Thursday, December 30, 2004

Best Christmas Card of 2004



I hope its ok that I am blogging about this card. I don't have permission from the senders, but I figured, 1. They are my cousins, and 2. if they weren't proud of it they wouldn't have sent it. and 3..not many people read my blog anyway. So if anyone passes word along to them, that I did, tell them that I think they are pretty funny, and I hope they come check it out on my blog and leave a comment :) hehe

This card has to be, by far, the best one I got this year. I copied what it says below in case you can't read it.

Its that time of year, when good friends gather around
Where mugs of hot cocoa and Christmas boxers are found
When men of mid twenties, lacking a "Mrs" per se'
Proclaim to their familes, No we're not gay!

I saw this and could NOT stop laughing. I just can't believe they are wearing boxers and socks..I mean come on! that has to be the biggest fashion no no ever. ;) Shelton and Josh, I am getting worried about you two. hehe Was the poem written by Shelton? That was my guess, it sounded a lot like that one poem you wrote about Santa Claus. Goodness boys, Merry Christmas to you too...and I hope you have a great New Years. Hope it's not too crazy!

9 months stats are in. Ok so he is 10.5 mo..

So we were a little late getting in. But if the stinker would have been BORN on time, then he would be 9 months as of the 25th. So..anyhoo. Stats are stats and they are always nice to have.

Easton finally tipped the scales and is now 19lbs 4 oz! He is also 29.5 inches long. His head was 18 whatevers. I was finally happy with the way she got the numbers, normally there is dispute and for the first time she did these things correctly. She must be getting better. Easton is all caught up on shots, which I find strange since they sent a letter to me, addressing Haley, stating that we were in need of one shot and well check. Knowing they messed up and meant Easton, I was surprised he didn't need one of his series vaccinations while we were there. But you don't get to leave the doctors without getting a shot..sadly he got his other half of the flu shot. He cried only for a few seconds then had a big pouty lip. So far he seems to be handling it well.

The Dr, pushed his tummy, moved his legs, opened the diaper. Then asked me 4 questions for the well check.

Dr: Can he crawl, and pull up on things?
me: yes

Dr: Is he sitting well?
me: yes

Dr: Can he pinch with his thumb and first finger?
me:yes

Dr: Is he saying any words that you can understand even if they aren't directed at anything?
me: he has said mama, dada, baba.

Dr: OK that is great. Sounds like he is doing just fine. We won't need to seem him until he is 12 mo and he will get shots then. You all have a nice new year. Buh bye.

If felt kinda weird knowing that I won't be going back to that office ever again. The office I have been going to since I was a little girl. It made me sad. It even made me a little sad knowing that even though I can not stand this new doctor, that when they said "see you next time" and when the nurse who is so annoyingly stupid was gushing over how cute Easton was and how much he has grown and how time is flying and she can't believe he is going to be one...and couldn't wait to see us in another month or so. Patheticly, I felt quilt, that I had this little secret and would never see them again. I felt like I should I have said "bye we aren't coming back".But I didn't. I just smiled and said buh bye. We even saw a questionaire, asking how they are doing, Kyle looked at me like ..HAH! we should fill it out. Its on the website to fill it out as well. I will be doing that.

So hopefully in 6 weeks when I see the new Dr we pick, I can have a rave review and gush over how much we like her. Its so hard finding that trust you need in someone to make sure your children are healthy. I need to find that trust. Hopefully I do.

I am happy my little man is getting bigger. I figured all that new weight had to be the turkey, stuffing and potatoes he can't get enough of. :) We aren't far from getting him out of that infant carseat! Not too many ounces more :)


Wednesday, December 29, 2004

New thoughts...

So, I finally realized why sometimes my kids wake up at 8:00am. Or even as early as 7:45am! (ya I am sure a few of you out there are screaming "what?? They get up that late...!!" mine are up at 6 or 7!which I am sorry for you) but my kids like sleep. And I like it. I am not a morning person and hope never to become one. I think they know that and choose to wake up later for me. I was worried Easton would be my early bird, but he too is following his big sister and sleeping late.

But sometimes on the weekends, like this last Sunday, we skipped church and no one in the house got up until 11:45 am. Almost noon people! You know how nice it was? ohh to sleep in like I use to! I was a little paniced since, they were all sleeping. But all was fine. We all needed some extra sleep after Christmas. There are other days that they don't wake til 9, 9:30. Sometimes Haley sleeps til 11am. Its nice.

To my point and my new thought and now I know why my kids wake up so early. Its their father. He leaves for work at 8:30...his alarm goes off at 7:15am, 7:20, 7:25 and so on till he decides to wake up and get ready. If you have ever heard his alarm, You would want to hit him with something really hard to wake him up instead of listening to his stupid alarm one more time! Once up, he takes a shower, gets dressed, gathers his things, like he is the only person home and is so incrediably loud that I have trouble even sleeping once he is up. As soon as he slams the door to go to work, slowly within minutes, each child is awake. Hummm..I see a connection. Today he is home from work. He is off the next 3 days. Today we got up at 10am.

Now on, the alarm is going in the garbage.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Want an invite to Gmail?

I have lots of invites for the new email by Google. If you are interested just let me know some how and I will send you an email :) Here is some info about if you dont know what it is..


Monday, December 27, 2004

A Christmas Card for you..

