Just can't take it anymore!

Those are the words Kellen said to me as he walked back out of his room and into the bathroom, determined to pull the loose tooth.  And so he did.

So, he's lost both middle bottom teeth and now the top right side tooth (you know, the right one of the front pair).

He just yanked that sucker right outta there!

When did he get so big?  I remember marking down in his baby book and on our calendar when he first got those teeth.....

To back the story up, he and I had a date night tonight...just us.  It's been the first time in ages that he and I have gotten to spend time together, so I picked him up, we went and got pizza and a milkshake (and used two more of the coupons that expired today, thank you very much) then headed home, where he got to select the movie of his choosing.  We hung out, then read a book about dolphins (he chose, not me...although I adore dolphins!) and he read it to me.  He's such a good reader!  Then he got all ready for bed and was putting himself to bed when he decided that he was done with the loose tooth.

Hangin' in there....

If folks ask me how I'm doing, that's the response they're most likely to get.  Is it sad that I officially have over 4 weeks left and I'm already to the 'hangin' in there' point?

"give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)

• I don't feel like giving thanks right now because my body is a human humidity reader, swelling larger and larger the higher the humidity levels go.
• I don't feel like giving thanks right now because it takes me longer than I think it should to actually be able to move once I get up from sitting down.
• I don't feel like giving thanks right now because the face I see in the mirror no longer resembles the image of me that I have in my head.
• I don't feel like giving thanks right now because I am seeing way too many numbers on the clock throughout the night.
• I don't feel like giving thanks right now because I'm having to trek to the bathroom every half hour.

BUT, this verse, and many others with the same overall theme, don't tell me to give thanks when I think my circumstances warrant it.

"give thanks in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES..."

Pretty straight-forward, isn't it?

How do you give thanks when you feel blah?  If you have the answer, let me know, but I'm guessing you adopt a Nike attitude and JUST DO IT.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28 (NIV)

In all things.

So, God is working for the good in:

• the fact that my body is a human humidity reader
• the fact that it takes me longer than I think it should to actually be able to move once I get up from sitting down
• the fact that the face I see in the mirror no longer resembles the image of me that I have in my head
• the fact that I'm seeing lots of numbers on the clock throughout the night
• the fact that I'm having to go to the bathroom every half hour

He has a plan for all of this.  (And you're probably thinking, 'Well, duh, Rebecca....the plan is for you to be able to deliver a little baby girl!')  Well yes, but considering that some lucky folks go through their pregnancy with very little 'unpleasant' symptoms, I think there might be more to the plan than just delivering.

We'll see.  And I'll trust.

But if you ask me how I'm doing and I'll still probably answer, "I'm hangin' in there!"

Interesting facts....

• My kids are apparently so competitive that challenging them to a race -- one to determine who can fall asleep the fastest -- actually works.  Yeah, I'm cool like that.  (Don't you wish you would have thought of it? - Go ahead, steal the idea...it works!)
• In the time it takes to cook ramen noodles (cut me some slack, they looked really good to me at the store tonight! And I didn't buy the oreos that I really wanted), I can unload the dishwasher. (The kids ate a much healthier dinner, in case you're wondering)
• In the time it takes for said noodles to cool, I can reload the dishwasher and clean off the kitchen counters. (Who knew?)
• I apparently have no "off" button for popcicles right now.

Like a weed.....

growing, that is.  According to the ultrasound today, Jacey is measuring 5 lb 12 oz, and we officially have 4 weeks and 5 days to go.

Just for comparison sake, Tatum weighed in at 6 lb, 8.8 oz when she was born at 38 weeks.  Kellen was 7 lb, 2 oz full-term.

After the scariness that was Friday at the doctors office, today went much smoother.  Nevermind the fact that we had technical difficulties during the non-stress test - at least they were technical, not problems with Jacey!  After being hooked up for probably 10 minutes, when the nurse came in to check on me she realized that the machine had run out of paper and we hadn't actually recorded anything.  So they restocked the machine and started over. 

And not only could I hear her movements, I could feel them, too!  YAY!

And the ultrasound looked good.  Good fluid levels, still no appearance of the cord around her neck, and great growth.

So stay tuned for Friday's installment....

Cleaning

So for those of you who know me, you know I aspire to have a clean house but my wishes and reality don't always line up.

Today Matt is at a Sunday school golf tourney with the guys, and I'm going to see just how much I can get accomplished (with periodic breaks - I AM in the about-to-pop-pregnant mode, here) before he gets home.

