We found out a week ago that we are expecting a baby girl!!! We were beyond excited to find out we would now have one of each. Perfect!
Her name is Lila Gail. Lila after Ken's grandmother who passed away about 20 years ago and Gail after my mom. It's also my sister's middle name. This will be the last grandkid and our last child so I think everyone is excited for her arrival.
My sister and I are going through ALL of the baby bins this morning and figuring out what to donate, keep, store, etc. It's about 20 bins of baby CRAP as we like to call it. I'm sure I'll keep most of it, but we're excited to gradually give it away and Lila grows out of clothes, swings, bouncers, etc. It will be so nice to not have to store baby gear for the next one.
I kind of like the space we're in. We're enjoying Ethan at almost 2 1/2 years old. We have daily struggles with his attitude and are finding it harder and harder to get him to do what we want him to do. You know toddlers...a mind of their own. We're trying to enjoy him for where he is too while also teaching him how to behave.
I know he doesn't fully realize that he's going to have a baby sister in 4 1/2 months but he points to my belly and says "Baby Lila" and is learning to be gentle with mommy's belly.
The shopping has already begun!!! Girls are so fun to buy for, but I'm already finding they are more expensive in many ways.
I've created this blog so that my friends and family can see what's going on in the life of our family.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
It's about time...
I figure it's about time to share our news on my blog. I meant to weeks and weeks ago but we've been really busy.
We're expecting our 2nd baby in December. I'm 18 weeks now and we find out the gender of the baby in a week. We're very excited to complete our family this year and to give Ethan a sibling. We both think the baby is a girl, but I'm not sure if that's just wishful thinking. I had morning sickness this time around, and not really with Ethan so I'm thinking it's a girl.
I feel great now, just huge. My belly is growing much faster than it did with Ethan which is a good sign, but also nerve racking when I think of how big I will continue to get over the next 22 weeks.
Here's photos of my belly as it's grown.
8 weeks
12 weeks
16 weeks
18 weeks
I'll post next week with the sex of the baby. Ethan seems as excited as any 2 year old would be. He will point to my belly and say "baby" and kiss my belly. We're excited to see him interact with his new sibling.
We're expecting our 2nd baby in December. I'm 18 weeks now and we find out the gender of the baby in a week. We're very excited to complete our family this year and to give Ethan a sibling. We both think the baby is a girl, but I'm not sure if that's just wishful thinking. I had morning sickness this time around, and not really with Ethan so I'm thinking it's a girl.
I feel great now, just huge. My belly is growing much faster than it did with Ethan which is a good sign, but also nerve racking when I think of how big I will continue to get over the next 22 weeks.
Here's photos of my belly as it's grown.
I'll post next week with the sex of the baby. Ethan seems as excited as any 2 year old would be. He will point to my belly and say "baby" and kiss my belly. We're excited to see him interact with his new sibling.
Parenting
Recently, I've realized just how frustrating parenting can be especially with a 2 year old who thinks he runs the show. The funny thing is that as soon as you think you've handled something, another something pops up and needs to be fixed. It's a constant struggle and so frustrating when you feel like you're not really getting anywhere.
We've been home for a week from the hospital and as soon as we headed home Ethan started acting up. Let me back up. He was acting up in the hospital but we let a lot of things slide because he was in the hospital, there was nowhere to do a proper time out and well, we were really tired. Enough with the excuses. It made it much harder to fix when we got home.
In the hospital Ethan starting hitting people. For the most part he was very compliant with nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists, but with mommy, daddy & grammy he would sometimes hit just to hit. It's hard not to yell when you're being beamed in the head by a toddler hand. When we got home the time outs started back up again full force.
On our second night home he ended up in time out 3x in a 10 minute period at Nana & Papa's house. He always seems to comply better when Daddy puts him in timeout. Mostly, I think, because he hates for daddy to be upset with him. We spent the next few days in and out of time out and setting new limits.
I think we're finally starting to get to a spot where he's doing very well with choices and following directions. He's still very stubborn. We currently struggle with getting him to hold our hands while crossing the street and behaving in stores. Before our trip to the hospital he loved going into stores, stayed close by and greeted everyone he met. Now he in on the floor throwing a tantrum in front of store employees. My first response was to just let him have his tantrums no matter how embarrassing it was, but the floor was disgusting. We eventually got it under control.
It's a constant struggle, but I love being his mom no matter how hard it gets.
We've been home for a week from the hospital and as soon as we headed home Ethan started acting up. Let me back up. He was acting up in the hospital but we let a lot of things slide because he was in the hospital, there was nowhere to do a proper time out and well, we were really tired. Enough with the excuses. It made it much harder to fix when we got home.
