No weight Gained!

I finally manage to get a moment free to update about Nicks weight check last week. Savannah is playing with Nick right now keeping him busy and Lilly is in bed sleeping... for the last 2 hours... YAY!!!

Matt made it home in time to go with me for his 6 month check up. First thing they did (and always do) is check his weight. Now if you remember, the last time we were at his local doctors for a weight check 2 weeks before, he was 13 lbs 15 oz. Well, at this weight check (2 weeks later) he was only 13 lbs 14 oz. He LOST an ounce. Not gain what should of been 7 ounces in 2 weeks but lost an ounce.

He had been crabby and not his normal happy self the last few weeks so we figured maybe he had a cold or ear infection. At least that's what his doctor was hoping for with all the signs he had... runny nose, not sleeping well, crabby, ran a fever week before, and not eating as good as before. Nope... nothing... his ears were fine and other then a stuffy/runny nose (depending on if he was crying or just woke up) he was totally fine. We even thought he was cutting a tooth but his doctor felt no signs of one coming in.

This worried his doctor as well us. He is only 1% in his weight for his age. His height is 26.5 inches (50%) and head was only 6%. I never had big headed babies anyway so that doesn't worry me.

His doctor wants us to come in next week for a weight check (which we do every week anyway. Only reason why we didn't the week before was because he went to St. Louis for a check up) and see how his weight check is then. If its not good then I guess we are going to be contacting his doctors in St. Louis and see what they want us to do.

On a good note, he has been back to eating like he was before (anywhere from 25 to 28 oz a day where last 2 weeks were 20 to 24 oz a day). Been in better spirits and just my happy little baby like before.

A Trucker's Wife!

Ah yes... to be a trucker's wife! Its about like being a single parent at times lol. Today was an awakening of what a single mother goes though.

The kids have been good today. I have no complains about them which is unreal lol. This all has to do with my wonderful wash machine.

The load in the drier was done so I went to throw the load from the wash into the drier when I realized I forgot to use fabric softener. I started a rinse load and went back to finishing dinner up. I could hear the wash machine was acting kinda funny so I went to see what was going on. I lifted the lid and realized the spinner deal in the center was not working. I turned it off, then turned it back on... no luck. I turned it to fully wash, still same thing. I ended up turning the wash machine off thinking it would drain on its own.

I decided to call Matt and let him know what happen. When he answered the phone I asked him... do you want the good news or the bad news? He said just give it to me. I told him... well, the drier works great but the wash machine is shot, it wont spin anymore. I walked over to see it again and was telling him what was going on. Maddy walked over to see also and said she stepped in something. That's when I realized the wash machine was LEAKING!!! All over my floor, water went. Matt told me to turn the water off from the back so I did. The water was now coming from inside where it just loaded up. OMG what was I going to do with all this water. I told Matt I had to let him go and deal with this. I grabbed a couple towels as I didn't want to use all our towels. We needed some for baths tonight. I pulled out all the clothes that was in the machine and stuck them in a basket and then put that in the sink to drain. I then started putting towels down on the floor to get the water up. I grabbed a bucket and started digging out the water from the machine. Oh what a chore this was.

I am learning that there is a lot of things I thought I couldn't do before but now have no choice but to do. Toilet floods, sink doesn't drain and yes... even a leaking wash machine I can now take on lol. What doesn't brake you only makes you stronger. I'm pretty darn strong right now. lol

Heart cath date set... so far!

I got the phone call this morning about Nicks heart cath. Looks like it's set for February 10. We are to be there around 6:30in the morning. Nick is not to have any formula after 2 in the morning. She said she is going to call the night before to make sure he has no signs of a cold, fever or rash or they will not do his heart cath. She is also going to go over everything again that needs to be done on our end and that they will be doing on their end.

They will start the heart cath around 8:30 a.m. It should take about 3 to 4 hours and then he will be in recovery for about a half hour. Once he is put in his room they will monitor him for about 6 hours (since they will be knocking him out). If everything goes ok, we should be able to go home around 6:30 that evening.

