While I was in labor...

OK, these first couple are actually from the day or two before Tim was born, when my parents got here. They were amazing and changed their airline tickets to Monday instead of Wednesday, so they could be here to help with the kids for us!! Thanks, again, Mom and Dad!!

Josh was pretty enamored of Granddad's hat...

Silly boys going down the stairs in the morning. Sam goes down on his belly mostly, so Josh thinks it's hilarious for him to do the same.
Sam loves the stairs. A LOT. And beach balls. And the tail on his outfit makes this a super cute picture!!
Classic Josh "look". He learned from a pro. (Me, in case you didn't pick that up.)
Rough housing with Daddy the night before their brother was born. They love playing with Daddy!!
While AJ and I were at the hospital, Mom and Dad took the boys to Gahagan Park (aka The Faraway Park). They played and had a picnic and got out lots of energy and took really good naps when they got home. They also happened to meet up with some friends of ours from Rolly Pollies and school and got to hang out a bit with them. Not that Josh needs to know people to talk to them, as is evident in a couple of these pics. He could talk to anyone, and does!!

Josh swinging on the tire swing.
Sam in the red swing. This is a super cool swing, and it's never open when we're there, so I know he was excited to be able to swing in it!
Metal pipes and brass balls on strikers make a GREAT toy. They love to make noise!!
Josh talking to people. No idea what he was telling them about... probably about his baby Tiger being born!! He was super excited about that.
I love my Sam's expressions!!
Peek-a-boo!!
times 2!!
Playing soccer.
Sam really loves balls. A lot.
Another kid. Josh really loves to talk... No idea where he got that trait from...
Cheese!
Mom and Dad said that Sam would pull himself up on these monkey bars to stand on Mom's shoulders. You can see this in the pic below. Silly monkey!
Having the time of his life!

Love that smile!!

A Tiger is born!

WARNING: This may be TMI for some of you. I'm describing the birth of my child, so there is some info on here you may not care to read. Just fair warning.

So on Wednesday, October 13, AJ and I woke up VERY early to go to the hospital for me to be induced. I was progressing on my own, but the contractions I was having wouldn't stay regular, and we were on a tight schedule with AJ scheduled to leave on a trip the end of October and my parents only in town for a week. So at 39 weeks and 4 days, that's where we were. Trident Medical Center in Charleston. At 0600.

This is right after we got all registered and signed in downstairs. I forgot to get a last preggo shot when I got induced with Sam, so I wanted to be sure to get one this time! So this is me at 39 wks. 4 days.

OK, before we get to the "good" pics (aka, the ones with the baby!) I'll tell you how the day went.

Got all changed and all, the nurses came in (still the night shift, so they didn't do too much, other than explain when the new shift would be in and what would happen, in general terms.

So about 0700 the new shift came in, introduced themselves, and got things started... meaning paperwork. And needles. The first nurse was very sweet, but not incredible at putting needles in me. She tried a vein on my left forearm first... couldn't get any blood out. Tried a big old vein on my left hand, and ended up blowing it out... in a major way. It's still bruised. NOT cool. And apparently they have a two try limit, so the other nurse came in and put it in my right wrist, which wasn't what I'd call fun, or comfortable, but at least she got it first try! They took a little blood, and then left me hooked up to the IV fluids to get ready for the pitocin when the dr. got there and could check me and get things started. About 0830 they got permission from the Dr. to check me themselves, and I was 3-4 cm. dilated and about 70% effaced. So they started the pit drip. The contractions started almost right away, but of course were very small and not painful, barely noticeable. After a few "bumps" up, they got a little more regular and intense. Several bathroom breaks (LOTS of fluids going in me!) and some boredom and an hour or two, Dr. Molly finally made an appearance. She came in and talked to me a little, and said she'd check me and if Tim was in a "good position" she'd break my water. So she did. It wasn't like with Sam where the contractions got REALLY bad REALLY fast after that... but they did start ramping up a bit... and I started contemplating epidural or no epidural. After much deliberation, I finally decided to try it again. The one I got with Sam didn't really help much, and stopped working at all after an hour or so. NOT cool, so I was unsure whether it was worth it. But since this could possibly be my last pregnancy/labor, I thought it was worth another try.

So I let them know, and they gave me another whole bag of fluids really fast to get ready for the epidural. By this time the contractions were getting really painful, and it seemed like it took forever for the anesthesiologist to get there. Dr. Molly came in and checked me right before the nice man with the drugs got there, and I was 5-6 cm. and 80% effaced.

The anesthesiologist did the epidural with me lying down on my side... MUCH bigger fan of this way than the sitting on the edge of the bed way. Not extremely pleasant process, but once those drugs started working, it was SOO much better that it didn't matter too much. But after enjoying the effects for only about 3 or 4 contractions, I started feeling a LOT of pressure. Thinking it was the full bladder, the nurse quickly put in the catheter and drained it. It didn't help much. So she checked me... I was 9 cm and completely effaced! In about 20 min!! And the pressure was b/c he had moved down to +2 station, which basically meant he was about ready for me to push!