In the hospital Ethan starting hitting people. For the most part he was very compliant with nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists, but with mommy, daddy & grammy he would sometimes hit just to hit. It's hard not to yell when you're being beamed in the head by a toddler hand. When we got home the time outs started back up again full force.
On our second night home he ended up in time out 3x in a 10 minute period at Nana & Papa's house. He always seems to comply better when Daddy puts him in timeout. Mostly, I think, because he hates for daddy to be upset with him. We spent the next few days in and out of time out and setting new limits.
I think we're finally starting to get to a spot where he's doing very well with choices and following directions. He's still very stubborn. We currently struggle with getting him to hold our hands while crossing the street and behaving in stores. Before our trip to the hospital he loved going into stores, stayed close by and greeted everyone he met. Now he in on the floor throwing a tantrum in front of store employees. My first response was to just let him have his tantrums no matter how embarrassing it was, but the floor was disgusting. We eventually got it under control.
It's a constant struggle, but I love being his mom no matter how hard it gets.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Day 14 & 15
Day 14
Hopefully this will be one of my last updates. Today the 2nd preliminary report came in and the culture still shows no pseudomonas. We're hoping the final report comes in tomorrow, but it could be a late at Wednesday.
Ethan had a rough day. We contemplated putting him down for a morning nap since he was so grumpy but took him outside for an hour instead. He had a difficult time sitting independently during treatments, whined, threw toys & food, and basically just had a horrible day. He took a 2 hour nap but it didn't seem to help him very much.
Ken's mom is with him tonight. She brought him some Mountain Mike's pizza tonight so he happily devoured half a slice. It wasn't much but just to see him shoveling food in his mouth was exciting. I hope that when we get home he does the same when recognizes his old favorites.
Ethan's very into Thomas the Tank Engine now that his Grandpa, Gary A. Dean brought him a new book last night. We borrowed a DVD from the nurses station. He was watching Cars, his favorite, when I asked him if he wanted to watch Cars or Thomas. He politely said, "Bye, cars!"
Thanks to Gail Stark Schwiesow for coming and cleaning my bathrooms that were long overdue to be cleaned! It's a job I loathe doing and I don't know when I would have found the time to clean them in the near future.
We're hoping tomorrow's the day we get sent home! I can't wait to have my whole family under one roof again.
Day 15
After 14 long days of trying to keep a 2.5 year old happy in a hospital room, we have been told his culture test came back negative and we can go home!!!!
Day 15
We are finally home!!!! We waited until 1pm today not knowing whether we'd get a final result today or tomorrow and finally got the call from the pediatrician on call that the result was negative. We put Ethan down for a nap which was just enough time for the discharge papers to be filed and after he woke up started loading up the car. It took Ken 3 wagon trips to get everything to the car.
We made it home at 530pm after promising Ethan Costco pizza for dinner...his favorite! We immediately turned on kids tunes in the car and "If your happy and you know it" came on. He was clapping and singing "Hooray" which was so fitting. As soon as we pulled off the freeway Ethan said, "Home"
Since getting home we have bathed Ethan, laundered all the clothes, blankets, pillow cases etc that came to the hospital and started sifting through the bags and bags of stuff we took with us. Tomorrow will be a day of sanitizing toys and books that we brought with us.
Ethan was happy to be in his own bed tonight covered in all his "bobbys" which are his blankies. I thought he wouldn't want to be alone but he didn't care. I look forward to him waking up and cuddling with us in bed in the morning!
We are so thankful to be home and pseudomonas free!!! Thank you for your prayers and support! Life goes on.
Hopefully this will be one of my last updates. Today the 2nd preliminary report came in and the culture still shows no pseudomonas. We're hoping the final report comes in tomorrow, but it could be a late at Wednesday.
Ethan had a rough day. We contemplated putting him down for a morning nap since he was so grumpy but took him outside for an hour instead. He had a difficult time sitting independently during treatments, whined, threw toys & food, and basically just had a horrible day. He took a 2 hour nap but it didn't seem to help him very much.
Ken's mom is with him tonight. She brought him some Mountain Mike's pizza tonight so he happily devoured half a slice. It wasn't much but just to see him shoveling food in his mouth was exciting. I hope that when we get home he does the same when recognizes his old favorites.
Ethan's very into Thomas the Tank Engine now that his Grandpa, Gary A. Dean brought him a new book last night. We borrowed a DVD from the nurses station. He was watching Cars, his favorite, when I asked him if he wanted to watch Cars or Thomas. He politely said, "Bye, cars!"
Thanks to Gail Stark Schwiesow for coming and cleaning my bathrooms that were long overdue to be cleaned! It's a job I loathe doing and I don't know when I would have found the time to clean them in the near future.
