Westport

Today we decided to pack up and head to the cabin in Westport, WA. My dad has never been to the Pacific Ocean and has never been clam digging so we had to show him the ropes. It was a beautiful day full of sunshine and lots of clams! Henry LOVES the beach and was such a great little traveler. I will admit it was hard for me to sit back and watch all the clam digging going on as this is one of my favorite activities Chris and I have always done together. But, watching Henry take it all in was a special treat. I can't wait for all the fun family memories we will have at this special place; truly one of our favorite retreats.

Quick Update

I am almost 14 weeks and really trying to stop counting down the days (hours) and focus on living each day to the fullest. I am constantly thinking about how much longer until we get to 16 weeks and hopefully some of the restrictions from the hemorrhage will lift but really 20 weeks is our next big milestone. It’s really hard to not have those dates in the back of my head when my everyday activity is constantly affected. My dad has been here for almost a week and it has helped a lot to have someone around to help do the basics (in and out of bed, my lap, the car, high chair, changing table, bath tub, etc) but I truly miss really holding and squeezing my baby. Henry does cuddle with me for a bit and still covers me with kisses daily but I miss the bear hugs and walking down the hall with his little arms wrapped around me. He seems to not notice too much as his schedule/routine hasn’t been affected (which I have been trying really hard to maintain) but it sure does eat at mama. Anyway, chin up. Could be worse and I have to focus on each day and not get too ahead of myself. As far as the latest news on baby#2, everything is great. I had another ultrasound this past week as I had another bleeding episode in the middle of the night, luckily this was “old blood” and is due to the original hemorrhage. I lost about 75% of the “old blood” but will likely still have 1 – 2 more bleeding episodes before it is cleared out. After each of these releases I have to get an ultrasound to make sure the baby is ok and the placenta is not bleeding. So far so good. I must say it’s pretty frightening each time it happens but at least now I know what to expect. However, the bad news is this is something we will have to deal with the entire pregnancy. 16 weeks gets us to our first milestone as the baby will be significantly bigger than the hemorrhage which is good. 20 weeks we will be able to start seeing trends in fetal growth to determine the extent of the placental damage, as some damage is likely. Hopefully it’s only a small spot and the baby can grow at a normal rate. However, worst case is it functions more at 60% and we have to worry about low birth weight due to the placenta not functioning at 100%. But given Henry was almost 9 pounds we are not too worried about that just yet. The doc said just a normal/average birth weight is all we are aiming for. Which given I can’t workout or even do much normal activity I don’t think that will be a problem as I am already starting to show sooo much! Ugh. Anyway, boring post (no pics to share) but wanted to keep you all posted on the latest in the Carp Household. Cheers!

1 + 1 = 5

A couple months ago my doctor told me that 1 toddler + 1 baby = more like 5 not 2. Well, I guess we better get ready as Baby Carp #2 is brewing! We are about 12 ½ weeks and while I would like to say has been complication free and I feel fully secure announcing our news, that’s just not the case. Up until 11 weeks things were smooth sailing and then I had an episode of gushing blood one evening that lasted for about 10 seconds and just stopped. This was a result of a subchorionic hemorrhage. Basically this is a blood clot that causes a tear in between the uterine wall and placenta. The baby is growing perfectly and does not seem to be effected at all by the hemorrhage (which is about 2cm wide and is creating a rim around the baby). I guess this is actually fairly common , but unlike most pregnancies at 12 weeks you are not out of the miscarriage woods. The hardest part is I am not on bed rest but pretty darn close, which means I cannot pick up and do our regular activities with Henry, which has just crushed me. I really wanted to savor this time with just him before his life was affected too much. When he is pulling at my legs saying mama mama and I can’t pick him up and add some pregnancy hormones in the mix it just sends tears rolling down my cheeks. I know things could be a heck of a lot worse and keep reminding myself that. The positive is that if I have no new bleeding after 16 weeks we can resume normal activity and if the blood clot still exists it is fairly insignificant at that point. So for the next 4 weeks I require someone to be home with Henry and I around the clock. Just the act of getting him in and out of bed is off limits. Luckily my dad has offered to fly out from Kentucky and stay with us for the next few weeks. While my mom, stepdad and Chris’ mom are all more than willing to step in and help, it just makes it so much easier to have one person here helping versus coordinating everyone’s schedule. The ironic part is just a couple weeks ago I was just telling my mom that I missed my dad. Well, we are going to get 3 weeks to spend with Papa Gabby. The positive is I am really excited for Henry to get to spend some quality time with his papa. They have not seen each other since Henry was 6 months old. So in the end it will be a good thing to have papa out here. I just wish pregnancy was easier for us. After 3 miscarriages prior to Henry any little complication sends you on edge pretty quickly. For that reason I decided to share the news on our blog as the whole reason I started the blog in the first place was when we were pregnant with Henry to offer a place to release emotions, share with family and friends through one place and get a sense of support from the blogging community. So with that please keep us in your prayers and I will continue to keep you updated on Baby#2’s progress, my sanity and of course our precious little Henry.