So they paged Dr. Molly... but she was stuck somewhere, and meanwhile, the pressure and pushing urge were almost unbearable. It was BAD! Even with the epidural taking the contraction pain mostly away, it was horrible!! FINALLY, as I started to think I'd have to just start pushing without her, Dr. Molly showed up! I pushed for I think 2 or 3 contractions, and got his head out, and then the doctor told me to stop. STOP??? Are you KIDDING?? I later found out that he had the cord wrapped around his neck and when I pushed, it was pulling it tighter so that she couldn't get it off. EEK!! Not sure if that knowledge would have been better or worse to know at that point. But she pulled it off just fine, and got him all out w/ the next push, and that was that! But OW!!!! I forgot how much it hurts... and I was all shaky from the epidural drugs and from pushing and from NOT pushing, and I was FREEZING! But I had my baby! This was the first time I'd been able to see my baby right after he was born, instead of after they cleaned him up... it was kind of gross, but cool at the same time. With the first two there was meconium in my water, so they had to grab them and take them to get cleaned up right away. It was nice to be able to see him right away.

There he is, seconds after being born! He didn't pink up and cry right away, but once he did start crying, he was REALLY pink!
Here he is getting cleaned up by the nurses while I was being stitched up.
All clean... well, more or less. Oh, and I got to see AJ cut the cord for the first time, too! I mean, he's cut it all three times, but I've never been able to see it b/c they took the baby away from where I was. So that was pretty cool, too!
Isn't he the cutest??
He weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20 1/4 inches long. Not bad!
Then they gave him back to me to try to get him to nurse... he wouldn't latch on right away, and was pretty upset about it. He'd scream and scream in between tries! He also peed all over me...
Not a happy camper... They eventually took him and bathed him, and when they brought him back about 5 min. later he latched on right away and nursed for a LONG time!
All wrapped up and happy. He really loves being wrapped and snuggled!!

So welcome, Little Timothy Joel "Tiger" Lewton!! Mommy, Daddy, Josh, and Sam love you so much (even if Sam doesn't know it yet...)!! And you've got a lot of other family and friends who love you, too!!

We pray that you'll grow up to be a Godly man, who loves and lives Christ in his life for all to see, and be a loving happy strong courageous man! We love you, little Tiger!

39 Week (and LAST) check up!

So I had my 38 wk. 6 day appt. this morning. It didn't take nearly as long to see the midwife, thank goodness, and she brought up induction before I did! YAY!! I was worried she wouldn't want me to, or wouldn't be able to schedule it or something. But it's all set up for Wed. morning, show up at 0600 (eek!), with a possibility of it happening on Tuesday morning. But with AJ's schedule, we may not even call and try for Tues. if he's not here before then.

When she checked me I was still at about 2 cm, 60% effaced, more anterior, and he was still about -1 station. I hadn't had hardly any contractions this past week at all, but this afternoon I had them for a good 4 hrs. or so, and then after that sporadically, so we'll see what happens the next couple of days.

His grandparents just got back in the country from their trip to Europe, so maybe he was just waiting for that... or for us to make a deadline for him! Maybe he's a procrastinator like his mommy!

At any rate, he's coming SOON one way or another! I still think 10-10-10 is a super cool birthday, and much better than the 13th, though it's not a big deal.

I can't wait to meet my little Tiger!!

(Almost) 38 week Tiger check up

So once again, I sat in the waiting room at the NWS health clinic for over an hour... stupid walk in appointments... there's nothing else available on a weekly basis, though... erg. Anyway, they told me that she would check me, so take off my bottoms, and she'd be in shortly... someone did come in, asked where my chart was, like I knew, and then left to "find it". About 40 min. later the midwife FINALLY came in and got things started... sheesh!

So she measured me, and I'm measuring right at 38 cm which is exactly on track, my blood pressure is still great, no issues with that, no swelling or weirdness. She did his heart beat, but he really wasn't thrilled with that... kept rolling away from her! But his heart rate went up w/ movement so that's good, too. She also checked me, and I've progressed in the last week to two cm dilated, and about 60% effaced, and he's also (yay!!) moved down from almost too high to place in a "station" to -1 station, so that's definitely good, and also not in keeping w/ the other two boys at all. They were both way high till I started pushing pretty much.

I've also been having some off and on contractions, nothing that's lasted or been something I could really measure as consistent at all, but definitely doing what they're supposed to I guess, and getting us ready for Tim being born. So also good. Whether this means we still have 2 weeks or that he'll be born in the next few hours or days, I have NO clue. Josh was so text book and consistent once things started, and Sam was so NOT text book and refused to get in position even after they started pitocin and things were moving along w/ everything else, until HE decided he was ready, and then he came FAST.

Both situations were COMPLETELY different, and I have no idea what to expect from Tim at all! Which is kind of exciting, and kind of frustrating. But we have no real plans for the next couple of weeks really, and have all the really important things done that needed to get done, and while I'm certainly not what I'd term comfortable, I'm not in lots of pain or super UNcomfortable, either, so I'm more or less content to just wait on God's timing for us. I do tend to think he'll be here before his due date, b/c of how things are progressing, but I'm not willing to bet on anything, especially after Sam!

I will say, though, that after some pretty intense contractions last night, that I now have my bag more or less packed, Tim's bag more or less packed, and a list of instructions for whoever ends up watching the kids/house/dog!! AND got the car seat unpacked from it's box and de-tagged. So now we are pretty much ready whenever he comes!

