C's handprint turkey
IJ's handprint turkey
My little Indian
On Sunday the 12th, C's preschool class was invited to sing at the church service (his school is in the church). This was the first time I'd been to church in a long while, and really the first time I'd been to a real full church service. When I was a kid I lived in a much smaller town with a very small church that only had folding chairs and was very informal. So this was a little different. Not bad, since I do believe in God and all that; I just felt a little out of place in such a formal church setting after having not been in church on a Sunday in years. I think IJ was a little intimidated too. We sat down in the pew, and he looked all around with huge eyes. Then he started making sad faces and insisted that I put my arm around him. He got used to it though and really calmed down after he discovered the pencil and the little cards that you fill out. :)
C was playing in his classroom with the other kids until it was time for them to come out and sing. When the time came, C's teaher came walking down the aisle with all the little preschoolers in a line behind her. Except for C. He was sort of in line, but he was lagging behind, taking his own sweet time. He had his hands around the straps of his overalls, and was just looking all around as he slowly walked up to the front. He eventually made it up there. :)
C's class sang three songs, and I tried to get some video of all of them. I had a little hole where I could see C perfectly (I ended up having to sit in the middle of everybody), and I would have had good video of all three songs if the lady sitting in front of me hadn't of been whipping her head around every two seconds. Back and forth, back and forth. It was so annoying! (Is it bad to say I was annoyed with somebody in church? :) So here's the video where you can see C the best, with minimal head whipping. They're singing "If You're Happy and You Know It", and C is the one in the tan overalls and the green shirt.
After C was done singing, he came to sit with IJ and I, and the boys kept themselves busy filling out those cards. We almost made it through the whole service, until IJ started stinking up the place and announced that he had to go potty. Which was good timing since they had just started passing around the collection plate and I didn't have any cash with me. By the time we got done in the bathroom, people were filing out, so I think we did a pretty good job. :)
Last Thursday I made the third trip in a week to a certain medical center, but this time it wasn't for me. Wednesday night C started complaining of a sore throat, which wouldn't have been a huge deal if nana hadn't contracted strep a few days prior. So C missed school Thursday so we could head off to the medical center, again, since they have a walk-in clinic. Now normally I would take the boys to their pediatrician, and I called the office first thing Thursday morning. But they didn't have any openings until Monday. Monday! Freaking hell, the whole town must be sick. Obviously if C had strep I couldn't wait until Monday, so off to the medical center we went...
All of the medical center offices I was in Monday and Tuesday had toys in the waiting room. I knew it would be a long wait to be seen in the walk-in clinic, but I figured that office would also have toys, so I didn't bring anything with me. I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this: not a single toy in sight in that waiting room. And the boys were not in any mood to sit nicely in a chair. They wanted to run around and play. They traded chairs every two seconds. They tickled each other. Then they tried biting each other's fingers on purpose. Finally a lady pointed out to me that there was a very small box of kids books behind a chair in a corner. The books kept them occupied, although they seemed to think they needed a new book every two seconds. And for some reason, IJ seemed to think that the guy sitting next to the box was the Keeper of the Books. The guy didn't seem to mind, even though he was reading his own book, and played along. So when IJ was done with a book, he would hand it to the guy, then the guy would rifle through the box and give him a new one. It was pretty cute, and I'm glad the guy was nice about it.
Forever and a day later, we were finally called in. The verdict: no strep throat. But the boys have been sick with colds for a while (seems like ever since C started preschool), so the doctor diagnosed sinusitis. So C and IJ are both on antibiotics (which will also take care of any strep germs that maybe weren't presenting themselves), so now hopefully they'll finally kick their stuffy noses. Cause the snot has been flying here.
