What a week it has been...we survived!

We were blessed to have a few days with my Mom. Ethan and I drove to Jacksonville last Thursday, December 11th to pick her up. The following day we took Grandma to "stay and play", a gymnastics center in town opens up the gym on Friday mornings for toddlers to run and play in foam pits, ball pits, jump on trampolines, etc. It is one of E's favorite things in the world to do. Saturday my mom ended up with the stomach flu. Sunday she was feeling better and we started the Christmas cookie baking process. Monday it was more baking and a little shopping at Kohls.

Tuesday (Ethan's birthday) it was back to the Jacksonville airport. We left a little after 7am and dropped Grandma off around 9am. We had major traffic delays on I-10 driving back to Gainesville, which resulted in me getting off the interstate and weaving through Jacksonville streets in attempts to find an alternate way home. Ethan thankfully slept! I had the start of a headache when I got home and thought it was because it had been awhile since I had anything to eat. As the afternoon progressed I felt worse and worse. Jake got home from work at 5pm and I thought maybe if I ate something I would be better. No luck, I ate something and immediately got sick. The next 12 hours were spent vomiting every 1-2 hours. After being that sick and up all night I was too weak and exhausted to even think about lifting Ethan, let alone take care of him. Jake had to call into work so he could watch Ethan. Ugh, the stomach flu twice and a major head cold in three months, never in my life have I been this sick....I am tempted to stay in quarantine until after this baby is born! I am much better now (thank God for my wonderful husband), but missed going out for milkshakes (his favorite) for E's 2nd birthday and barely made it through him opening gifts. :-(

Sweet dreams!

Ethan does not want to put his pjs on lately so we have been letting him fall asleep and then put his pjs on him. Jake and I were trying to put them on the other night when Ethan started an entire monologue, most of which we were unable to understand except he randomly kept saying "dog"....all while asleep!

This morning he was snuggling/sleeping with me in bed. He all of the sudden pushed himself away from me and started clapping his hands (while still sleeping), then right back to snuggling!

I really have to get better about taking pictures...........

"Knock, Knock..."

We have a little step stool in the half bathroom for Ethan to stand on and use the sink. The other morning after he was done eating breakfast he ran off to the bathroom in a hurry and closed the door. I went to see what on earth he was doing and opened the door. He was at the sink washing his hands, turned and looked at me and said "knock", with an attitude! :-) He gets funnier everyday, how truly blessed we are to have Ethan in our lives!

E's 2 Year Check-Up and Baby Update!

Ethan had his 2 year check up with the pediatrician yesterday. He is 28 lbs 8 oz (50-75th percentile) and 36 inches on height (90th percentile). The dr. was happy with his weight (after his illness in September he had lost quite a bit of weight and had dropped below the 50th percentile)! We can now switch him to either 1% or 2% milk and he can have peanut butter and shellfish. A little concerned with his verbal delay, since he still doesn't call me "ma-ma", but calls me "dag-ma" instead. (Of course he talked more yesterday than he ever has, go figure!) The dr. said until he is 4 years old though (especially with boys) that there is nothing to be alarmed about, but if we did want a consult with a speech therapist that she would always give us one. Ethan is a motor driven child, always has been...why talk when you can do it! All in all he looks great and managed to sneak out of the office with only one vaccination and it ended up being the nasal flu vaccine. He won't have to return until his 3rd birthday!

We also chatted for awhile about the baby and the issue with the dilated kidney. The recommendation from the ped. is that I have a repeat ultrasound (whether it is the level 2 or a normal ultrasound) later in my pregnancy to see if it has resolved itself. I was told that it is probably nothing to be concerned with (85% resolve themselves and the babies are 100% normal), but if they know prior to birth that there is an issue with the kidney then Shands (UF) pediatric nephrology will be contacted immediately for advice. If it turns out to be serious they may recommend that I deliver at Shands, but said that is worse case scenario. The dr. said no matter what they find they will repeat an ultrasound on the baby's kidneys after he/she is born just due to the dilated kidney found on my 20 week ultrasound. Jake and I still need to talk about it a little more before my next appointment with the midwife, but I think we will go ahead with a regular ultrasound later in my pregnancy so Shands can be contact ASAP if it happens to be serious. I am a little concerned, but not worried or freaked out. I am at peace with whatever God brings to our family and know this little one is safe in his arms. Please continue to send prayers for this baby though that he/she doesn't have to go through lots of tests or be in pain!

We survived!

We survived he week. Yes, literally survived! It was one of "those" weeks and I am thanking God that Ethan is in one piece and didn't end up in the ER or DCF custody and that everything is a-okay with me and the baby.

I have been fighting a head cold all week. This pregnancy and Ethan has left me exhausted most days, but to be sick on top of it was pushing me to the max! I am still blowing my nose and coughing a little, but things are slowly getting better. I am mainly just "blah"! About the only thing you can take while pregnant too is Tylenol (which for me I might as well eat 2 M&Ms and call it good)!

Ethan decided to run a fever Monday evening and off and on Tuesday. He had no other head cold symptoms, but just wasn't "himself" all week. Yesterday, he attempted to see just how far he could push his mommy. We started the day trying to get his haircut, we were unsuccessful (Ethan allowed for one cut to his hair). When we got home he thought it would be fun to climb into the kitchen sink, later stand on top of the end table in the living room, no nap, and ended the day when I caught him putting AAA batteries from the TV remote into his mouth! See what I mean, I'm glad we "survived" the week! Poor Jake had a rough day at work yesterday as well and called to ask if he could stay late, but ended up coming home earlier than he intended to keep his pregnant wife from going off the deep end!

It's a....

Ha, Ha only kidding! We did not find out if the baby is a boy or a girl, but did find out that there is only one baby! So all of you will have to wait with us to find out if Ethan will have a brother or sister. The baby is healthy, weighing in at 12 oz. My due date according to ultrasound was 4/22 (only 1 day sooner than my estimated date). One thing did pop up on ultrasound and they want me to go to Shands for a level II ultrasound. It appears the baby's left kidney is slightly dilated. Jake and I have declined the level II ultrasound at this time. We have done our homework and feel the absolute worst this could mean is a blockage, which is something that wouldn't be corrected until after the baby is born. Some of you remember that they scared the crap out of us with Ethan as well when he had an ICEF that appeared on ultrasound, and he is healthy as can be. We are quite confident the baby is 100% normal, healthy and are trusting he or she is in God's hands.

Yesterday came with such mixed emotions, someone who has become a dear friend to me in the last few months, had an ultrasound as well and found out her baby had been called to be with God at 7.5 weeks. Please keep my friend Kelly in your prayers as her and her family mourn the loss of a precious, very much loved angel.

Happy Monday!

Good morning all (Happy Black Monday)!

We have a busy day today. Ethan and I are off to MOPS this morning for my monthly leadership team meeting and then this afternoon is our ultrasound! Unfortunately I have been battling a cold for much of the weekend (which is no fun when all you can take is Tylenol), but am feeling a little better today. We had a great weekend despite the fact that I was not feeling well, we went geocaching with friends all day on Saturday, our Gators won, we went to Evan's baptism yesterday (our good friends Megan and Graham's son), and our Vikings won!

Funny Ethan story that just happened...(our pediatrician has us brushing his teeth with just water), so a few minutes ago I go into the bathroom to brush my teeth which is when he brushes his in the morning. He watched me put toothpaste on my brush and asked for "soap". And every time I would rinse, he would again ask for "soap" on his brush.