37 week Tiger Appointment

Sorry, no pix again... I should have maybe taken some of the new Naval Health Care Center (or whatever it's called), but was running late and very lost, so I didn't.

Anyway. I got to go by myself, no kids, thanks to my new friend Crystal Cantrell! She was awesome and agreed pretty last minute to watch the boys for me! YAY!

So I had gotten my windshield sticker on Tues. while the boys were at school (yet another wasted morning, as I found out that a few days later, due to the HUGE amt. of people needing said stickers just for the clinic, they decided to make it N/A for people who are only going there to have them and not going to the NWS for any other reason... that would be me... sigh...), and managed to get them stuck on the windshield in the more or less correct place before going through the gate. Woohoo! I was "on time" at this point... till I walked in and couldn't find signs anywhere to the OB clinic. Some nice sailors were standing around, so I asked one if there was a map, which he got for me (fairly useless, since it was confusing, complicated, and had a lot of stuff on it that wasn't built/ready yet... plus I'm HORRIBLE at reading maps!) and then took me upstairs to the "Women's Health" part himself... very sweet, and I think that was the main purpose of him and some others that looked like him being there.

Check in, and they say, have you been to the lab... routine question, to which I can normally answer Yes, but since I had NO CLUE where the lab was, or if they were still doing things that way, I had to say NO and go back downstairs and wander awhile before finding the lab for my urinalysis. Found my way back up to OB w/o too much trouble, and waited... and waited... for an hour... finally got called back, sat in a room and waited... and waited... for a half hour, b/c they forgot about me!! ERG!!

At least the midwife was nice and very apologetic about it when she came in... the staff was still all confused and settling in apparently, and just forgot I was in the room... or something...

At any rate, she did his heartrate (144-146, normal), measured me (normal), felt around on him a bit and commented that I was "all baby" which to me sounds an awful lot like, "Holy cow, that's a big baby in there!" I'm hoping I'm wrong...

After this she kind of got distracted and was watching my belly... kind of weird, but then she said, "Can you see him 'breathing?'" WHAT?? I didn't realize babies "breathed" before they were born, and certainly never thought you'd be able to SEE it! But apparently the last couple of weeks they start practicing breathing motions, but are not actually circulating oxygen or anything through their lungs. And as she explained this and I, too, lay watching my belly, I could see him breathe!! SO COOL!!

Anyway, I asked her to check me, since AJ was being pressured to go on a trip this week (no longer happening, b/c the short "keeper" mission he had been asked about first, turned into an open ended mission and that's not the sort of thing that's a great idea this close to Tim being born, probably), but I wanted to know what to tell him in terms of what she thought about Tiger being born soon/later and stuff. I was about 40% effaced and a "fingertip" dilated, but of course, like my other two stubborn sons, still WAY up high... my kids never "drop" till I'm actually in labor, and in Sam's case, sometimes declare their stubbornness and independence and willfulness by moving UP during labor... sigh... but at least there's some sort of preparation going on there, so maybe he'll be just a teensy bit early! Not TOO early, I still have stuff to get done, and would really like that October birthday, but other than that...

But on that front, I'm feeling much more ready, now that Josh's party is over and was a huge hit, and the house is almost clean... still need a couple more days to finish up baby laundry and cleaning out the guest room, and would really like to get the rest of the windows cleaned and some more "detail" type things done, but other than that, I'm feeling pretty ready!

Come on, Tim!! We're ready to meet you!!

Sam felt the need to catch up with his brother in terms of scars...

So this morning started off not super great, with crazy hyper Josh and slightly grumpy and still sleepy Sam... and out of patience quickly and still really tired Mommy. We were going to get donuts for breakfast for Josh's birthday, but he was being all defiant and wanting to control things himself this morning, and announced that he didn't want donuts, so there! So we stayed here and had cheerios (mommy missed those donuts, but my weight sure didn't!). Got worse when I went to change and dress Sam and discovered a really nasty poopy diaper... got him cleaned up and just took it all downstairs to wash out. While I was doing this, the boys were creating, as usual. Creating havoc, of course! I can't remember now what exactly they were into, but it was not on the "approved" list and they got into trouble. Got everyone breakfast (had to eat mine in the car, but that was fine), shoes on, bag packed, etc. and out the door to the car on time, for a miracle.

Made it to the Dr. w/ no trouble from the boys or traffic, and got there early. It was nice not to have to rush! Went to the lab, did my urinalysis, got checked in at the clinic... and sat... and waited. Finally got called to get my vitals about 15 min. after we sat down in the waiting room, not too bad. Then we came back out and waited for them to call us "in just a couple of min." Which turned into an HOUR! By this time of course the boys were crazy restless, Sam was wet again and there's no changing table in the bathrooms in the clinic (what???), so I just changed him on the floor and decided I didn't care if people were upset about it. Josh and Sam were running around, climbing in and out of chairs, stroller, kid chairs, turning every which way and generally just going nuts.

