Date day with the Boys

On Friday the 19th Kai had a day off of school.  So, I decided to take the day and do all of the boys' favorites things with them as I am not sure when that chance is going to come again.  It was a fun and very full day.  But we managed to do just about everything they love!

We started with a trip to the dollar store where I allowed them each to pick out ten things that they wanted to see in our prize basket.  Our reward charts have been working some small miracles over here and I was more than happy to ask for their input as to the things that they would like to earn.  They enjoyed sorting through the toys and filled their baskets quickly.

Next we headed over to the mall where I did a little shopping for baby sister before we headed to the pet store.  The boys love looking at the animals there and this time was no exception.  Some puppies were even awake and bouncing around quite a bit which is their favorite part.  The last couple of times we had gone we had hit nap time, so it was fun that not everyone was sleeping!

Both boys have their fingers in the cracks of the windows so the puppies can come sniff them

Kai said this puppy was his favorite.  Go figure!

After the pet store we took a ride on the "Monkey Train".  The boys love riding around the mall in the train and listening to the kid-friendly music while we do so.  (Think Choo-Choo Soul, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, etc.)  And Finn loves waving to the people we pass!

After our trip on the Monkey Train we headed to Build-A-Bear where we used a gift card that we had gotten from a friend for Finn's birthday.  Kai helped Finn to pick out and build his creation.  We had never done that before and I was surprised by how economical it could be.  We didn't even use the entire value of the gift card!  Finn built a cute puppy that he calls "Teddy" and Kai calls "Fuzzy".

All Aboard!

This is Finn's version of smiling for the camera these days.

After Build-a-Bear we decided it was time to grab lunch.  With all of the options in the food court Kai chose Subway.  So, we got a sandwhich to share as well as some chips and I splurged on cookies for the boys.  It was a good lunch and everyone ate at least something.

Finally from there we got back in the car and headed back to Monument where we made a stop at the library.  We started by feeding the ducks (one of Finn's favorite things) and then we went in and looked for books.  After a bit of time examining our options, we came home with quite a large stack.  And we were all so tired that we sat down to read them.

The ducks see the kids coming and come out to the parking lot to meet them.

Finn is a tad greedy when it comes to handing out the food.

Kai just dumped all of his food in one spot.

Fun inside the library

What Finn does while I pick out books for him

It was a really fun day!  I would love to do it again sometime and I'm glad I got the chance to have so much fun with my boys!

Pregnancy Notes

I'm stuck somewhere between reality and denial that this pregnancy is so close to the end.  It's definitely been an interesting ride and I'm sure that part's not over, not by a long shot.

This pregnancy has felt so much more personal and for that reason I haven't been as inclined to talk about it.  Of course, it's also my 3rd and so maybe just naturally 3rd pregnancies don't get that much attention.  It's probably a bit of both.  But for us, this pregnancy has definitely been different than our first two.

In terms of the easy to measure ways, the nausea has been different this time around.  With the boys I remember being sick in the evenings, but this time around there were days where I was just sick all.day.long.  And instead of ending a few weeks after the first trimester, I have continued to experience that throughout the entire pregnancy.  Thankfully most of it was confined to the first trimester but even now I still have the occasional nausea episodes....and that's no fun.

I have also gained more weight with this pregnancy than I have with any other pregnancy before.  And I feel HUGE!  This little girl looks like she's working on being my biggest baby yet.  At my 36/37 week ultrasound she weighed 6 pounds 10 oz (of course, they could be off by up to a pound and a half, and so I'm hoping they are overestimating).  If she stays put until her due date that could put her at an 8 pound baby!  Compared to my boys, that's a big baby!

This time around I have also dealt with more skin issues.  Never fun to be itchy and scratchy.  I think it probably has something to do with the winter weather and the pregnancy combined, but it's been hard to stay on top of it.  I find myself putting on lotion multiple times a day.  I'm so glad we just got a humidifier!  Not only should it be helping my skin, but it should also help the stuffy nose.  I know it's a common side effect of pregnancy, but I've never experienced it until now.  I can't wait to wake up and not have a stuffed up nose!  It'll be nice to be able to breath!