On Friday we got our first significant snowfall, a couple of inches that have since melted. I think that usually by this time we should have a lot more snow, but that doesn't bother me any. I don't really enjoy the snow and cold. Particularly the cold. I was born in Arizona, in the nice hot desert. My father was in the Air Force and they closed the base where we lived, and he actually picked to be sent to the base up here when I was in first grade (the base here eventually closed and my father took early retirement). So it's my father's fault that I live in the land of snow and cold. But there are a lot of good things about living in the U.P. that cancel out the cold part, so Yoopers we will stay. :)
C is a different story, though. He has been asking me for weeks when it would snow and when winter would come. I do not know how I produced this snow loving child. He obviously gets that from his daddy. :) So when he looked out the window Friday morning he was thrilled. "We can make snowmen and snowballs and have a snowball fight and build an igloo!" I hated telling him that he couldn't go out and play in it yet, first of all since he was still sick, and second of all since I haven't been able to get out shopping and get him new boots, snowpants, and gloves (IJ is all set with hand-me-downs). So R brought both boys a snowball before he left for work, and told them to throw it at me. Which of course they did since they listen to everything daddy tells them. :) Then of course I took them downstairs to attack nana and get her all wet. Hehe, that was fun.
First off, can I say how much I love that pregnancy ticker up there? It's not just cutesy-cutesy, it's informative with a touch of humor. He/She is peeing in me! Hehe! :D
Anyways, a lot has gone on around here the past week that I need to get caught up on. I think I've seen enough of a certain medical center to last me for a while, although my visits were for mostly good reasons.
Last Monday I had my first OB appointment, well what should have been the first one if I didn't have all that hospital business. And you know the first one is always the best kind, the feet-in-the-stirrups kind. Yippee. Buuuut, through feet-in-the-stirrups, I got the first good pictures of the baby. And oh boy, was that kid excited! A flip here, a wiggle there. He/She was jumping around all over, which was very reassuring for me. (Okay, I've really gotta come up with some kind of nickname for this kid until we pick a name.)
A teeny tiny Spiderman with matching Spiderman bucket
Trick-or-treat!
This has to be my favorite shot-can you tell it was just a little chilly here?
A pumpkin IJ made in playgroup
Here's a blurry shot C took of the decorations in our house (our pumpkins, spider webs, and pumpkin window clings), but I think that just makes it a little more creepy :)
Here's the video I promised of C's preschool "Harvest Parade" (their version of a Halloween parade, I assume, since he goes to a church preschool). They dressed up as spiders and sang spider songs. R taped this since I had to miss it due to the hospital thing, but I think he did a pretty good job capturing the cuteness, don't you think? :) (C is the one in the blue camo)
C's been doing really well in preschool. When he first started going, he would cry every time I dropped him off. The first day I cried too after I left the room; it was hard leaving him in someone else's care for the first time ever. His tears didn't help at all, either. But over the past couple of months he's gotten more used to mommy leaving, and for the past few weeks there have been no tears at all. It's hug, kiss, I love you, and off he goes to play. It's great. C now says that all his friends are at preschool, and that he has fun.
C has learned so many new things, too. Yesterday he said, "Mommy, it's November!", and he always wants to know what day of the week it is (they do a calender time first thing in the morning where they talk about the month, the day of the week, and the weather). He's also learned a ton of new songs; I'm constantly catching him singing to himself (when I get around to taping him singing I'll post it here). They had a fire truck and firemen visit on the day C got to be the leader (he chose pretzels and watermelon Juicy Juice for the snack), and came home telling me all about smoke detectors and "stop, drop, and roll". He's even learned some new words. A couple of weeks ago we pulled into our driveway after a morning of school and he said, "That tree doesn't have any leaves. That's a predicament!" He said he learned that word at preschool that day.
I'd have to say the only bad thing so far about preschool is that it seems that C has been sick ever since he started, but that's pretty much to be expected with 16 three year olds running around.