FINALLY they called me back and we got there and the nurse or tech or whoever said, "now, you know we're doing a Strep B culture today, right?" Um, no... no one happened to mention that to me, do you really think I would have brought my two BOYS to that type of appt?? I don't think so!! Erg... so I got undressed and sat... and waited... and sat and waited some more... finally Josh announces that he needs to go potty AGAIN... seriously?? OK, there happened to be a private bathroom connected to the exam room, thank goodness, so I just let him go in there. Sam, meanwhile, is uber sleepy and tired and grumpy and wants to be held and snuggled, which is what I was doing when the midwife finally appeared. Instead of me putting him down, she "let" me keep holding him while I lie back and she did the heartbeat (normal, though he wasn't too happy w/ her holding that thing on him... squirmy tiger), measured, and then did the strep swab. Um, OK... holding a 25 lb. kid while doing all this, not the best of positions, just so you know.

So we get it all finished up, and I go make my next appt. for the 24th (the day before Josh's party) and wait in the pharmacy to get my scrip filled, which amazingly didn't take all that long. Then we rushed off to CFA where we're meeting some friends for lunch, who are already there.

Which brings me to the most fun part of the day. So Sam ate some lunch (Josh had some fruit and one chicken nugget and a couple fries...), and they were both playing while Sandy and I caught up right outside the door to the play area. Sam wasn't mostly too thrilled about being in the play area, just was mostly running around our area and looking in the door and stuff. But he finally was playing w/ Evan in there, and next thing I know, I saw Evan run and "crash" into the padded top of the shoe cubbies, and then Sam trying to copy him, tripped and crashed into the actual cubbies. I go run in to grab him and when I picked him up, notice he's GUSHING BLOOD!!!!

So I grab him and rush out of the play area and yell for Sandy to grab some napkins to mop up some of it so I could look to see how bad it was. So I'm rushing a bloody child across the restaurant, and people are gasping and asking if I want them to call 911, and I'm trying to get them to let me get the bleeding under control for a min. so I can look at it. Sure enough, once the blood slowed down a bit I could tell that it was a pretty small, but pretty deep cut on his forehead. Nothing to call 911 about, at least not in that location. So I keep putting pressure on it till the bleeding slows down, and someone brought some wet cloths and an improvised ice pack which also helped, and Sam started calming down, and we kind of just settled down and let it get controlled. I figured I should probably still get it looked at and that it would probably need at least some glue to hold it together so it could heal up right, so Sandy offered to take Josh so I could take Sam in. So as we were trying to get everything together, the managers grabbed their first aid kit, Sandy ran out to her car to get hers, and some guy in the restaurant also went to his car to get his. Looking for butterfly bandages to hold the cut closed. No one had any, but Sandy had some neosporin and I smeared some of that on, and then just squished it closed with a regular bandaid, which worked amazingly well, actually.

We put Josh's seat in Sandy's car and I started off w/ Mister Sam to the closest emergency room, a few min. down the road. As I was driving, it occurred to me that maybe I should check w/ our dr. office on base to see if I should go there, instead. So they took his name and what happened, and made me an appt. for almost 2 hrs. later, with an urgent message to the nurse for her to call me for a phone consult about whether we should just go ahead to the ER or not. Meanwhile, I'm sitting in the ER parking lot, waiting to hear back from the nurse... she never did call back...

I called back about 20 min. later, and let them know I figured since our appt. time was in about 45 min. anyway, that we'd just head in to the base and not worry about the ER. So that's what we did, w/ a stop at the bathroom for me and some new clothes/diaper for Sam, who was covered in dried blood. And had a VERY wet diaper.

Didn't wait too long to see the Dr. and he came in and basically told me what I'd already guessed, and went off to find some Derma glue to glue the cut together. It came in an applicator that had both the nurse and the Dr. a little confused, but after several min. they figured it out, and got it glued, with absolutely NO fussing from my brave little man, Sam!! A sterile strip and a band aid, and we were out of there! He fussed a couple of times in the car when we had to get buckled up again, but then went to sleep and had a nice long nap, while Mommy washed the blood stains out of our clothes. Josh slept some at Sandy's, and Rachel (our neighbor across the street) came and sat here while I ran to grab Josh and bring him home, since Sam was still sleeping.

Sam didn't have much dinner, but ate some and is in a decent mood, so hopefully he'll be ok to sleep tonight and more or less back to normal tomorrow.

Poor Sammy, but glad he's ok and that it wasn't more serious. Also glad that blood doesn't really phase me too much, so I was able to handle the situation without panicking or anything. But Murphy really needs to find a NEW home!!

Trying to upload pix from FB or my phone on here, but in the meantime, if you'd like to see pix, look on my FB.

Only 45 days left????

OH NO! I'm soooo not ready for him to be here... except that I'm soooo ready for him to be here! I have SUCH a huge long to do list that I'd like to get at least a major part of finished, but have been unable to make much of a dent in it so far b/c other random things keep coming up (like having to sit at the lab for 2 hrs. to get a 1 hr test done... adn then go back another day b/c I didn't have time to wait for their slowness in getting my shot... erg!). And it's hard to get any major re organizing/cleaning out done till I finish the regular cleaning/cooking/laundry/etc. Which I'm also super behind on.

Here's my list for today:

Call Terminex to renew our termite bond and see if they'll come spray to try to kill some of these nasty bugs I've been finding

Call someone to powerwash the house SOON!!

unload/reload the dishwasher

finish the hand washing

clean up the kitchen

pick up the library/play room areas

clear off the couches and dining table

vacuum downstairs

clean downstairs bathroom

I think that's a fairly realistic list... I hope! I feel like I'm always going in circles, b/c as soon as I get one room mostly cleaned I have to go clean up whatever's been crashing around in the other rooms! Sam is definitely in the destructive phase...

Hopefully I'll get things accomplished today, and then I can move on to bigger things like cleaning out the guest room and getting the kids' clothes packed up and organized. And possibly having or at least organizing to have a garage sale. We need to get rid of some stuff...

Update: I have the kitchen, living room, and play room all picked up. Except for clearing off the couches. Working on the library, and then I can vacuum... maybe after dinner...

New background

My old one disappeared for some reason, so I was looking for a new one, and this one just struck me as appropriate, since we're as busy as bees lately. Possibly busier...

0333

So here it is. 0333. That's 3:33 in the morning for those who don't speak military time. And I'm awake. Wanna know why?? B/c I'm pregnant. And can't remember to do things like pick up heartburn medicine. And can't be bothered to go get the right one, when her husband picks up too high a dosage by accident.

So here I sit, in our hotel bathroom, b/c that's the only place here to go in the middle of the night that's not disturbing someone who's sleeping. And I'm really irritated with myself.

Oh, and I have a zillion mosquito bites that have all decided that since I'm awake at 3 in the morning, they should all make themselves felt with a vengeance. AND Tiger's now awake, too, and making it known that he wants to play. And stretch.

I will be happy to not be pregnant anymore, for SO many reasons, but the ones in this post (minus the mosquito bites, since they're not really pregnancy related, just stupid Altus related) are some of the worst. Of course, the heartburn is usually ok, if I take my meds...

BUT...

This could be a really circular post, esp. since I'm really tired and wishing I could be sleeping peacefully in my bed. MY bed, not the hard, lumpy old mattress here in our hotel. Oh well.

I doubt anyone is reading this anyway, but if you are, thanks for listening to my whining. Wish it made the heartburn go away...

UPDATE: I made it through the night! LOL! After I finished on the computer (around 0415?? not too sure...) I went back and stacked up my pillows (all 2 of them!) and wedged my jacket under Tiger and managed to get back to sleep. Thank goodness! And feel much better this morning, and hopefully AJ just got back w/ some meds for me... as well as DONUTS!!! YAY!!

Under 100 days left!!

Unless he's late, Timothy Joel will be here in less than 100 days!!! YAHOO!!

So one thing that really bothers me is when people are not just un helpful to mom's with kids, but are downright rude and mean!

We had a CRAZY time leaving on Mon. We had gone to the fireworks at the old Navy base on Sun. night, as it was the 4th, and of course got home late after. So the boys went to bed around 11 pm. AJ and I went to bed around 0130... and woke up for our 0530 flight around 0300! So of course we were exhausted. Got the boys up around 0400 and put them right into the car to go to the airport. AJ dropped me and the boys at the ticket check in... with a TON of bags, car seat, stroller, etc. One of the guys hanging out helped us with the bags, and we went in. My plan was to sit and wait for AJ while wrapping the car seat in some plastic we'd brought with us, but the check in lady had other plans. She yelled at me to get checked in NOW, and NO we couldn't wait for AJ b/c we'd be late for our flight...we were about an hour and 15 min. out at that point. Nevermind that I obviously was already exhausted and stressed out and had a toddler and preschooler who had JUST woken up in a strange place, or that I'd asked her if we could wait for my husband (btw, it's technically illegal to check people in for flights, or their bags, if they're not there w/ their ID's...). So we get a couple of bags up on the scale (the porter really wanted stuff off his cart, and was doing what the lady said, even though I was kind of ignoring them, dealing with kids and carseat) when Josh all of a sudden looks at me with that desperate look and says, "I have to go potty!!!!" Josh had been having a little tummy trouble w/ diarrhea, so I knew we had to get to the bathroom FAST. So I told the lady I really needed to take him to the bathroom, and she just gave me this disgusted look, like, how dare you or your children have bodily functions to take care of! and said, "they're around the corner," and looked away again.

Fine, we'd just leave our stuff and run...which is exactly what we did, and thankfully got there in time! Ran back, and started again w/ the carseat and she's still bugging me about different bags and Sam's crying and Josh is asking questions and jumping around and finally I'd HAD it!! So I looked at the lady and politely (if forcefully) told her, "Look, I really wanted to wait to do this, and I really don't appreciate you pushing me. I have to get a couple of things organized before I can deal with the rest of this, so please let me get them done. Thanks." That did shut her up, and thankfully, AJ arrived a min. or so later. He took care of the bags, while I did the car seat and then wrangled the kids, stroller, and carry on stuff. Oh, I was MAD!!! And very silent. And so was she. But I had been polite and that hadn't gotten her attention, so I had to be forceful to get her attention that I wasn't going to be pushed around. But I feel like I was still polite, too.