We're hoping tomorrow's the day we get sent home! I can't wait to have my whole family under one roof again.
Day 15
After 14 long days of trying to keep a 2.5 year old happy in a hospital room, we have been told his culture test came back negative and we can go home!!!!
Day 15
We are finally home!!!! We waited until 1pm today not knowing whether we'd get a final result today or tomorrow and finally got the call from the pediatrician on call that the result was negative. We put Ethan down for a nap which was just enough time for the discharge papers to be filed and after he woke up started loading up the car. It took Ken 3 wagon trips to get everything to the car.
We made it home at 530pm after promising Ethan Costco pizza for dinner...his favorite! We immediately turned on kids tunes in the car and "If your happy and you know it" came on. He was clapping and singing "Hooray" which was so fitting. As soon as we pulled off the freeway Ethan said, "Home"
Since getting home we have bathed Ethan, laundered all the clothes, blankets, pillow cases etc that came to the hospital and started sifting through the bags and bags of stuff we took with us. Tomorrow will be a day of sanitizing toys and books that we brought with us.
Ethan was happy to be in his own bed tonight covered in all his "bobbys" which are his blankies. I thought he wouldn't want to be alone but he didn't care. I look forward to him waking up and cuddling with us in bed in the morning!
We are so thankful to be home and pseudomonas free!!! Thank you for your prayers and support! Life goes on.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Day 13
Day 13 - Early report
We just heard from the doctor that the preliminary result showed NO pseudomonas!!! It still could grow but we feel like we're at least on the right path to getting rid of it for good. We'll know more on Monday or Tuesday.
Day 13
Even on the morning I could've slept in and come in later since Ken was at the hospital and had his brother coming to help I was wide awake at 6am and ready to head to the hospital by 815. I missed Ethan.
This morning it was great to meet up with another CF mom who's son is also admitted at Camp Kaiser this week. It was great to share our experiences, especially since we go through a lot of the same struggles on a daily basis. We're both hoping to be released next week and headed back to some kind of normalcy.
I ordered Ethan some items for lunch and dinner that were off the specialty menu thinking maybe I could entice him to eat something different. When lunch arrived I didn't know what it was. I asked and she said it was chopped hamburger. I had ordered a cheeseburger. FAIL!
At dinner in place of the hot dog I ordered a beef filet came instead. I was frustrated because one mistake was understandable but two in one day. Luckily, they always have a few meals on the floor available so Ethan got mac 'n cheese which he promptly refused. He ended up eating some PB&J and his usual milk.
We had to shoo a few people out of the room during nap time so Ethan could get his 2 1/2 hour nap before respiratory came in.
Ken and I left a little after 6pm. Ken's dad is staying with Ethan tonight. We decided despite the huge amount of money we have spent on eating out over the last week and a half that we needed a date night so we headed to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner. All this eating out has not been good for me. I'm sure my doctor is going to be upset with me when I hop on the scale at my next appointment. Yikes! Ken has somehow lost weight.
I'm headed upstairs and we do it all over again tomorrow. Hopefully we can stop these long posts really soon and get back to normal.
We just heard from the doctor that the preliminary result showed NO pseudomonas!!! It still could grow but we feel like we're at least on the right path to getting rid of it for good. We'll know more on Monday or Tuesday.
Day 13
Even on the morning I could've slept in and come in later since Ken was at the hospital and had his brother coming to help I was wide awake at 6am and ready to head to the hospital by 815. I missed Ethan.
This morning it was great to meet up with another CF mom who's son is also admitted at Camp Kaiser this week. It was great to share our experiences, especially since we go through a lot of the same struggles on a daily basis. We're both hoping to be released next week and headed back to some kind of normalcy.
I ordered Ethan some items for lunch and dinner that were off the specialty menu thinking maybe I could entice him to eat something different. When lunch arrived I didn't know what it was. I asked and she said it was chopped hamburger. I had ordered a cheeseburger. FAIL!
At dinner in place of the hot dog I ordered a beef filet came instead. I was frustrated because one mistake was understandable but two in one day. Luckily, they always have a few meals on the floor available so Ethan got mac 'n cheese which he promptly refused. He ended up eating some PB&J and his usual milk.
We had to shoo a few people out of the room during nap time so Ethan could get his 2 1/2 hour nap before respiratory came in.
Ken and I left a little after 6pm. Ken's dad is staying with Ethan tonight. We decided despite the huge amount of money we have spent on eating out over the last week and a half that we needed a date night so we headed to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner. All this eating out has not been good for me. I'm sure my doctor is going to be upset with me when I hop on the scale at my next appointment. Yikes! Ken has somehow lost weight.
