Friday Fumble

So it really all happened on Thursday.

But that's beside the point.

After requesting Mommy Hold Me more times than I could count as I rushed around the kitchen baking cakes

I mean redoing cakes from Round 1.

and getting ready for her birthday party.

I picked Addie up.

She was too warm. Too clingy. Too everything.

Cheeks just a little too pink...

So I took her temperature: 101.4

36 hours before her 3rd Birthday Party.

36 hours before all four of Addie's grandparents would arrive, 3 of which from out of town: 2 from Augusta and 1 from Gulf Shores.

36 hours before so many of her sweet friends would arrive to help her celebrate with cake and candy and a treat filled pinata.

36 hours before what we've been working so hard for all week would arrive.

After a trip to the doctor, the fever was confirmed and an ear infection found...and a {contagious} virus couldn't be ruled out.

Antibiotic, Motrin, Fluids and Rest...again.

So we've eaten a few pretzel sticks.

And a few chocolate covered marshmallows.

I've frozen all four layers of the {Round 2 of made from scratch} cake.

Lollipop cookies will be for her school celebration next week.

Now to figure out what to do with all the hotdogs, buns, ...and fruit!

As I drove home from the doctor's office with two sleeping babies and an almost 3 year old watching a dvd in the backseat...

...I was reminded of our blessings. Our overall health. Our home. Our family. Our friends.

That we have a 3rd birthday to celebrate that we can postpone for an amazing little girl.

And immediately a quote from the book I'm reading popped into my mind:

There is a reason I'm not writing the story and God is. 

He knows how it all works out, where it all leads, what it all means. 

I don't! 

Ann Voskamp - One Thousand Gifts

So for whatever reason this happened, I don't know.

But He does. And His timing is perfect.

And for that, and so much more, I am thankful!

Wordless Wednesday: It's still Wednesday...Right?

Ok. Forget the wordless part.

Paul took today off because he'd already worked too many hours this week. Long story.

We had a zoo trip planned and Thanksgiving lunch at his office.

We did all that...but not without great difficulty.

I started developing mastitis again. It takes you down fast. And I mean fast. I called the doctor at 9:30 and by 12:30 when we went to pick up an antibiotic, I was in bad shape.

But I'm thankful.

Thankful that Paul was home today.

Thankful my mom could come help. 

Thankful for doctors and antibiotics.

Thankful that I can nurse our girls.

Thankful that I'm sitting here writing this. 

And I leave you with Audrey Kate doing what I will be doing oh so soon...

(playing on the quilt Gramma made, and she fell asleep)

(and my favorite, sleeping in Daddy's arms)

6 month post coming...

Where'd You Go...?

                                             

                                  Miserable

                                           pAinful

                                       nauSeous

                                         hoT

                                 exhaustIng

                                         anTibiotic

                                      healIng

                                         reSt

Thankful for a precious husband and mama to take care of me and the girls. Lots of house stuff going on this week. Praying for discernment and wisdom!

"May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you."

Psalm 33:22

Super Quick Update

What a few days...

I always try to find the balance between rushing to the doctor and not going at all.  A cold...wait it out. A fever...give it a day or so if it's low grade. It just all depends.

This time I decided that if the fever was still hanging on by Wednesday, we'd call and go in on Thursday. After Addie got up (and refused to go back to sleep without being held) at 3:30am and her fever returned Wednesday afternoon, I'd had enough. She'd had enough!

So we went to the doctor this morning.

Still running a low grade fever (100.9). Snotty nose. Coughing some. Watery eyes. Not eating much. Me still thinking it's just a cold or sinuses or at the most an ear infection...and she falls asleep in my lap while waiting for the doctor! Now that hasn't happened since she was itty bitty!

Diagnosis: double ear infection! According to the doctor, she could see a ring of infection (except she used another word) in her ear. 1.) poor baby. 2.) ewwwwww!

Prognosis: antibiotic and should be better for her birthday party on Saturday! Wait...I didn't mention that? Yeah...that'd be why this week's been even more challenging.


More posts with lots of pictures of a well almost 2 year old to come!

100 Weeks and Not So Wordless Wednesday

So apparently last week marked 100 weeks of Addie's life. I received an email from one of those what's your baby doing or should be doing around this time in their life stating that it was her 100th week.  Given that she'll be 2 in two and a half weeks, we hit 100 weeks at some point during the last month.

