Thursday, September 8, 2011

Open letter to my daughter-

Sweet, Sweet Caroline-

I am so blessed and excited I get to journey with you every single day as you grow and change. I have to laugh at your appetite as of late. Just like your daddy-you eat anything! You really love your raspberries and strawberries and broccoli lately. But, just the other day you ate around all the peas and carrots in your soup and only wanted the meatballs and gnocchi ;) I am so glad you didn't get many of mommy's picky eating habits.

However, if you insist on filling your pants on an average of three times a day because of your new appetite, I would greatly appreciate you saving at least one of those occasions until after 5pm. I don't think your father would want to miss out on this 'milestone' stepping stone in you growing up. I want to be sure he is always included in all the changes in your life. Let's give him a chance to participate, huh?

Love you bunches,
Mommy

Monday, August 29, 2011

Trading Spaces

I knew it was coming. I knew that Caroline would get a new room so the baby could have the nursery.

Whether I like it or not, my little girl is going to grow up.

Whether I like it or not she is getting bigger and will demand to be treated as such.

A few weeks ago her first big demand came.

While staying at my parents house for a week (mom had knee surgery and needed my help) she absolutely refused to be put down in her pack n'play.

I didn't even see it coming. I didn't even realize it would happen so fast or easy.

My little girl decided she needed to be in a big girl bed :(

My parents had a toddler bed in the basement and we set it up right across from our bed in the guest room and she loved it.

She survived and so did I....well really, I am dealing with this new change every day.

When we returned home we knew she couldn't go back in the crib. We had a full size twin bed ready for her and she took to it really well. We bought her a twin trundle bed at Salvation Army months ago. I don't even think we were trying to make her a big sister yet but we knew we would need a bed for her someday and this was a GREAT deal.

Because we were so unprepared, we had to run out and search for bedding that I liked. That proved harder than we thought but we found something that we liked and it is all coming together now. We aren't doing a 'theme' but rather a few main colors and accenting with little bits and pieces of her current favorite characters.

Brad is busy painting all of the second hand furniture to match the bed and we hope to have that ready soon. I have a TON of little projects in the works to complete the look and hopefully we will have a big reveal soon. But for now, this is what it looks like. Remember, we weren't ready for this big change; she sprang it on us unexpected which is why her room doesn't look 'kid friendly' quite yet :)





Yes, the printer will be moved soon and the patio cushions are until she fully gets the hang of the bed and we are sure she won't fall out. And, when we are sure she understands she can't just climb out whenever she feels like it :)

If you'll excuse me she wants to sit on my lap and read a book and I am embracing these 'little kid' moments as long as she lets me have them now :)

Monday, August 22, 2011

El Nino

I happen to be 100% Polish (and proud of it). Brad is 50% Polish with the rest mostly German.

The child I am carrying is somehow part Hispanic. I think.

With Caroline all I can remember having is food aversions. The wonderful pregnancy cravings never came. This time around I crave so much stuff! The first and biggest one is Mexican food...anything spicy really. I can't get enough Taco Bell or homemade Tacos or nachos. I usually HATE salsa but if we get chips and salsa somewhere, guess what I am dipping?? My dad even made a Taco Bell run for me one night while we were down there since Brad wouldn't go :)

This kid LOVES spicy foods. It isn't everything though. I really have no desire to go to say Buffalo Wild Wings but I do want to make my homemade buffalo chicken pizza. One day my brother and sister in law were visiting my parents and we were all together. They had brought a small bag of those flaming hot Cheetos and offered me some. I am not one to eat them all that much but I couldn't seem to keep my hand out of the bag. They are a good go to snack for a spicy craving. Now, if only all the food I want to eat wouldn't give me such bad heartburn....this kid better come out with a full head of hair with the heartburn I get!

Thus, because of this I have dubbed this child: 'el nino' :). My mom has joined along with me but everyone else still mostly calls him/her 'santa baby'. My name fits in other ways too.