Those are all of the physical differences (as if you really cared!  That's more for me.)  But there's also the emotional difference.  It's a weird feeling to not be so "innocent" anymore.  I can't imagine how women felt 200 years ago when a pregnancy often resulted in death of either the mother or the baby.  But I now know the feeling of uncertainty during a pregnancy.  And while I feel confident that baby girl is completely healthy, there's no guarantee at all in that respect.  

Another CF mom, whose family is nearly identical to ours, expresses it so much more clearly in her blog.  In one of her posts she talks about "a baby at 23 weeks, that I am struggling to fully embrace for fears I will lose her too."  What a great way to put it!  It's fear that things won't be perfect and ideal to talk about and so I often avoid talking about it.  (To read her full post, go here.)

Anyway, no matter how you look at it, in two weeks or less this pregnancy will be over and we'll start a new adventure.  For those who would like to know what will happen once she arrives, I thought I'd share with you what we have set-up with our doctors. 

As soon as we're up for it after the arrival of baby girl we have been asked to contact our doctor at Colorado Children's.  She will then contact the state lab that processes newborn screens and ask them to expedite our screen.  The state of Colorado requires two newborn screens and two positive results before sending samples off for DNA testing.  Because of our family history, if baby girl's first screen comes back as a possible positive (indicating high IRT levels) they will proceed straight to DNA testing without waiting for the second test.  Because Finn has one copy of the most common CF mutation and one rare mutation, they will be looking for that common mutation.  The state lab does not test for the more rare mutation, so we will not get a definitive answer from this, but we will know if she carries that common mutation.  If she does carry the one common mutation and has the high IRT levels on her newborn screen, then we will proceed to Children's for a sweat test.  If the sweat test were to come back positive, her blood work would be sent out for a full genetic test to confirm the presence of the second mutation.  Our doctor believes it will take about two weeks for the state lab testing before we find out if we need a sweat test.  My guess is that we will probably end up with a sweat test, as both of our boys have had high IRT levels on their first newborn screen and then there's a 50% chance that she has inherited the most common CF mutation.  So, we'll see what happens.

(To see a better explanation of IRT and the process when Finn was diagnosed, see this post here.)

Well, that's about it for the rambling.  I was hoping to include some cute pictures from our ultrasound last week, but the pictures the tech gave me are AWFUL!  Maybe baby girl is just too big to get a good picture of......?  I don't know, but I'll show you what I mean by awful.  

Behold!  The World's worst ultrasound picture.  I wish I could claim that it was all because our scanner was down and so it's just a bad camera shot.  It is a bad camera shot, but really no camera could make this better.  The tech claims there's a forehead, nose, etc. in this picture.

Exhibit B--I'm glad she only gave me two of these because I have no idea if I'm supposed to save them or what??

Filling in the holes

I can't believe how quickly the last couple of weeks have gone by.  It seemed that the first three months of this year were looooong and somewhat stressful and difficult.  The last few weeks have been so different.  Really, they've been nice.

While Playing at the park Finn made these cute handprints in the snow.

Kai doing some reading homework.  He reads to me and Finn quite often.  See his alien finger?  His teacher sends it home with every book so he can have a finger to point to the words.  (He doesn't need it, but I'm sure there are many kids that do.)

Finn discovered the climbing rocks at the park.  And unlike another child of mine, he can scale it all by himself in no time at all.

Did I mention there are two climbing rocks?  This one is even bigger and still not a problem for him.

