach with his feet towards the door!

He is going to be dangerous!

I'm just mad

2007-02-28T14:02:00.000-05:00

I'm mad at God. I'm mad at people with happy NICU stories. I'm mad at Publix for not having more stage 1 baby food. I'm mad that's there not more research to stop NEC. I'm mad that babies are still being born premature. I'm mad that babies are still dying!! I mad at the people that say so and so's "baby was born premature" at 2 weeks or 3 weeks or even 4 weeks early. FYI: that's not premature*! I'm mad at the people with perfect pregnacies. I'm mad at the people with 16 healthy kids. I'm mad that I feel like people think I should be "over it."

I know, I know I have a lot to be happy for. blah, blah, blah. I also have a lot to be mad about.

I had to leave the room the other day when the news started talking about the smallest preemie ever born is now going home healthy. I know I should be happy for them - whatever. I'm not happy for them, I'm mad that it's not Caleb coming home.

We were ready to have a special needs baby. We were ready to cram 2 babies into our tiny 2 bedroom townhome. We have 1 healthy GAINT baby that I love more than anything. We're supposed to have 2 babies 8 months (adjusted) apart. Caleb should be walking all over the place now - chasing after the cats (and Nolan) and getting into all types of trouble. He should be saying "mama" and "dada." Instead God has him in Heaven. Some times I'm ok with that, because really is there a better place then heaven? But, some times I'm so mad. I want him in my arms! Is there really any better place then a mom's arms?

mad, mad, mad, mad

I know this is just another lovely stage in the greiving process. I'll get over it - but I won't get over losing Caleb.

I feel myself pulling away from God. I'm religious**, I grew up in a religious home, and I work for a religious company, but still I'm pulling away. Why would God take my baby from me? He was about to come home. Now, he's gone. Why? God knows this pain, so why would he want someone else to feel this pain?

I didn't realize I was mad until chapel this morning (again, I work for a religious company and we have chapel every Wednesday morning). The speaker asked us to write down things we wanted to confess to God - any sins we hadn't confessed yet (even though there's all this confession talk I'm not Catholic and that's all I'm telling you.). My thought was "Why would I do that? God took my baby. I'm mad at Him. I don't want to confess stuff to Him. I don't even really want to talk to Him." Ding Ding Ding - I've entered the mad stage.

(please know, I am editing most of the things I want to say because my parents and many people from my work read this blog)

*24-28 weeks is micro or extreme preemie (Caleb was born at 26 weeks, 6 days. He was a micro-preemie)
29-34 weeks is just plain old preemie
35-37 weeks is preterm (not premature) (Nolan was born at 35 weeks, 4 days. I refuse to call him premature or preterm. I call him my fake pretermie. I have no problem saying he was a little early.)
37+ weeks is term (not premature)
This gets me so upset. Don't call your 3 week early baby premature or you will get my wrath (aka I will soap box all over you).

**I'm not getting into my religious beliefs here. For one thing, it could ID where I work and that's not good. For another thing, I just don't feel like have a big religious discussion right now.

my husband is a dork

2007-02-22T15:10:00.000-05:00

He sends me a picture of Nolan everyday. I love hearing my little pink cell phone buzz, knowing there's a new picture of Nolan waiting for me.

I heard the friendly buzz this afternoon. When I looked at the picture, I saw this:

I'm still rolling my eyes (and laughing).

No more water

2007-02-21T20:15:00.000-05:00

We've been home for less than 1 week from our hot water heater breaking. Now, a water main broke. The whole city is out of water.

Guess Nolan's not getting a bath tonight.

New look, same old blog

2007-02-21T13:19:00.000-05:00

I tried to keep this blog kind of boyish looking since it is all about my boys. But, I decided that until they start posting, I'm taking over my blog design and I want flowers!

So, until Caleb figures out how to use the wireless in heaven or Nolan starts typing, I will have flowers on my blog!

Is 5 months to early to potty train?

2007-02-20T09:02:00.000-05:00

The diapers are bad, very, very bad.

Nolan started eating baby food. He loves everything! So far, his favorites seem to be peas, green beans, bananas (although they give him gas), pears, peaches, and sweet potatoes (his most favorite) - basicaly he's loved everything we've fed him. (Update: Cary found out today that Nolan's not a big fan of squash.)

Someone really should warn you about the grossness of baby food diapers. They are way nastier then newborn diapers.

Hot water update: Cary and his friends installed a shiney new hot water heater Thursday night. We moved back into our house Friday. It's good to be home, but I do miss the grandparents' help. They fed us, cleaned Nolan's bottles, changed some of Nolan's diapers. I miss that.

I will post pictures of the lovely holes in our ceiling soon. (The hot water heater is on the second floor. It leaked into the 1st floor ceiling and onto the couch.)

Did I mention the diapers are gross?!

I promise this is the same baby

2007-02-12T15:22:00.000-05:00

September

February

Hot water heater burst

2007-02-10T21:40:00.000-05:00

moving in with Cary's parents for a few days.

Will update when we're back home.