When pregnant, everything is measured in weeks. When babies are first born, at least the first few weeks are tallied. After that, weeks turn into months and months turn into years. But 100 weeks...wow!

Right now I'm trying to measure things in days, even hours and minutes. I cannot explain the eagerness I feel about meeting the little girls. I could simply burst with anticipation. When will they make their appearance? What will they look like? How big will they be? Which one will we name which? Will they be easy babies like Addie or will we be plagued with colic?

But I think my number one question is: How will Addie react? Her almost 2 year old self can tell me that she wants to hold the babies when they are born but that they haven't been born yet because they are still growing bigger in Mommy's tummy. Who knows what her almost 2 year old brain understands though! And that's where I start measuring things in hours, even minutes. Her days of being an only child are ticking away. As I held her today, hot with fever and coughing, all I could think of was how will I do this with three. Instead, I pushed that out of my mind and thanked God that I could hold Addie, without interruptions, and give her undivided attention right that minute.

Yup, you read it right; we're sick around here again. Not an ideal week for Addie to be sick. We're having a little birthday party for her this weekend. It's early (she won't be 2 until March 19th), but we have spring break and an ever growing pregnant Mommy to finagle around.

But as I thought back over the past 5 months, with the exception of Paul being sick right after my surgery; we made it until mid January without any of us being sick (ok, ok. i'm not counting the 6 weeks straight after my surgery when I threw up ). Granted, it's been 2 stomach bugs each for Paul and me, a sinus infection for me, pink eye for Addie, and now whatever this is for Addie...but we went over 3 months with nothing, during the peak of winter illnesses. I guess it just goes to show that God knows what we can handle and when we can handle it...and He's not going to give us more than we can handle. I guess we can handle being sick on and off for 6 weeks after not being sick for almost 15 weeks. So we praise Him for that!

And we continue to work to live in the present, while eagerly awaiting the future, yet all the while cherishing each moment we have!

So after a Not So Wordless Wednesday post, here's a picture I grabbed of her last week:

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

Ramblings

Starting on Friday...finished on Saturday.

I found a lump on Abbey's (the dog) side last night. After a biopsy, it's only a "fatty tumor", and we even made it out of the vet paying under $100. I love that dog. I hate going to the vet.

I finished Addie's dresser! It could probably use another coat, but it will do. The white looks so different in her room but so sweet! I can't wait to get the other pieces in there. But it made me sad to unload her nursery dresser and put her clothes in a big dresser. They looked so small and tiny. Now if i can just get that ebay seller to send me the drawer pulls I bought from her back in December...

I unpacked 95% of our 0-6 month little girl clothes today and put them in the dresser that's finally in their room. I don't remember them being so small. I remember the clothes like yesterday though. Has it already almost been 2 years? I found lots of coordinating onsies and sleepers that will be fun to put the girls in. I even folded them in twos. This is real.

I got my first "oh, you don't have long" comment this week. I bit my tongue and politely said, yes, I hoped that I did because I was only 22 weeks pregnant...with TWINS! I was already feeling like I looked like I did when I was 8 months pregnant with Addie. Maybe I do?


I had 3 pairs of maternity jeans (2 of which were borrowed). I can now wear one. I went through at least 5 shirts this week that I've now outgrown. Um....this might be a problem in a few weeks, or next week.


Addie had one of the worst meltdowns today that she's has since a few weeks after my surgery. She wanted her paci. We're trying to only let her have it in her bed for naps and sleeping at night. She went and stood by her bed, sobbing and saying, "bed. bed. bed." I picked her up and plopped her in and gave her a paci. She laid down whimpering. So I picked her up and held her. She was asleep within 5 minutes, only 2 hours before she normally takes a nap. I did it because I can't do it much longer. She had to lay next to me because I can't actually hold her on my shoulder any more. And so I rubbed her hair and kissed her head and thanked God for my little girl.


I can't sit up straight enough. My belly is huge. I feel rotten right now. It might have something to do with the 3 tacos I ate for lunch. I think they are all still sitting at the bottom of my esophogus. Maybe they've made it to my tummy...but I'm seriously doubting it for several reasons I won't go into.  Scratch that. I ended up with a serious stomach bug, that we're hoping is only 24 hours, on Friday night. Miserable. The first 12 hours was awful and now Paul has a milder version of it. Thank goodness my mom and I had today blocked off for shopping. She's kept Addie all day so Paul and I could sleep. I am thankful for phenegran (sp). I think I feel rotten to remind me of how good I've felt over the past 6 weeks and how awful I felt before that. I remember. I am thankful.

