Prego

Okay....I think that everyone knows now....yes, baby #4 is on its way. Some of you savvy ones figured it out b/4 I got to tell you from my pineapple story. Sorry. I wanted to tell everyone in person, but made that post worried I would forget my "unusual" craving.....but, I am still wanting the pineapple ;) funny!

We are officially 10 weeks along right now. The due date was Feb 13th from our first ultrasound, but we just had our 2nd ultrasound this week and the doctor changed the due date to Feb 11th. It usually does not matter what the due date is....except when you are going to have your 4th c-section. Yes, that is right folks.....4 csections. YIKES!!! (for those of you who do not realize...csections are MAJOR surgery....one of the most major surgeries you can have). But, when you have a 2 year old son who had brain surgery.....4 csections seems like a WALK IN THE PARK! In addition, I have never thought they were bad...I've had great experiences, all my parts are in the same condition as b/4 (if you get what I mean), and in the end I get the most amazing prize.....a new addition to our family that you forget the pain and surgery...does not matter b/c of the life you get to hold!

Okay.....here is the whole story I have been dying to write. I have been trying to journal for 4 pregnancies now.....lets see I can keep up with it for #4 ;) YEAH, right. I can finally sit down and try to write something b.c my eyes are not slamming shut at 7:30 PM....which is what is usually happening.

WE are 10 weeks along. We knew b/4 the pregnancy test said positive. For those "rude" people (sorry, but I do think it is rude when people ask this question) out there wondering....YES, WE WERE TRYING TO HAVE A 4th BABY. NO IT WAS NOT A SURPRISE! Okay, not that it is anyone's business...but you would be amazed how people will ask you that question....even near and dear family members. ;) Back to how we knew.....I started to dry heave on a Wednesday. I do not typically do this unless I am prego. Took a test Thursday...negative. Friday rolls around, we are putting the kids to bed.....I start to have stabbing chest pains like I did when I was prego with Anderson and did not know and my PCP ended up sending me to a cardiologist for all kinds of tests. Saturday...took a test, negative. Saturday and Sunday....felt....different.....Monday AM....FINALLY!!!! Positive.

How I told Charlie: It was EARLY Monday morning, I had the positive test results sitting in the bathroom. The kids started waking up. Char came into our bedroom, I asked him if he would mind getting me a glass of tap water FROM MY SINK! (This is so weird to him for so many reasons...1) I never ask him to get me a drink at 6 AM....2) I NEVER drink tap water! HA!) Well, right after I asked him, Anderson started to fuss, he was awake. Char went to get him....brought Anderson into bed with me, Ryan and Kaitlyn. Char leaves, comes back with a little cup of water....I ask him where he got it, he said the kids bathroom...I smiled and said...No, honey, you were suppose to go to MY SINK to get my water. He grins from ear to ear and runs into our bathroom....then he yells...I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO READ THESE THINGS ;) HA! We were both so giddy the rest of the day.

Charlie came home from work that Monday with a huge bouquet of flowers for me, it was so sweet! We looked up on the computer....we were 3 weeks and 3 days prego! GULP....only 37 more weeks to go! HA!

My OB wanted to do the 1st ultrasound at 6 weeks. So, we went in and had our 1st ultrasound. There was the sweet little piece of rice we were anxiously waiting to see.....with a heartbeat. We were thrilled!!! I saw the nurse practioner as well and she updated my chart and I gave her a tutorial on Chiari...Chiari 101 ;) HA! We decided that we would see a perinatalogist (a high risk OB doctor). So, we will be monitored by the peri and my OB.

That is all for now....off to bed. It is 10 PM, past my bed time....more later!

We are SUPER excited!!!!!!! Charlie and I were not sure this would be possible b/c of our challenges facing us with Anderson. We are beyond thrilled that Anderson is doing so well and we felt comfortable with him to fulfill our dreams of having 4 children! YAHOO!!!


Good night!
XOXO

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE TIGER!

Anderson had a great 2nd bday party. We had a huge party with 25 kids and 15 adults to celebrate what has been an amazing 4 months and looking forward to an even better year. We are so thankful for our friends and family that have been so supportive over the past year as we figured out what was going on with our little tiger!

XOXO

Bday wishes to Anderson

Anderson's big 2nd bday is on July 10th. Kaitlyn and Ryan made him cards this week. Kaitlyn decided she wanted to add to Anderson's card and wrote the following note to him (in her words):

"Anderson, Your footprints will follow you wherever you go. One might wash away, but a sweet sound from a little footprint from a little brother."

Way to go Kaitlyn!

Craving

Guess what I am craving....pineapple....weird. I NEVER really crave pineapple. But, there are WORSE things than pineapple to crave! ;)

Anderson's Accomplishments

Anderson had a HUGE day today in the speech department.....

1) He tried to sign Thank you today when I asked him to say Thank you to me.

2) He signed "all done" and said "Ahh, Dah" to me as he signed.

Then, at therapy....

1) He signed "more" 3 times

2) He tried to imitate his therapist say "ball"....he said "T, T"...but, he tried to imitate, so he knew he needed to speak, and he said a CLEAR, NEW sound "T".

3) He lifted his arms up when he wanted her to put him in the ball pit.

4) His therapist held a ball at this feet and said "kick"....and Anderson KICKED!!!

5) He pointed down and said "D" when he wanted down out of the ball pit.

6) He tried to sign eat...rather than hitting his mouth, he hit his forehead...but HEY, we'll take it at this point!

WOW....all of this in 50 minutes!

Puke

Picture this:

Dinner at 7 PM
Burgers, corn on the cob and tater tots (Yes, Sara....your favorite meal).

Ryan does not want to eat his burger...SURPRISE SURPRISE...he never wants to eat anything!
Charlie tells him he needs to eat or he is going to bed w/o dinner.
Ryan says he will plug his nose and eat a piece.
Ryan decides to just "eat" a piece w/o plugging his nose (Go Ryan!)

Ryan pukes! Yep, at the dinner table, pukes.
Charlie changed Ryan's clothes, cleaned up the puke (I was NOT touching it....I could gag thinking about it)....and he let Ryan have some well EARNED tater tots! HA! HA!! HA!!!

PS - The burgers were a little dry tonight...not sure if they were worthy of puke, but not the chefs best!

Last night

Okay....this is embarrassing to admit...but here it goes. We put the kids to bed last night. Two minutes later, here comes Ryan downstairs. Bottom Line - he is not tired b.c he took a nap. So, he asks us stories about when Charlie and I were little kids. I tell him the story of when our neighbor dog peed on me. YUCK!! Charlie tells him about the times when he put on his underoos and a towel for his cape and pretended he was superheroes.

Then, I carry Ryan up to bed. Well, guess what, he wants to go to sleep in our bed....so, I carry him to our room. As I am walking down the hallway in our bedroom...I let out the "strangest" burp. (Yep, told you, embarrassing to admit). Ryan starts to CRACK UP laughing. (Mind you, he wanted me to carry him like he was my baby in my arms when this happens)....he is laughing his little head off, and me too at this point. I put him in our bed, and I said..."Have sweet dreams about Mommy's burp tonight". Ryan almost peed in his pants when he heard me say this. He thought it was the FUNNIEST thing ever...he was laughing from his belly!!! And again, me too. I think we were both a little slap happy tired, but we had a REALLY good laugh together!

Medicine

Here is a picture of Kaitlyn's medicine she was taking last month for her ear infection...the bottle was the size of a 1/5 of whiskey. Poor honey. Makes me want to puke thinking about her taking all of that RX! This is how it compared to a bottle of infant tylenol (something we ALWAYS have in our house ;)

2 year ago and TODAY

PB&J

Ryan decided he was going to make his own PB&J sandwich the other day....and he did ;)

A duh duh

We had to flush flush our fishy named "Flush Flush the IV" the other day. Yes, another fish had to go to fishy heaven.