The following Monday (I'm thinking around February 16) , everyone that will have part in his surgery will get together for a meeting and talk about how they want to do his surgery. We will then get a phone call on when we are to come back to talk to his heart doctor who will tell us what they decided to do and what date it will be done on. She figures they will want to see us around the Monday after their meeting. His heart doctor said that he would like to have the surgery done first to mid March.

Not a great time for Matt to be starting a new job but this new job seem to be pretty understanding about all this and willing to work with him. Right now he is there going through orientation. He told me to text him as soon as I got the news as he was turning his phone to vibrate. I did just that and a few minutes later he called me. Thankfully the orientation hadn't started yet. I told him that Donna (nurse that called) still had to talk to the man who would be doing the heart cath and see if this date would work for him. Either way she is going to call me back this evening to tell me for sure either way. I'm to text Matt again to let him know if its a for sure go.

First Temper Tantrum

Ah, yes... the first temper tantrum and the starting of many to come.

At just a week over 6 months old Nick has had his first temper tantrum tonight. It was kinda funny/cute. He was sitting in my lap as I was playing on the computer. Normally he likes to watch the screen with new pictures coming and going but tonight... nope. He started fussing and then all of a sudden he flings his head back and stiffens up. I turned him around to face me, talked to him for a minute and then went back to what I was doing, still with him facing me. He then pushes on me and starts to scream. I turned him back to face the computer and he had another head flinging, stiffening moment. I kinda chuckled and told Matt.... would you look at this, Nick is having his first temper tantrum.

I handed him to Matt who was sitting down watching football. Normally Nick loves to watch football but I guess he wasn't in the mood tonight. He did the same exact thing to Matt. We both laughed. I picked him back up and sat him down with me in the recliner. He turned his head into me which indicted that he was wanting to nap. I fixed him to his nap position and fast asleep he went.

Who would of thought they had their first temper tantrums at such a young 6 months of age but I guess they do. Nick is proof of that lol. Its cute now, but I know for a fact (from history with my other children) its not cute when they are older lol. Lets hope he outgrows this but I know thats just wishful thinking lol.

January St. Louis Check Up!

I know this is days behind but I guess better late then never.

My mom woke me up at 6:00 to tell me that it was to cold out for the kids to walk to school and since they had just a half day, just to drop them off at her house so she wouldn't have to worry about them walking to school or getting on the bus to get to her house. No problem! lol

We were ready and out of the house by 7:30. Yep! ALL 7 of us lol. Thankfully I had packed Nick and Lilly's bags the night before and got all the things we would need like double stroller, ready also.

After dropping the older kids off at my parents we headed for St. Louis. Nick and Lilly slept most of the way there. With this weather, it kind of sucks. It was -3 out and I was so worried Nick would be to cold so all I did was put his snowsuit on with a blanket to cover him. After about an hour in the van he started fussing and when I checked on him he was so hot he was sweating. I had to take him out of his seat to take his snowsuit off. After that we just hurried from place to place with his snowsuit over his body and blanket over his car seat. It worked fine since I could just take the snowsuit out once we got in the van for the 2 hour drive there and back.

When we got there we went in the office we normally go in, just to find out that a couple days before they moved cardiologist to another department. They now have their own office for just the heart.

We were brought into a room where Nick was weighted. On their scale, he was 14 lbs 2 oz. YAY!!! Last time we were there on November 7, he was only 11 lbs 4 oz so he gained almost 3 lbs in little over 2 months. He had changed so much since they saw him last.

His doctor and two interns brought me down to have his echo done. This is where the fun begins. Since Nick was not feeling well at all the night before and then he was not wanting to sit still for the echo which meant they had a hard time seeing his heart the way they wanted. I knew he was tired and just wanted held but I also knew they had to get this done. Finally I said something to the lady doing his echo about him being tired and she said if I could get him to sleep that would be great. Sure enough, as soon as I picked him up and wrapped him in his Dallas Cowboys blanket, he snuggled right into me and within a few minutes he was fast to sleep. She was now able to finish his echo.

What always sticks in my mind is when his doctor told the two interns that they would want to see this echo because Nick has a "true" VSD.

Matt and Lilly waited in the room for us while we were getting the echo done. When we got back to the room Matt and Lilly had gone through Lilly's goody backpack (full of toys, animal cookies, candy and more) eating away. Lilly gets this backpack full of goodies ONLY when we go to the doctors. It keeps her happy and when she is happy, we are happy lol.

