Carnival

There is a carnival near our house right now.  We took the boys last night and Luke loved it.  One of the rides that Luke was tall enough for was a car driving one.  He took it very seriously.  :)

Rice Cereal, part 2

He's like a little baby bird now - opens that mouth up as soonas he sees the spoon.

Watching Sunday morning cartoons

Mother's Day 2013

Put me in coach

I'm ready to play!

My little car guys

Adventures in Rice Cereal

We got the green light on starting rice cereal at Ethan's 4 month appt.  As he's suddenly decided he's constantly starving (38 oz today - say what?!?) we thought we'd give it a shot.

 I wouldn't call it a total failure, but exactly not a success either.  I think that Ethan felt the same way.

On second thought, maybe not.

It started out ok although he had no idea what was going on. 

"Really mom?  What is this?  I'd rather have my bottle."

Luke was excited to sit and watch it all though.

 "If I look at the camera maybe she'll go away."

"Yuck yuck yuck!"

 In the end, I think he kept about 3 spoonfuls in his mouth, so not too bad.  In hindsight, we shouldn't have done it when he was so hungry that all he cared about was his bottle.  He seemed ok when it was in his mouth and would swallow but would cry everytime I took the spoon away.

Happy baby boy

Ethan has a rough few months, which probably also contributes to my blogging hiatus.  None of it has been a huge deal, but put together it's made him (and us) fairly miserable at times. 

First, he has reflux.  Initially it was of the "silent" variety - which meant he didn't actually spit up.  Instead we could hear him choke it back down, which could be an awful sound.  He was unhappy all of the time.  Never seemed content or settled.  He was slower to interact with us and to smile - but who could blame him?  He would cry during his bottles, arch his back, and wouldn't finish them.  For awhile we thought it was just gas but then realized it was reflux.  They started him on Zantac at first and while it initially helped, after about a week it got worse again.  Then we were switched to Prilosec.  Same deal - got better, then worse again.  We were on various formulas throughout this as well.  One week he just kept getting worse, and dropped about 10oz/day so the pediatrician referred us to a Pediatric GI Specialist.  We loved him.  He combined the two meds - he's on Prilosec in the am and Zantac at night.  He's also on another formula - Similac for Spit Up - which is basically Similac with rice cereal already in it.  That was on the Friday before Easter - by Saturday he was a different baby.  Started smiling, cooing, and interacting.  Yay!  His reflux seems to have turned into the kind where he actually spits up quite a bit now (we love bibs and burp cloths) but it doesn't seem to bother him.  You can just refer to him as the "happy spitter" now.  :)

However, throughout all this we've also been battling ear infections.  (And also one week of an infected penis - seriously, couldn't he catch a break?!)  His first EI was at his 1 month appointment.  We're fairly certain that one actually went away.  Shortly before his 2 month appt was the week of the infected penis.  While on antibiotic for that, he developed EI #2.  Here's where we're not sure if they ever really went away, or got slightly better and then worse again.  It's basically been constant since then - he's been on 5 rounds of various antibiotics.  Our last ear recheck, when it was still "raging" won us a trip to the ENT.  That was last week - and this morning he had tubes surgery!  In the 7 hours since then, he's been so different.  When they brought him back to us after the surgery (exactly 32 min after he left) he was already grinning.  Talking more, making different sounds, laughing, enjoying tummy time... I'm so hopeful that this will finally turn the corner for him.  He was such a trooper throughout it all - I think he's going to be so amazingly happy now that he's (hopefully) pain free.

Nap before surgery:

Happy baby after surgery!

Playing together

After nearly a 5 month break, it's time to get back to blogging.  I've thought about it several times but get so overwhelmed at what I need to blog as a catch up, that I just avoid it.  So, we'll start with today and hopefully I'll do some back entries to get us caught up.

Luke and Ethan have just started to interact with each other and I love it!  Warms my heart to see them this way.

When will baby Fletcher get here?

We're getting close enough that I thought I'd set up another online pool to guess when he'll arrive and his size.

Some things to know as you make your educated guess:

- Ethan's due date is January 26th, however I am scheduled to be induced on January 22nd if he's not here by then. (Less than 6 weeks from now!)
- Luke was born 4 days early - my water randomly broke on it's own.
- Jason was born 3 weeks early, for no apparent reason.
- I was born 1 1/2 weeks early - my mom had preeclampsia and they had to induce.
- According to a study I found, the most popular day for babies to make their entrance is Wednesday. Sunday is the slowest day.
- For the last, oh 5-6 weeks or so, I've been constantly asked "So, any day now, huh?"
- Both of my NSTs (non-stress-tests) picked up mild cramps last week.