I love listening to Paul and Addie. They have the sweetest relationship. He's so patient with her. I truly thing he's the best daddy ever; I know I'm biased. But every so often I hear, "Mommy?" "Mommy?" and it melts my heart.

Now I'm going to go concentrate on keeping down the chicken and stars broth and graham crackers I just ate. Hope your weekend has started off significantly better than ours!

Unconditional Love

I did not take one picture during Thanksgiving. I think that was probably due to the fact that I was merely trying to survive.

However, my sweet father-in-law/Addie's Grandpa did get two fabulous pictures of our girl in a fabulous mood!

And here's Grandpa with his co-favorite granddaughters as he calls them: Kira and Addie. I cannot believe Addie used to have cheeks like Kira. I love them! Are they adorable or what?!?

We spent 5 hours in the car getting to Augusta on Wednesday after Paul's root canal only to drive another 5 hours back Friday morning instead of Saturday.

Addie f.r.e.a.k.e.d. o.u.t. Thursday night. Freaked out is about the only way to describe it. She literally lost it. She cried for at least 30 minutes with us trying to comfort her plus the 20 minutes she'd cried in the pack-n-play. (that doesn't touch the 45 minute freak out she had when she woke up this morning!).

Too much food that she refused to eat. Too many people. Too much stimulation. Too much new. Too much fun. Too much running around.

All too soon after her new normal had become her normal.

So we came home. (and she's slept beautifully since then! Almost 12 hours last night!)

And besides, I'd started throwing up for some reason. That brings me to my point of why this post is entitled unconditional love. You may recall, my husband had a root canal Wednesday morning. I drove as far as I could...Newnan. Didn't even make it to Atlanta. Too exhausted.

So Paul drove the rest of the way without complaining even once: unconditional love.

We spent Thursday at Addie's Gramma's/Paul's mom's house (before and after naps). Paul played with Addie. Loved on her. Chased her. Changed her at least 4 times. Was patient with her. Loved on her some more. Kept up with her bow. Calmed her down. Worried about her. And loved on her some more.

All without complaining once: unconditional love.

Friday morning I got sick. In addition to getting sick, we were both exhausted from staying up all night with Addie.

I got to take an hour plus nap before we left, and he had to drive home, all without complaining once: unconditional love.

We get home. He goes to get me dinner. I take one bite, and it's all over. Then he drives all the way to Publix to get me some good bread so I can have toast.

Again: unconditional love.

There is no way I'd have made it through this challenging time without Paul. I know God put him here to give me strength when I just don't have it! He's been the encourager and the motivator. He's found me food to eat when no one else could. He's reminded me that I AM in fact pregnant with twins and had major surgery, thus explaining much of these symptoms of pure exhaustion and nausea. He is the most wonderful husband ever!

As my mom said, we've worn out the for better or for worse, in sickness and in health over the past six weeks.

But I haven't heard my sweet husband complain about caring for me or Addie even once.

Now that's unconditional love!

H1N1

Given our most recent blog posts, this one probably seems somewhat out of the ordinary. I can assure you that it's not. This is something that has been on my mind for months now. What to do? Do I take the vaccine as a pregnant women? Do we chose to give it to Addie? What are the risks of the illness vs the risks of the vaccine?

I'm not anti-vaccinations. I know the staggering statistics of how easily these deadly diseases will reappear if too many refuse to vaccinate their children. I'm not a vaccination delayer either. Addie's my first though, and watching the huge number of vaccines that they give to our children at one time, I may opt for an additional visit or two to the pediatrician in order to spread some of these out with our next two kiddos. But I'm not here to start a vaccination debate...

I can tell you that I 1.) am no medical professional, 2.) don't have an answer, and 3.) am not here to tell you what to do or not do!

But we've talked to several medical professionals about the H1N1 vaccine specifically: my fertility doctor, twice; my regular OB; and Addie's pediatrician.

One thing we know for sure is that we will not be taking for ourselves or giving Addie the nasal version of this vaccine, F1uMist, even though it does not contain thimerosal/mercury. The reason being: it's a live virus. All single dose versions of the vaccine, which are apparently the ones given to children, are thimerosal/mercury free. I just wish I could find one for myself!

Another thing we know: I don't have much of a choice as to whether I take it or not. I'm pregnant. Now I'm pregnant with twins. And on top of that, I'm pregnant after emergency surgery. So to some extent, my immune system has been challenged.