Click Here for your holiday card.

Another photo card for your enjoyment. So enjoy :)

I got a job!

No, its not what you are thinking. I am not leaving my wonderful job as a stay at home mom. I am working from home. Well. I don't know if I would call it that either. Anyhoo, I just got my first check in the mail!! a whopping five dollars!! hehe. I am doing surveys online for cash. Its a cushy job, I complete the survey on my own time, in my jammies, and as often as they send me one. I tell them what I think, and they might even send me samples to try out. All confidential of course. I am really looking forward to this. If I save all my checks, maybe I can get a pair of seven jeans. ok, so maybe I wouldn't, just because I don't think I could actually pay that for a pair of jeans that will get holes in the knees by crawling on the floor with my kids, getting puke on them, and color crayon washed with them..instead I could get 4 pairs of old navy jeans instead...hehe. (But they do make my rear end look like a million bucks..so it could be worth it) Either way, I could save the money up or use it at Dutch Bros. ooh better idea :)

I now have a way to make money while staying home... even if its only $5, not bad :)

Kids say the darndest things...

So, I have been meaning to blog this. This has to be an all time funniest thing Haley has done/said so far(I am sure not the last).

So we went to the mall before Christmas. It was Wednesday or Thursday..I can't really remember, but it was last week. We were going in and out of stores, and decided to go into Ladies Footlocker. I push Easton in the stroller closer to some shoes and start examining when Kyle who is holding Haley, suddenly turns around facing looking out of the store..and goes "OHH" ..Curious, I turn to him, and ask what is going on...as Haley is going "Arrgh! a Pirate!" complete with arm motions as pirates do. He is ultimately embarrassed and whispers, "turn around" so I did, there a young gentleman in stripes, stood with a big black eye patch. I chuckle... knowing now why my daughter was so giddy there was a pirate in the store. Not certain he heard her, we continued looking at some shoes, and then gracefully left the store, with our little girl in tow.


All aboard the Polar Express..

We took the kids to see the Polar Express yesterday. It was such a cute movie. Haley was perfect the entire time. She sat in her daddys lap the whole movie and didn't wiggle at all. She was very in to it. Easton on the other hand... I had to stand by the entrance at the start of the movie because all he wanted to do was stare and smile at the people behind us, climbing up me to do so. So he spent some time crawling on the floor poking at the lighted walkway. Gross I know. He was very ready for a nap so I took him in the hall area and rocked him while he cried and finally fell asleep. I went back in and sat down with a sleeping baby on me. Which is always a nice. :) He woke with about 10 min left and Kyle got up with him and stood by the entrance, while Haley sat in my lap. It was a very fun family outing. :) We haven't taken the munchkins to the movies in a long time. That was actually Eastons first time going. Haley hasn't been in quite some time. I think she earned the right to go more often now after yesterday :) She was SUCH a good girl :)

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone in blogland :)

We woke up at 8 am to find out little princess on the couch...laying down, tossing and turning. Waiting for us to get up..we turned on the tree..and she jumped up and goes."ho ho ho! Merry MisMis!" It was so cute! of course the video camera was on the other couch..gggrrr. But she had lots of fun opening and playing. The little prince even had alot of fun, playing with the bows, the paper, tearing it off the packages..playing with his toys. He is down for a nap already..since I had to wake him up for the festivities. :) The little princess is getting ready to crash too I am sure.

She was very excited to see that Santa ate the cookies and drank the milk.

Here is a picture from last night :)

Hope you all have a very wonderful day! I will update more with pictures later :)


Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Let the bake off begin...

So tonight I started off making Easy Toffee Candy. Ever make that before? It has saltine crackers in it...NOWAY. I have never had it. So I made it. It was simple enough and now its cooling before going into the fridge for 30min to cool some more. I can't wait to taste it.

Next up, Rolled Sugar Cookies. You know, the classic Christmas shaped oodles with sugar sprinkles. yumm.

Then, I think I will go with another great classic, the Chocolate Chip Cookies...

Then maybe followed up with some fudge or almond roca...it depends on how far I get with the above.

Do you hear what I hear? buttons popping and belts loosening..oh the holidays :)

Been a little slow

I am doing some last min shopping and of course..who wants to be healthy for Christmas? We are all sick AGAIN. When will this end? The kids seem to be handling it much better then I am. They just have a cough. I, on the other hand, feel like a truck ran over my face. Pleasant isn't it? Here's hoping we can pass quickly through this and be semi healthy on Christmas day. My Christmas cards are finally going out today. How slackish is that? At least they are going out, I have 75 photo cards from last year that never made it out. Anyone want last years picture? hehe


Monday, December 20, 2004

T-r-o-u-b-l-e. They are gonna be such trouble together.

Check out this photo album...

Trouble
(there are captions so you may have to scroll down a little)

I put them there when they are bad...haha! just kidding..this was all by their doing..and they think they are hilarious.. especially when I say.."no...thats icky guys..get out". They just laugh and screetch :)

My little monkeys...


The prince gets a haircut.

I had to cut it. I didn't want to. But I did. It was hanging over his ears..the back was even longer, he was starting to sport the baby mullet. So it was time. He did really well, I sat him in the high chair and buzzed him. Daddy helped hold his head still.
This is before..


this is after. He wasn't crying because of his hair. He was crying because he just got taken out of the bath after the hair cut, put in pjs then in the car seat. He wanted his bottle and to go to bed, and we were making him stay up to go look at Christmas lights. Which he fell asleep before the car left our street. So I don't know what he was complaining about..haha But his hair is shorter :) and he looks so cute crying ;) Such a sad face!


Santa's House

We took the kids to see Santa yesterday. He is in a little house complete with snow at 6pm. Easton was not pleased...not only is he having separation anxiety he had a little stranger anxiety as well..hehe he is looking at me like...MOM! get me!. Haley tried to escape the first time, and he grabbed her and put her on his lap anyway. She then was fine and was happy sitting there. You give her candy and she is good to go :) We took so many pictures..haha Haley in the one of the two of them, she was trying to tell the Elf, who was taking pictures that her brothers name was doush doush.






Saturday night we met our friends at the outlets (where Santa is) and were going to go look at lights, when my friend said..Santa is still here you want to take them real quick. So I said ok! We get in there and Haley was very shy, she wouldn't get near him with out me holding her. Easton on the other hand, sat in his lap fine..he wasn't completely sure what was going on and was in total AWE of Santa.. this picture..I think is going in a frame :)


Friday, December 17, 2004

Tonight's movie pick: Supersize Me.

Supersize me was a pretty good movie. It was entertaining for the time we spent watching it since nothing else was on TV. Its not run out and buy a copy good. Just netflix good. It was crazy what happened to his body in 1 month. Although the results that happened to him were extreme since he ate McDonald's 3x a day. Who does that really? Actually, I am sure someone has. Overall it was good, it made me rethink eating out so much. But man, I can't give up those fries. Or the quickness of the drive through when we are busy busy.

A few things we pondered:
  • We won't large size/supersize so often ;)
  • I am packing the kids lunches when they go to school
  • I am going back to doing Slim in 6 more then once a week
  • I am going to drink more water.
  • I will think twice about eating nugget parts and feeding them to Haley. Although, the nuggets don't have sugar.
  • I do feel happier when I eat fries, nuggets, and cheeseburgers. Drinking the soda along with it, makes me even more happy.
  • I still really love the fries, and I crave them when I am pregnant. That's the first thing hubby asks when I say "I need some fries". Did I mention they make me feel happy? They also have no sugar. So I think a medium fry will be ok here and there. :) as long as I did my slim in 6 and drank some water. It all evens out right?
I wish they delivered, I want some fries now after watching that movie. Oh well, I am sure I can pick some up tomorrow ;) while I am out Christmas shopping, 6 days before Christmas.

Yes, I am just now starting. Can you feel my stress from there? Stores are running out of toys..yikes. Good thing Haley hasn't asked Santa for anything that is sold out. :) She hasn't sat on Santas lap yet though, so she may surprise me and understand the concept of telling him what she wants..then I might be in trouble. But her answer is usually "puppy" and we have that covered...she already has a dog, and stuffed puppies aren't too hard to find :)


Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Christmas Ears for Easton..

By the way..in the first picture..thats not a tooth hanging down its some shine of spit. There are four up there but they aren't that big..

Christmas Ears past & present

2002


2003



2004


Don't blink they grow up fast!

Monday, December 13, 2004

3 strikes! you're out!

I will no longer buy Beech Nut baby food. Today I opened the 3rd rancid jar!! It was peaches, oatmeal and bananas. I smelled it, like I do to all his baby food now, and it smelled sour. So I tasted it and spoiled it was!! I am so angry. More of disbelief that in a month we have had THREE jars that are bad. The other one was the Vanilla Custard that I bought the same time as the other one, I opened it before I sent the other one off and it too, was spoiled. BLAH! I really hope they check into this problem. I sent them another email telling about this jar and that I hope they are looking into this issue a little further then sending me a few coupons to make me happy. The jar I opened today came from Walmart. So It can't be the stores. All jars were closed and did that "pop" sound. So it wasn't of my doing. I also told them not to send coupons this time because I would no longer be purchasing Beech Nut baby food. That I am going back to Gerber. Well I think I am going to start feeding the little man our food, because he likes everything and eats alot of it. Yesterday he ate more pancakes then his sister. He also ate bacon, hashbrowns and toast. He ate our dinner the night before,I ground it up in the baby grinder my parents used when I was little. :) So I think I will just feed him jars at lunch and when we are out. Until he can eat peanut butter and jelly, which I think will be in no time at all :)

Friday, December 10, 2004

The learning continues

They always say you learn something new everyday. I don't know who "they" are. But its been said. Its true too. Even at my age, I am constantly learning something new all the time. ;)

Like today for instance. It's kinda funny that my child's cartoon just taught me something I didn't know. A cartoon. I was watching the Backyardigans with the princess, it was the pirate episode. The one where my princess runs around the house going "arggggh" while swinging her left arm..so adorable. While Uniqua is singing the verse "The Jolly Roger is the pirates flag. A skull and some bones on a big black rag." and draws the skull and crossbones in the sand box. Did you know I did NOT know that the flag was called a Jolly Roger? Where have I been? I haven't studied pirates extensively or anything, but that seems like it would have been common knowledge. I watched Goonies, and Peter Pan. I also watched Pirates of the Caribbean, and been on the ride at Disneyland. Seriously, have I lived under a rock? Why haven't I heard that before?

So I thought maybe they were lying, something they made up. I googled Jolly Roger and sure enough, that's the name of it! So you really do learn something new everyday :) Did anyone else not know that? And they say cartoons don't teach your kids anything. IF they are teaching me, my children are getting something out of it too :) haha

Testing Spaghetti

Tonight, I made spaghetti for dinner. The noodles were cooking and it was time to test one to see if they were done. So I pulled one out with a fork and then threw it at my kitchen wall to see if it would stick. Why? Why do I do this everytime I make spaghetti noodles? Who did I watch do this when I was younger and told me if I threw it at the wall and it stuck, then it was done. Mom, did you do this? Was this a joke? And for the last 10 years I have still kept that in my mind everytime I have made it and do it to test the doneness of my noodles? Is someone laughing at me somewhere..thinking..she still does that?? :) Or is that really how other people test to see if their noodles are cooked? It doesn't say on the back of the bag, to check if done, throw at your wall. If it falls off then cook longer..and if it sticks then its done. Where did I get this from? Does anyone else do this? Or am I just weird like that? :)

Cookies on the brain

I was so involved with making Grandma's sugar cookies, that I forgot about dinner. Eh, who needs dinner. Sometimes you gotta have some fun! Cookies for dinner kids!! Oh wait, that is all the princess ever wants for dinner, wouldn't that make her day ;)

Impressive

I just got myself ready, both kids ready,(we even look nice!) the bag packed, antibiotics administered, dog put away, and a few min to spare for the blog before I leave. I did all that in 45 minutes. Impressed? I am. I normally have Kyle here to help.. so this is pretty cool. I don't want to make this an everyday habit though. ;) Time limits are harder. Today I am going to a Mom 2 mom leaders breaskfast. We are going to discuss some stuff for mom2mom then just relax and have fun. We have been cramming trying to make this group a go, when the person who was in charged stepped down, and they just figured we would let the group go. Nope. Sorry. Its too important to us, and its too important to the moms who come. We don't want to just give up. So the first half of this year even though we started late has gone very well. I am looking forward to the months to come. Ok gotta run :)

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Thank you Freecycle



See that nifty gate around my tree? Its a supergate. I have been wanting something to put along our living room/kitchen or to put Easton in, to keep him out of trouble. I have been looking at the One Step Ahead site since Easton became mobile, drooling at the gates, just not being able to justify the prices. I have been looking on ebay as well. So I decided, I will check out freecycle. (Freecycle is a group on yahoo that you offer up your "goods" aka junk or see if someone else will offer up what you need for free) So it was worth a shot. I sent out an email, and lo behold, I got a response. We went and picked it up two days ago. Its perfect condition, with all the sides. Yes, so that $70 gate, I got for FREE. Free.

What can be more fun?

Then driving your dog crazy by playing barking jingle bells :) hehe

Can it be?

One week without a bottle for my princess. Its been a week! It wasn't even hard. I thought when this time came it would be torture! I was dreading it for so long. The last time I tried getting rid of it, she ended up wanting it all the time. So this time I thought we were in for it. So last week I went with the Doctors advice and put chocolate syrup in it. Just a little to add some flavor. Well it worked. She only asked for a bottle once, and I told her that she could have a cup. She agreed. She teased with one of Eastons, and I said...no thats the babys, you can have a cup.. she agreed. So now the bottle has been replaced with the cup..and we have no complaints!! Its wonderful! Now, I wont get the "your toddler has a bottle still?" look anymore. And advice for those of you with little ones.. The home nurse told me to put formula in Eastons cup before 1 year, so he gets use to drinking it in a cup..because if you wait longer then that, then they get use to milk/formula in a bottle and associate it with the bottle and won't take it from a cup.. Thats what happen with Haley. So guess what I am going to do differently this time? :)

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Its all about the diapers, baby.

So the topic lately is how mommy blogs are boring. Who says? They say. "They" don't seem to think us mommies are interesting, have personality, or a sense of humor. All we talk about is diapers, babies, and puke. Well "they" are wrong. Erin says it perfectly. I always thought of myself as funny. Guess I was wrong. ;) There are a lot of great mommy blogs out there, I read several a day. I wish I had time to read more.

Anyways..who cares what they say. By the way, on the topic of diapers, have you ever seen a baby's diaper who is on the antibiotic Augmentin? Lets just say the odorless, coffee grounds in my childs diapers aren't pretty. It also takes several wipes to get the tiny amount left on the skin, off, the poop seems to hide or something. They also seem to come without warning, and quite frequently. When the pharmacist says, "may cause diarrhea"..they aren't kidding. Poor guy.

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Christmas pictures

Here is our Family Portrait for Christmas 2004 :)


If you want to see more, there are lots more :) Click here.

Let the good times Roll...

I went to Bunko tonight, I walked away with 2nd most punches :) Yay me! Tonights gift was 35 smackeroos. We also had an ornament exchange..and I got a very cute snowman :) good times. good times :)

My dad watched the kids for me for a little bit until Kyle could get home from his game. My dad told Kyle that they kids were fine. But I guess after I snuck out, so the kids didn't see me leave, Haley went into the kitchen, asking for me. Then went down the hallway looking and calling for me. Then she went to the door and started crying.. I feel so bad for her. I guess maybe I should tell her I am leaving from now on, and deal with her being upset then making her think I left her. Geez, how mean of me. :(

Monday, December 06, 2004

2004 Christmas Tree

Warning what you are about to see may cause extreme sadness or mass hysteria.

Angle one:


Angle two:


and the front angle..the one and only angle that looks half way decent.


Here it is lit up. Still not better huh?


Please feel free to comment honestly. :)

How to get plump voluptuous lips.

Have you ever wanted lips like Angelina Jolie? I have the perfect solution with out the cost and injections..


Ask your toddler to throw a bottle* at your face. Most likely it will smack right into your mouth, and from the impact, you will bite your lip and it will become nice and plump. If you don't believe me, I have proof :) Although the big purple bruise isn't as appealing.

* corrected, I was informed it was a bottle not a remote..It must have done more damage then I thought..

We cut our christmas tree down yesterday

I have one sentence for you on that subject.

"Next year and every year after, Kyle is NOT allowed to pick it out."


Saturday, December 04, 2004

On our first vist to Urgent Care Clinic, our lovely Dr gave to us,

5 ear infections. 4 prescription slips, 3 coughing fits, 2- O2 stats and one case of pink eye!

thats my sad way of bringing humor to our day. (if you couldn't tell it was sung to the 12 days of Christmas..haha)

So I hitched a ride to the urgency care clinic with my dad since we passed on to him whatever we had at thanksgiving and he was going to go in. The kids cough has been worse and I can't seem to shake mine. Easton had a bad episode yesterday afternoon he was turning blue when he was crying and coughing.

So my dad went first, he has pink eye..that he must have got from his other grand-daughter...then he has two ear infections. So he got antibiotics.

Then it was my turn, I have bronchitis and an ear infection, I got antibiotics. She said my lungs sounded horrible.

Then Haley went and she has an ear infection, and her lungs sounded really really bad. She did an o2 saturation check on her and she is at 95%. Told me to keep watching her, but the antibiotics should clear her ear and lungs up.

Then Easton went, he has an ear infection as well, and his lungs didn't sound as bad as Haley's but he is retracting. So she wants me to watch that and said the antibiotics should help that as well..if its anything. But to keep an eye on him in case its RSV..but that she didn't think at this point it was since his lungs sounded ok. His o2 sats were better then Haleys. So its just a wait and see.

So today has been great. Kyle has been gone all morning reffing stupid basketball games and I get to deal with being sick and sick kids :) its fun stuff. We have been going on 10 days of this crud. I am hoping the antibiotics help out :)


Oh what lovely present Jack Frost has brought to our family. I hope Santa doesn't drop off a case of the stomach flu. hehe

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Unknown Caller

Seriously. Who are you? We have caller ID, and it annoys me to no end, when UNKNOWN CALLER comes up. So, what do we do? Don't answer it. I wait til they leave a message. Do they? of course not. So then I take the chance and I answer it, and who is it? no one.. I say hello 2 times, and nothing. So I hang up. We get so many of those in a day. If they just said who they were on the answering machine, I would call them back, if I wanted to. If I didn't then they need to take the hint, and stop calling.

Just now, unknown caller called again. So thinking it could be the drs office, (trying to switch the kids to a new one) I answer. A few seconds go by, and finally a lady asks "Is Kyle or Bree there?" I of course start thinking of a fake name and why I am at the house, and say, "no they are not, can I take a message?" and she goes, "yes this is just a courtesy call from the March of Dimes ,I will call back at another time." UGH! Well then say so in the first place..when someone says hello..say Hi my name is Sally, I am with the March of Dimes, may I please speak to Kyle or Bree? Then I will say, yes this is Bree, and we can talk. Because I like the March of Dimes. They are important to my family and we give them money. I mean come on. What do they teach these people in telemarker school? If you want to talk to people, and not just listen to a baby screaming, or being spun on the kitchen counter..or sat down next to the chair and listen to the tv for a few minutes.. then just say who you are..or why you are calling, or for goodness sakes leave a message. The thought is just so beyond them. So instead we get 10 unknown callers a day. And each one, I randomly decide how to annoy them because they annoy me.

The NICU days..

Well since I told the birth story, I will share the nicu story. Haley was in the nicu from May 26 to August 16th. Kyle and I stayed with her everyday. We lived in guest housing across the street which we were only there to sleep, and left our apartment empty 45 miles away. We got up in the morning and were in to see her by 10 am, and we left for 1 hour to eat lunch, and then 1 hr between 7-8 pm when nurses schedules changed to eat dinner. We came back at 8pm and stayed til 2 am or so. One night we left at 6am, and came back at 11am. We were always by her side, watching her every breath and every movement. We only went home for Ashlyns service, my nieces birthday party, my baby shower, and to paint Haleys room. We may have gone home a few other times, to grab more clothes or something else we needed to have. But the trip was always quick and we came back within hours. Kyle didn't have a job, since he graduated from college that May, while I was on bedrest in the hospital actually. So he didn't have time to look for a job. I honestly think it was nice he didn't. We needed each other, as much as Haley needed us.