Anyway, we got through security just fine, everyone was nice/polite to us, and understood when we took awhile longer than all the business men/women w/ their single carry ons. Got to the terminal before boarding started, and I took Sam to change his diaper, and when I came back out, AJ, Josh, and the stuff were completely gone! I almost panicked for a min. then realized that they must have had to go to the bathroom, too. Turns out Josh did the same thing to AJ as he had to me...and AJ got a small taste of what I'd dealt with that morning! Poor Josh... and AJ!

So then we all got on the plane, it was a good flight, the next flight went fine, except for a small meltdown from Sam b/c he was so tired, but once he finally fell asleep, we all went to sleep, too, and had little naps. It was nice! Got to DFW and the crews and everyone were so nice to us, and talked with the kids and everything, and then Dad was there waiting for us in baggage claim, so it was all fine. But it took all those really nice, kind, patient, and helpful people the rest of the morning to get the bad taste out of my mouth from the first lady I'd dealt with.

Oh, almost forgot this part... we get 3 free bags b/c AJ's active duty traveling on orders, which is great...but we had two more bags and a box besides those... she told me several times that we couldn't have that many b/c he only got 3 free. I said I knew that, but that we would just pay for the others. She in turn told me that it would be over $200!!! For 2 bags and a box!! I asked her how much "normal" passengers were charged for their two allowed bags... $25... OK, there are 3 other passengers here who AREN'T active duty military... "Oh, yeah, I guess we can do it that way..." DUH! Seriously? Come on, if you're going to be a mean awful person who's irritated that we're slow, at least know how to do your job the right way!! I shouldn't have to do it for you!

Anyway. It was a REALLY bad start to the trip, but after the second flight and seeing my dad and then getting to Mamaw's and seeing her and my mom and stuff, we were doing much better. And after some napping (and shopping, for me and my Mom!) for everyone that afternoon, we were doing great! And the rest of the trip has been fine, too...some parts really good, some not so good, but nothing like that first part at 0415 Mon. morning!! I'm thanking God for the rest going soo well!! And even for that experience, b/c it made everything else seem like cake in comparison!!

So we're here in Altus for awhile, and looking forward to our "down time" since AJ will actually have some!! We're going to go try out the pool in a while, maybe this afternoon after the kids' naps. YAY!

Our crazy, crazy life!!

So, many of you know we were planning on AJ going to PCO (pilot upgrade class) in Altus at the beginning of May. That got changed to the next available date for him, which was August.

Well, this morning as I was bustling b/t the lab, getting vitals taken, and actually seeing the Dr. at my 24 week appointment, I got a voicemail from AJ. I didn't have time to listen to it in the midst of all that, and my phone was quickly dying, so I just turned it off, and decided to recharge it in the car on the way home and call AJ back then. So after my very quick appt. (everything looks/measures/sounds great w/ Tiger!!), I get us all in the car and on the road and plug in my phone and listen to AJ's message which went something like, "Hey, call me cuz there's a lot of stuff I need to discuss with you, so call me ASAP." Immediately I thought, "There's been a drop down and we've gotten an earlier date for PCO." Followed by, "Or he's going on a trip...like, tomorrow, or something and has to let me know he's leaving immediately."

So I called his cell, got voicemail, called the office, got the guy he works with, Jake, who tells me AJ's in a meeting and he'll get him to call me back b/c he knew AJ needed to talk about something with me. So I ask Jake if he knew what it was about...sure enough, drop down earlier PCO date. So, innocently, I ask if he knows the date...suspecting what I'm about to hear: "I think he starts next Wed."

Of course. On the craziest day of the week, when AJ's in the middle of writing his 12 page paper for his master's class and about to do his final next week, just before a 4 day weekend when everything's shut down and we can't get things done, and ticket prices go way up for flights, of course that's when we'd find out we're leaving for over a month in 4-5 days!!! Oh, yes, Murphy... bring it!!

So AJ came home on his lunch break and we frantically discuss all the things we have to get done, and organize and start looking for flights, and both our minds are racing. He went back to work, I had to get the house cleaned up, the lasagna and cake made for community group tonight, and try to figure out what all I have to try to get done before the weekend starts and we can't do anything but pack to get ready for this trip!

My wonderful Dad spent a LONG time helping me search for flight options, combined with different dates and driving options to get in and out of different places, spending as little as possible... Hopefully AJ will get his paperwork and everything all worked out tomorrow early enough that these tix are still available and haven't sky-rocketed price-wise. My amazing parents are also planning to drive separate cars up to Dallas this weekend so we can borrow one for the whole month of July and don't have to rent/deal with not having transportation. I love you, Mom and Daddy!!!!

So, anyway, my mind's still spinning like a top, and I'm about to go sit down and make multiple lists to try to organize the chaos in my brain. At least the cake and lasagna turned out really good!! I just wish more people had been here to help us eat them!!

So all my friends and family in Dallas, OK, and Houston, LET IT BE KNOWN: The Lewton's are coming to town!!! If you'd like to get together, let me know, so we can put it together!! I suppose there's even a remote possibility I could make it to my 10 yr. reunion, but I'll probably only go if AJ can make it, too...don't want to show up by myself...

OK, list time!! Please pray that everything falls into place for us and goes smoothly. THANKS!!

Painting's done and boys are moved in together!