His doctor came back in the room and told us that his echo came back fine. He checked Nick out some more and asked questions about how his mile stones have been going. I explained to him everything that had been going on for the past 2 months. He was very pleased in how well Nick is doing but said that he does want his surgery to be done no later then the next month or two.

So now we are waiting on a phone call from his nurse to tell us when his heart cath will be done in February and by early to mid March he will be having his surgery. Now that I know his surgery will not interfere with his mile stones, I'm ready to get it over with and to move on from here hopefully with NO MORE surgeries.

Nicholas First Fever!

I had hoped that we would get through this whole winter without any fevers or sickness, that would cause worry about Nick. I knew it wouldn't last for long. This morning Nick felt hot. I checked his temp and even though it was a low grade fever it was enough to keep an eye on (99.6). I gave him some Tylenol and he took a nap. When he got up a couple hours later he was feeling hot again. This time he was hotter then before 101.3. I checked it 3x to make sure and the other 2x it was 100.1. Matt and I figured it might of been high because he had just had a warm bottle so we would wait to see if this new round of Tylenol would bring it down and then see how it turns out later.

We checked him a half hour after his second dose of Tylenol and it had went down to 98.9. That was about 4 hours ago and so far it doesn't seem like he is running a fever, although he is taking his evening nap so we shall see what it is when he gets up for his last feeding of the night. I'm hoping we make it at least till his check up tomorrow at St. Louis.

Even though he has had a fever all day today he has been in pretty good spirits, although that's if someone is holding him. I got pretty good at being able to type on my laptop with one hand and holding him with another lol.

To smart for school!

We just got back from Lilly's evaluation meeting. Guess my baby girl is to smart for school lol. Nothing I didn't already know but 0-3 figured she needed it. The only thing they think she is behind in was her conversation speech. She thinks faster then she talks and the words come out all jumbled up.

Her meeting was at 1:30. My mom and sister watched her for us while we went. Nick of course came with us although if I had known my sister was going to be here sooner then she actually was she said she would of watched him.

When we got there we had to wait a bit. Finally the group of Lady's walked in and our meeting started. There was 5 girls on one side of the room and then Matt and I along with another lady on the other side. They asked us questions like, how does she talk... talks pretty good, clear words if they are two or 3 word sentences but if talking more then that, its a mess. Does she know any colors... yes. Does she know her shapes... yes, pretty good for a 3 year old. How high can she count to... I have heard her count to 7 on her own but she can count all the way up to 11 with a little help. Is she potty trained... yep, other then nights which is our fault since we give her a sippy before bed. There was more questions ask and other then her fast unclear speaking, she was pretty advanced for her age.

So what they suggested was for her to see a speech teacher something like 3x a week for 20 minutes a day. Um... that cant be a go considering the weather and Nick. I cant be taking Nick out in this weather just to take Lilly for a 20 minute meeting. What they suggested is maybe having her come to pre school screening in March and go from there.

So I'm a little disappointed that she isn't starting school in March as she would love to go but then it is nice to hear that she is to smart for school lol.

6 Month Shots!

Was not looking forward to today's WIC appointment and the dreaded 6 month shots, but had to be done. Matt and I left as soon as Maddy was home from school. Thankfully Chandler is old enough now to watch the kids for us so we don't have to bring Lilly with us.

After going through all the normal paper work, questions and just every day chat Nicholas finally got his shots... 3 of them! Poor baby just had his RSV shots on Friday (2 of those) and now 3 today. He was a trooper though. He hardly cried for the first one and after the second two, which have a bite to them, I fed him a bottle and he was fine... actually went fast to sleep. Once we got home (after a quick run to the store) he woke up and was back to his happy self.

While there, we were told that he now gets juice on his WIC package meaning he can start having juices... YAY!!! he should love something other then formula. I'm still a bit worried about the calories so the highest calorie juice we can find he will have. He is also at the age where he can start playing around with a sippy cup and even a cup. He got a sippy cup that can also be a cup, from WIC. I still have Lillian's that she played around with when she was his age. When we were at the store we picked him up his first soft nippled sippy cup... blue of course lol.