Haley had surgery at 5 days old, to close a valve between her heart and lungs. Its called Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA). When a full term baby cries that valve usually closes. We tried medicine to help it close, and that didn't work, and she was getting sicker. So on the 31st of May she had it fixed. The doctor said its like putting a stitch in a piece of thread. She has a scar across her shoulder blade. Its about 5 in long. She was on a ventilator until June 28th. Then she was put on Cpap. Which is a bubbly machine that has continuous pressure in her lungs. She was on that until July 5th. She then moved to a nasal cannula and was on that with a small amount of oxygen, until 2 weeks after she came home. She came off O2 on her due date September 3rd. :) I didn't get to hold her until June 6th. Even then, I could barely move, because I had her tubes and wires taped to me in various places. I held her for maybe 10 min. Each time we held her could be days apart from the others. Kyle and I took turns and it was minutes at a time, until she could handle longer amounts of time. It also depended on the nurse if she would allow us to hold her. We would get the excuse she wasn't stable enough, just because it was a lot of work to get out of her open bed. Some days we only held her once. Others days, we both got to hold her, once in the morning once at night. In the beginning her skin was so transparent, she was covered in Aquaphor and they put plastic wrap across her bed. To keep her heat in. She use to press her little foot up on the plastic wrap. It was cute. Little do people know, but the isolettes you see on tv, those are for babies who are stable and need "less" care. They are in those for a quiet environment so they can just grow. Babies who are critical are in an open bed. That way they can get worked on as quickly as possible, if the situation arose. Like one night, Haley stopped breathing. The nurse, and Kyle, ran to her side and rubbed her chest, flicked her feet. She froze up, and would not take a breath. She was the worse shade of grey. A second before the nurse almost called the Code Red team, she took a breath. Her stats came up and she was fine. It was a glimpse into how stubborn she was going to be. :) The nurse was impressed with us, she said normally parents run for the door when that happens. We sat at her bedside and yelled her name, and did what we could. We weren't going to let her go. Haley went from an open bed to a pediatric crib, July 19th. Normally, they go in the little tubs newborns are in, but her reflux was bad, so she was in a big giant crib, with a 45 degree angled green wedge she laid on..we created a "swing" that was safety pinned to a blanket to hold her in. That created edema in her legs and bottom. If it wasn't one thing it was another. She was moved to the "Feeder and Grower" side of the unit. We fed her in CC's. 30 cc's are in 1 ounce and for the longest time she only ate 10-15 cc's. Most the time, her food was given to her via gavage. Its a tube they put down her throat to her tummy. We bottle fed what she would take..and if she didn't take what she was suppose to, the rest went down the tube. She had IV's for 22 days. They were in her belly button, then moved to her wrists, legs, arms, and got a PICC line. That way they didn't have to change sites every 2 days. She has many tiny scars from each IV site. She never had one in the head, thankfully, those look so horrible, it was threatened, but she came off her fluids before they had to do it. They were running out of places to use. We learned what each wire was for. What each alarm meant. Which there were a lot of those. Haley had apnea, and bradycardia(heart slows), her alarms went off a lot, usually just enough, that when the nurse finally got up to check on her, when they got to her she woke up, or took some breaths to make it shut off. She was a stinker then :) We bathed her in the little pink tubs. But not too often, because she would get too tired and then have a rough day/night. She was jaundice and was on photo therapy two different times for a few days. She had 7 blood transfusions or platelets given to her. She had a Grade I and a Grade II brain bleeds.(Grade IV is the worst) Both resolved themselves. She had several eye exams, all to show her eyes were wonderful. Most preemies suffer from ROP, which is a where preemies get too much oxygen and the blood vessels grow abnormally. It can cause blindness and other problems. She was on many medications.. Surfactant for respitory Distress Syndrome, Caffeine for apnea, Prilosec for reflux, Iron for anemia, Vitamin E & A, Diuril & Lasix for fluid in lungs, Tobramycin & Ampicillian -antibiotics, Vancomycin antibiotic for Serratia, and Indomethacin (Indocin)–which was used to try and close her PDA. She had to take her feeds from a bottle, stay warm without burning too many calories to not gain weight. And be able to correct herself when she had apnea. She came home weighing 5 pounds 1 ounce. She had to pass a car seat test before coming home, which she passed. She was on an apnea monitor for 4 months once we were home. We never did have an alarm once home. (again, I think she did it to bug the nurses.. :) hehe) Went to the Doctor often, she needed weight checks, and synagis shots monthly to help lessen the affects of RSV if she were to get it. When people asked her age, and we said 6 months, we would get funny looks, because she looked like a 3 month old..we had to adjust her age so they understood. Most days I said her adjusted age, if I didn't want to answer questions. Others, I said her real age, which was followed by..why is she so little? to be followed with, why was she so early? which resulted in me having a 8 min conversation with a stranger, on how she was a surviving twin and was in the hospital..yadda, yadda, yadda. It depended on my mood.

I think that is most of the 3 months of her hospital stay, I could go on I am sure, and I left out some. She has never been hospitalized since. Its a common thing for preemies to go in and out of the hospital. We are lucky. She made many friends in the hospital. There are nurses, that we still keep in contact with, and visit when we go up for evaluations or reunions. There are other preemies that were in there as long as she was, that we have kept in contact with through email. Its amazing the stories they have as well. Each preemie is a miracle of their own. Not all outcomes are the same. Some babies born after 28 weeks have more complications then those born before, just as some born at earlier gestations like Haley, have many complications, where she doesn't. There are so many factors. And we were told that she would most likely experience most of them. She hasn't. It was so often called the "rollercoaster" everyday had its ups and downs. One step forward, two steps back. The nicu is a very special place. So many people have no idea what a different world it is. Which for that, I am grateful. Its not someplace to want to be thats for sure. But when you are there, you learn so much, some experience heartache or you see others experience it, everyone has a story, and everyone has something in common. We have so many memories, and stories we could tell. It was a part of our life, we will never forget.

