Things I took for granted when Zach was born...

I just found this post that I originally wrote on 10/9/08...I didn't publish it at the time because I thought it was kind of a downer. I read it today and it brought tears to my eyes again. I NEVER want to forget how lucky we are to have this precious little boy in our lives. Even when he's up at night and not sleeping so well. :) I'm publishing this so it will always be a part of his baby book...how precious he and his brother are to us!

Written 10/9/2008
I've been wanting to write these down since this whole thing with Dylan first happened. These are things that I swore to myself I would never forget thinking while Dylan was in the NICU. At one point, Craig and I were walking down the hall and a guy passed pushing his baby back to the nursery. We just looked at each other and both said how we just wanted to stop everyone and tell them how lucky they were to have their babies with them.

1. Hearing your baby cry when he/she is delivered - The most important and probably why I want Dylan to cry so badly.

2. Holding your baby right after delivery - especially not having to wait 24 hours

3. Holding your baby whenever you feel like it. - Couldn't hold Dylan except at the scheduled times - every 3 hours - we would show up dutifully to get our time with him

4. Changing diapers - even this was a great treat in the NICU - really.

5. Bathing baby - I was so excited when the nurses said we could give him a bath. Especially when he had all the goop from the EEG in his hair. (it might make a good sculpting gel for bed head styles.) Thanks to Janelle our nurse for scrubbing it out for me the first night. She was able to really get in there and get that stuff out!

6. Rooming in at the hospital and wheeling your little bassinet down the hall from the nursery. We finally got to wheel the bassinet on the night we roomed in before going home.

7. Nursing...I nursed Zach within 2 hours of him being born and couldn't even try to nurse Dylan for several days. It was such an empty feeling to just use the pump and not get to actually nurse. I'm no LeLeche member or anything, but I didn't realize how special it is until I wasn't able/allowed to do it. The first time he latched on brought tears to my eyes.

8. Leaving the hospital with your baby - as bad as I had always imagined it would be - leaving empty handed. Wednesday was a very weepy day for me.

9. Dressing baby - I heard a lot of the preemie moms get excited too when you can put outfits on the little ones. It was funny having the nurses search for clothes that were big enough for Dylan. Again, they aren't use to 8lb babies in the NICU. :)

10. Big brother being able to visit/hold his little brother. - It was hard watching Zach stand at the window every time and just want to see his little brother and touch him. He's making up for lost time now!

Added today (02/17/09):
11. Being together as parents during the delivery to share in that great moment...we each have very different memories of Dylan being born.

Everyone go give your little ones a squeeze and think how lucky we all are to have them in our lives. Healthy children are a wonderful gift not to be taken for granted!

Our baby in the NICU

This is how Zach got to see Dylan for the first time, he's standing outside looking in the window with Craig's parents.
TODAY! YEAH! Look at this happy little baby!

Don't mind my lack of makeup, but Zach took this picture...pretty good for a 3 year old. We can't even manage to get Dylan smiles with the camera.

Walmart and the Environment

Okay, this is just because I have to get it off my chest. I went to Walmart today and with 2 children, a huge diaper bag and coats for everyone, I managed to remember 1 of my reusable shopping bags. (My others are still at Zach's school from V-day.) Anyway, I pulled it out towards the end of her ringing things up and asked her to throw the last things in the bag. If you use these bags, you know they hold A LOT of groceries compared to those wimpy little plastic bags (that are creating their own island somewhere in the Pacific - really, I saw it on Planet Green). She managed to get a lot in there but when I looked at the Walmart wimpy bags she'd already packed, I had 3 bags. 1 contained a single loaf of bread. 1 had 2 shampoo bottles and some kid size hangers and 1 had some bananas. Now, if I'm trying to bring my own bags, don't you think you might try to consolidate the bananas and the loaf of bread - at least. I mean, really?!?!?! Help me out Walmart checkers! So taking 3 reusable bags is literally like saving 10 plastic bags. You know I would have walked out with 8 bags at least at the rate she was going. I had some heavy peanut butter that I'm sure should have had it's own bag! :) What's a "Mom-trying-to-save-the-environment-for-her-children" suppose to do?

Snow days - long overdue post

So this post is long overdue, see post on Appendectomy for reason why. :)

Well, one of the things I'm finding I truly miss about Colorado is the weather. For those of you not familiar with Denver weather, we get 300 days of sunshine - I believe it ties Southern California in number of sunny days. So even when it's freezing outside, the sun shines and the sky is a gorgeous clear blue - ah! Yes, it snows there, but typically it will melt on the streets within 24 hours or they have it cleaned up enough that they are clear. Every once in awhile there are big snows - like the 3 feet of snow we had in March of 2003 - everyone has story about where they were when that one happened. Stuck in my house for 3 days, but actually kind of fun when you don't have to be anywhere because everything is closed and I wasn't stranded at DIA like some people! Or the big 2 feet snow of December 2006 - but it happens once every couple of years. Anyway, I'm finding I miss the snow a lot. I love snow. Especially Colorado snow, because it tends to melt so quickly it doesn't even get that nasty brown sludge like you find in the Northeast and other places. Oh, and when they say, it's not the heat, it's the humidity...that applies to the cold too. It's FREAKIN' cold here (Kansas) with the bitter wind and all. BURRRRRR!