Note: I'm going to work on the post in pieces as I take breaks, so I apologize in advance if it's somewhat disjointed.

First on the list, hit the "hot spots" (thank you FlyLady for the terminology).  For those of you not in the know, "hot spots" are the flat surfaces around your house where you dump things.  In my house, there are many of them, including the butcher block in the kitchen, the dining room table, the cabinet in the dining room, our love seat (which is currently covered in Matt's clean and folded clothes that he assures me he'll put away later on today), the desk, and our night stands.  I've tacked the butcher block and moved to our bedroom to tackle the night stands.  Matt's didn't take very long, but mine has taken more than a half hour because I'm actually going through things and getting rid of junk.

And apparently I feel the need to harbor all of this JUNK right next to my bed on my night stand.  Ug.  Must. stop. the. pattern.  I want my bedroom to feel like a retreat....not something we need to retreat FROM!  So I'm actually taking an aside from the hot spots and have decided to focus on our bedroom.....I have cleaned off our nightstands, GONE THROUGH the STUFF that was on (and around) my nightstand (and shockingly, this took the l-o-n-g-e-s-t amount of time), pulled the miscellaneous stuff from underneath the bed, and cleaned the TV stand (which also functions nicely as a hot spot).  I now have magazines and papers from way too long ago thrown away, coupons clipped and organized in their rightful place, and clean floors (and by clean I mean uncluttered, not vacuumed - I haven't made it that far yet).

Nice!

And here is question for the masses (or the 3 people that actually read this blog) - what do you do with the kiddo keepsakes?  I mean what do you really DO with them?  The mother's day cards, the cute notes and drawings, etc.  Do you put them in a box, do you take a picture of them, what???  Please tell me your secrets, because my kids are incredibly loving and make things for me that I truly do not know what to do with.  Help!

I'm now putting away the lingering clean clothes from the room...then I believe I WILL vacuum to complete the transformation.  I am resisting the urge to pull EVERYTHING out of the closet floor (isn't it amazing how much stuff happens to fall to the floor of your closet and goes unnoticed???) because I don't know if I will have enough time to go through it all before Matt gets home, and I would like him to see what appears to be a finalized project.  Resist I must.

But perhaps later....

And the stuff under the sink in our bathroom is calling me to go through it as well.....

Baby update

Well, she's still baking, but sure did scare me yesterday.

I went in for my non-stress and doctor appointment, and had ingested my Dr. Pepper immediately prior to like advised.  When I went in, they gave me yet another Dr. Pepper, just to be on the safe side.  Well, after getting hooked up to the machine for the non-stress, I realized that I still couldn't feel her (much).  A few minutes later, the doctor comes in to check on me and I inform him that in general, her movements have diminished dramatically over the last week and that I'm just not feeling her move nearly as often as I had. 

He had apparently already gone through my files looking for any patterns of this, and had found none.  So he was paying attention.  His response was that we were going to get to the bottom of it. TODAY. If he didn't like the way the non-stress looked, he was going to do another ultrasound to check on her, and depending on that, possibly send me to L&D for a contraction stress test (using pitocin to cause contractions and monitor how she responded to those).  And despite the fact that we want her to 'bake' for two more weeks to be considered full-term, if he didn't like that, she was coming outta there.

After I finished the 2nd Dr. Pepper, they moved me to my left side to see if that would get her going even more, and he stayed in the room with me listening and monitoring.

Funny thing was, we realized we could hear her movements on the machine, but I couldn't feel them.  At all. So we started 'ticking' the movements as we heard them, rather than as I felt them.  When we did that, she passed the non-stress test.

So my big question - Why am I not feeling her move when it's apparent that she is?  He didn't have a definitive answer to that one...

Still concerned, he has the ultrasound machine pulled into the room and does an ultrasound on her.  After he searched for a while, I finally asked him what he was looking for - and he was checking her fluid levels as well as trying to see if she had the cord wrapped around her neck.  Well, because she's head down - and VERY head down, he actually had to move her out of my pelvis with one hand and try to get a picture of her head and neck with the u/s using the other.

Ouch.

With her head momentarily out of my pelvis, we're able to clearly see her head and her spine, and do NOT see evidence that the umbilical cord is wrapped around her neck.  And her fluid levels look good.

Praise God!