So I got zero pics of the process of the painting, unfortunately, but at least it's done, except for touch ups, and at some point, re-painting the trim, since it's pretty dingy and also has blue (and now yellow) paint all over it. Whew... thank goodness it's done!

The color in the pix is a little brighter yellow than it is in real life, but you can get the general idea here. I've also been doing some shopping on ebay for some accessories and stuff for the room, and have gotten some cute stuff.

I moved Josh's bed to the wall next to the door, which he was excited about, and as you can see, I put his new quilt on his bed.
I wrestled for awhile with this crib to get it together by myself, but finally got it all put together and put against the wall that used to have Josh's bed on it, and the airplane was painted. Sam was not a huge fan of sleeping in a new bed/room, but did eventually settle down and go to sleep after I went back up and rocked him for awhile.
Moved the kitchen to where the train table was. Now the trains and table are downstairs in their playroom.
Moved the dresser to where the kitchen was...I still need to try to combine the boys' clothes into one dresser and closet...yikes! We also need to get new pulls for this dresser, and possibly paint it at some point, since it's not in the best shape. I believe when we get the beds from AJ's dad they'll come with the dresser that matches it, so this one will probably move to the guest room and we'll get rid of the entertainment center in there to make a little more space.
This picture probably shows the color of the paint the most accurately of all of them...I'll have to see if I can get some in the morning and see if they turn out more realistic.
Josh was not asleep here, but could have been...this is a fairly typical pose for him to be in after he goes to sleep.
Aw...isn't he adorable? He will hopefully get used to his new bed pretty quick, though he was up till about 10 or 1030 tonight, and when I did finally go up to get him, he had tossed literally everything out of his crib and I never did find this binky, had to get him a different one. Oh, well...they're both asleep now...

Sam videos from his cardio check up

Here are the videos of Sam right after he woke up. The guy holding him in the second one was one of the nurses who did the sedation. The woman's voice you can hear in the back ground was the other nurse. They were both great with him, and with us having never done anything like this before! You can tell he's still a little loopy and happy and wobbly.

Sam's 12 month cardio check up

OK, Sorry y'all, but the pix loaded in a really weird way and it won't let me move them, so just bear with me and read captions!

So Tues. we had Sam's cardio check up. We'd gotten a phone call telling us to have him stop eating at a certain time, but not why. I was guessing at maybe bloodwork or something? Anyway, when we got there, they sent us off for a chest X-ray, which made me REALLY glad AJ was there, b/c I couldn't go in there with him b/c of Tiger.

Then we all trooped back to Peds Cardio, having been all over the hospital for about an hour and a half by now, and got called back for Sam to get weighed and stuff. The nurse told us they wanted to sedate him for his Echocardiogram. That was a bit of a surprise, and when we told her that they didn't sedate him for his 6 month one, she commented that b/c he was being so good for her, maybe the Dr. would consider not sedating him. But the Dr. came in and told us they had to do some 3D and 4D Echoes and he'd have to be SUPER still, which is not likely for any one year old, much less ours. So they sedated him. OI!! That was a MESS!

First they gave him an oral medication called Chloral hydrate around 1135. The nurses told me it should take about 30 min. or less for him to fall asleep. It's metabolized in the liver and basically affects him like alcohol. AJ took Josh out to play and spend some energy and have a snack, and I sat with Sam. He didn't love the taste of the medicine, but he was ok with it. I was holding him for awhile, and he was all sleepy and laying on my shouldar...and then the meds started kicking in. He was so hilarious!! I sooo wish I'd gotten some video of him... He started playing with his tongue and flirting with the nurses and rolling around and stuff. But 30 min. later, he was still going pretty strong. So around 1205 they gave him a nasal injection of Versed. He didn't like that AT ALL!! I actually was a little afraid he was going to throw up, he kept gagging and coughing at it going down his throat and stuff, and was crying at the same time. But eventually he calmed down a bit. The nurses informed me that it should make him sleep in about 5 min. And about 5 min. later he was much dopier and MUCH grumpier about it!! He was rolling around and freaking out and NOT happy, not happy being held, being on the bed, nothing. I couldn't stop laughing at him b/c he was so upset about being out of control, but it was one of those if I hadn't been laughing I'd have been crying types of things...it was really really stressful, and he's really getting strong!! Anyway, so about 15 min. later he was STILL awake!! Barely...but still fighting really hard, so they brought in the Pentobarbital injection and had to give him a shot in his thigh... OH MAN!! NOT GOOD!! He seriously freaked then. But about 5 min. later he finally fell asleep...WHEW!! Poor kiddo...But they got the echos done...took about 30 or 40 min. maybe? I'm not really sure...but Sam was OUT. And Josh was so good while they were doing all this...and esp. b/c we had to be quiet for most of it.

Anyway, after that, they took Sam over to the same day observation till he woke up. They also did an EKG on him while he was still sleeping. Josh thought that was pretty cool.

After that, Josh and I went and got some lunch and then AJ texted saying that the Dr. was there to talk to us, so Josh and I ran back upstairs, poor kid, and I listened to as much as I could, until Josh insisted again that he needed to go potty RIGHT NOW! So I ran him down the hall to the bathroom and back again, ending up missing another large chunk of the discussion of AJ and the Dr. about stuff. I was kinda irritated and made them repeat it all for me!

