Our Daughters Have Wings

November already?? Updates, and lots of photos, including Halloween!!

Needless to say, I can hardly believe that it's November!  

Halloween Recap:

On October 24th, LAPOM held their annual Halloween party at Northfork Farms in Webberville.  Despite the blustery weather, and the rain that wouldn't let up, we had a good time!  We didn't put Christopher in his costume, b/c I ended up putting him in the Ergo the whole time we were there.  He LOVES being carried like that!

They had a petting zoo with teeny tiny piglets, bunnies (that Nicholas loved to pet), and other animals like cats (my allergies were in check), goats, and donkeys.  Nicholas even got to ride a pony named Brownie.  It was his first pony ride and he LOVED it!  He giggled the entire time!  In the picture, he's asking to go around again!  

On Halloween day, we carved our pumpkins.  We stripped him of his shirt in case he wanted to stick his hands into the 'guts' of the pumpkins, but of course, he didn't want to do that.  He wanted to use the spoon!  He kept saying, "Daddy's cleaning pumpkins".  It was so cute!

 

Then, we baked pizza for dinner, and took them trick-or-treating to a few houses.  In case you don't remember, Christopher was the banana to Nicholas' monkey!

  

These two pictures are kind of grainy - that's the 'noise' I got b/c I was shooting at such a high ISO setting...it was getting dark, fast!

 
 

Nicholas was carrying TWO pumpkin buckets - and I had to yell out from where I was standing with Christopher, "one is for his brother!"  We all know that Christopher's bucket was really for me and Nick, right? ;-)

Nicholas can't have most of his treats, so it's good that we didn't go to too many houses, since Nick and I really don't need any extra candy!Here are our Jack-o'-Lanterns.  Nicholas' first, then Christopher's.

 

What's been going on here since my last post?

Well, let's see.  Nicholas likes to sing, a lot!  He knows "The Ants Go Marching...", "Old MacDonald", "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", "ABCs", "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe", "When You're Happy and You Know It", "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" (we're working on the hand signs to go with it), and of course, I'm working on the MSU Fight Song with him!  In true Spartan fashion, he loves to say, "Fight, Fight, Go Team Fight!"

Lately, he's taken to ordering me around.  Specifically, instructing me whom to call on the phone, so he can talk to them.  We've called Grandma & Grandpa D, Nana, Aunt Monica, Auntie Rita, Miss Christie, Auntie Kati, and Heidi specifically.  If we don't get them live, then he likes to leave them messages in his little sing-song voice.

Christopher's been a busy boy too!  Just this week, he's gotten into a sitting position by himself (for the first time) and he's rolling and crawling all OVER the place!

We also figured out that he doesn't like to be fed...he likes to feed HIMSELF.  Yes, at only 7 months, the boy can maneuver a spoon into his mouth!  TOTALLY opposite of Nicholas!  Nicholas LOVED to be fed, even until recently!

Daylight Savings was a lot of fun - the boys got up VERY early the first few days and on top of that, they had a bit of a cold, so that wasn't too much fun.  We're doing better, though.That's all for now...I'll try to update more frequently this month!

Nicholas' 2nd Birthday

I can't believe it.

My beautiful baby boy is not a baby anymore.  He's officially two years old.

Yesterday, I called my best friend, his "Auntie" Rita and left her a message.  I was thinking to myself that 2 years ago, I was in labor with Nicholas and she was flying back from a trip to visit her family in the Seattle area.

Time certainly has flown by these last two years.

It's been AMAZING to watch him grow.  Sometimes, when he does the things he does, I can hardly believe he's my child.  And then he has a temper tantrum, and I KNOW he's my child! ;o)

He's talking SO much these days.  If you say a word once in front of him, he'll repeat it at some point.  He even uses his manners.  Most days, he'll say "Thank You!" in his sing-song voice, when you give him his breakfast, or a toy he'd like to play with.  We're still working on "No Thank You" instead of just "No..." and I'm sure one of these mornings he'll surprise me with that.

If I had to count up ALL of the words he says, I'm sure it'd be close to 100 or more.

He can count up to 20.  Now that he can do that, it's time to teach him how to count in Italian!  He also has taken to counting backwards lately...from 10 down.  Must be from watching "Special Agent OSO" on Playhouse Disney.

He's FASCINATED with shoes with laces.  Again, probably from Special Agent OSO.  The GREAT thing about his OSO addiction is that I can *usually* get him to do something by singing the "Three Special Steps" song.  USUALLY.

What else is new with him?  We got him a Medic Alert bracelet.  You can see it in some of the photos that I've posted.  We go to the pediatrician on Friday and then return to the allergist later this month.

Today was a WONDERFUL day.

It started off with Nicholas greeting me with a HUGE smile and a "Hi!"  Still no "Hi Mommy"...I don't know if I've shared this but he's stopped calling me Mommy.  He knows that I'm Mommy - he just refuses to call me that.  Sometimes he calls me "Dee" and we *think* it's from Christina but we're not 100% sure.

We had breakfast, and then my sister stopped by and surprised him with birthday balloons (which he LOVES) and some presents.