So we're still left with my big question.  And no definitive answer.  We discuss adjusting my positions if it has been a while since I've felt her, and I practiced supporting myself with my arms and laying on my stomach (yep, you read that correctly) in order to put pressure on her and force her to really kick and move. That worked, by the way.  So if she goes too long without me feeling her movements, that is the plan.

As for the potential (and most probable) reason for why I'm not feeling her....she is so low and positioned in such a way that all of her arm and leg movements aren't noticeable to me.  When she's rotating herself - I can feel (and see) that.  I see something resembling a bottom rolling across my belly.  And after she does that, I frequently feel what I'm guessing are her knees or feet on the sides of my belly.

So, reassured that she was in fact moving, and armed with some techniques to use if I became nervous about my lack of feeling her move, we decided to call it a day.  Same ole, same ole for next week....ultrasound and non-stress on Monday and another non-stress and doctor visit on Friday!

Vote for Tatum

Well, if you saw my post on voting for Kellen, you know what I'm talking about.  I JUST found out that Tatum is in the running as well!

So....click here to vote for Tatum.  And while you're at it, remember that you can vote daily!!

2nd verse,

same as the first.

Dealing with cellulitis again with Tatum.  She had her swim lesson last night at the pool, we made it home, ate, bathed, and I didn't notice anything (but also didn't closely inspect her feet for bites, either).

I guess I need to add that to our daily routine, because when we got up this morning and I was helping her get dressed, I noticed that the area around her ankle was red, hot and VERY swollen.  I drew the outline, gave her Benadryl, and we headed on with our day.  Once I got in the office, I gave her doctors office a call and scheduled an appointment for her for mid-day and he confirmed my mommy-diagnosis - cellulitis.  Again.

Armed with a prescription for the same two antibiotics she was on barely a month ago, I dropped her off at school for her nap, dropped the prescription off at the pharmacy, and went home to have lunch.  While I was home, I stripped her bedding, all of her loveys, and the numerous stuffed animals that accompany her to sleep and threw them in the washing machine on hot. Just in case. I also took all of her crocs, minus the ones she was wearing, and soaked them in clorox-water in the sink. Just in case. Then I went to pick up the prescription, headed back to day care, woke her up to take her meds, then stayed with her until she went back to sleep.

So now I'm on a mission to see how in the world we can avoid this from happening again.  Antibiotic ointment on anything resembling a bite or sting is apparently a must for her. Daily. So is insect repellent with high concentrations of DEET.  Note to self: I need to look at what they're using at day care when they go outside. One of her teachers did tell me that they put the insect repellent on them twice for each period of time that the kids are outside.  Not twice a day, twice per outing. You would think that would be sufficient, but apparently not.  Unless we go to the pool for swimming after school during the week, we aren't outside. It's not that I don't like the outdoors, I just can't handle the heat right now. So she isn't getting the bites from being outside after school (which is good, since the mosquitoes that vector the west nile virus are out at dusk). On the weekends we might go and do things, but it's different every weekend and again, I can't really handle being outside too terribly much right now.

So, I'm trying to clean and disinfect everything I can, even though that's probably not the cause of her infections.

I'm open to suggestions if anyone has them!

Vote for Kellen!

A week or two ago, I entered a few photos of Kellen in a contest Parents magazine was running.  They're looking for kiddos to grace the cover of their magazine....and will send some semi-finalists to a photo shoot in August to get the shots they'll make the final selections from for the contest.

Well, I received an email today indicated that Kellen is in the running to become one of the weekly reader's choice finalists!

('Cause my boy can be quite the ham, right?!)

Anywhoooo, follow the link to vote on Kellen and vote for him!  You can do this daily and through June 27th.

Whoo hoo!!

Fail....

I think I failed my non-stress test today.  Jacey was moving some during the ultrasound, kicked the nurse as she was putting the monitors onto the ever-expanding space that used to function as my abdominals, and then didn't move again for nearly 20 minutes. Apparently Matt and I breed stubborn and strong-willed children, a trait that is evident even in utero (shocking, huh?). I had 1 kick/movement during the entire non-stress test, despite drinking a Dr. Pepper prior to going into the doctors office and drinking a Barq's (with bite, mind you) during the test.  I had 3 other "marks" on the read-out that were contractions. That was it. Ug.

I say I think I failed because I don't actually know what the criteria is for passing a non-stress test in terms of number of movements in that amount of time and I am not scheduled to see the doctor until Friday, after my next non-stress test, when we'll go over all of the results from this week. Of course, that is unless I get a phone call first, which the nurse said was likely.