A somewhat common napping position for him these days

For Easter this year, we had our egg hunt and morning fun.  I was glad that church is now at 1pm so we had time to really enjoy the morning.  The night before Easter, Kai complained at the dinner table that the Easter Bunny made the eggs too easy to find.  Apparently, the Bunny heard him because this year the eggs were not easy at all.  It made the egg hunt last longer and was a lot of fun.  When all was said and done we were still missing one egg and it remained the "Mystery of the Missing Egg" for several days after that--until I happened to stumble across it later in the week.  Kai actually got a kick out of it and it was fun to have a mid-week reminder of Easter.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any Easter pictures.  I have a lot of video footage of the egg hunt, but neglected to take pictures.  Finn did steal my camera after the egg hunt and snap a couple of pictures for me, so that will have to do.  That morning Finn had woken up with a runny nose and started in on a cold.  So, he stayed home from church with Reid while Kai and I attended church by ourselves.  I love Easter Sunday because the music can't be beat and this time was no exception.  I currently serve with the Young Women of our ward and they did a beautiful musical number.  And the ward choir sang one of my favorites--Consider the Lillies of the Field.  Great Sunday!

The Easter Bunny brought the boys some Angry Birds in their baskets.  This one is Kai's.  Finn took this picture.

Finn's Easter self-portrait

Since Finn was sick that first week in April (and off of his Periactin) his sleep schedule was still a bit messed up and unpredictable.  But it was better than the previous week.  He restarted his Periactin the following Sunday (General Conference Sunday) and we have had virtually no sleep issues since--hallelujah!  Finn also ended up starting antibiotics on the Monday following Conference as his cold had progressed to a junky cough.  This, too, turned out to be a good thing as it seems his cough has responded and he is doing much, much better.  However, Kai came down with this cold just 3 days after Finn and he is still fighting it.  What I find interesting, though, is that for one of the first times that I can remember, he has had a green runny nose for two straight weeks but has not developed a cough and has not had a vomiting episode associated with it either.  I'm not sure if it's coincidence or if it has something to do with the reflux meds we started him on last month, but either way....I'll take it.

Last week Finn had a follow-up visit to the GI doctor.  His original appointment on Tuesday was changed to Wednesday because of a blizzard warning.  I was very grateful to the doctor for doing that for us and I was happy with his appointment on Wednesday.  What I found interesting was that she said that kids who are prone to reflux (as she believes Finn is) are also prone to having episodes when constipated.  The exertion and pressure associated with constipation can lead one to throw up apparently.  Finn is definitely prone to constipation.  I asked her if she thought any of his medications would be contributing factors to that and she studied his list and did not think that was an issue.  She also understood my concerns about all of his medications and agreed to help us come up with a plan to get him off some of them.  Unfortunately, the plan is all about diet changes and I have no idea how we can even think about getting him to take several tablespoons of flax seed every day.  If any of you have suggestions.......   Other than that, he doesn't have to go back for another follow-up with her until the end of the summer at which point, if he has had a good summer, she would like to take him off of his delayed emptying medication for a short time and have him retested to see what we find.  I like that idea a lot, so we'll see what happens.  I did ask her to review the test results with us, as we have never done that with her (her nurse just called us after the test and told us he was delayed and they were starting meds).  So, she pulled out test results and let me know that he was at 33% digested in an hour (he should have been at 50%) and then 50% at two hours (and should have been at 75%).  In her opinion, this put his delayed emptying at the severe end of moderate delay.  That surprised me that she would consider it that way.  And I'm glad I asked and got her opinion.  It somehow makes dealing with his issues easier.  For some reason, the more I understand about it, the easier it seems to adjust, anticipate, and be ok with his random episodes.  I guess it just helps to know that it's not his fault and it's not always mine either.  The poor kid is dealing with something difficult, and for being as "severe" as it is, I'm happy that we don't have more problems.  It seems the occassional episode is inevitable and instead of beating myself up over it, I need to just learn and move on.  There will be plenty more episodes in the future, I'm sure.