Not only is this kid addicted to spicy food he is also a jumping bean. I SWEAR I started to feel movement around 13 weeks this time; it may be because this is my second pregnancy but I don't know. For any and all ultrasounds we've had the baby is NOT cooperative AT ALL. I went to the pediatric cardiologist to check on the hole they think they found (there isn't one!!!!) and every time the tech would go to enlarge the picture the baby would move. And, she was enlarging "just ok' shots...the baby wasn't giving us anything good to work with! I could feel AND see what was going on in there while it was happening. EVERY SINGLE time we go for an ultrasound all it does is hop around and push everything out of the way :) We have quite the rambunctious little one on our hands here!

As I said, the heart doctor couldn't see anything majorly wrong with the heart and we are hoping that they don't find anything minor at birth either. I have to see my Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist every four weeks now to monitor my growth until I deliver but I get to see the baby every time so I don't mind all the extra doctors. I am 23 weeks along and I have one more doctor appointment before I start seeing my regular OB/GYN every two weeks!! We are slowly getting there.

In big sister news, she is also getting ready too. Much to mommy's dismay. Last week while staying with my parents she absolutely REFUSED to sleep in her crib. She spent the week in a big girl bed :( TEARS! (from mommy at least) We have a big girl bed for her at home too and we went out and bought all of her bedding and pillows for it and she sleeps there everynight...her crib sits empty. But, we also now have to get a move on with her 'big girl room'...the ONLY thing in there right now is the bed. If you looked at her 'room' right now you would wonder what kind of parents we were! And, as of Sunday she is also refusing to sit in ANY highchair. Whether we are at home or eating out. She has a booster seat attahed to a chair at our table and just looks TOO big. She is ready to be the big sister I guess!

Now, if you'll excuse me I have to go check if I have all the supplies to make Taco's for dinner tomorrow...


Saturday, August 6, 2011

A baby update

So many people have emailed me to ask me how I've been doing...how I'm feeling...if we have news. I haven't gotten back to any of you and I'm sorry! If you've been thinking of us and praying for us-thank you so very much. Knowing how loved we are right now means the world to us. And, the power of prayer seems to be helping and I am doing so much better than I was just a few weeks ago.

I keep this blog not only to share with our friends and family but as a way to document things for myself and for our children. If I keep it around long enough, they may be able to read it someday! It is for that reason that I am going to give a brief summary of what we have done/found out so far and where we stand now.

10 weeks pregnant: I found out that I have one variant of the MTHFR genetic mutation. This means my blood clots more than it should. It's hereditary but have had NO problems because of it in the past. My OB/GYN wants me to see a maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) specialist to deal with this.

12 weeks pregnant: I see the MFM specialist and never once think anything could be wrong with the baby. We get our first ultrasound and find out that the baby's Nuchal Translucency or Nuchal Fold at the back of the neck is measuring large. Normal is 1.5-2.5 and ours is at 6. It could be nothing or it could be a problem. MFM wants me to have sequential screening done with my OB/GYN the following week. I am scheduled for another ultrasound with MFM at 17 weeks. In the meantime he puts me on extra vitamins and other medications to make sure my blood won't clot on me.

13 weeks: go in for my 12 week visit and to have the screening done. Blood is drawn and another ultrasound. Baby looks good and the neck is now measuring at 3.6...still above normal but not what it was. Doctor seems positive and we discuss how I am a great candidate for a VBAC! Yay!!!
I leave feeling so much better.

14 weeks: I get a phone call from my doctor...like from him personally, not one of the nurses. This can't be good. Bloowork came back and it was also too high. I am told we have a 1 in 23 chance the baby will have down syndrome. It's tough to deal with all of this at this point and we decide to share with everyone what is going on. As long as I don't think about it, I'm great and everything feels 'normal'.

