Where did my baby boy go?

Grandma Carol gave Henry a haircut yesterday and man does he look different. My baby is gone and a little boy has taken his place! I keep finding myself staring at him wondering what happened?!? Such a handsome little man. Mommy will admit she does like the longer hair and will likely keep it a tad longer to keep a glimpse of my baby for awhile! Calling to tell everyone about his new do....

Mommy & Me

Today I decided to take a little adventure with Henry and try going on a lunch date with just him and I. We have been out to restaurants with other people several times but never just the two of us. So, we packed up and headed to Red Robin. He LOVED it. We had such a great lunch together laughing, eating tons and mommy taking in just how grown up our little man is getting. After lunch we decided to walk down to the Kid Quest Museum for a little play time. On the way there we ran into the Easter Bunny. I let Henry walk in front of me to see what he would do as I have always heard kids are afraid of over sized stuffed animals walking around. But, not our kid. He walked right into the photo booth, thank goodness no other kid was getting their picture taken as he would have surely made the photo, and stood right in front of the bunny and started talking to him. So funny. I wasn't prepared for Easter photos but thought what the heck who cares if he has food all over his face and is not in his Sunday best as he surely will ham it up for the camera, and that he did! After we played at the museum for about an hour I was carrying him out and he leaned over and gave me a big kiss on the cheek. Man that's all it takes to make my heart melt. We had such a perfect date and I can't wait to have many more dates with little H in the days, months and years to come!

It's a.......

Boy? Girl? Your guess is as good as ours as we decided to not find out. I have been excited about not knowing the sex up until today. The ultrasound tech is now the only person who knows what we are having..so not fare! The doc doesn't even know as they don't want to spoil it for us with a slip up. However, I am excited for the biggest surprise of my life but can't believe I actually got talked into this! Anyone who knows me knows I am one of the worlds biggest planners and typically do not like surprises. Guess some things do change.

In regards to the ultrasound we got some great news and another bump. Good news first. The hemorrhage has shrunk to the size of a quarter which is fantastic news! My placenta from what we can see right now does not seem to have much damage or small enough where they couldn't detect during this ultrasound. I have been given the go ahead to live life as we normally would just without anything crazy. I feel like such a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. The baby is growing perfectly as well. Measuring at 7 oz and in the 63rd percentile with a heartbeat sitting at 141...just perfecto! Given we are only 17 weeks the doc wasn't sure if we would be able to see the entire anatomy screen but we were and everything looks perfect with the little one. He/She was very active which confirmed that I have in fact been feeling baby move around in there; which is about the same time I did with Henry as well. As for the not so good news, we have a new complication that has shown up. A normal umbilical cord has three vessels; vein, artery and the "backup." You typically only use the vein and artery but having the "backup" gives you more peace of mind in case anything were to happen to one of the main vessels. Well, my umbilical cord for this pregnancy has only two vessels. So far baby is just fine and we expect will continue to be. It does make us a bit uneasy not having the "backup" but in this case there is absolutely nothing you can do about it so there simply is no use to worry about it. As far as how we are moving forward we will have an ultrasound every 4 weeks to check on the fetal growth and placenta. If the baby starts to decline in growth we will start looking at other options pending on exactly where we are in the pregnancy. If after 26 weeks and any bleeding occurs they will put us into delivery immediately. So, fingers and toes crossed and every prayer we can get to get us to 26 weeks and hopeful closer to 32 is needed! But so far so good and our spirits have definitely been lifted!

"14"

Henry is 14 months old this Sunday and continues to be one ball of energy and smiles! It's been awhile since I have given an update on our little man and all his tricks so I thought I would fill you in.