I decided that a fish would be fun for Anderson to have in his room (which by the way, the 1st day he woke up with it in his room, he was pointing and squealing with delight! He can't go to bed w/o feeding it and saying "night night" to it! no kidding!) Anyway, I got a fish for Anderson.

We were deciding what name to name it.

Kaitlyn says: Lets NOT name it flush flush again b/c the past 4 flush flush fish ended up down the toilet (if you are new to this...Charlie named our past 4 fish flush flush, great, I know!)

Kaitlyn says : The name Flush Flush has bad luck, we better change the name.

We are discussing names...Sally, Suzie, Freddy, etc. All of a sudden Anderson says "A Duh Duh". Well, there you have it folks..."A Duh Duh" was born!!!

The pic above is A Duh Duh!

Who should I marry?

Kaitlyn told us today at dinner that Brooke is going to marry Joey, Chelsea is going to marry Jonathan....and she was deciding b/w marrying Dylan and Jonathan. GULP! We told her we thought she had some time to decide! HA!

Want That

On Memorial Day, we were at out friends' house for dinner. Anderson was being a little fussy it was close to bed time. Well, at one point, he lifts my shirt, points to my chest ;) and says "Wa that"....in other words, WANT THAT! Ha, ha, ha!!

WAY to communicate Anderson. The boy knows what he wants.

Yes, yes, I know...time to stop! We are working on that too! ;)

LOTS of Posts - Update from today

Hi, I have posted a lot today....be sure to read below this post....

I will post tmr about the allergist appt today. Too much to write, but I wanted to write the funny things from today...

KAITLYN - Kaitlyn had the skin allergy testing today. The only thing she was allergic to was mold. Kaitlyn was asking Jasmine (our babysitter) and I what was mold. I told her it was something that grows on things that are REALLY OLD and things that sit in water too long. Then, she asks Jasmine the same thing, and Jasmine said it happens to really old things. So, Kaitlyn says, "Is my Boppy old with mold?" "Does my car seat have mold?" We explained no. Then, Kaitlyn asks Jasmine, "Do "OLD" people have mold? Am I allergic to OLD people?" Ha, ha, ha!!!

Ryan - Ryan had his blood drawn today to check his allergies. As Ryan sat down at the lab table to have his blood drawn he says, "Mommy, I am not afraid of this!" Bless his heart!

Anderson - Anderson blew a kiss to my friend Anne today!! I have been trying to teach Anderson for months...and finally today, he blew Anne a kiss....she got his 1st kiss ;)

More tmr on what happened at the allergist....

School Update

Kaitlyn only has 3.5 days of school left (last day is a half day).
Ryan only has 5 days of school left!!

Looking forward to the summer!!!

NO BRACES

Good news!! Yesterday at PT, Anderson's therapist, Marissa decided that she does not think Anderson needs his orthotic braces any longer (leg braces!) We have been "in the process" of getting them for about 1 month. We even went to get measured last week, as they are custom made for him. We had the measurements taken last Tuesday. Last Wed, Marissa had not seen Anderson for 2 weeks (b/c of that stomach bug), I wanted to know if she thought we should still move forward with them, and she said...yes. Yesterday.. IT WAS A NEW STORY! After A's therapy...Marissa came out and said...no leg braces, Anderson made HUGE progress in the last week that she does not want him to wear them at this point. We talked about the "best" shoes and she recommended the Stride Rite high tops, which we already own and currently use. She said they are the best for new walkers as they give the best "overall" support b/c of the high top. (Bummer, can't use those cute brown and white Converse!) He does walk better w/o shoes, but the therapist also wanted to be sure we balance "no shoes" and "shoes" b/c he needs to get adjusted to walking with the additional weight.

We are thrilled....no leg braces!