17 weeks: we go for second ultarsound and it is very upsetting. Baby is not cooperating and it is hard to see everything they need to see. They find a hole in the baby's heart. This can be normal and if it doesn't correct itself we can fix it after birth with surgery. But, children with Downs have a higher rate of having this so for us we have to take it as another marker. The baby also 'may have' (couldn't get a good shot) a club foot. Again, fixable with surgery but for us...another bad sign. Baby wouldn't open it's hands so they couldn't see how they were developing...Downs hands are different evidently. Baby's neck measurement is still higher than it should be but we are not surprised. Can't get many of the other looks we need to check on things. Heartrate, however is great. MFM doc wants to do an amnio to find out for sure. I don't want to yet. He asks me to have the second round of sequential bloodtests done and I agree. We leave feeling so upset and hurting so much. All I do is cry and pray for my baby's safety. We go back in two weeks to have another look.

19 weeks: Back to MFM for another ultrasound. FINALLY an appointment that is good! Baby is still not cooperating (I swear we are there for an hour doing the ultrasounds!) but we get some better views. Still can't tell what the feet look like but we are fine with that. The neck measurement is EXACTLY where is shoud be for this point in time!!! Can't get a look at the fourth chamber of the heart but they think the hole 'may have' closed but I have to see a pediatric cardiologist for it anyway. Just as a precaution. Hands are OPEN and looking great! Baby definitely has a nasal bone! Find out from my second set of blood work that I am now up to 1 in 27 chance of Downs Syndrome and the chances of other chromosomal problems or neural tube defects are 1 in the 1o's of thousands! MFM doc offers another amnio for our sake and again we decline. We are so happy with all of the good news and feel so much better and positive. We are coping and dealing with this much better now :) Even the doctor admitted that from our first visit to now, he never would have expected things to look like this!

The power of prayer works!

I have to go in and see the MFM doctor every four weeks from now (on top of my regular OB/GYN appointments) on for another ultrasound to watch the baby's growth. I am going to see the pedi. cardiologist next week and praying that all goes well. That's all we have for now!

Again, thank you for thinking of us and for praying for us. Please know that it is working and it is helping us :) Keep up the good work! We are more than halfway there now!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Poop happens

Hey, you all know how much I love poop.

I have several blog posts devoted to the subject actually. But, today I actually am excited to talk about it! It may just be a fluke but this morning my not so little girl put something in her Elmo potty seat!

That's right, my 17 month old is a bathroom GENIUS!

I don't expect it to happen again anytime soon but this is huge to me :)

A few weeks ago we noticed she was very interested in her cousins going potty at our house. Like the toothbrushing thing we though maybe this would work to our advantage. After both Ania and Abby were done on the toilet she made my sister put her up there too and hold on to her. Nothing happened but we took it as a sign. So, we went out and purchased a potty chair...one that can eventually have the seat put on the big toilet for easy transition. It has Elmo on it and he even talks to you when you hive five his big hand. Not annoying at all :)

We haven't really been trying per se but she does sit on it and we have taken her diaper off and sat her on it while explaining to her what she was supposed to put in there. She thought it was a great novelty, of course.

But, this morning I was on the phone with my mom and about a minute into the conversation she started to walk out of the living room. I stopped her and asked where she was going. She turned and said 'poop' and kept walking. I stayed on the phone and followed her and sure enought she went and pounded on the bathroom door. Upon me opening the door she walked to Elmo and tried to take her pants off on her own! I helped and sat her down and about 10 minutes and all of her bath toys and books taken out sure enough there was a tiny lil ball of it in the potty!

We cheered! We clapped! We gave Elmo a high five! Mommy cried! Busia yelled praise on the phone! I took a picture to send to daddy later! (I'll spare you that viewing :) )

It was a magical bathroom party! I don't know if it will happen again anytime soon but I am enjoying it for today. I have plans to visit the mall today with a friend and you can bet someone will be getting a good 'potty prize'.

Way to 'go', Caroline! Mommy (and Elmo!) is so proud of you!