**edited***
here is the link to pictures of Haleys NICU Journey.

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Part 3

I am getting all this off of my website..I don't remember when I wrote it, but editing it, realizing I should re do it. Here is the last part of their birth story. I want to add a *warning* may bring on tears, so grab a kleenex.


I was then pushed out of the NICU faster then I wanted. And I sat in my room. I ended up getting a fever and wasn’t allowed to go see them again until it went down, I was then put on antibiotics I had some mysterious infection. The girls were both doing great though, I was so happy, my prayers were answered, to have them born so early, and doing so well. Kyle kept going in to see them and bringing me pictures. Well that night, Ashlyn wasn’t doing good, a Dr came in around 2 am and said that she wasn’t doing well, but she is doing a lot better now, and is stable. So don’t worry too much. Things are fine. Well they weren’t. At 8 am the new shift Dr came in and said that she had a rocky night and that she isn’t doing very well, that if she starts crashing again that we need to come in. I wanted to go in to see them and I had been on antibiotics long enough that I could go in, so they nurse was helping me up, not long after that the Dr came running back in and said we needed to come now. Well she wasn’t doing well at all. When we got in there her heart rate was getting lower and she wasn’t breathing well at all. She had Pulmonary Interstitial Emphysema (PIE), they could try to give her more steroids, but by the time they would work, she probably would not make it. The way they explained it was that the oxygen in her lungs was just flowing right through it wasn’t staying inflated, it was like she had little holes in her lungs. We were told they could resuscitate her, and she already had a severe Intraventricular Hemorrhage (IVH) that it would probably make it even worse then it was. With possible no quality of life. So we made the hardest decision in our lives, and that was to let her go. I still sometimes feel like I made a mistake, but we will never know. By going with what the Dr was saying, and quick judgement, we made the right choice, she didn’t have much of a chance at this point. We then took her over to be with her sister in the other warmer, Haley held her hand. She then went back to my room with us. Haley spent the next 3 months on a roller coaster ride in the NICU. We never did really find out what really caused my Preterm labor. The Dr told me it was due to “twins” and having a incompetent cervix because of that. I believe that it was due to a chain of events and one thing lead to another, and that it was all unfortunately, meant to be. Ashlyn is always in my heart, not a day goes by that I don't think of her, and I know that the bond between identical twins is never broken, whether they are on earth or in Heaven.