Basically my understanding of this rather disjointed conversation was this: Sam's right atrium is still enlarged. They also found a TEENY hole b/t the two upper chambers of his heart, but not big enough either to fix or to be causing the enlargement. He also said Sam's tricuspid valve is shaped and functioning abnormally, but perfectly adequately. So the couple of irregularities they found couldn't be causing the enlargement, and so he's still our little mystery! He's taking 1/2 a baby Asprin a day basically as a precaution, and if he stays the same condition in the next few years, should be able to play sports and all just fine, so that was good to know.

For now they want to keep doing check ups on him. In Sept. he'll be going back in for an EKG so no sedation (yay!), and then probably every 6 mos. again after that.

After we talked to the doctor, it wasn't too much later that Sam finally decided to wake up. He was REALLY groggy still, and wanting to get the heart monitor (on his thumb) off even if it meant chewing it off!! So they put it on his toe...that didn't really help, he kept kicking his feet up and all around till they finally just took it off b/c of course they couldn't get a reading while he was being so crazy! He got some apple juice and water, and did really well with that, so after about 20 min. of him being up they let us leave...around 3:30 or so in the afternoon!! He kept almost drifting off in the car, but refused to actually go to sleep. Finally got him home and he really wanted to get down and crawl around and play, but was still so wobbly and rubbery that he kept falling over, so for awhile we wrestled him on the couch, then put him in the high chair. And finally we just put him in his bed for a little nap, which he needed! He came with us to community group that night and ate a ton, begging brownies from everyone there, and chasing the Rileys' dogs off their bed and stealing their toys! He was still slightly wobbly, but much more coordinated than before. Of course now he's back to his normal self.

So it was a LONG and slightly traumatic day for us, but with pretty good results. We love the nursing staff there, the peds nurses with us for the sedation were awesome! I have a video that I'll post later of one of them with Sam after he woke up a little but was still really loopy.

Josh was kinda tired...this is when they were weighing him and everything before the sedation.
Such a cute little man...and he loves to play with his belly button!
Josh being weird
Sam and AJ were in that room where it says X-ray in use. Josh and I were in the waiting area pictured below... really awesome!!
this was some sort of interactive game
Sam right after waking up
Out cold getting his EKG...wow, that's a lot of wires!!
Josh being really good during the echos.
Sam during the echo...the wires were to monitor his vitals while he was sleeping.
More boy piles of silliness! We sure do love our little mystery boy!!

Sneaky Chef

So my sister Jenny just sent me her Sneaky Chef cookbook and I'm soo excited to start using some of these recipes! So today when I was making out my grocery list I sat down w/ the book and made sure I had things to make some of her "make ahead" purees and mixes for things. There were some kind of uncommon (at least for me!) things on there, like wheat germ. Does anyone know where to find wheat germ in the grocery store?? Because I couldn't find it...

I did get the stuff to make the green and orange purees I think, so I may try to find enough energy to make those and freeze them in 1/4 cup portions to be able to pull out and use when I need to. I'm seriously exhausted just after doing the grocery store, though, so I'm not sure I will. But still hoping I'll be able to get more veggies into all of us, not just the boys!

Thanks again, Jenny!! I'll let y'all know if there's any recipes we just really really enjoy!

Third boy-child...what are we going to do???

So we had our ultrasound this morning. Could not believe when we saw "boy parts" on the monitor, but there he was. Our Tiger is a boy! I'm still coming to terms with the no new baby stuff and no girly, ruffly, pink clothes again, but I know I'll be excited, and not just resigned at some point. I'm excited to meet him, just not looking forward to the next few months with nothing to prepare. I was really hoping to be able to re-do the nursery and get new clothes organized in the dresser and all that. It's ok, though, we love our Tiger!

We still don't have a name for him, though. We haven't been able to agree on a name yet, and I've run out of boy names that I'm just really excited about. So, please, if you have a name you'd like to suggest, we're open!! We'd love to hear what you think! We don't want to repeat letters though, so no "S" or "J" names...and not really wanting to use an "L" name, either. Also, Daniel, Max, Mark, Paul, and a few others are definitely out. They've already been suggested, and turned down...I actually love Daniel and Max, but there are some very cute doggies who already have those names, and we can't use them. My current short list includes Zachariah, but AJ doesn't like it. He does like Zachary, which I'm not a huge fan of...go figure! But neither really sounds like "our" kiddo.

Anyway, here are some pix from the appt. He's perfectly healthy, normal size for his due date, and his heart looks great. He's about 12 oz, and his heart rate was 145 beats per min.

Heart rate
Profile w/ either an arm or leg up there
Same thing
His cute little feet!
nose and mouth to check for cleft palette.
Yay for 4D ultrasounds! He looks like the other two...
He had both feet up by/over his head pretty much the whole appt.
Very flexible little one! Maybe he will be a gymnast or a dancer!
More profile
The first boy pic...I started thinking maybe she saw something else, but if you look at the next pic, you'll be able to tell that there was no way anyone could mistake him for anything but a boy!
Poor Tiger, having his private areas on display! But now we all know for sure!