Jacey has actually been fairly inactive today, which is unlike her.  As my zombie-like demeanor might give away, she normally keeps me up quite a bit at night either kicking her legs causing knees and/or feet to attempt to escape my belly or by practicing her punches on my bladder.

However, as I type this now, she's practicing a few of her kicks.  Maybe she wants to come out and go straight into Tae Kwon Do with her brother?  Who knows.

So, since I'm feeling her move some, I'm trying not to stress about what I don't know about the results of the test today....'cause stressing about it certainly isn't going to help matters!

The end result

...of my neurotic behavior leading to the maternity shoot and Maleigh's awesome photographic talents can be found here.

I love the sneak peak and cannot wait to see the rest of them!

I just love how this one turned out....if you're gonna be round, you might as well have fun with it!

Chick-fil-A deals

A friend mentioned to me this weekend that the Chick-fil-A here in town was having 'deals' every day they are open during the summer.

So, for you College Station folks, here goes (in case you don't have this info yet, and I did the best I could to write down quickly, so be sure and double check this at CFA):
Monday - Milkshake Monday! Buy a 20 oz milkshake, get a spicy chicken sandwich free
Tuesday - 5-8 PM, Kids night - Kids eat free w/ purchase of an adult meal
Wednesday - Free refills on your waffle fries from 5 PM - close
Thursday - Free 3 pack mini OR breakfast chicken sandwich for breakfast (No purchase!)
Friday - If you purchase 4 meals, you get 4 desserts for free
Saturday - Get a free small nugget tray with the purchase of a large nugget tray

Cool, huh?  I think I have my Thursday breakfast lined up!

Big girl

According to the ultrasound I had today, Jacey's pretty big, at least for 33 weeks, anyway.  She's measuring 4 pounds, 12 ounces (with a 6 ounce range on either side of that figure).  Considering that the 'average' (according to several week-by-week calendars I've browsed) is  4 1/2 pounds, I guess that probably makes her pretty normal sized, but yay!

I was able to see her yawning and blinking at me today.  Very interesting.  She must have been in a rare sleepy mood, because she wasn't moving very much during the ultrasound OR the non-stress test.  She didn't kick it into gear until I had finished off a bottle of Gatorade.

But, it must have been good enough, because the doc popped in to check on me and said he liked the way the non-stress test looked and that the ultrasound looked good, with a pocket of amniotic fluid for her. 

Yay!

I'll do another non-stress test on Friday, see him again, and then next week will be more of the same!

What a weekend!

You know the weekends you have that are thoroughly enjoyable?  The ones when, at the end of it, you look back and think, "I just had a GREAT weekend!"

Well, I had one of those weekends this past weekend.  And I was so blessed by it!

Kellen had been gone for almost two weeks (home the weekend prior), so it was wonderful to spend some time with him.  Tatum had missed him terribly, so it was great to see them playing together (and sweetly 95% of the time, too).

Saturday was an incredibly busy day.  We started out with me going crazy trying to get EVERYTHING together for the maternity photo shoot that was slated to begin at 9 AM.  It was one of those times when I thought I knew what I was going to wear, what I was going to accessorize with, and then when I put it on, I didn't like it.  And if I didn't like it on, I certainly wasn't going to feel good enough in it to get pictures made.

So after grabbing clothes for the kids in colors that coordinated, deciding then changing my mind about what Matt was going to wear, and grabbing almost a half dozen shirts for me, we set out.  Late.  Our poor photographer called 2 or 3 times just to make sure she didn't miss us at our set location, but it was just one of those mornings!  Luckily, she's really easy-going and completely understood my neurotic-ness.

Long story short, after getting her opinion on clothing choice (which luckily coincided with what my leanings were), we were ready to go.  We took lots of candid shots with all of us as a family at the George Bush Library by the pond and gardens.  There was a nice breeze, so it wasn't completely miserable, either!  Quick change of clothes for me, and Matt and I took some shots together.  Then back to the car for clothing changes for me and the kids and we took some pictures fully belly style....with the kids painting my belly.  Kellen even wrote 'family' (misspelled, but how adorable!) on my tummy.

I cannot wait to see how they turn out!

As we were on our way to the photo shoot, I realized why I was wanting it to turn out perfectly. --This would be my last chance to do this.

Ever.

