Big Brother and Little Sister #2

My babies matched yet again.....

Fungi!

We have a fungus growing in our backyard...it seriously sprouted overnight and is already taking over the yard with its nastiness! I bravely ventured out into the rain to capture its photo because I thought it would look cool. Too bad I will have to de-fungi the backyard before I take Braeden out to play tomorrow....I know that if I don't, he will decide that he finally wants to try eating mushrooms.

Big Brother and Little Sister

Despite shopping and searching high and low, I was never able to find Big Brother/Little Sister matching shirts that I loved. This is mainly because I am crazy and had my babies so close together. Most Big Brother shirts don't start until 2T, and Braeden barely fits in 12 month size clothes as it is.

Luckily, I have found a way to remedy this....Carters and The Children's Place make matching onesies for both boys and girls! Here is an example:

Geez....Imagine if I ever have twins!!

4 Weeks Old....Are You Kidding Me?!

I am in complete and utter shock....Gracie girl is 1 month old already!! The time is flying by and making me so sad. Sure as the weeks go by, she starts to show off her personality and reaches new milestones, but I will miss the teeny tiny newborn phase. Plus, I vowed that I would be back to the gym by 4 weeks, and I am not looking forward to working out again.....

The Afterbirth

Dinnertime is inevitably a very messy time...mainly because everything needs to be slathered in ketchup or else B won't touch it....

However, this dinner reached all new levels of disgusting. So much so that my husband dubbed our son "the afterbirth." Yuck!

Stupid Seagulls....Pretty Picture!

Babies....very expensive!

I knew raising a girl would be expensive in the long run....but this is ridiculous!

In case the picture is not clear....that is $27,213.11! And there are even more notices like this one at home for hundreds and even thousands of dollars. Holy crap....luckily as the notice says "this is not a bill." Good thing because I will not be paying that much!

Thankfully, our claims just have to be re-billed to Chris's insurance. Then we will just have to pay a more reasonable $300-ish. Still, my eyeballs nearly popped out of the sockets when I saw this bill! So much so I had to post this and Perez Hilton-ize it!

Gracie Girl Slideshow

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here is the slideshow I have been working on for Ashlyn Grace....still a work in progress, but I am pretty proud of it. Makes me cry everytime I preview it!

FYI: The slideshow is set to music.

Life's a Beach

Father's Day at the beach!

My Little Peanut

For a couple of months now, Braeden has carried around his blanket everywhere. So much so that we have nicknamed him Linus!

Well, Imagine my surprise while browsing at Target when I found this super cute tee shirt! Can you say perfect?!

21 Days Old

Gracie Girl is 3 weeks old today!

Yay for Boobies!!

Ashlyn had her weight check today after continuing to lose weight after she was born. She was down to 9lbs on Thursday from her birth weight of 9lbs 7oz. I didn't make too many changes. I continued to breastfeed on demand....but instead of trying to feed with both breasts, I just would use one at each feeding in order to ensure she would get the most hindmilk (higher in fat content).

I guess it worked because she is up to 9lbs 8oz!! She has gained an average of 2 oz per day (1 oz per day is expected). Our pediatrician was very impressed with this and thought her coloring looks beautiful considering her issue with jaundice. She told us to just continue with what we are doing. Yay, we don't have to supplement with formula!

As far as our ER visit on Thursday, the ED never informed her of our visit. She had no idea! We filled her in, and she told us to keep an eye on Ashlyn for further problems with reflux. At this point, we don't have to turn to medications, but if it continues to be an issue we will discuss our options.

Happy Father's Day Papa!

Happy Father's Day Dad!!

Shoutout....

To my favorite baby daddy.....HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

And here is some proof that he is an awesome daddy.....

He is loving and caring:

He is a very hands-on daddy: He wears his babies:

He is a good rough-houser:
He is a little kid at heart:
He's not easily embarrassed:

He is a great coach:

He can take a beating:

He poses for Mommy's endless photo ops:

He changes poopy diapers:

He is silly:

He already has a daddy's girl on his hands:

Stupid Old Navy

Old Navy sold out of the $2 tanks by the time we got to the mall this afternoon....Not fair!!

I love those tanks and live in them during the summer (along with Old Navy flip flops). Yes, apparently I still think I am in high school and dress the part!

