Friday, August 31, 2012

Adventures in Life & Triage

Chickpea,

You will be arriving in T-4 weeks and a few days. However, Daddy and I think you have other plans and guess you might be a mid-September baby. Daddy thinks the first day of fall, his favorite season, while I'm hoping you'll hang on long enough for my students to meet their long term substitute at school!

If it's one thing your pregnancy isn't, it's uneventful. With Bean, week by week passed with textbook milestones and anticipation. This is similar to you but with added "excitement" along the way. The subchorrionic bleed is now a small sliver of a crescent moon overshadowed by a beautifully growing girl whom we've witnessed kicking and yawning on ultrasounds in the womb. It's hard to forget how scary it was when, at weeks 6-14, it was a massive black pool triple your size.

But I've learned:
God takes Time and Time does Heal. Quite literally, in fact.

As things become "normal", it becomes increasingly easy to forget to be thankful. So perhaps this is why Wednesday's 12 hour triage trip occurred - another wake up call. I woke up at 2 AM with dizziness and an inability to focus properly. When it didn't go away by 6, I'm glad I had the right mind to say that something was off. I went to the hospital armed with an amazing husband who sat in an incredibly uncomfortable chair beside me for 12 hours while we talked with nurses, PAs, and doctors about the "episode" and my symptoms. Many hours of magazine reading later, I had my first ever MRI which I believe is inaccurately portrayed on House as it sounded like a cross between a rave, construction site, and nuclear warfare. More waiting and the scan came back - nothing. I was diagnosed with vertigo. That I can handle. Dehydration could have also been a trigger so perhaps drinking more water wouldn't be a bad idea either. :)

Having a baby is not easy work. It takes strength to hold it together - for yourself and for your baby. For some it's in trying to conceive, others in staying pregnant, for others in labor or what to do when you're finally home with this human being you prayed so hard to receive. And a quick note about all those who raise a child without having gone through pregnancy themselves: It's not easier for them. Their strength came in the waiting for a child and having to trust that when the time was right, a child would enter their lives.

During all of my Wednesday waiting it really began to sink in that so many things could go wrong and that we are extremely BLESSED. While they don't seem like small things in the moment, everything I've gone through so far was just a little bump in the road. In fact, through every trial that we've had in our pregnancy with you, you were doing just fine. I found these logics on an elementary school friend's post today and thought it was fitting.


While #s 1 & 3 are logics I need to take the time to remember, #s 2 & 5 are especially difficult for me. I care deeply about what others think which somehow manifests itself in dwelling on how much better other people have it. But it's true. I don't know what their journey is about just as the strangers who comment on my pregnant size or shape have no idea of the stressful beginning of my pregnancy with you.  

If it's one thing I'd like to teach you in life, it's to enjoy YOUR journey. Surround yourself with people who will stick by in the bad as well as good times and those who don't care how much or little you have, just how you make the best of it.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Happy 21 Months!

Bean,
While you are still our baby (and always will be), this month you really have become a "Big Kid." Perhaps you really do know that a new baby is coming into our lives.  We celebrated the day with a maternity and family photo shoot with Emily Troutman of Emily Troutman Photo. We loved the photos we did for you and are excited to have professionally documented "Us" as a family of three before becoming a family of four. 

You are also our guinea pig child - every day with you is a first for me. Because of this, I really don't know when you are supposed to hit important, yet smaller, milestones so I like to celebrate all of them. <3

Here's what you can do this month. You:
*have started calling your father "Big Daddy." Lord only knows where that one came from, but it's hysterical and Daddy loves it. I find it important to note that I was only called Big Mama once. It didn't stick and perhaps that's for the better! 
*have decided that I'm "Mommy" now instead of Mama. It was a hard change to get used to but hearing your voice say anything that means me and only me is precious. 
*call yourself "Big Kid" and you are getting better at pronouncing your own name. Ls are tricky!
*can recognize your name when written with a few others and know that those combinations of letters make your name every time. As a literacy student, I think that's pretty cool. :)
*could eat an entire pint of blueberries ("boo-berries") in one sitting if we would let you!
*have decided goldfish do indeed make a good snack.
*had your first real sickness - hand, foot, and mouth disease. It was not pleasant but you were a trooper! We are blessed that you have been such a healthy child!
*know how to manipulate bedtime by asking what EVERY SINGLE animal is on the last pages of your ocean book when you know it's time for bed.
*must brush your teeth first before Mommy can help you finish the job.
*can climb! Not out of your crib thankfully, but it was nerve wracking and cool to turn around and see you seated at the kitchen table with your cup and snack by yourself!
*are now in a big kid seat at the table which you enjoy buckling yourself very much!
*have a new best friend - Penguin ("poe-win") and love to have him read, share your snack, jump, swim, and give kisses.

And my favorite:
*created a special good bye routine with Daddy. Mommy showed you once how to keep kisses with you by putting them on your heart so our love is always with you. So now, when he blows you kisses, you catch them (with a grunting sound effect) and pat your chest with it while you say "Heart." It makes me teary eyed every time. 


Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Happy 20 1/2 Months!

I can't believe you have been with us for close to two years already! Right now (while you are sleeping), it seems like yesterday, while at other times it feels more like a decade. :) I saw on another mom's blog where she posted what her child was able to do milestone-wise for the month and thought it was a fun way to document things as your baby book doesn't have room for it.


At 20 and a half months (because I didn't post this in July), you:
*Let us know when Chloe's bowl is empty and feed her yourself (with our help opening the bag). Then you yell, "Coe-ee! Food!"
*Can now say the letter X in words like mix and fox.
*Play talk on the phone, complete with laughter and pausing as if you're actually talking to someone.
*Love story time at the library. But I think ti's mostly because you get: a snack, to use a glue stick, and two stamps. :)
*Enjoy hopping on your bouncy cow and dismount by putting the front of it down and stepping over his head.
*Feed your giraffe and monkey by dipping their heads in a bowl of cheerios and making eating noises with your own mouth.


At 20 months, you:
*Do "nice touch" to your sister and now call her Chickpea (chee-pea).
*Talk non-stop! You wake up with a running commentary to all of your animals. On the monitor Daddy and I hear, "Hi, Crab (cab)! Hi, Turtle! Hi, Sea Horse (sss-horse)! Hi, Monkey (mun-kee)! Hi, Hippo (hee-poe)!" complete with waving. It's absolutely adorable!
*Can pronounce three syllable words like detector with no problem, but clock, fox, and drink definitely sound like swear words.
*Were shown jeeps by your Grandpa and, somehow, you can identify Wranglers and Cherokees where ever we go.
*Love our new Odyssey and call it "Black Van" (back van) with much enthusiasm.
*Picked your first eggplant from our garden.