* He recently discovered that his farts are funny. Maybe it's the vibrations in his diaper? I don't know but he is terrible at keeping a secret when he lets one loose!
* He still loves to bang his head on things or mom either for fun or when he's mad. Normal? Not sure....jury is still out on that one!
* Whenever he sees a picture of a bear he growls and always barks when he sees a dog (his favorite animal)
* He has recently learned how to blow and loves his new recorder from his papa. Funny for now, but I was kind of hoping the loud instruments waited until what 4th grade? Isn't that when they bring in the "taa taa tee tee tah flash cards?" Anyone else remember those?
* He can point out other people's noses but you better watch out as he may try to pick your nose too! He also knows where your eye is and tries to pull off eyebrows....yes, I know I need to get them waxed but thanks for the reminder!
* He loves to put his feet in moms face for her to smell them so she will make funny stinky noises.
* He's going to be a future basketball star and already knows how to get his ball on command and slam dunk! (Mama is soooo proud! Next up is learning to throw the ball forward, we got the backwards throw down!)
* Loves to be thrown on the bed and have pillow fights with daddy every morning.
* Races to the door every day to greet daddy after work with a huge smile and a hug yelling "dada!" I have considered taking a side job so I can get this greeting too!
* He's a kissing monster (literally open mouth and sloppy) and no one can kiss mommy without him coming over to kiss mommy too. Mommy often makes daddy kiss her lots to steal little Henry kisses!
* If he could he would live outside. No matter how long you play outside when you come back in you are sure to see a fit!
*His favorite foods are peas, spinach, broccoli, cheese, yogurt, almond butter, chicken nuggets and taco seasoned ground meat of any kind (he has had deer, elk and moose...definitely a Carp!)
* Whenever he wants to go outside he goes and gets his shoes and brings them to mommy. He is even trying to put them on himself by holding one leg and trying his best to fit it in the shoe with the other hand. Seriously is fascinated with shoes! Wonder where he gets that?!?
* He can spot an airplane a mile away and has created his own word for them "dadoo"..his dada is very proud and grandpa thinks he would have a good eye to take hunting...mama is not ready for that yet!
* He is learning new words all the time and is starting to copy mommy (Scary I know!) He knows how to say (and knows exactly what they mean): Truck (his new favorite), dog, dada, mama, ball, bapa, nana (nauna) and hi. He has even said bubbles and love you a couple times. My favorite is he has recently started to say "all done" and do the sign language hand movement for this at the same time. Love that he is catching on!

I could go on and on but will end with saying that he keeps us on our toes! He is constantly smiling (literally all day long) and loves to laugh! I have never met anyone in my entire life as happy as he is. He truly brings a twinkle to my eye. I just love this little man more than anything in the entire world. Seriously no words can describe the love I have for our son. Simply incredible.

Happy Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday Westyn and congratulations mommy & daddy on achieving the first BIG milestone! What a beautiful year it has been. We love you so very much!

Hopeful

Today I had another check up with the doctor to monitor the progress of baby #2. I am about 16 weeks and so far from what we can tell the little one seems to be growing normally. His/her heartbeat was nice and strong at 150 beats. I will never stop being amazed at that beautiful sound. Simply incredible. Once again at this appointment I have gained a bit more information as to what exactly we are up against and what milestones we need to hit. The news seems to be getting harder and harder to take or as though more and more information is being released. While I was under the impression that at 16 weeks we could start breathing easy, that's not the case. As the doc said, each day we get closer and closer but we still have a ways to go. But, sadly we will never get that feeling of being out of the miscarriage woods until our little one gets to 26 weeks. The reason being is at 26 weeks we could deliver and the baby has a very good chance of survival in the hospital. But, we really want to get to at least 32 weeks. I guess this hemorrhage is not normal (less than 1% of pregnancy's) and we will just have to fight each obstacle as they come. I will be going in for an ultrasound on Friday or the following Monday to check on the baby and determine if there has been any placental damage. This will be a standard routine; every 4 weeks a new ultrasound to check in on things and make sure nothing new has developed. Long term damage to the placenta can cause problems with the baby's growth (size) but can also cause my water to break among other things. So this seems to be much more critical than we gathered at the beginning. The positive is that I have been given the green light to resume my mommy duties with little Henry. I no longer require someone to be at the house with me around the clock. However, I have to make smart decisions as to how much I pick him up. I still cannot work out and don't expect they will allow me to do so for the remainder of the pregnancy. To be honest, that is the least of my worries as I know I will get my body back eventually. I am relieved to gain some normalcy with Henry as I really don't want to miss out on anymore bear hugs or feel suffocated at home. I am sad that we have to fight another emotional battle with pregnancy as we truly have had enough already. I mean seriously when is enough, enough? However, I am confident we will fight hand and hand and keep our heads above water no matter what happens. I am hopeful and am trying my best to live in each moment and not worry about what tomorrow will bring. It's so hard as the more time passes the more attached you become and the more scary the idea of losing this little one becomes and hurts. All I can say is I am trying my best to stay positive, keep the bad thoughts away, and focus on the positives all around us. This little man below keeps me smiling and thankful for each and every minute. He truly is the light of our lives. Amazing little boy. (This pic is from his first spaghetti dinner with some peas on the side..so messy but soooo funny!) Until next time, keep us in your thoughts and prayers...we could use all we can get!

Brown's Point

This past Saturday we enjoyed a day at the Brown's Point family house. It was gorgeous out and aside from attempting to keep Henry from eating every rock on the beach it was very relaxing. I so prefer sand as I don't have to worry about the choking hazard of these rocky beaches! Anyway, nothing new to share but a couple pics of our day on the sound.