Oh well, those stupid mannequin commercials drive me crazy so maybe I should be boycotting Old Navy anyways.....

Ashlyn's First ER Visit at 17 Days

I have a feeling that Ashlyn will become a regular at our pediatric ER.....Kind of goes with the VP Shunt territory....

So last night she vomited again. This time it was a huge amount....Chris was holding her and was covered from head to toe. It soaked through two shirts! Immediately, we knew that we need to get her checked out, and I was not about to eff around calling answering services that never respond. Chris's parents rushed over to pick up B and off we went.

In addition to the vomiting, Ashlyn had been lethargic all afternoon and the fluid along her shunt tract was increasing. I was almost convinced her shunt was malfunctioning....she had 3 of the warning signs!!

We arrived at the ER at 9:57 pm (according to Ashlyn's ankle band) and got triaged right in despite a line in the waiting room. We got a room and shortly a nurse was in to assess Ashlyn. Next, an NP came in to ask questions and did a quick assessment. As she was finishing up, a transport staff member came in to take her for a CT scan and X-ray. Wow, I thought, they are really making this easy on us! However, after we got back from radiology, that is when things started to slow down....

The NP told that she would page the neurosurgeon for a consult. That is around eleven.....Unfortunately, they did not answer their page for close to 4 hours! The attending ER doctor saw Ashlyn in the meantime and told us that the images looked good. In fact, her CT scan looked better than the last one done! Whew...so it's not a shunt malfunction!

So most likely it is just a stomach bug or reflux (I'm leaning towards the latter....makes sense to me). Relieved knowing this, we were so ready to leave since we were exhausted and uncomfortable in the cramped emergency room. Unfortunately, we had to wait (and wait and wait) for the neurosurgeon to check Ashlyn out.

Finally, the resident hottie neurosurgeon came in. He had been in surgery to remove a spinal tumor so I understood why we had to wait so long. He was thorough in assessing Ashlyn and going over the radiology results. He even told us what to keep an eye out for just in case. He told us we definitely did the right thing coming into the ER as she was exhibiting symptoms of shunt malfunction.

We had to wait a little longer to be discharged, but the attending doctor and our nurse were great about getting Ashlyn discharged ASAP. We ended up getting home around 5am....after 7 long hours in the ER.....Thankfully, the wonderful in-laws kept Braeden for the rest of the night and morning so Chris and I could rest.

I feel so blessed that Ashlyn's shunt is functioning properly and that she is already starting to perk up. She is much more alert today and not nearly as sleepy. And no more vomiting! I am so glad that she is fine, but I am realizing that with her health issues that these ER night trips might be more frequent than we expected....hopefully it won't be a regular thing (goodness knows I don't need more $100 ED copays), but I am starting to realize that even though she appears to be a completely normal baby most of the time, the shunt says otherwise. I read somewhere that by age 2 most babies need a shunt revision and that most shunts will malfunction at some point....Ashlyn has been through so much already, I hate to think that she will have to suffer through a lifetime of shunt issues. At least, she is given a strong chance at completely normal neurological development with her VP shunt.

What a Steal!

Yet another great find at babysteals today! I scored 6 pairs of babylegs ...three pretty pink pairs and three patriotic pairs. And they will be here just in time for July 4th!!

Braeden's 15 Month Check Up

Braeden is still a stringbean...He weighs 20lbs 14oz (5-10%) but is 31 1/4 inches tall (50-75%). Our pediatrician thinks that his issues with preferring to snack rather than eat three squares meals is behavioral. Counterintuitive as it seems, she wants us to skip excessive snacking and cut back on all drinks but water in order to get him to eat more and gain weight. Because B is so stubborn, he will be eating just about nothing if we follow her advice. I understand her theory as many toddlers are picky eaters, but I seriously think that Braeden is just going to be tall and skinny (like his daddy was as a kid) and has a high metabolism that requires him to graze frequently. Maybe we will give it a shot...but Braeden is thriving and is just a big ball of energy so I am not concerned that he is emaciated at this point!

Braeden got the dreaded MMR vaccine (I am so not one of those moms who believes the autism link but it still makes me nervous...) and varicella vaccine....He cried like a little baby but so far no adverse reactions noted.