We then opened a present from his birthday buddy - it's his friend Colton and MY friend Lori that live in Maryland, almost in Delaware.  He LOVED his gift!

Tonight, we went to dinner at Red Robin. They have a GREAT allergy menu that tells you what foods you can safely have, depending on your allergy, so we like it there.  It can be a bit loud at times, but when you've got a defiant toddler, that's not always so bad!

We followed up dinner with a trip to St. Patrick's Church, to say hello to our Mosaic Grief Group friends.  They had a meeting tonight and we couldn't stay, so we stopped by and they were able to say hello to the birthday boy.

Tomorrow, we're hosting a Birthday Playgroup with some of my friends and their children (also Nicholas' buddies) and on Sunday we'll celebrate with our families.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow!  It's a bit late and I need to get to bed!

Update continued...pictures too!

Phew - my 'short' update ended up being longer than I had planned, but that's what you get when you haven't posted anything this month.

Father's Day was a good one, I think, for Nick.  He got to watch a little of the golf before they went back on the rain delay, and he liked the gifts I got for him (some t-shirts on clearance at DC Sports in Novi, a pair of shorts on clearance from Old Navy, and a ceramic picture frame that I painted at The Ceramic Studio, etc. in Howell).

We didn't get a chance to visit the girls' grave yesterday b/c we took the boys to get pictures done, and had to get home so Nick could put the ribs in his smoker.  YUMMY!

My dad came over yesterday, too, since he loves ribs and we were able to get some good shots of Grandpa and the boys as well!

Now for some long over due pictures! 






More can be found on my Flickr photo page: My Flickr Photo Sets

Tomorrow will mark eight weeks of joy...

with our sweet, sweet Christopher.  He is SUCH a good baby, though he DEFINITELY is DIFFERENT than Nicholas.  For example, if he needs a diaper change, you'll know.  If he's hungry, you'll know.  If he's tired, you'll know.  He's DEFINITELY more verbal than Nicholas was.  Nick says that he's taking after me already.  *insert eye roll here, please.*

Let's see...what can I say about our beautiful boy?  He's a GREAT sleeper!  He *usually* takes a long nap in the afternoon, like his brother, and also sleeps well at night.  I'm SO thankful for that.  Nicholas didn't sleep this well until he was almost 4 months old!

He's a great eater, as evidenced by his size!  So yes, breastfeeding is going very well.  It's so much easier the second time around, especially when you have a baby that knows how to latch properly!

When I put him in disposable diapers, he's wearing size 3s.  To give you a comparison, Nicholas is still in size 4s.  He weighs 13lbs, 8oz.  I don't know how long he is but he's wearing 6mos clothes at only 2mos old.  Nicholas is 24lbs, 8oz.  So Christopher is a mere 11lbs away from weighing the same as his older brother!

My friend Kristi Adams, who took my maternity pictures, wanted to do something special for us.  Her gift to us was a photo session with Christopher.  We had wanted to do it when he was just a newborn, but our schedules never did mesh well enough for that.  So we FINALLY got a chance to do them yesterday, and I'm SO pleased.   She has SUCH an eye for things.  Please visit her blog to see more of her work: Remember When Photography Blog.

Here are some of the pictures that she's shared with me so far.  We had hoped to get some shots with Nicholas but between cutting his canines and it being close to nap time, there wasn't much luck for that.  Next time!

Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes, his eyes *appear* to be blue, at least for the moment, and yes, he's wearing his FuzziBunz cloth diapers.

Election Day...and...VAN day!

Yes, that's right.  Today IS Election Day, so Nicholas and I partook in the tradition and went and voted after he finished his breakfast.

It wasn't just Election Day to us, though.  We got a new MiniVan!  Well, it's 'new' to us but it's actually a used van.  It's a 2006 Chrysler T&C Limited, and it's SUPER nice.  Nicer than any car I've had recently!  It even has a built in entertainment system and navigation system!

I'll post pics tomorrow!  Gotta get Nicholas off to bed before we sit our bums in front of the TV and watch the Election Coverage.

Happy Halloween 2008!

Nicholas' 2nd Halloween was a lot of fun!  We took him trick-or-treating to a few houses in our sub, mostly neighbors' that we knew would like to see him.

We dressed him as a skeleton this Halloween.  We carved a pumpkin for each of us, and had 'mini' pumpkins (gourds) for our girls.

Here's a pic of us on the porch:


And one of our pumpkins in the dark:


And the rest of the album can be found by clicking this link: Halloween 2008

Updates on NBK, the new pregnancy, etc...

So...I haven't updated in a few days.  We've been pretty busy.

Nicholas' B-Day was a big success of course.  So as soon as we passed his first year, it was on to worry about other things.  Specifically, our new pregnancy and my cerclage placement.

Since all was well at my NT scan last Monday, we scheduled the cerclage placement for Friday, September 19.  My sister, Monica, came down the night before and stayed the night b/c we had to be at UM at 9am.