Monday, June 20, 2011

My little sponge



I am trying to think of all the 'new' things Caroline is doing lately. I used to worry and still do sometimes that I won't be a good 'teacher' to my children. That I wouldn't be able to teach them anything before they went to school. Turns out I don't have much to worry about...she picks stuff up on her own just from being around me and mimicking anything she sees or hears. I have done my share of 'teaching' her some things but I can't believe what she knows and I go 'how did she learn that?'.



Genius, my friends. I tell you, she is a genius.


She now knows FIVE animal sounds. In addition to the dog and monkey she already knew I have taught her cow, kitty cat and duck. She's her own Ol' McDonald :)


She now puts down her fork or spoon when Brad and I begin to pray before meals. She stops what she is doing and puts her hands together with the biggest smile and then claps when we say AMEN. I hadn't even started working on that with her!


She also knows who Jesus is and can identify pictures/statues of him when I ask. She is more vocal and rambunctious in church now so I usually ask where Jesus is and she looks to our big crucifix and points and is quiet and transfixed for at least a few minutes :)


She knows her please's and thank you's....I am so proud of this one! Alhtough, she thinks as long as she says please she gets what she asked for. Gotta work on that one.




We have alwasy played the 'stinky feet' game with her where we smell her piggles and then make a big fuss of them being smelly. They aren't but she LOVES it. This past weekend she started smelling her own feet (or ours) and then waving her hand under her nose going 'eeew'...cracked us up the first time she did it!


She now pushes her own nose and makes a honk-honk noise and then pushes ours and giggles at whatever noise we decide to make.


She knows where the baby is and will come over, lift my shirt, hit my tummy and say 'baby!' and then air kiss my stomach....awwww! She also thinks there is a baby in her belly AND in Brad's though :)


I know there is so much more she does because she changes everyday but I can't think of it all!




One of the biggest things she is doing now is brushing her teeth! We had given up on trying to do this long ago and I was so worried all her teeth would fall out soon. We used to have to pry her mouth open and listen to her scream while we did a quick once over. After my sister's family spent a weekend with us and she saw her cousins doing it, she wanted to participate. So, we went and got her a fun toothbrush with Cookie Monster on it (although she calls him 'Cook') and some training toothpaste. Now, the only screams come when we literally have to pry the toothbrush out of her fingers :)

Long time, no blog...

I have good reasons though. We've been busy growing and taking care of this little slice of heaven :)



I guess I have gotten into that mindset of "no one is going to want to read about the boring things we have going on" or I am too busy with the few 'big events' we have going on that I let my blog fall to the wayside.


If you still even read this blog (does anybody, really? let me know...) I am sorry!


We've had THREE ultrasounds already so we've seen lots of 'Santa Baby' as my nieces have nicknamed him. Yes, they tell me it's a boy this time! Abby and Ania have all sorts of reasons and explanations about why I am having a 'boy baby' this time and since Abby was the ONLY one in the family to be correct right from the get go with Caroline...I have to wonder this time!


All we want is a healthy baby and if you are close enough to us to know our struggle right now, you know that we aren't just being 'cliche' or anything.


I am through the first trimester but I can't seem to find any energy still. I was doing SO well with everything until about week 10...I swear I barely 'felt' pregnant until then. After that I was nauseated all the time and if I didn't take a nap I was sleeping on the couch anytime after 4 pm. I am starting to show off a bit more of a bump than I expected and I THINK I feel movement every now and then!


I only have pictures of our second ultrasound on my computer and those ones are actually the best ones. The first ultrasound was just two weeks before this and all we had was a blob. I mean, I thought the baby's head was it's butt. I'm going for mother of the year. But, the next time we looked the baby was super cooperative and kicking and fidgeting and we could make out so much. I don't know if this was because we were seeing a specialist and their machine/tech is better but it was amazing! I can't wait for the next two weeks to pass by...we get to check out our little one again and take some more measurements and hopefully get some good news.