So other then his RSV shots each month and a flu shot if his doctors give the ok, he has NO MORE shots until he is 12 months old... YAY to that! If only that was the only thing he would have to do. We know that in 2 months surgery is in his future. I wish it was only shots in 2 months... if only!

Nicholas Birth Video

I finally got the firewire cord I needed to upload home videos to my computer and once I figure out the software, maybe make some home DVD movies . Anyway, of course the first video I desided to upload was Nicholas birth. I had not seen the video yet so this would be my first time seeing his birth. During the uploading I was busy doing something... cant remember exactly what, but once I was able to sit down and watching it... all I can say is OMG... my poor belly. The way they had to push and pull him out I'm surprised I don't have more bruises and Nick doesn't have some kind of bruise on his head. In the end I was giving a beautiful baby boy who all I could say was... he is so beautiful... from the moment I laid eyes on him.

Just to think... I did this "5" times and I have to say... every time was well worth it. I am so lucky to be the mother of these 5 wonderful children. They are worth every pain, cut and scar that was given to me... just to have them in my life.

I'm so blessed!

A happy 6 month old Nick!

Well, tomorrow Nick will be 6 months old... already! I cant believe where the time has gone. He has changed so much from my newborn baby to the active cutie he is now.

He is doing all new and exciting things. He just started rolling from his back to his belly over his left side only but once he is on his belly he cries up a storm not liking being there. I would say about a week ago he just started getting to where he will stay on his belly longer then before, just to play with the toys laying in front of him. His favorite hand toys seem to be his clicking butterfly and some clicking thing that I have no idea what to call. All I know is he likes it lol. Anyway, with just those two toys, he is content for awhile. I have no idea why he is not rolling over his right side but I'm sure that is something 0-3 will be working with.

One of the goals Nan (his 0-3 physical therapist) has for him is not only to roll both ways but to be able to push up with his arms. He has been doing that for about a week or more now. It so cute to see him do. He reaches out for his toys sitting in front of him and brings them to his mouth. Nan is also wanting him to switch hands with a toy... give the toy from one hand to the other. I see the starting of that if he isn't already doing it.

Nick is such a flirt with everyone... especially women... and such a talker. He does these high and low pitch sounds and every now and then I will get what sounds like hi, mama, and dada. When I hear those sounds coming out among his gibber I start to repeat those sounds... mama mama, dada dada! Matt teases him that he is getting lippy lol. Who knows, maybe in baby talk he is.

He just started getting on a sleeping schedule this week. He used to sleep one big nap in the morning and two short naps in the afternoon. Now he takes a short nap in the morning and about 11:00 in the morning he will fall asleep and take a long 3 to 4 hour nap and then maybe one nap in the late afternoon. Come around anywhere from 9 to 10:30 in the evening he will fall asleep for the night. I would love to let him sleep right through the night but I have to give him what I call his "last chance feeding" around 1 in the morning. Most of the time he sleeps right through it but if he so happens to wake up for one he quickly falls asleep when I lay him down for the night.

He has gotten better at eatting which is great. Back in November we were lucky if we could get 20 oz down him a day. Now he will take anywhere from 24 to 30 oz a day and with the lower ounces is only because he had some baby food.

His weight has been great. I worried for awhile there about his weight when he only gained an ounce in 2 weeks, right after Thanksgiving. I told Matt that if he didnt gain good the next week I would be calling up Cardinal Glennon to see what to do about it. Thankfully the next week he had a good weight gain. I think something like 8 ounces gained. Then every week after that he did wonderful. I just took him in this afternoon for his RSV shot and weight check and to my wonderful surprise he was up to 13 lbs 15 oz. He was one ounce away from 14 lbs. The weight check before was 13 lbs 4 oz, so with in 10 days he gained 11 ounces... almost a pound... Whoo Nick! Way to go! I would of been just happy with the 13 lbs 8 oz but I will take the 13 lbs 15 oz.

Nicholas first big spoonful!

Today isn't really the first day I fed Nick off a spoon but it is the first time he really ate off of one.