NOTE: I know the drill about never say never.  But if there is a 4th baby Hapes, God will be truly demonstrating his sense of humor. Big time.

I had wanted to take maternity pictures with both of the other kids, but I never followed through with it for one reason or another.  I have in my head the types of images that I wanted to see...but never made it happen.

And this was my last shot.

No wonder I was so stressed out!  Once I realized that, I relayed my epiphany to Matt, took a deep breath, and thought...but Maleigh will make sure we get good shots.

We finished up with the photo shoot right around 11 AM, then headed to the house for a quick change of clothes, grabbed some coupons and went to eat at a pizza place we hadn't tried yet, but had coupons for (that expire at the end of the month!).  In case you're wondering, Hungry Howie's Pizza is FABULOUS!  I thought it was a little pricey, even with the coupons, but then realized that I was full on only two pieces of pizza, which is rare for me (pregnant or non-pregnant, I can put down some pizza!).  Oddly enough, the same thing happened for Matt, so we ended up with lunch AND dinner out of the deal.

Then I headed out to my spa day, and had a facial, massage, and pedicure.  SO NICE!  I finally made use of the Christmas (yes, I know...Christmas) present that Matt gave me.  As I finished my spa session, I set out to use yet another coupon at Bath Junkie for some salt scrub.  Things went a little awry when I was rear-ended en route (no injuries, thank God!) and then realized that my attempt was in vain anyway, since Bath Junkie has apparently closed here in town.

Back to the house I went, and then we hung out for the remainder of the night.

Sunday I apparently needed lots of sleep, because I mumbled something to the effect of, 'Just a few more minutes' to Matt when he attempted to wake me up to get ready for church.  I have no recollection of that conversation.  At any rate, the kids lounged, I lounged, Matt tried desperately to get rid of his headache, and I mustered the energy to clean up a little around the house in the meantime.

Matt and Kellen went to mow grass while Tatum was finishing her nap and snuggling with me, then when they got back to the house we headed out for our Sunday School dinner group playdate/picnic at one of the splash pads here in town.  We were there between 2 1/2 and 3 hours and the kids had a BLAST!  You would have thought that there were holes in their stomachs with as much as they continued to eat, but they played HARD!

Afterwards, we went to Ben and Jerry's to use yet another coupon (catching my theme yet?) for a buy one, get one free ice cream.  We all had yummy flavors and it was a great ending to a fun filled family weekend!

We got back home, Matt bathed the kids and we got them settled down for the night, he went to the store (gotta love my man who will shop for me!) and then he and I stayed up waaaayyy too late watching Wolverine.  I had forgotten how much I liked that movie!

Here's hoping your weekend was as enjoyable as mine!

High risk

High risk is not a term I would use to describe myself. Or this pregnancy. So it was a little disconcerting when, after my first non-stress test today at the doctors office, I realized that phrase was circled on my paperwork as I was taking my slip up to the front to check out.

Hmph.

It's just a phrase. And it changes nothing, really.

My God is bigger than a phrase on a piece of paper at any doctors office and He's in control of this situation.

In case you're wondering, the non-stress test went well today.  Stay tuned for Monday, when we do another non-stress and have an ultrasound to measure the amniotic fluid levels.

Week by week

I had my doctors appointment today and we'll now be taking it week by week.  Overall, it was a good check up. 

• Blood pressure is good (which is a good thing considering how much 'edema' I have...if my bp was off I'm thinking I would be quite a bit more concerned about that particular nuisance).
• Weight gain is just weight gain.
• Muscle tightness/soreness and joint stiffness warranted me a trip to the Health Foods Store for magnesium to supplement...1000 mg per day (or 250% of the daily value).  Note to self: I should look at my prenatal to see how much is in that as well.
• Heart pounding and racing was attributed to a hyper volume issue.  Nothing to be concerned about unless it doesn't stop and/or I have tachycardia to go along with it (which I haven't).
• Continual contractions, despite a heavy fluid intake of water and gatorade is not concerning at this point, but he indicated the magnesium will probably help with that as well. (YAY!)

The monitoring begins tomorrow with the first non-stress test.  Then on Monday I'll go in for an ultrasound and another non-stress test.  Next Friday, I'll have the third non-stress test and see the doctor again to go over the results of all of those things.  He wants to look at the ultrasound to see how things look with her right now before making the final decision on the steroid shot sequence.