More speech

Just got word CHOC is going to request a 2nd hour of speech every week for Anderson! YAHOO! We are on the calendar with Amanda, his wonderful speech therapist (he is the wonderful Sheila on Friday already!) Now we need to wait for the state to approve it...hopefully by Tuesday! Fingers crossed!

"All Done"

Last week Anderson and I were running back from PT, had a few minutes and I had to pick something up at home b/4 we got Ryan.

I ran in the door, had to go to the bathroom, so I put Anderson down on the kitchen floor. Mind you, I put him THE FARTHEST place from our kitchen table. Less than 2 minutes later when I come out...he is SITTING on top of the kitchen table, with Kaitlyn's orange juice cup up to his mouth. He see me, smiles, holds out the *now* empty cup and says "Ahh Duh" (meaning All Done). I had tears in my eyes as I looked at the puddle of orange surrounding Anderson....tears of joy! I could not BELIEVE had just spoke those words to me....he walked across the kitchen, climbed on the chairs, onto the table, drinks Kaitlyn's juice and tells me All done!

WAY TO GO my little TIGER!

Madonna

YES!!! Got Madonna tickets to go to her concert in November with 4 other friends!! CAN'T WAIT!!!!! YAHOOOOO!!!!

WARNING: GRAPHIC

When you check our blog...you never know quite what you will find...

Well, you will be happy to know that our "squirty poops" (ie diarrhea) is out of our house! We had a nasty stomach bug (vomit and the above) in our house for 2 weeks!!!!...and it is over!!! We are officially 48 hours with no problems! This crazy thing kept "coming and going"...when we thought it was over, someone new got it, or someone who had it...came back with symptoms. Goodness...glad that is over!

Thought you would simply enjoy Ryan's description of what was happening to him! Ha, ha, ha!

Made you smile, huh?

Forgot to tell you....

Forgot to tell you....

2 weeks ago at therapy...Anderson's OT and Speech therapists came out to me in the waiting room and asked me if I had any feeding concerns...I smiled and said...not any more!!

FYI - 2 weeks PRE- OP...Anderson had a feeding evaluation. Anderson was 19 months old at the time with the feeding skills of a 6 month old. 2 months POST-OP...he is AGE APPROPRIATE!!!

Amazing!

Special Needs

This is a poem that a Chiari friend had posted on her caringbridge site.......

To You, My Sisters

by Maureen K. Higgins

Many of you I have never even met face to face,
but I've searched you out every day.
I've looked for you on the Internet,
on playgrounds and in grocery stores.
I've become an expert at identifying you.

You are wellworn.
You are stronger than you ever wanted to be.
Your words ring experience,
experience you culled with your very heart and soul.
You are compassionate beyond
the expectations of this world.
You are my "sisters."
Yes, you and I, my friend, are sisters in a sorority.
A very elite sorority.

We are special.
Just like any other sorority,
we were chosen to be members.
Some of us were invited to join immediately,
some not for months or even years.
Some of us even tried to refuse membership, but to no avail.
We were initiated in neurologist's offices and NICUs,
in obstetrician's offices, in emergency rooms, and during ultrasounds.
We were initiated with somber telephone calls,
consultations, evaluations, bloodtests, x-rays, MRI films, and heart surgeries.

All of us have one thing in common.
One day things were fine.
We were pregnant, or we had just given birth,
or we were nursing our newborn, or we were playing with our toddler.
Yes, one minute everything was fine.
Then, whether it happened in an instant, as it often does,
or over the course of a few weeks or months, our entire lives changed.
Something wasn't quite right.
Then we found ourselves mothers of children with special needs.

We are united, we sisters, regardless of the diversity of our children's special needs.
Some of our children undergo chemotherapy.
Some need respirators and ventilators.
Some are unable to talk, some are unable to walk.
Some eat through feeding tubes.
Some live in a different world.
We do not discriminate against those mothers whose
children's needs are not as"special" as our child's.
We have mutual respect and empathy for all the women who walk in our shoes.