I started him on cereal a couple weeks ago but only in a bottle and it wasn't every day... just every so often. He did fine with that so I thought... hum... lets try him on baby food... applesauce of choice. When I tried the first time a few days ago he would have nothing to do with it. He got maybe a bite or two and that's it. So tonight I thought I would try again and I have to say he did pretty good. It was funny/cute though. When I would give him a bite he would make this face as if I just fed him a lemon. Was the applesauce that bitter lol. Lilly didn't seem to mind it. She had to try a bite... or two... out just to make sure it was good enough lol. Finally I had to tell her it was Nicks dinner and that she had hers... cheese burger and fries. She kept telling me... now Lilly's turn lol.

Nick did so well that he just about ate a whole 4 oz jar full. There was just a bit left so I stuck it in a bottle with some cereal and formula and he downed another 5 oz of that. Ever since I started him on cereal he has been eating like a little piggy (for him anyway lol). Lets hope for some good weight gain this week.

Oh and yes... he is doing wonderful on his weight gain. As of a week ago Monday, he was up to 13 lbs 4 oz. He has gained about a pound, if not more, a month since his surgery. We are hoping for 13 lbs 9 oz this coming Friday and maybe even make it to 14 lbs by time he goes to St. Louis on the 16th. He is even starting to get some chunker legs which I just love to tickle lol.

I did take some pictures of him eating that I still need to upload from my camera and plan on putting into my dropshots. I will try to get one into my myspace for everyone to see. Its adorable!

My Intro

I have been wanting to do one of these for a long time but never seem to find the blog site I was happy with. I wanted something that I can add not only my blog of the day put pictures to go with it and maybe even a video or two. A friend of mine had a blog from this site and suggested it to me. The best part is... its FREE! Yay... I can handle that.

So, I thought I would start with an introduction.

I'm Beth, 35 year old mother of 5 children who I'm sure you will get to know very well through out my blogs.

Chandler Michael John ... 15 (November 23, 1993)
Savannah Rose ... 13 (October 19, 1995)
Madalyn Noelle ... 10 (April 14, 1998)
Lillian LeeAnn ... 2 (February 28, 2006)
Nicholas Matthew ... 6 months (January 10, 2008)

I always tease that I started with a son and now have ended with a son with 3 beautiful daughters in between.

I have been married to a wonderful man, Matt, for over a year now. He is the father of my younger two children but claims the older 3 as his own. I have so much respect for him. Going from a bachelor to taking on a women with 3 children and then 2 children of his own in just a short 4 years. He works hard to make sure we have what we need and to make sure I am able to stay home to take care of the children. I just can't say enough about how lucky I am to have him in my life.

Matt is currently a truck driver working during the week and home on weekends. Once in awhile we will get lucky and have him home for an evening during the week. We enjoy those surprises all the time. He loves sports and enjoys spending his past time watching football, baseball and even Nascar. Right now he is going through Nascar withdrawal. February cant come soon enough lol.
Chandler just started his freshman year of high school. He is loving the freedom that comes with high school but also learning its a lot of work. I have no complains about Chandler (other then getting his grades up lol... if that's my only problem... I'm so darn lucky), he is so kind and such a wonderful big brother to his younger sisters and baby brother. I can trust him to watch the younger children while I run to the store or even take someone to the doctors. He is willing to help out in what ever way he can and always makes us laugh. He so has our warp sense of humor lol.

Savannah is a typical teenager. She used to be my tomboy who blossomed into this beautiful diva. Once she turned 13, we allowed her to wear make up, but only a little... although as my mother told me would happen, she sneaks the eye liner out and puts it on at school. Eyeliner seems to be the only thing she really wears so I guess its ok. She used to be into the dark, black clothes but is now into the bright colors. This year Savannah is in 6th grade and so loving Jr High. Her favorite thing is having 2 study halls. She loves the fact she hardly ever comes home with homework, giving her a chance to hang out with her friends after school. She has her first little boyfriend which is sweet but I think she shouldn't get to attached to one boy at this time and age. I keep telling her that what she feels for him is puppy dog love and that there will be many many boyfriends before she finds true love. She is going through the, I think other boys are cute but I can't hurt this boys feelings by braking up with him. She is so her mother's child.