Then we'll go week to week to see how things are progressing.  I'm hopeful that the Monday ultrasound/non-stress and either a Thursday or Friday non-stress/doctors appointment schedule can be maintained to minimize my trips.  The office is very accommodating, so we'll see!

When the thunder rolls.....

....and you're at the pool, it's not good.

Yesterday was supposed to be the beginning of Tatum's private swim lessons with one of the graduate students from my department.  She taught both of the kids two summers ago, and they did wonderfully with her!  And yes, in case you're wondering, we actually gave Tatum lessons with her when she was just over a year old...and she did great!

Back to the point.  Tatum and I arrive at the pool maybe ten minutes till 6, and we were supposed to meet Cymon at 6 for the lesson.  No biggie, we're early (for once as of late) and head on in to the pool to splash around.  At this point in time, the quicker I can get somewhere that makes me a little more buoyant, the better!

We play for a few minutes, then I hear it.  Thunder.  I wasn't the only one who heard it, because the lifeguards were conversing back and forth amongst themselves to be sure they heard it, too.  Yup.  Whistle blows and they clear the pool......just as Cymon was walking toward the entrance.  So we cancel the actual lesson and agree to meet again on Wednesday as originally scheduled. 

I then went to the lifeguard to ask about a rain check, only to be told that they aren't 'officially' shutting down the pool, they're just required to wait 20 minutes after the last thunder clap.

So we wait.  For 20 minutes, just like we were told.

After the all clear, I rinse Tatum off (because in the meantime, she went and played on the playground.  I didn't think they wanted her getting back into the pool with dirt and sand on her.  Just my guess.) and back into the pool we go.

For all of 45 seconds.

And the thunder rolled.  Yup.

Here's hoping that the forecast for Wednesday is better!

Update

Wow.  I've realized that I've been less than stellar at updating the blog on actual family happenings.  Sorry 'bout that!

Here goes:

Kellen completed the first grade a little over a week ago.  That in and of itself is monumental (at least in this momma's book!)  Unfortunately, he spent the Thursday prior to getting out of school in the doctors office, as we were trying to determine if he has broken his finger (he is Matt's child, you know...).  On Wednesday night, he shut his pinky finger in the door after we got home from the swimming pool.  Needless to say, he was in quite a bit of pain and couldn't bend his finger very well.  After icing his finger down for about 45 minutes, I decided to forgo a trip to the ER and just check on things in the morning.  When we did, he was able to bend his finger a little better, but considering how swollen and purple it was, we decided to be safe.  So I dropped him off at school and told him I would call the doctor and get an appointment, but would make sure it was after 1 PM when he was back from his end-of-school picnic.

Yup.  Never should have uttered those words.

I put a call in to the doctors office and they only have an appointment in the morning.  His doctor and the back up we normally see weren't available in the afternoon.  Ug.  So I called the school, made arrangements with the principal to pick him up before the bus left for the park, and to deliver him when we were through to his teacher at the park so he could ride back on the bus and spend the rest of the day at school.

We go in to the doctor (me and both kids, including Tatum - her story to come) and are seen by the doctor, who decides we needed to get x-rays to rule out a break (just like Matt and I thought).  So, I got the orders for the x-ray, took Tatum back to her day care, and Kellen and I headed to the hospital.  Now, considering everything we had to do, we didn't have to wait all that long.  But to poor Kellen, who wanted nothing more than to get to the park for his class picnic, the waiting was brutal.  We got the x-rays and headed back over to the doctors office to get the results.  Once we got back there, we were ushered right in and told that no, it wasn't broken.

Thank God for small miracles!

We then hightailed it to the park, and made it there right at noon, giving my dear sweet Kellen a whole HOUR to spend at the park with his friends and classmates.

*Sigh*  It was the best I could do, which didn't sit all that well with him.

The end of the school year came the next day, and with a gift for his teacher in tow, he was off.  He got a wonderful report card (surprise, surprise) and had a great last week behavior wise.

Last week he lolly gagged with Maw Maw and Paw Paw at their house, and for the next two weeks, will be attending the YMCA day camp in Conroe.  He's going to have just oh-so-much fun this summer!

Oh, and apparently Matt informs me that between Mother's Day and some day last week, Kellen has grown a quarter of an inch.

Yowzers! 

Matt was packing his clothes for this week yesterday, and asked about a pair of shorts and whether they were 'play' shorts or good shorts.  With him growing like that, just about everything should be play shorts, because he's gonna be out of them by the end of the summer!