We are knowledgeable.
We have educated ourselves with whatever materials we could find.
We know "the"specialists in the field.
We know "the" neurologists,"the" hospitals, "the" wonder drugs, "the" treatments.
We know "the" tests that need to be done,
we know"the" degenerative and progressive diseases
and we hold our breath while our children are tested for them.

Without formal education,
we could become board certified in neurology, endocrinology, and psychology.
We have taken on our insurance companies and schoolboards
to get what our children need to survive, and to flourish.
We have prevailed upon the State to include augmentative communication devices
in special education classes and mainstream schools for our children with cerebral palsy.
We have labored to prove to insurance companies
the medical necessity of gait trainers
and other adaptive equipment for our children with spinal cord defects.
We have sued municipalities to have our children properly classified so they could receive education and evaluation commensurate with their diagnosis.

We have learned to deal with the rest of the world,
even if that means walking away from it.
We have tolerated scorn in supermarkets during"tantrums" and gritted our teeth while discipline was advocated by the person behind us in line.
We have tolerated inane suggestions and home remedies from well-meaning strangers.
We have tolerated mothers of children without special needs
complaining about chicken pox and ear infections.
We have learned that many of our closest friends can't understand
what it's like to be in our sorority,
and don't even want to try.

We have our own personal copies of Emily Perl Kingsley's "A Trip To Holland"
and Erma Bombeck's "The Special Mother".
We keep them by our bedside and read and reread them during our toughest hours.
We have coped with holidays.
We have found ways to get our physically handicapped children
to the neighbors' front doors on Halloween,
and we have found ways to help our deaf children form the words, "trick or treat."
We have accepted that our children with sensory dysfunction will never wear velvet or lace on Christmas.
We have painted a canvas of lights and a blazing Yule log with our words for our blind children.
We have pureed turkey on Thanksgiving.
We have bought white chocolate bunnies for Easter.
And all the while, we have tried to create a festive atmosphere for the rest of our family.

We've gotten up every morning since our journey began wondering how we'd make it through another day, and gone to bed every evening not sure how we did it.
We've mourned the fact that we never got to relax and sip red wine in Italy.
We've mourned the fact that our trip to Holland has required much more baggage than we ever imagined when we first visited the travel agent.
And we've mourned because we left for the airport
without most of the things we needed for the trip.

But we, sisters, we keep the faith always.
We never stop believing.
Our love for our special children and our belief in all that they will achieve in life knows
no bounds.
We dream of them scoring touchdowns and extra points and home runs.
We visualize them running sprints and marathons.
We dream of them planting vegetable seeds, riding horses and chopping down trees.
We hear their angelic voices singing Christmas carols.
We see their palettes smeared with watercolors,
and their fingers flying over ivory keys in a concert hall.
We are amazed at the grace of their pirouettes.
We never, never stop believing in all they will accomplish as they pass through this world.

But in the meantime, my sisters, the most important thing we do,
is hold tight to their little hands as together,
we special mothers and our special children, reach for the stars.

XOXO
Proud Mama to Anderson

Apple

Kaitlyn: Ryan while I was eating an apple today..I think that my tooth got "wiggly". (Note to readers: not really true, but she thinks so!)

Ryan: OH, really?

VISUAL: Ryan walking around with an apple hanging out of his mouth the rest of the day while he says....YUMMY, i LOVE apples! ;)

Butterfly Kisses

Kaitlyn wanted me to share this pic with all of you! Mima Sue gave Kaitlyn a butterfly kit for Christmas...we rcvd caterpillars in the mail and we watched them grow, spin their cocoons, and then become butterflies. IT was A NEAT project to watch...enjoyed by the whole family. Anyway....one of the butterflies, had a broken wing. Kaitlyn, our animal whisperer, found the butterfly 5 days after we released them on one of our treasure walks. She decided this one needed to become our pet until it died. The butterfly went on to butterfly heaven 2 days ago. But, the kids enjoyed playing with our "pet butterfly". Here is a picture of Kaitlyn with the butterfly! This brings a whole new meaning to butterfly kisses!!!