We finally got some snow in Kansas and they actually shut down the schools. I realized quickly that a stay-at-home mom of a 3 year old and 4 month old doesn't really "get" a snow day. It was just another day stuck inside with little ones. I couldn't really take Zach out because I couldn't take Dylan out in the cold. We made the best of it though. As soon as Craig came home we got all bundled up and went out to make snowballs and struggle to pile some snow for a snowman - he didn't happen. The 2nd day was a little accumulation not just ice, so it was more fun. That day we made Craig stay home with Dylan when he came home for lunch and we headed to the overpass to sled.

I made fun of Craig when he would tell me how they would all sled at the overpass when he was growing up. Doesn't that just sound so typical of Kansas? No hills, so you have to go to the man made overpass hill to sled. Well, I will make fun no more. It was an awesome sledding hill. I packed Zach up and headed to the overpass. It gradually gets higher and steeper so it was perfect to start him out at the little end and work our way up to a longer hill. He loved it and was bummed that we had to go back to let Daddy go back to work. I even took a couple rides with him, wheee! I took some pics of the overpass and Zach bundled up. (Note: Bonus to having lived in Colorado and your husband work for a sporting goods store with a killer discount, you have awesome sledding clothes when you move to Kansas. I was so warm all decked out in my warm wicking long johns and all. I could have been there for hours.) The hill was kind of funny because the snow was so worn out that it really was becoming an ice slick and you could totally see the grass through the snow. Colorado would have considered it just a dusting of snow and maybe not even put on snow boots to go to work. :) I love seeing all the differences in all the places I've
lived over the years. I was just so use to Denver after 9 years that I took some things for granted. Enjoy the pics I took of our enjoyable snow day!

Zach in action on the hill...


Zach up to no-good, look how happy is to hit me with his snow ball - thank goodness that a) he doesn't know how to make a good snowball and b) the snow wasn't any good for packing.
The Overpass/Sledding Hill
Why are you taking pictures when we should be playing in the snow?

No Seriously, there's snow outside...

Rolling on...

After an hour of trying to get him to rollover on video...taaaa daaaa! :)
Milestone - rolling over from back to tummy - 02/09/09!



Just being cute, swinging around...

The Appendectomy

Okay, so I'm finally feeling well enough to write about the appendectomy, or appy as they call it on Grey's Anatomy. :) It's really not that great of a story, but I'm okay with that. I had been feeling a weird soreness on my lower right side. I was chalking it up to starting to do some ab work after the c-section and it was just oddly sore on one side. Later, I thought, maybe I was getting an ovarian cyst. Nothing to be too concerned about since a)I've had one before and b) there's nothing they can do for them unless you are in real pain. Thursday night I thought I was getting a fever from a cold that was coming on, but no fever just weird chills. Friday morning I woke up with specific pain on my right side. Again it wasn't bad, but I thought it could be a cyst that was getting worse or maybe it could be my appendix (no, surely it's not that). Since it was Friday and I hate having things happen on weekends, I decided to go to our Urgent Care and have a doctor take a look at it to be safe. My mother-in-law was kind enough to watch the boys for me.
The doc examines me and I actually tested positive for a urinary tract infection. AAAh, that must be it, I thought. To be safe and again with the weekend, she wanted me to get a CT scan at the hospital to rule out the cyst or appendix. She said some of my tests she did could be appendix. I thought I was being silly, but just to be sure I'd get the scan. I got the scan and they let me go back to Urgent Care - I thought they would have kept me if it was my appendix, but they did check I was going back to the doc. Craig was kind enough to have come over from work so he drove me back to Urgent Care. I was a little more uncomfortable and getting nauseated, but I hadn't eaten and was tired, so still thinking I'd just go home and rest some. Anyway, yes, the scan showed appendicitis and I had to go back to the hospital, get prepped and have surgery. What?!?!? Craig and I were both surprised.
I got prepped, made sure I wasn't getting ketamine (the drug from Dylan's delivery) and off to surgery I went. This time was much better going under the anesthetic. It was super quick and the recovery at the hospital was much easier than the c-section. I went home in 24 hours and Craig nursed me back to health. Recovery at home was kind of crummy and harder than I thought since the first 24 hours went so well. I'm doing much better now and just a little sore if I stand too long or pick up things to heavy.
The biggest bummer is that I think I've weaned Dylan without really planning on it. Between being away from him for 24 hours and then being so drugged I didn't want to nurse, it happened. I'm pretty much a well run dry and he s ipretty much happy to suck back a bottle of formula. I can't decide how I feel. I wasn't ready for this so soon and formula is SOOOO expensive. :) It also makes him feel less of a baby for me. Zach was 9 months before we weaned and it was gradual so I had time to get use to the idea. Hmm, now I'm wondering, is this the last of breastfeeding for me forever if we don't have another baby? But part of me is relieved to not have to worry about what I'm eating or drinking and have some freedom. I think it will be fine in the end. Of course, you know what comes next...solid foods. Hmm, I'm not really looking forward to baby food like I was with Zach. With Zach it was this new thing that we were going to experience. With Dylan, I know that feeding him baby food is time consuming and messy! Oh well, let's just pray for no food allergies and that it will be a boring process of introducing new foods.