I've read a lot of articles on this. Some of them were just pointless and told me nothing concrete. But I finally linked to one from a blog written by a fellow mother, Safe Mama, that seems to make the most sense. It's from the New York Times and you can find it here. It is very matter of fact vs. using scare tactics. The thing I found the most interesting was the comparison it made to children dying from the seasonal flu (last year) to the current numbers of children who have died from the H1N1 flu.

We all hear about washing our hands and keeping them away from our eyes and mouth. My mother-in-law sent us a great email about preventative measures. I've found the link to the article here. It not only had those duh things in it but some good points that I sure hadn't thought about as well.

We haven't decided whether to give this one to Addie or not. But I've pretty much been told, I'll have it. I am waiting until the end of my first trimester, which is soon!

Again, I'm not here to preach or tell you what to do or not to do. I would LOVE to know what you have decided to do about the seasonal flu vaccine and/or the H1N1 vaccine for yourself or your children...and even what brought you to that decision!!!

Hope you have a great week! Ours has certainly started off better than last week! :)

Sleeping on the Couch

Addie's getting over some sort of virus combined with a few emerging eye teeth and 2 year molars.

She hasn't drooled like this since she was 6 months old.

She hasn't gotten up this early since she was 4 months old.

She hasn't slept like this since she was 2 months old.

She hasn't woken up this many times in one night since she was days old!

And she sure hasn't ever been this picky of an eater!

I think the three and a half hour nap she took today, part of which was on the couch, has to have remedied many of her ailments!

I hope...

Way Behind...

These were some additional pictures that I took one weekend when Addie was sick. This was before they found the ear infections! You can actually see her pulling at her ear there. I thought they were sweet though so I figured I'd go ahead and post them now. Better late than never!

I love seeing Addie with my mom. She adores her Rie Rie, and she's one of the few people that she'll let hold her besides her Mommy and Daddy when she's sick. (Her Rie Rie is one of the few people that her Mommy will let hold her when she's sick too!) (I should probably clarify that. Too many "hers" in that sentence. Addie's Rie Rie is one of the few people that Addie's Mommy will let hold Addie when Addie's sick too!)

sitting with her Rie Rie watching Praise Baby just resting...

This is my childhood cat, Oreo. She's over 14 years old now and decided to take up residency on Addie's fuzzy blanket that was left on the kitchen counter. Yes, we washed it before we let Addie use it again! :)

Stand, Sit, Crawl

...and play! That's what we pretty much do all day! Although these pictures are a few weeks old, I still wanted to post them. Kat and John came over after Christmas, and Kat took some pictures while Addie and I played.

goldfish...yummy! More!


it's amazing how quickly she can go from this...


...to this! she bomped her head on the book :(
So sad!


even after I scooped her up, got her lovie and paci, and snuggled for a few...she still had some mighty sad tears!


in her "baby jail" (as Daddy calls it)


Addie loves to hold her paci like this! I think she's getting some teeth and it feels good on her gums.

On a more recent note...she's still coughing a lot and now she's actually pulling at her ears pretty frequently. We're doing Motrin and antibiotic, and I'm really hoping she'll be feeling better tomorrow!

This Explains Much...

I went ahead and took Addie to the doctor today. She coughed much of last night. Although she hasn't been acting sick most of the time; at other times, she is clearly miserable. We decided that since it was Friday, we couldn't risk waiting until Monday if she got worse. Well...she has a double ear infection! Ouch! No wonder she was waking up 3 and 4 times a night. So she's on an antibiotic, and we're hoping by tomorrow that she'll be feeling significantly better!

r.o.t.t.e.n.

feeling that is...

Like I said in my post yesterday, Addie has a terrible cold. She's doing a lot of sleeping...when she's not restlessly tossing and turning. She's just all around pitiful because she just feels rotten.

As Paul was trying to change her for bed tonight, she had a major meltdown. Before you think I'm a terrible parent, I snapped these in 2 seconds flat and then scooped her up...promise. You can see her doing the sign for "more" in the first picture. In this instance..."more" meant pick me up now! More hold you now. She tends to get herself worked up more when she's sick. She settled down once we picked her up...but oh my. These made me so sad that I could hardly process them!

We just hope tomorrow is better. She'll have to miss Mother's Morning Out, but maybe one more day of lots of rest and tlc will help her feel better.

I promise to post a much happier Wordless Wednesday soon!