We got there on time, and I got admitted.  Unfortunately, I inherited 'bad veins' from my grandmother, and so it took FOUR tries to get my IV in.  NOT fun.  I endured 3 blown veins before an anesthesiologist came in to do the IV.  OK, that is bad if I have to have an anesthesiologist do the IV instead of an RN/BSN.

Anyway, once they got the IV in, a different anesthesiologist came in to talk to me about the spinal.  They wheeled me back and unfortunately, I had to get poked twice (I think - it was in my back so I couldn't see!) before it started working.  Dr. VDV came in during the placement and was joking with me so that made me relax even more.

The placement went very well.  Dr. VDV said that I had 4 marks in my cervix from last time, so he 'followed the marks'.  They gave me some meds through my IV to help with cramping and then we just had to wait for the spinal to wear off.

I guess it wears off fast, for me, and before I knew it, I was feeling cramping and like I had to go pee (sorry, TMI!)  They said I had to be able to walk and go pee before I could be discharged.  Well, the first time, I couldn't go.  It literally felt like I was sitting on pillows on the toilet, b/c my bum was still numb.  Ha!

The second attempt was a success and they allowed me to be discharged.  Unfortunately, I started having even more cramping so by the time we got home, it was pretty painful.

Of course, this is where Murphy's Law kicks in.  We couldn't find our heating pads (we have 2).  Our hot water bottle broke.  My sister came to the rescue (again - thank you!) with a hot towel for me to put on my abdomen.  Nothing seemed to relieve the cramping.

It definitely was a different experience than what I had with Nicholas.  Then again, they gave me intra-venous morphine for the cramping when I had it placed when I was pg with him, so...maybe I should have had that before we left the hospital?

Anyway, Friday was rough.  I don't think I slept much.  Saturday was pretty bad as well.  Sunday was MUCH better.  As was yesterday and today.

For those of you that have called and haven't received a return call - this is why.  I'm trying to lay low which means not answering the phone if it's not within my reach.  Sorry!

My sis is still here b/c I'm not allowed to lift Nicholas until I get checked out by Dr. VDV, which is tomorrow.  Let's hope that he'll tell me that I can get back to normal and start lifting him again.

Our Rainbow Baby is ONE...

and I can hardly believe it!

We made it through BF'ng issues, me having PPD, going back to work and putting Nicholas in daycare even though I didn't want to, RSV, Croup, and pumping.  That in itself, is a huge accomplishment.

We made it to one year - a HUGE milestone for BF'ng, especially when pregnant.  Your supply REALLY takes a hit when you're pg.  So...even though we only nurse once a day, we still have our session.

I'm not 100% sure of his stats, but Nicholas weighed 22lbs at his last visit and was 30" long or so.

We have our next peds visit on 09/26 and he goes to see the allergist again on 09/25.

Today - we got a wonderful package in the mail from Nicholas' Godmother, my best friend Rita.  It was a card and three cds that she made of special music chosen just for Nicholas and us.  It was so thoughtful and it actually made me cry when I opened it.  So thank you, Rita, for being here with us in spirit while you're down in the "Palmetto State".

A year ago we were in the hospital and I can hardly believe it.  A year ago I actually held a living, breathing baby in my arms and I can hardly believe it.

Our son has lived for an ENTIRE year - 365 days.  We are SO proud of him and his accomplishments and we look forward to many, many, many more years.

We love you, Nicholas.

NBK's 1st Birthday Luau!

Nicholas' 1st Birthday Party was a success, despite it raining for at LEAST 24 hours straight, prior to the party.  We got a tent but couldn't use it because it was just TOO wet outside, so...we ended up having nearly 70 people (adults + kids) crammed into the first floor of our house.  We appreciate the patience of all those that attended - we know it was crowded!

Nicholas really enjoyed himself, and had a fun time smashing the special egg-free cake that Mommy made for him.  He was using both hands to dig in!




We opened the gifts after everyone had left and he's really enjoying playing with his new toys, and Mommy really loves all the clothes!

Here is a link to more photos:
Nicholas' Birthday Party Photos
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/22196872@N05/sets/72157607281881722/)

Mahalo to EVERYONE for coming and for those that couldn't be here for one reason or another (like my wonderful friend Deanna, who gave birth to Joseph Michael on 09/13/08 in the morning!)

Here is a video of Nicholas smashing his cake (and the link): NBK Cake Smash

P.S.  If anyone else has photos that they took - would you please share them with me via email?  Thanks!

Surprise! Expecting #4

So...Nick and I brought home a souvenir from Maui!  We weren't expecting that to happen, but...we're very happy now that we're over the initial shock!

I've started to give Nicholas formula now (I'm sad about that) b/c pregnancy can REALLY affect your supply when you're nursing, so...he gets one bottle of formula a day, at night, but lately we've been mixing it with whole milk.

Yesterday marked 2 years since we lost Gabriella so we've been laying low this week, taking time to ourselves as needed.

I'm hoping that this baby is a girl, so I can decorate the guest bedroom in pinks and reds!  If this one is a boy, then Nicholas will get the other room and we'll put the baby in the nursery.

Here is a pic of Baby K #4, or Nicholas' little brother or sister.  We are due in March, 2009: