another week to wait.

just stopping by to let you all in on how our appointment went today. the answer is eventful and full of emotion. at each appointment from here on out i undergo a non stress test and ultrasound. the nst is boring and i'm not sure why they feel the need to perform it each and every week, but nonetheless it happens.

 today's ultrasound showed more swelling than last week. long, emotional story short we had initially scheduled a c-section for thursday, january third.  but due to the other doctors opinion it was canceled because our girl's heart is strong. today i was given shot one (of two) of steroid "mature baby's lungs." I will receive the second dose tomorrow evening.  the reasoning is should she be arriving in the 34th week, or anytime before 37 weeks they wont have to worry about her lungs being underdeveloped. i was told there are no side effects to either of us from this steroid....except the large amount of pain i have in my butt.  because why not use that part of the body for this injection.  

ahem.

so, here we are again. waiting another week (which i'm beyond thankful to have another week to figure out the logistics of everything).  we don't know what we'll see next friday, but jeff and i have a feeling our girl will be with us the first week in january.  the doctors don't know what's causing the swelling or why it's concentrated in the lower half of her body, but they are worried about hydrops which is the reasoning for the steroid injection. you know. just in case. 

i am looking forward to a quiet weekend with my under the weather boys.  i have never craved them like i do now. hoping your weekend is lovely too!

*again, sorry for the lack of photos. still haven't taken the time to figure that out. and my header photo is a little outdated as well...things to do!*

just popping in

whoa. hey life, can you calm down just a little? between doctor appointments, finishing up christmas shopping {and wrapping!}, and day to day tasks with a two and four year old, my days have merged with the next and time is slipping out of my grasp. and then add pregnancy brain on top of that. it's fun over here. speaking of christmas, tomorrow is christmas eve already! what?! i cannot wait to wake up on christmas morning with my littles and watch them unwrap their gifts, and have a christmas breakfast {still need to figure that out}, beginning holiday traditions with the boys, and spend the day with extended family. this year, thanks to pinterest, i'm starting a christmas eve surprise box tradition.   i've filled a box, wrapped of course, with new jammies for each boy, a board game, a new christmas book, and other odds and ends.  how fun it will be to come home from church tomorrow night and have this big box for them to open. and what's more fun than opening a box filled with goodies to unwrap!?  unwrapping is the best part.  i plan on wrapping all their stocking stuffers as well because it's just that fun.  eeep! so excited!

next order of business...

we have figured out a way to keep viggo from tearing off his diaper during nap and bedtime. packaging tape.  it's become routine in my home at nap and bed time to secure viggo's diaper with clear packaging tape. wrapped all the way around him. viggo actually thinks it's awesome. he loves having it done and cooperates so well, usually smiling and watching us as we do it.  he loves tape, so i can only imagine his excitement to be able to wear the stuff all night long.  and mama does just a little less laundry. win-win.

roman has adjusted to being four quite well.  now that he's four he is just more capable...i guess. so he says.  everything he can do now is because he's four. whether it's getting himself dressed, eating a certain number of bites of food at meals, jumping off the couch. you know. four year old things.  it's pretty fun so far.

and in sister news, whom i now like to call our little snow bunny, a few developments have emerged. first of all, the name we chose for her has been claimed by another family we know {we did not tell our name to said family, so they have no idea}, and now we are looking for another name.  it's difficult to unattach yourself to a name you've been calling your child for the last several months, but this family also has a son named something close to roman, and i just can't have it.  it would just be too weird for me. we're pretty sure we've landed another first name, but now to string it to a middle name.

we also had a doctor appointment this past friday. in the two and a half weeks from our last appointment, sister went from two pounds three ounces to three pounds eight ounces {i'm glad all that extra eating i've been doing has been worth it!} but has also developed some swelling in the lower half of her body. legs, hips, & feet.  we don't know what's causing it but it's something that needs to be watched closely. i will start weekly appointments from here until the end of the pregnancy which, we learned, could be sooner than later.  if friday's appointment shows more swelling, due to the risk of hydrops occurring,  i will be given a round of steroid shots {two total in 24 hours} to mature her lungs enough for survival outside. usually delivery happens a few days after the steroid is given, which means sister could be coming shortly after new years. so... there's that. there is now a heightened sense of 'oh crap we've got to get things FIG-URED OUT!'  of course, there is also the chance that the swelling could stay the same or go down, and in either case would not merit immanent arrival of baby. which would be great. but whatever God wants to do is fine with me. i just hope he helps figure out the logistics of me being in dsm with snow bunny and jeff and the boys being at home, with jeff going to work at four in the morning.  i believe we will need a live-in for a while.  but we can't really plan anything until we know more on friday.  so we wait...some more.  and while we wait we will enjoy celebrating the birth of our savior. thank goodness for hope.

i sure hope your have the merriest christmas!

xo

stream of consciousness

my mind is a mess of thoughts. there are so many things i want to share with you all, however, i am unable to string it all together in a way that would make sense. so my remedy for that will be to give you bits and pieces of everything that's been going on with us lately. 

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i can't post photos on this here blog anymore without, apparently, buying more storage space. and due to my lack of knowledge in the realm of everything that has to do with blogging, i don't know if it's something that can be fixed without actually purchasing more or what. and also, my computer is a piece of crap...that i rarely have anymore since jeff needs to use it for work now. if anyone's wondering, he and i would both love a mac. just throwing that out there. 

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this is going to be so boring without photos. 

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roman turned four. four! i'm not sad about it. three was a very trying year for both he and i, and i couldn't be happier it's over. sounds awful, but let's just say we both learned a little more about pushing boundaries with each other. 

i'm so excited for his fourth year of life. he is one hilarious kid who loves star wars and acting out the scenes with his brother. he has a tender heart and still asks to snuggle with me quite often. i don't hate it.  i can see how he is figuring out this coming-into-your-own thing.  and one thing is for sure. you get him around his friends and all of a sudden he comes alive in a completely different way than at home with me. it's so awesome. 

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i've been wanting to learn something new for a while now. to challenge my brain in a way that's not related to supper plans. i need to learn how to use my camera and i'd love to learn photoshop and illustrator. anyone willing to teach me?

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viggo is a little nudist. he undresses himself two to three times a day- typically at nap and bed time. every night before i turn in it's become routine for me to check on him and make sure he's not sans clothes. during the day is when he likes to remove his diaper from time to time as well. 

i love his age. two has to be my favorite age. still baby enough yet old enough. just the right balance. and the talking. for goodness sakes how i melt whenever he talks. everything he says is so delicious and i could just listen to him all day long. 

*****

we are 30 weeks into the pregnancy with Sister. 30 weeks already. this is fantastic news. it's no secret i am not an i-love-being-pregnant kind of gal. in fact, and it's taken me a while to accept this but, it is one of my least favorite things.  and to know that we are two short months away from being done forever? well, i would do a cartwheel if i could. that's not to say i am not incredibly thankful for the ability to get pregnant easily and enjoy the blessings of my children. but it is literally my least favorite thing. i don't want it to be, but it is. 

now with all that said, we had an ultrasound yesterday and yay for good news!

here's the run down: she weighs two pounds and three ounces. hello small one. our dr. guesstimated her birth weight to be in the five pound range. roman was six pounds fifteen ounces and i felt like he was the smallest ever, so, five pounds will be weird. i literally went into my kitchen and found our five pound sack of flour and held it for a minute or two.  we also learned that one of her kidneys is larger than the other. we don't know why or if it will correct itself, but they'll monitor it and if it ends up not working at all, as long as her other one works fine (which it appears to be doing) there's no need to worry too much about it. people live with one kidney all the time.  our dr. didn't mention any concern about her heart this time and the hygroma is tiny. you actually have to search for it now. and the fluid around her skull is gone. can i get a woot woot!? this is great news. she is our little miracle. 

as far as delivery goes, obviously the longer she can bake the better, however if there are no complications between now and her due date we're most likely looking at 38 or 39 weeks for her arrival. that would put her making her appearance the first week of february. i have two months left, at best. enter time to get my butt in gear. there are freezer meals to be made, clothes, shoes and accessories to buy, a nursery to prepare. nesting hasn't kicked in yet, so i apparently feel as though i have ample time to accomplish such enormous tasks. 

we are so excited to meet her. from her ultrasound photos she is the cutest little thing ever. she is a feisty thing with the crazy amounts of triple sow cowing she does.

in conclusion, there are three things that make me very, very, very happy. one: ice. i'm not exaggerating when i say i buy 15 pounds of artic blast ice from swift stop every two weeks or less. jeff told me this morning my ice chewing is out of control. i think it's just fine. two: orange juice. i probably consume a gallon of simply orange orange juice in less than eight days. and three: the smell of my basement....and e-free church. kid. you. not. i know, i know. weird and probably to some of you, gross. but if a trip to the basement is all i need to have a happy attitude then i have never been more eager to do laundry in my life. 

i hope you were able to follow along at least a little bit. I apologize if it jumbled and you lost interest. it would have been better with photos...