For size:
- According to one study, the average weight of a newborn is 7.5 lbs, and the average total body length is 19-21 inches.
- Luke weighed 9 lbs, 3 oz and was 22 1/4" long.  I've heard 2nd babies can be bigger.
-I was 6 lbs, 3 ounces and 18 ½ inches long.
-Jason weighed 7 lbs, 9 ½ ounces and was 20” long.
- At my 20 week ultrasound, Ethan was measuring about 2 weeks ahead (same as Luke.)  However all measurements of my belly have been dead on with how far along I am (also same as Luke.)  We will be having another ultrasound at 37 weeks for size purposes - you have to make your guess before then.

So now it's time to make your guess!  There will be a fabulous prize (er, bragging rights?) for the winner.  And PS - if you get the sex wrong, you need help.

Go to the link below to enter your guess.  You don't have to register or anything - just make a guess!  :)

http://www.expectnet.com/games/EthanF

32 weeks

How far along: 32 weeks

So it's kind of funny - as I was starting this post I decided to go back and read what I wrote with Luke.  I could copy that word for word here - in fact, I will, because bizarrely enough, it's been the exact same.

"This last week has been interesting. I've gone from feeling the best I had this entire pregnancy, to entering the wonderful world of "oh my goodness, I'm so uncomfortable, when will he get here?" Then he gets his feet lodged into my ribs which is also uncomfortable. Oh, and the swelling. The swelling has started. Sometimes I feel like a marshmallow man. It's not all the time, but there was one day that I had to go buy new socks while I was at work because the normal ones were cutting into my ankles (er, make that cankles.) I'm learning to make sure I get enough water and sit with my feet elevated. I also made the switch to a fake wedding band this week."

So the only difference - I didn't actually go buy new socks this time around.  I wanted to, but didn't.  I felt like it was too early to feel this way, but apparently not.  



Total weight gain/loss: 28 lbs - ugh.  Although that's right where I was with Luke too (are we noticing a trend here?  Think this means I'll have another 9+ lb baby?)
Maternity clothes: growing out of some of my favorites
Stretch marks: covered in them - not sure what are from this pregnancy and what are from Luke
Sleep: Not going well at all. 
Movement: Ethan moves all.the.time.  All over the place.  Most days his feet are up in my ribs.  This is an area that is different from Luke.  Jason used to sit there with his hand on my belly trying to feel Luke and it would take awhile.  Half of the time now you just have to look at my belly and you see Ethan moving.
Gender: Boy!!!
Belly Button in or out: Most definitely out.

 So some fun things in the last month or so!  First, my awesome coworkers threw a "baby celebration lunch" for me.  There were about 8 people there I think, but there were so many more that contributed to an amazing amount of gifts.  My friend Emily also made these adorable baby rattle cake pops.  (Back story - she's known for making cake pops, so for her baby shower at work I tried to make these exact ones.  They didn't work and ended up in the trash.  I told her about them though and we had a good laugh.  Then she made them for me!)

All of the amazing gifts - clothes, diapers, books, gift certificates for massage/manicure/pedicure ...

And they were thoughtful enough to include Luke!  He loved his new truck!

 We've also been doing work in the nursery.  It's still not done, but here is a sneak peak.  The walls are a tan color.  My mom made the curtains, blanket, and bedskirt from a duvet cover that we found at Target.  I love the fabric!

Jason's brother did an amazing job on the alphabet print.  I found one on Etsy that I didn't want to spend the money on and he was able to replicate it - love it!

I'm sure I'll post more pictures once it's all done, but for now - here you go!

We also had a 3D/4D ultrasound about 2 weeks ago.  I was nervous about how Luke would handle it, but he did great!  He was mostly concerned that "mommy, he's YELLOW!"  I'm not sure that he believed me that it was just the way the picture looked.

I'm convinced that Ethan is another big one from the pictures - look at those chunky cheeks!!

 So this week starts my 2x/week non-stress-tests.  They are precautionary because of being on the lovenox.  We didn't have to do them with Luke, but procedures have changed in the last 3 years.  It will be nice to hear his heartbeat that often and have the reassurance that things are going well.  I'm planning to stock up on some kindle books to keep me busy.  We've scheduled them all out - they'll be every Tuesday and Friday afternoon.  Luckily my appts are also on Tuesdays, so I won't have to be there a 3rd day those weeks.

This update is probably long enough now!  :)

Halloween Party!

 We went to the always fun toddler Halloween party last night.  Several of our little friends were sick and couldn't make it, but it was still a great time!

(From left to right:  Bumblebee Elliott, Coca-Cola Bear Morgan, Pirate Tyson, Race Car Driver Luke, Car Andrew, Red Riding Hood Quinn, and Clown Rachel.)

And because we always have to show at least one outtake - Quinn and Elliott decided they'd had enough at this point.

I made a spider web taco dip - I thought it ended up really cute!  Laura did an amazing job (like always) with her decorations/dessert table and I had to take a picture of that too.

 

After dinner and the group picture the kiddos got to decorate their own cookies.  Luke loved it and may or may not have dumped an entire bottle of sprinkles on his.  :)

And one more picture!  Gotta have one with the race car driver and the race car.  :)