Our Zizi

Tomorrow is a very big important day for my sissie - it's her birthday! Number 25 to be exact. Her life has been kinda crazy lately, so as an early birthday present I wanted to make sure she knows some of the reasons why we love her. 25 of them in no particular order:

1. singing in the car with "microphones"
2. cleaning/unpacking my apartment while I was in the hospital
3. teaching my kids to "flashdance"
4. meatballs!
5. not letting me dress like I'm stuck in the 80's, even though I am
6. movies that no other adult would be willing to watch with me
7. buying the soundtrack to above movies and see #1
8. blue baby
9. knowing the lyrics to every song imaginable
10. carrying Baby Bear through the grocery store so he wouldn't cry
11. showing up at our apartment with good movies and yummy snacks when I couldn't leave
12. visiting me, no matter how far away I went
13. listening to me, no matter how hormonal I might be
14. self portraits
15. eating m&m's in pairs, by color and throwing away the odd numbered ones
16. helping me laugh when I don't feel like it
17. "Pink!", "Blue!"
18. always being a good example of who I want to be, even though she's the baby sister
19. creativity - especially the cool stuff she makes for us
20. loving my kids like they are hers
21. being my best friend
22. not being afraid to be silly
23. willing to shop with me, even though she hates it
24. introducing me to pistachio ice cream with strawberries
25. she's the bestest sister in the whole wide world

The difference a day can make

Wil decided that it was time for Little Man to get a "summer" haircut. He has been trying to buzz my baby's hair since his first haircut and I've been able to stall, until now. This is Little Man yesterday:
Little Man's shampoo mohawk during yesterday's bath
This is what Wil calls the "long haired hippie look". I have no idea why he's chewing no his toes.

This is today:

See my hair!

Happy Easter! Part 2

We did this a bit backward this year. On Saturday before Little Man went to bed instead of reading books, we did the Easter eggs Mimi made for us last year. There are 12 eggs and each one has a summary, scripture reference and a visual aid. We skipped reading all 12 scriptures to keep it short for Little Man. He did well and liked seeing all of the different visual aids in the eggs.*

Sunday morning we were trying to get us all ready for church, Mimi ready for the airport and Baby Bear ready for his blessing. It was kinda hectic and the Easter basket came in handy. We did one big basket for the whole family with one toy, candy for the adults and fruit snacks or goldfish for the little ones. Little Man saw the fruit snacks and was oblivious to everything else. (He has spent the last 2 weeks playing with his dinosaur easter basket that Mimi got him last year. Of course by Saturday it had disappeared and has yet to be found. It also has all of the big plastic eggs in it. Thank goodness I had gotten stuff that was already individually wrapped.) We did manage to get a cute picture of Little Man, but I'm going to have to dress Baby Bear in his blessing outfit again to get a picture. After dinner with Mimi, Grandma, Grandpa and Zizi, Wil and Little Man took Mimi to the airport while I took a much needed nap. We were all sad that Mimi had to head back to Texas. We miss her a lot!

*If anyone wants the info to make a set of eggs, email me and I'll copy it for you.

Happy Easter!

Little Man had so much fun yesterday decorating eggs with Mimi. I had fun taking a ton of pictures.

Photo Shoot

Little Man was being a sweet big brother, trying to get Baby Bear to stop crying.
Baby Bear stopped crying and looks like a little old man. He makes very serious faces.
He already loves his pacifier and was not happy if I tried to get pictures without it. It amazes me how different he looks from the photo above.

Happy Thoughts

Wil's mom has been here since Friday and we have been so grateful to have her here. I honestly don't know how we would have survived without her. I'm just hoping that we haven't shared too many of our germs with her. Zizi also mentioned that I needed to post something happy because we have had some super cute moments with the boys. So here are some highlights:

Fishies
On Saturday, Wil, Mimi and Little Man made the trip down to Petco and got fishies for our tank. Little Man has made a point of showing them off to everyone who has stopped by.


Books
Little Man's attention span is really growing, along with his love of books.

Sick
You can definitely tell we've been sick. This morning Little Man came into the bedroom, crawled up next to me, put his hand on my forehead and said, "Mommy hot?".

Sleep
Baby Bear has been sleeping for 4 or 5 hours at night. If I'm good and go to bed early I can get 7 or 8 hours of sleep with only one feeding in between.

Unplugged
Since moving up to the apartment we haven't had TV. We forgot that the satellite recorder needs a phone connection and we don't have one up here. So until we figure out how to remedy that, we have been watching a lot of movies and I've been reading. (we love the library right now!) This week I've been able to finish 2 of the traveling pants books and "Rebel Angels". I have "The Sweet Far Thing", "Goose Girl" and "Enna Burning" waiting for me.

Week 2

5 infected eyes
1 mystery fever
bronchitis and
a sinus infection

Someone please save us from the germs!