Valentine's Day

The weather was so nice today that we decided to pack up and head north to visit the Woodland Park Zoo. My parents both joined us as well. It was really great to have all of us together for a day of fun. Henry was very engaged and talked a lot and even took a few more steps on his own! So close to taking off! He is also really trying hard to repeat so many words (names of the animals today as well as repeating "dude" after me....made me laugh so hard). He is just growing up so dang fast! Here are a few pics of our adventures at the zoo.This gorilla made me laugh....so many times this is how we have all felt after a long day. Just pooped! Hope you all had a wonderful day with your loved ones and remember to spoil one another not just on Valentine's Day but every day as you all deserve it!

The real Van Gogh....

We had a great day today with nauna. Henry had a blast at the park and of course just "dorking" out with two of his favorite women! A highlight for me was that he made his very first piece of art for mommy and daddy. I have been just waiting on the edge of my seat (literally!) for him to be able to color with me. I have always loved to color and just can't wait to share this fun activity with him. I just think I will have to learn to let him color on my page as I like to not color outside of the lines! Here is his first drawing, already up for display at our house. Can't wait to have an art wall one day soon. (the scan doesn't show the colors very well but you get the idea) And, I will leave you with this amazing sound. Have a wonderful week!

Stats

Today we finally had Henry's 1 year appointment and he is doing great! Check out these stats....continues to be a BIG kid and very proportionate if I must say so myself!

Height: 32 3/8 inches (97%)

Weight: 28 lbs 1 ounce (95 - 97%)

Head: 49.2 cm (97%)

What else is new? Well his favorite word is dog. He even knows how to make a cute little woof sounds like a dog. He also says dada, mama and the new word in the last week is bapa. He knows exactly what all these words mean and uses them frequently. We have also heard nana, hi and bye among other words but not enough to really claim those in his vocab yet. His favorite things to do is going to the park, a walk outside, playing with the dogs, climbing on our window ledge (which is getting removed this weekend it's way too dangerous!) and he loves to play the drums and is actually really good at it. I would say his favorite toy right now are his books. He loves to be read to and has started to thumb through and read to himself. I just love to watch him do this...very precious. He is constantly filled with loves and makes this wonderful "aaaaa" sound as he is giving a hug or a kiss. I even got woken up by dad and Henry this morning with Henry planting a big kiss on me...doesn't get much better than that! He also loves to say "ahhhh" after taking a drink of his Camelbak water bottle (yes, he has one as he loved moms so much!) and he says "mmmm" when he is eating something he likes or just is pretending to like. Every day is something new and he is keeping us on our toes. I just love and appreciate this little boy so very much. I could not be more proud and happy to call him my own.

On a different note, last Saturday we got our new recliner which came in an enormous box. Chris made two windows and a door for Henry. However, up until yesterday he was not interested in it at all. Chris and I both got in it together and Henry barely stuck his head in, more looked at us like we were crazy people.

Henry also LOVES to talk on the phone. Recently he has figured out how to put the phone to his ear and just starts gabbing away. He even did this at the doctor today with my iPhone. Really funny.

Mom, can I please have some privacy?So anyway, what was I saying?

Big Island

As many of you know Chris and I spent last week on the Big Island in Hawaii for our 3rd anniversary. We had 5 full days and a day of travel on each side to spend exploring, relaxing in the sun, catching up on some much needed sleep, yummy food and just enjoying one another. We had a great time and could not have asked for better weather (80's the entire time!). Neither one of us had been to the Big Island before so it was exciting to venture into something new together. I have always gone to Maui and Chris has been to Honolulu and Maui. The Big Island is so much different and definitely a must see at least once in your lifetime. There is so much to see on this island you simply can't do it all. We stayed on the west side of the island just north of Kona at the Hilton Waikola Resort. It was enormous, almost too big but very nice. We had to walk about 1/2 mile to our room from the lobby every day or take a monorail or boat. We chose to walk everywhere majority of the time which helped keep off some (hence the word SOME) of the lbs from all the yummy food and fruity drinks we enjoyed. We also got to enjoy the whales every single day. Within 5 minutes of sitting on our balcony you could spot numerous whales putting on a show, sometimes for up to 30 minutes straight. So cool! Here are some of our pics from the trip; I didn't bring my nice camera which I regretted once I got there! Bummer!

The tower we stayed at the Hilton (this is taken from the opposite tower so you can see how far you would walk as you can't even see the middle tower in this photo!):

Taking the boat to our room:Our Green Sea Turtle friends we snorkeled with:Hapuana Beach (one of the top 10 in the world....the sand is soft as powder and swimming/snorkeling here is awesome! We had high surf one day and Chris spent a good 45 minutes playing in the waves)My attempt at an underwater pic of Chris...not so bad for not being able to see a thing!We saw our first ever black sand beach...crazy to see your toes in black sand!We spent an entire day on the east side of the island around the Hilo area exploring the volcano, Akaka Falls, Botanical Garden and the scenic drive along the coast back to Kona. Absolutely stunning!Frozen lake of lava with the active crater steaming in the background. Absolutely amazing sight to see that our little pocket camera does not do any justice!Getting ready to head into the Lave Tube (an actual tunnel naturally made of lava)Akaka Falls (one of the most famous on the islands)Botanical Gardens:Chris went fishing for a day and caught a tuna and also fought a 600 pound marlin for an hour and almost had him in the boat but the hook came out. While this was the second time fighting a marlin for him and losing it (first was our honeymoon in Fiji) he had a great time with the fight!
We had a fabulous time and can't wait to take Henry to Hawaii one day! He would have loved it, but who wouldn't? Aloha!