Finally at the end of last week we had an air conditioner installed.  Yippeee!  We also had a new furnace and humidifier put in at the same time.  I'm looking forward to not roasting in our house this summer and actually being ok to cook and run laundry without raising the temperature another 5 degrees!

While all of this has been going on, I've slowly been checking items off of my baby to-do list.  I have written thank you notes for gifts, bought last minute needed things like a baby book, socks, and diapers, and I have even cleaned out the refrigerator.  I've run my first load of pink clothing, cleaned out the diaper bag, and packed bags for both me and the baby for the hospital.  I find myself cleaning the house nearly every day hoping that I'll go into labor at just the right time when the house is clean and that somehow, magically, it'll stay clean for the day or two that I'm gone and the 3 boys are home alone!  Maybe I should just give up on that notion all together!!

The start of the girl clothes in the closet.  It's grown a little bit since this picture and it's so fun to open the closet and see these cute clothes!

Bows for baby girl

I can't believe we're in the final countdown.

My kids are so independent.  Sometimes I feel guilty that they don't need me to play, but I'll admit, most of the time it's wonderful.  This is what Finn was doing to entertain himself the other afternoon.  He cleared out all of the "scoops" from my kitchen drawer and was trying to pick up his toys with them.

We went to Gymboree to spend our GymBucks and Finn kept putting on the girl hats.  So, I helped him find a hat just for him.  It's cute, don't you think?!

Kai's birthday present from Grandma arrived early.  It took quite a bit of time to blow up, so I had the boys do treatments while they waited.

Dad's almost done blowing it up and they are so excited!

Kai got the first ride.

And then he shared with his brother because that's just more fun.

I think I need to take some more pictures of Kai!

The Evolution of Nesting

Almost as soon as we learned we were expecting our first baby (Kai), we began the shopping.  Well, it's most accurate to say that I began shopping.  Before the end of the first trimester I had already purchased a crib and changing table/dresser.  It was so fun to plan the nursery and begin that "nesting" that I had heard so much about.  When picking out the furniture and decorating for Kai's arrival, we made our decisions with the thought that we would have multiple children and we wanted to make sure everything would last.  Between my "nesting" and the 3 baby showers I had, I think I acquired just about every baby "essential" there is.  And then Kai arrived and we purchased even more.  I was sure there was no way we would ever need any other baby item again!

So, when we learned we were expecting Finn, there just wasn't as much to do.  We had everything baby already, or so I thought.  The problem was that Kai was still using it all.  So, in preparation for Finn we spent time getting Kai's big boy room ready.  Once again, we invested for the future and bought bunk beds and other such items that could be shared.  It turned out that getting ready for baby #2 became more expensive than baby #1!  But I reasoned that that would be end of that, as we now had everything we needed for big boys and babies.

So, here comes baby #3.  People keep asking what I need.  And the answer is really, nothing.  At least, nothing for the baby.  I had a baby shower the other week and got lots of cute girl clothes and some girly blankets, which was perfect.  Since this one is a girl, that's really what I needed for her.  And for the boys, we already have the bunk beds and dressers, etc.  So, we don't need anything for them either.  I was right after baby #2 that we really do have everything we need for the kids.  My list of getting ready for baby is quite short this time.  But there is one thing that we discovered that we need--a new car.  Three car seats do not fit in my Outback.  And so we began the hunt for a minivan.  This was a stressful and difficult decision for us.  We went through every option and spent hours analyzing the options, talking to people, and test driving. We finally made a decision and this past weekend we brought home this beautiful new minivan, a 2013 Honda Odyssey.  The boys LOVE the car and I'm getting used to driving it around.  I'll admit, parking still freaks me out.  I hope I get used to it soon!  As part of the purchase, we traded in Reid's 2003 Honda Accord.  We had fun reminiscing on the way to the dealer all of our moments in that car--our first date, leaving the temple as newlyweds, bringing Kai home from the hospital, and more.

I'm still in shock that getting ready for baby #3 cost more than the other 2 combined!!