Haley Ashlyn *note-daddys hand and ring on her arm


Ashlyn Grace wearing daddys ring


Sisters



Part 2

So in April 2002, Kyle had to go Ohio for an all star football game, I got clearance to go with him. I was only 21 weeks. At this time my belly was so big I was already wearing a belly belt for back support. I noticed in the airport as we were walking, I was having tightening sensations, figured I just had to go potty. They continued that whole trip, on the way home, we had very bad turbulence with a horrible storm and the plane dropped from the sky a few thousand feet. The inside of the cabin dipped and everything, I was hysterical. I cried the rest of the way home, and just wanted off that plane. I spotted that next day, Monday , my ultrasound was scheduled for that Wednesday, So I called and they didn't seem worried, my US was cancelled due to a "tech emergency". So they moved it to the following Monday. I slightly spotted again on Wednesday, saw my Dr on Friday and was put on bed rest for the weekend. Monday at my ultrasound, I found out I was having two little girls, and they were almost certain they were identical. ( I was shocked, I thought I would have fraternal) That next day, Tuesday, I started having more tightening. Saw my Dr and I was monitored, she said I was having slight contractions but they weren’t consistent, they were called Braxton Hicks. So I continued to have them that night and next morning so I called the Dr and she wanted me to go to the hospital for observation. This was now Wednesday, May 1st. I was monitored, then admitted. I was put on Magnesium 4 mg/h, and my contractions were under control and stopped by the next day. I was off mag. That night, they took out my IV, my arm started to get red and hot, and swollen. I told them and they didn’t seem to care. A few hours after that I started getting a fever. And my back started hurting and I was really uncomfortable. So they gave me Tylenol. They said it was because the labor bed was uncomfortable. Well the next morning I had a fever of 102.4 and was having contractions every couple minutes, each1 min long. And I was starting to dilate. I was then transferred up to a high risk hospital 45 miles away. They thought I had an infection in one of the bags of waters. So I was going to get an Amniocentesis done on each sac as soon as I got there. I arrived and the Amniocentesis were performed, I was told if there was an infection then I would deliver in 12 hours, If not we would see how long my body could stay pregnant. That was the longest two hours ever! The neonatologist came in to talk to us and told us what the chances of 22 week infants surviving were, and what would happen if they did survive. And we need to make a decision on what to do. I prayed I didn’t have to make that decision. The results came back, negative. My girls were infection free! I was then back on Magnesium and Indocine. Contractions under control .I was given antibiotics to stop the infection in my body that threw me into labor. (I think to this day it was the IV site) my test never came back saying what I had…odd. I then stayed in the hospital for the next 3 ½ weeks. Complete bed rest, no getting up, except to go potty and shower, which I only showered three times I think, and the potty chair became my friend. I was on magnesium all but three days. And those three days I was on Indocine. My mag levels were set really high, until the end I was usually at a 2mg/h. Even at my highest levels, I did really well ,they couldn’t believe I was so mobile and coherent with that much in my system and no reflexes. I just sat in bed and prayed everyday that my girls stayed in. To clarify some dates, the Dr had changed my due date to Aug 28 instead of the orginal Sept 3rd, a week later. So that made me 23 weeks instead of 22 when I went into labor. I tried to argue it, because I knew when I got pregnant, they didn’t listen. I then got my steroid shots at 24 weeks(23weeks), cause I was told they didn’t have enough proof that they made a difference in the outcome of the baby if I got them at 23 weeks so they wanted to wait till it would , meaning 24 weeks.. And I would get another set at 28 weeks if I made it. They don’t believe in multiple steroids. Well I was 23 weeks when I got the shots. So they didn’t make a difference. I should have gotten another round at 24-25 weeks, to be safe. But the Dr was pretty sure that the dates were right. I was trusting. I should have demanded another steroid shot. I was dilated to 2-3cm and Ashlyn’s water bag was bulging every other day. During my 26th week, (actual 25th) I started to feel different, felt like something was going on. Ashlyn didn’t seem right to me, she was moving a lot more then usual(she was pretty calm normally). Well four days later, Sunday May 26th, at 10 am my Dr checked me and I was at 4 cm, he said if I got any further this was the end. I was praying it wasn’t. I started having more contractions and my nurse kept moving up the mag, I told her it wasn’t working anymore. It wasn’t, my body got to use to it, I was building up a tolerance, that’s why higher mg didn’t make much of a difference the last week or so. I told her to call my Dr back, it was 1 pm. He already went home, it was his anniversary. So she called him and he came back in. He check me and I was at 6 cm , he said it was time, so they did a quick ultrasound to see where they were…Haley was up high and breech and Ashlyn, who was always head down, and if that was the case he was going to have me deliver vaginally, and then just pull Haley out by her feet. I did not want that to happen so I was worried, well, my baby girl Ashlyn had gone breech for me, So I got my C section. I was very happy. I guess she had her bottom in the opening, kind of like a plug. She didn’t want to come falling out. At 2:43pm Ashlyn Grace was born weighing 1 lb 14 oz and was 12 ¾ long and at 2:44pm Haley Elizabeth (later to be changed to Haley Ashlyn) was born weighing 1lb 13.8 oz and was 13 ¼ long. They were in fact identical little girls. They were both rushed to the NICU. Both put on ventilators and both doing well. Apgar scores of 8 and 8 for Haley and 6 and 7 for Ashlyn. I got to go see them after recovery, they were so little but so cute, I fell in love instantly. They looked so alike, so adorable.

Haley and Ashlyn's Birth Story (part one)

I was asked to blog the story...I sometimes forget that not everyone knows. So here is the very beggining. I will post more later today..


When Kyle and I were 22 years old. We decided we wanted to start a family at the beginning of 2002. We thought that it could take awhile to get pregnant so we tried early part of December, when we were planned on waiting for January, but figured, who gets pregnant that quick? Well I did. I started feeling like something was different in the middle of the month. I was suppose to “start” the day after Christmas. I thought it would be fun to take a test Christmas morning to find out and give it to Kyle as a present. (I had a feeling I was pregnant) So I woke up at 6 am, (I never can sleep when it’s Christmas! hehe) I went into the bathroom and started looking for the test, I couldn't find it anywhere! I looked for 30 minutes! I tore the bathroom apart! I was so upset, by then I had to go potty, so I went. Then went back to bed. I laid down and Kyle said, "what have you been doing in there?” and I said “nothing, going potty,” and he said what was all the noise? I said "I don’t know", and then he said, "were you looking for your test???" I said "yes!!" And he told me how he decided to put it in my stocking so we could open it and go take the test together that morning, I was so upset! I wanted to take it and surprise him , I started bawling!!! (Sure sign of pregnancy huh?) So we got up and opened presents and he said lets go take the test, and I said I can’t I already peed. (I read that for best results you have to take it with the first pee of the day..lol) So I started crying again. I drank some water, and called my sister, and explained what happened, (she already knew my plan) She told me to just take the test and then get over to our parents house. So I did, and sure enough it was positive! We were so happy! And it made for such a special holiday, as we told our families. A week or two later, I got morning sickness, I was really nauseated, and only a few things “looked good enough” to eat. I lost 10 pounds instantly, which I didn’t understand, because the things that looked good, I ate all the time. When I went into my first appt I was 8 weeks, my doctor said that I was carrying really high or that I had twins.( I have fraternal twins in my family) So she scheduled an ultrasound. I found out 2 weeks later that I was in fact having twins! We were so excited! I always wanted twins since I was a little girl and now I got the chance! I was so happy beyond belief! The first part of my pregnancy went really well, I was sick here and there, but I loved every minute of it, I was so happy being pregnant.
Here I am at 11 weeks..

18 weeks

21 weeks

The first picture of our twins...

To be continued...

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