Madalyn is my little mother hen. For so long she has been the youngest of the family and longed to be a big sister. I remember being there but she got something I never got... the chance to be a big sister and not only once but twice. She loves it when she comes home from school and Lilly gets all excited to see her. Maddy has to stop and give her a hug and play with her. I have to remind her that homework comes first and once its done she can play with Lilly. Maddy and Lilly have bonding time in the morning. Lilly will wake Maddy up in the morning before anyone else gets up. Maddy will make her toast or give her a pop tart, a sippy cup of milk, and sit down to watch cartoons with her until everyone else wakes up. I told Maddy these are the moments Lilly will remember forever. As for her love for Nicholas... she is always amazed at what new things he does. She gets so tickled when he smiles or laughs at her and thinks he is the cutest baby in the world. All my babies are the cutest... even her lol. Oh... Maddy is in 4th grade. This year my older 3 all started new schools... High school, Jr. High and Lincoln (later middle school). Come two months and I will have 4 children in 4 different schools. This should be interesting lol.

Lillian is so full of life. I wish I had just half her energy just to keep up with her. She is so so smart, she amazes me every day with the new things she learns. She knows her numbers up to 11, she can even say some in Spanish... thanks to Dora the explorer. She knows some colors, most shapes. We are working on her letters. I thought potty training was going to be a challenge but she is doing so good. We let her play around with the potty chair since about September but about the end of October we decided it was time to work with her on it. By Thanksgiving she was pretty much fully potty trained. We still put a diaper on her at night since she takes a sippy cup to bed (although she hardly ever drinks it) and a pull up on long drives but during the day at home or even a day at someones house... she is in big girl panties. I think since Thanksgiving she has only had maybe 2 mistakes. She is doing great.

Nicholas was the baby I wasn't expecting but from the moment I found out I was pregnant, I fell in love with him. Nicholas is a strong one from the moment he was born giving many challenges a little one should never have. When he was 3 weeks old we found out that Nicholas had a nickel size hole in his heart. During his first 3 months of live our challenge was keeping the weight on. He was stuck in 9 lbs for what seemed like forever. There was babies younger then him who looked much older then he did. Many people thought he was a new born or at least a month old when in reality he was months old. On October 2, he went in to have surgery but when they went in they found out the hole was higher then they expected. The ended up putting a pulmonary band in and said they couldn't do the surgery until he was older, stronger and bigger. That was the hardest thing I had to ever go through was watching my little one go through surgery and then to have to do it again... its a tough one. I have to say though, the best thing they could of done was put that pulmonary band in. Every since then, he has been gaining about a pound a month and is now up to (as of Dec 29) 13 lbs 4 oz. I know that is still small but it is wonderful for a baby with a heart defect. I am looking forward to his next check up with the heart doctors. They have not seen him in 2 months and I am wondering what their reactions will be when they see how much he has gained.

At this check up, they will set up his heart cath date for February where they will map out how they are going to do his surgery. Then they will set up a date for his surgery, sometime in March. We are hoping for the end of March hoping the cold weather will be just about gone by then.

Now Nicholas, who will be 6 months old this coming Saturday, is the sweetest little baby a person could ever ask for. He is always smiling, hardly ever cries... just the happiest baby I have ever seen. Even through all he has gone through, he is still full of smiles and love. He shows us what true strength is. Matt and I always say he has Matt's stubbornness and my determination. He is the best of both of us.

Now for me... not much really exciting with me personally. My life is my children and husband, but there is a few other hobbies I do love. I so love my computer... as you know lol and I love to take pictures... pictures of my children... pictures of everything. I am in love with the digital age. No more waisting film or worrying about if this is a good shot or not. I just snap away and see what comes out later. I could take 50+ pictures in one setting just to get at least one good picture. I'm still learning how to take pictures and I say light doesn't like me as its an issue with me but I'm having so much fun learning everything I can.

Crafts is also another love of mine. I love to scrapbook (comes with the pictures lol), to crochet and anything else that strikes my interest at the moment. I wish I had more hours in a day just to dedicate to my crafts and photography.

Well anyway, that is my life in a nut shell. With a new year comes a new blog... I'm sure glad I started now (just 8 days into the year) to start a new blog.