I'm headed upstairs and we do it all over again tomorrow. Hopefully we can stop these long posts really soon and get back to normal.
Days 11 & 12
Day 11
I'll try to make this update shorter since I'm exhausted and all I want to do is curl up on the couch and watch nonsense television before passing out.
Today Ethan had his Day 10 culture. We should have preliminary results by Saturday and final results by Monday or Tuesday. So the good news is we could be out of the hospital as early as Monday if we get a negative result on Monday. We are so ready to come home and all be under one roof again.
Ken, Ethan & I enjoyed playing outside today for about 45 minutes. We brought a ball outside today so the boys kicked and threw the ball around.
When we got back Ethan had a short visit with his cousins, Bri Bri, Ella & Judah. All they seemed to want to do was play with his toys and eat his food. Haha. He had a great time seeing them, even when 14 month old Judah hit Ethan in the head with a plastic truck. Ethan held it in for a couple minutes while staring at the floor, but eventually burst into tears. He was trying to be a tough guy.
After nap Ethan had a visit from his Grandpa & his Grammy came to spend the night with him. We're hoping this is our last weekend in the hospital so we can stop this madness of driving 25 minutes each way every day. It's really wearing on all of us.
Day 12
Ethan is still in good spirits. He slept from 10pm to 8am!!! We got him to eat a piece of butter & jelly toast this morning...a small victory! He also ate a pb&j sandwich tonight! Though he's not eating well at meals, and really only snacking, he's managed to gain a little bit of weight. I don't know how, but it's good news.
We saw one of his pulmonologists today, as we do everyday. His lungs still sound good as they have the whole time we've been in the hospital. We went over the plan again and are hoping for the preliminary results of the culture to come in tomorrow.
I think overall Ethan is having a positive experience in the hospital and sadly has accepted it as everyday life. We know that over the years we'll really get to know the staff since we most likely will be hospitalized once a year for a tune-up.
I am physically drained, tired, and ready for this to be over. We try to stay as positive as we can to make everything pass more smoothly.
Today I went home when Ethan went down for his nap since I had a migraine. Now I'm sitting here with nobody to take care of and missing my boys. Tomorrow can't come fast enough. I miss waking up and having Ken bring Ethan across the hall to cuddle in our bed each morning and hearing his sweet voice say "Hi Mommy" then see him get off the bed and say "Sleep tight" and run off to get some books to read. He can't come home fast enough!
I'll try to make this update shorter since I'm exhausted and all I want to do is curl up on the couch and watch nonsense television before passing out.
Today Ethan had his Day 10 culture. We should have preliminary results by Saturday and final results by Monday or Tuesday. So the good news is we could be out of the hospital as early as Monday if we get a negative result on Monday. We are so ready to come home and all be under one roof again.
Ken, Ethan & I enjoyed playing outside today for about 45 minutes. We brought a ball outside today so the boys kicked and threw the ball around.
When we got back Ethan had a short visit with his cousins, Bri Bri, Ella & Judah. All they seemed to want to do was play with his toys and eat his food. Haha. He had a great time seeing them, even when 14 month old Judah hit Ethan in the head with a plastic truck. Ethan held it in for a couple minutes while staring at the floor, but eventually burst into tears. He was trying to be a tough guy.
After nap Ethan had a visit from his Grandpa & his Grammy came to spend the night with him. We're hoping this is our last weekend in the hospital so we can stop this madness of driving 25 minutes each way every day. It's really wearing on all of us.
Day 12
Ethan is still in good spirits. He slept from 10pm to 8am!!! We got him to eat a piece of butter & jelly toast this morning...a small victory! He also ate a pb&j sandwich tonight! Though he's not eating well at meals, and really only snacking, he's managed to gain a little bit of weight. I don't know how, but it's good news.
We saw one of his pulmonologists today, as we do everyday. His lungs still sound good as they have the whole time we've been in the hospital. We went over the plan again and are hoping for the preliminary results of the culture to come in tomorrow.
I think overall Ethan is having a positive experience in the hospital and sadly has accepted it as everyday life. We know that over the years we'll really get to know the staff since we most likely will be hospitalized once a year for a tune-up.
I am physically drained, tired, and ready for this to be over. We try to stay as positive as we can to make everything pass more smoothly.
Today I went home when Ethan went down for his nap since I had a migraine. Now I'm sitting here with nobody to take care of and missing my boys. Tomorrow can't come fast enough. I miss waking up and having Ken bring Ethan across the hall to cuddle in our bed each morning and hearing his sweet voice say "Hi Mommy" then see him get off the bed and say "Sleep tight" and run off to get some books to read. He can't come home fast enough!
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