On to Tatum....
So the same Wednesday night that I took them both to the pool, I noticed that the top of her foot was red.  Really red.  Upon closer inspection, I see some bite marks on the side of her foot.  After the pool (and icing Kellen's finger) I gave her some Benadryl, thinking she was having a reaction to the bites (she is MY daughter, after all, and mosquitoes love us both).  Thursday morning we take a look at her foot to notice that the redness has spread, it's VERY hot to the touch (or even if you held your hand over it) and it's swollen.  So I took her to day care and told her I was going to call the doctor.

I was able to get an appointment for both kids at the same time relatively early in the morning, so yay!  The doctor walked into the room, started to ask what was going on with Tatum, saw her foot and stopped mid-sentence.

It was THAT obvious.

Diagnosis - cellulitis.  We drew an outline of the current redness, then he marked a spot further up on her calf and indicated that if the redness crept up to or past that line that we needed to bring her back in immediately.  Armed with a prescription to fight both strep-A and staph, we were ready to go with her.

So I did take her back to day care, let them know what was going on, dropped off her prescriptions at the pharmacy, then headed back to the hospital to finish up with Kellen.  After getting him squared away and dropped off at the park, I went back to the pharmacy, picked up the meds and went to day care.  And Tatum was asleep for her nap.  Ug.  So I couldn't give her the first dose of antibiotics.  I left day care with instructions that they call me if she seemed really uncomfortable and headed off to work.

A short time later, I got the call.  They indicated that her foot felt like it was on fire (and it did).  So I picked her up, headed home, gave her the first dose of her meds, put ice on her foot, and let her pick the movie of her choosing.

Whew!  She wanted lots of snuggles, didn't want me too far from her, but all-in-all, she was in a relatively good mood, considering.

Fast forward to now, and she's good.  We've just finished with the 10-day sequence of both of the medications, she didn't have some of the side effects we were concerned about (BIG yay on that one), and now we're just needing to be sure to keep her slathered with sunscreen and cooled down (the combination of antibiotics made her more susceptible to the sun and overheating, and those effects will linger for another handful of days).

She has the first of her swim lessons tonight and Wednesday night, and she's very much looking forward to going back to the pool!

Me and Jacey....
So the Texas heat and humidity are really getting to me.  I went in to my thyroid doctor today and he even commented on my 'edema'.  Isn't that such a nice word for saying you're bloated, swollen and/or retaining water?  Anyway, I go in for a check-up on Wednesday, and we'll schedule out our monitoring, which will include once a week ultrasounds, twice weekly non-stress tests, and the steroid shot sequence to try and mature Jacey's lungs.  I'm not exactly sure what that schedule will look like, but I'll know more on Wednesday. 

In case you're wondering, the extra monitoring is, at this point, a precaution.  Kellen had the cord wrapped around his neck (twice, if memory serves me) AND he had a knot in his cord.  Knowing either of those things would have made his delivery an automatic c-section, but we didn't know.  So with Tatum, we decided to monitor things a little closer there toward the end, just to be on the safe side, beginning at 32 weeks.  It was a good thing we did, because at 38 weeks I was told that the doctor didn't like the levels of her amniotic fluid and that I was going into the hospital to have her.  That night.  Non-elective. 

Just so you know, the phrase 'non-elective' is a VERY scary one.

Considering the history, we decided to begin the monitoring process at 32 weeks.  I am now 32 weeks and 2 days, and my appointment will be at 32 weeks and 4 days.  I'll be thrilled if all of the extra precautions are just that, but am thinking that realistically, I'll make it to 37-38 weeks.

She seems to be doing fine, is VERY active, and doesn't like to be squished.  At all.  By anything.  I can't wait to meet her, but am just trusting that it will happen when it's supposed to.

Kellen and Matt put up the crib this weekend, we went and got another crib mattress for it, and the bedding has been washed and is now in place.  So Jacey officially has a place to sleep now, which was something that apparently was bothering the kids quite a bit.

As for things at work, I'm trying to finish up projects and have the end of June or middle of July in most folk's mind with regard to when I should be slowing down.  I'll work right up until Jacey comes, so long as I'm able, but everyone around here needs a date or time frame to shoot for in order to wrap up projects that will be due while I'm out.  So that's what we're doing!

Last but not least, Matt.  He's still Matt, and doing the same ole, same ole.  And putting up with me and my end-of-pregnancy craziness.