Paranoia

Flashback: Little Man - Day 11
This is what I journaled in his scrapbook,
"When you were 10 days old, you started to get a stuffy nose and then a really yucky cough. Mommy didn't like how it sounded so we called the doctor. He told us to take you to the Emergency Room at Children's Hospital. It was midnight when we got there and the doctors started running tests to see what was wrong. The nurse took some blood and put a tube up your nose to get the yuckies out. They found out that you had a respiratory virus called RSV and told us that you would need to stay in the hospital. The nurse took us to another room where another nurse started an IV line. The doctors were worried that you would get dehydrated and they wanted to be able to give you medicine if you got worse. The nurse put the IV in your wrist and then put a piece of cardboard on your arm so you couldn't pull out the tubes. You hated having that thing on your hand because you couldn't put your hand back in your mouth.
Finally at 5 o'clock in the morning they took us to your room. They dressed you in a orange hospital gown with a dog on the front. They called him “Hospital Hound”. Then they put you in a big metal crib with an oxygen tent to help you breathe. We were there for 3 days while they watched you to make sure you were eating enough and that you were getting enough oxygen.
Mommy stayed at the hospital with you the whole time. Daddy and Grandma both came and stayed with you too. Miss Rachel and Miss Dari came to visit and brought Mommy a Frosty. We were only allowed to told you when you were eating, but you were a VERY good boy. You didn't cry or fuss, even though you felt so yucky. Everybody was worried about you and wanted you to get better. Once you were able to breathe for 6 hours without the oxygen tent, the doctor let us bring you home. You were so happy to have the IV taken off of your hand. We were all happy to have you home again."

Baby Bear - Day 11
For the last few days Baby Bear's eyes have been yucky. I didn't think much of it, since Little Man has a blocked tear duct that produced the same goopy eye. So as I've nursed Baby Bear I have diligently massaged his eyes hoping to help clear his tear ducts. Today after a quick trip to Stuff Mart for motrin to kick Little Man's fever, I came home to Wil and a very unhappy Baby Bear. His right eye was red and completely swollen shut. We called the doctor and he saw us right away... SEVERE conjunctivitis in both eyes. He got a shot of antibiotics, we have ointment to put in his eyes and a follow up appointment tomorrow. These pictures were taken 4 hours after his shot. The swelling has gone down and he can open his eye again.








And people said I was paranoid to worry about Baby Bear getting sick... Thank goodness this one didn't have to go to the hospital.

Tuesday

Today has been exciting. It started just after I turned in my last paper for this class I just finished - about 3AM. Little Man woke up calling for Daddy and telling me his belly hurt. A little children's pepto and tylenol [he has an ear infection] and off to Daddy's bed.

Then Little Bear wakes up for first breakfast and Mommy and he move to the living room. Sometime around 5, I put Little Man back into his bed which lasted until about 7:30. Then back to bed with Daddy, who slept until almost 9 [I hear]. He wanted juice and so Momma got it for him and they watched some video while Little Bear slept.

Since then, we did breakfast, reorganized the closet, and the pantry. Ate a dinner of frozen pizza and went to bed early. Little Man still has a "yucky tummy" and everyone is sleeping just fine . . . now it is my turn to turn in.

Haha, it is only 8PM, but I am looking forward to it.
wil

Week 1

I have so much to catch up on and I want to get it all out, but finding the time to sit down and blog it is proving difficult. If I could type and nurse at the same time, it wouldn't be a problem... but that doesn't really work. So in the meantime, I thought you might like to see what I found today when I was trying to check my email.
Little Man was sharing his trains with his brother. What you can't see are the 4 or 5 small wooden trains under the big train. Notice his finger, as he tells Baby Bear, "Baby, no cry".

Yes, the pacifier is back. As soon as Little Man saw Baby Bear's pacifier and started putting it in his mouth we pulled out the ones I had saved. I sure am glad we kept them.

Also, I'm learning that laughter is not always the best medicine... not when you've had a c-section. When I saw him sitting so sweetly in the swing, it was impossible to reprimand him. The giggles got the best of me, it was too cute. Unfortunately the giggles make my tummy hurt. Really bad.

I'm a big boy now

Little Man peed in his potty!

Cheating

I am a big cheater. I will freely admit it and not feel guilty for it (at least not for now). Why? Because it means that I'm getting a 4 hour block of sleep each night. And, wow, what a difference that makes. Baby Bear has been a great sleeper so far and it's made the transition a lot easier on all of us. Since we were alone together for most of the 4 days we spent in the hospital, he got used to sleeping on my chest or on a pillow next to me in bed. It hurt to keep climbing out of bed to get him out of the bassinet. He's slowly learning to sleep by himself in his bassinet or in the swing, but at night he likes to be on his pillow between Wil and I. Some of you might not consider this cheating... but I've always been a HUGE advocate of everyone having their own bed. I still am. I'm sure that my "cheating" will make life more difficult at some point down the road. But for now, I'm grateful for my 4 hours.

Welcome to Earth

Well, as many of you know the little one is here. Lauren's water broke about 5:30 on Sunday morning [just as I was coming back from the bathroom]. It was okay, lets get things together and start making phone calls and sending text massages. We called a member of our Bishopric who would be passing the hospital on his way to morning meetings, let Grandma know she needed to come upstairs, and put the bag and a towel in the car.

The hospital was slow at first and then do this part quick & then I had to wait. Later, I was walked into surgery and talked with Lauren. Then they extracted the boy and asked if I would like to take pics. [See our family page here, tomorrow, I will put up video and more pics there.]

In his umbilical cord he had what is called a "true knot" where the cord is tied in a knot. If it is pulled tight enough this can cause death because it cuts off the blood supply to the baby. Little Bear's knot was not tight and so far he is looking good. Mommy and Baby are doing fine, we expect home delivery soon.

Lin has posted some pics in Facebook and a video here. If you want to see more, be patient.

wil