Other Happenings This Week

Joe got a big boy bed this week!  Right now it's just a twin mattress on the floor, but he was super excited to get a bed as big as Clara's!

He's already spent a lot of time jumping on his bed!

Clara decided she wanted a hair cut this week.  She LOVES it and can't stop feeling her hair.  I'm glad she likes it.  For a while, she wanted super long hair, and I was afraid she would be sad that her hair wasn't long anymore.

However, she has found that she can do her hair all by herself now that it's shorter and she really likes that independence. 

I also had a huge milestone this week.  Joseph was born when I was 34 weeks and 3 days pregnant.  I had gone in for a normal appointment and my blood pressure was 180/something.  They sent me straight to the hospital and he was born 4 hours later.  I was 34 weeks at 3 days pregnant on Thursday this week. 

I also had a normal appointment with the same Dr that sent me to the hospital with Joseph.  I was super nervous, and my blood pressure was slightly elevated on Thursday, but I'm still pregnant!  Let's hope that my blood pressure doesn't continue to rise as it did with Joe.  But at this point in Joe's pregnancy I had already experienced elevated blood pressure on several occasions.  Joe was born about 4 weeks after I started having high blood pressure, so even if it takes another 4 weeks for this kid, it will be at the time my c-section is scheduled for anyway.  So now I'm just hoping to make it to my scheduled delivery date, but I'm pretty sure I will!

Joe's Surgery

Joe was born with an ear tag, which is just extra skin that grew by his ear.  Here is my super cute boy just a few days before the surgery.

He didn't want to go to the Dr to have his ear fixed.  We had explained as best we could what was going to happen, but he kept insisting that the Dr fix my ear instead.  I don't really blame him.  He was fairly well behaved until we had to get his wrist band on, his blood pressure checked, and his surgery clothes on.  He squirmed and cried pretty good through each of those and I was so grateful Jeremy took the day off work to help me those tasks!

But when we went to go play with the toys, he was pretty content.

They gave him a doll that he could color on and use to show what would happen to him, like putting a mask over his mouth for the anesthesia, etc.

Since we couldn't go back with him to be with him while he went under, they gave him a relaxant to help with the anxiety of leaving us.  Boy did that work well!  He was my happy little camper after that!

Here's a video of him being out of it.  Just prior to this video, he kept laying down, but then asking to sit back up.  I realized that he wasn't wanting to lay down, his little body just kept doing it, which is why you see me "catching" him in the video.

And this is the wagon they used to carry him into the OR

We were warned that the medicine given him to relax him would also make his cranky as he came out of it.  So he also had a hard time calming down after coming out of the anesthesia.  He kept insisting he wear his shoes.  He wouldn't drink or eat anything, he just wanted his shoes on.  So we got him dressed ASAP, and then he was great once he knew he was leaving.  They let him pick out a prize and he chose a teddy bear.  Here he is, finally happy in the car with his bear, juice, and graham cracker.

And finally, here is an after picture of his ear.

Picnic at the Park

With the weather being unusually warm for winter, Clara has been begging me to have a picnic at the park.  So this last Saturday, I made it happen.  The kids only ate a few bites before they headed off to play.  I guess it had been way too long since we'd been outside and they just couldn't sit and eat in the nice weather.

Jeremy is the best dad and I'm so glad he came with us.  He had both kids laughing and having a good time.  He even joined them on the swings for a while.