IJ has even gotten in on this and I started him in a playgroup on Thursday mornings while C is in class (in the same church). But C is very adamant that only he goes to preschool: "Only I go to preschool. You're not old enough. You go to playgroup." But IJ loves his playgroup. He wanted a backpack like C had, so I found him a toddler sized Buzz Lightyear one that has wheels. He rolls it right into the school and into his room, and he'll put his art project in when it's time to leave and then he'll roll it right out. He never asks me to carry it for him. They even get to sit on little mats just like the preschoolers during song and story time, and I think he likes that. IJ doesn't quite sing the songs yet, but he gets all excited at the end, yelling yay! and clapping his hands. They also get to have gym time like the preschoolers; there's cars to ride in, bikes, a slide, balls, and a balance beam. But my favorite thing has to be during snack time. IJ always inhales his juice first, holds out his cup and says "More juice, pease!". Every time. It's so cute. He probably drinks the most juice out of all the kids there. :)
So, yeah, can you tell how much I love this whole preschool thing? :D
(I'll have our Halloween pics up as soon as I get them on Flickr. I'm a little behind in the picture uploading department, but, you know, I was gone for a week. :)
I haven't been around here that much lately. I've wanted to be, but I've been busy, and tired, and somewhat pukey. Why, you may ask?
Yep, number three is on the way. It's been on the way for 10 weeks now. R and I planned this third child, and started trying in July. We knew we wanted to try for a girl, and we knew we wanted our kids close in age, so now was the time. Except I know for sure now that no matter what gender this kid is, this is going to be our last. We always said the third would be the last, but I always had a feeling that if the third was another boy I'd probably want to try again for a girl. But I'm done now. This will be my last pregnancy.
This pregnancy has been quite a bit different from my pregnancies with the boys. First off, I've had morning sickness, something I didn't have with either boy (I'm hoping that's the sign this is a girl, keep your fingers crossed). But morning sickness isn't a big deal; what I've just gone through over the past week was a big deal.
Today was my second day home from spending a week in the hospital. For a time we were worried I would lose this baby, but I ended up only losing my right ovary and fallopian tube, thankfully.
It all started the Thursday before last, when I started getting what I thought was round ligament pain. This is something I experienced with both boys, always on my right side. But normally this would only last for a day, happen a couple times, and then I'd be done with it. Not this time. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I had to spend sitting on the couch, otherwise I'd have pain on my right side. Sunday night I actually felt better, so R and I went to a movie, and I figured I was finally done with my ligament crap for this pregnancy.
Monday morning I woke up very early and in PAIN. All up and down my right side, and no matter what I did, I could not get comfortable. I started throwing up, and woke up R and told him that this was something worse than just the ligament and I wanted to go to the emergency room.
I was admitted, I had an ultrasound. The baby was in the right spot, I wasn't having a miscarriage, but I did have a large ovarian cyst. Normally a cyst forms on the ovaries and is needed to maintain the pregnancy. But mine was way, way too big. The doctors felt that I would need surgery, but they wanted to wait three or four weeks for the risk of miscarriage to drop. I lived on Demerol shots for a couple of days, before the doctors decided that they wanted to try to drain the cyst to give me some relief.
I had the procedure done, with the doctor draining as much fluid off as she felt she safely could. I felt a lot better afterwards and was hoping the whole ordeal was done. But the pain came back even worse, and eventually not even the Demerol shots would last long enough. The decision was made on Friday that I would need to have surgery, even with the risk to the baby. My pain was causing stress on the baby, so either way I could have lost it. It was very, very scary.
The surgery was done, and it was discovered that the cyst had caused my right ovary to wrap around itself, killing it. I had the cyst, the ovary, and the fallopian tube removed. But thankfully the baby stayed strong.
So I'm home now, recuperating, being waited on since I still can't do much of anything. At least I got home in time to see the boys in their costumes and leave to go trick or treating, even if I couldn't go. :) I had to miss C's preschool "Harvest Parade" where the kids dressed as spiders and sang spider songs, but R got the most adorable video of it (I will try and post it tomorrow since I'll still be here on the couch without much else to do :).
This is it though. We will have three kids. Obviously this might not happen again with subsequent pregnancies, but I just think I'm done. So everyone cross your fingers that I'll get my little girl! :D