ENJOY!

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a great day today..I was spoiled as always...I am so blessed, every day feels like Mother's Day to me! ;) Truly! We went to Disney with the kids, then home for naps, then to South Coast Plaza for some shopping! What a fun day!

Happy Mother's Day to all my Mommy friends and my Moms!

XOXO

WALKING!!!!!!!

WONDERFUL!!

Anderson seems to really "get" the walking right now! Check out the video.

He is walking, falling, pushing himself back up to stand and walking more. He did this for over 1 hour tonight. He is walking so fast, it is like he is running (which makes him fall), but he gets back up to do it again! The standing up in the middle of the ground is NEW!

Charlie and I were in tears of joy tonight! We thought we would never see this day! We are officially 2 months and 2 days post op!!! OH yeah, with a broken leg in that time period too! ;) Not too bad!
ENJOY!!!!

Bagel

Yes, Ryan fell asleep on Sunday at 4:00 PM sitting up on the floor and eating a bagel....do you think he needed a nap?

This was a 1st!!!

PB&J

Kaitlyn had a Mom's lunch at school on Friday. It was SO sweet. They read a special story about Moms, the kids sang us songs, and they made us lunch! PB&J sandwiches, potato chips, carrots, cookies and juice/water. IT was CUTE. I took a picnic blanket and we sat outside on the blanket and had lunch together.

As we were getting our sandwiches.....the following happened:

Kaitlyn: Mommy, I made that one with the big hole in it (you know how wheat bread can have a hole in it?)

Me: Oh, how neat...I want to eat the one you made...I will put this one on my plate.

Kaitlyn: Mommy, pls put that one on my plate.

Me:Sweetie, you want to eat this one that you made, you do not want Mommy to eat the one you made?

Kaitlyn: Mommy, this is YOUR special lunch...and I do not want you to have a big hole in your sandwich at the Mommy lunch, so I will eat this one ;)

It brings tears to my eyes again just typing out this story. Kaitlyn's heart is so big and so full, it brings me to tears!

Ryan

Okay...Ryan's turn. Ryan was out of school and got to spend a day with me at CHOC. We sat down and talked about his favorite things and this is what he told me:

best friend - Jack, Christopher, and Connor
girlfriend - Jessica (she is really cute ;)
favorite food - chicken nuggets
favorite fruit - grapes (at least he is eating fruits right now!)
favorite thing to do - play games
favorite game - Candyland
favorite color - blue

He answered these in about 1 minute, where as my conversation with Kaitlyn was about 2 hours long! Ha, ha, ha!

Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn was out of school 2 weeks ago. She came to CHOC for Anderson's therapy. We got to sit down, share an apple and she had chocolate milk ;) We got to talk about what is going on in her life and what her favorite things are.....she told me the following:

best friend - Emma and Greta
bestest, bestest friend - Dylan (yes, her boyfriend!)
funniest friend - Dylan again
when I grow up, I want to be - a physical therapist and help little children like Anderson
*no joke this was her answer!
favorite animal - ladybug (sorry, no more elephants!)
favorite food - tacos
favorite color - yellow
favorite fruit - tomatoes

** Aunt Sara gave Kaitlyn her 1st elephant when she was 3 days old. A CUTE YELLOW elephant from FAO Schwartz that was SO SOFT and sweet. Aunt Sara called the day after Kaitlyn told me all of the above, we were updating Aunt Sara...and Kaitlyn says...Tell Aunt Sara that I still REALLY like her elephant that she gave me as a baby...and when I was a baby elephants were my favorite...it is just now that I am 5, I like ladybugs better ;) Kaitlyn later told me she did not want to hurt Aunt Sara's feelings b/c she knew she gave her an elephant and it was her OLD favorite animal and she still liked it, just had a new favorite now that she is so old!

Kaitlyn's heart is full of gold!