Oliver's First Few Days

Labor and delivery story, along with pictures from the hospital (post-delivery, don't worry) coming soon, but Oliver has had such a busy first 5 days I thought I'd better document it before we forget!

We got home from the hospital Wednesday afternoon, and I'm pretty sure Oliver slept for 6+ hours? Enough so that we were asking ourselves if he was okay :) Oliver passed his meconium and had three bowel movements within the first 24 hours at the hospital (YAY!), but, didn't go on Wednesday...didn't go on Thursday...so I made calls into the pediatric and GI offices, in addition to lots of google searches. Everything I read said more than likely perfectly normal to not poop very often as the baby might be absorbing everything, but, we're obviously at a higher risk that something may not be working right. Our GI doctor suggested we maybe just do a biopsy so we know either way.

Then, he pooped. (Friday morning) And, hasn't stopped since (knocking on every wood surface near me as I type this). WHEW! I'm thinking it was maybe due to the formula he was getting while waiting for me to produce enough on my own for him. So, for now, I think we're good on the pooping front!

But, back to the fun things Oliver has done! Thursday night he attended his first cul-de-sac baseball game when our friends in the neighborhood came over for a little game. Friday after doing great at his first doctor appointment, he made his first trip to Target. Loved it, I'm sure (slept the entire time). Friday night he went to the MoonDogs game, Connor had attended their baseball camp Thursday and Friday and got free tickets to the game. Then yesterday we attended a wedding in the cities, semi-successfully achieved a first family photo AND met Goldy the Gopher. Oh, and had his first night in a hotel. What a week! I will admit it was kind of fun to see peoples' reactions when they asked how old he was :)

We have been blessed with such a great baby. He sleeps, eats, poops!, and repeats. He gave me a 5 hour stretch the other night (of which I'm sure by the time I got to bed I got 3 hours, but, I'll take it!) and otherwise even if he eats every 2-3 hours, he goes right back down. Don't worry, I know this can change in a minute, but for now, we're sure enjoying it.

What's on his agenda this week? Newborn photos! Can't wait!

Not too shabby for our first family photo! Props to Uncle Aaron for the photo!

 Uncle Aaron with Connor, Oliver and Goldy. Gray? Terrified of mascots :)

Oh hey blog, I'm pregnant.

Since I'm actually semi/nearly/almost blogging again, I figure I should let the blog know I'm pregnant. Better late (as in, overdue, late) than never, right?

This was our announcement photo. Some people got it, some didn't. Ha. I think the caption on facebook was something along the lines of DMI was hiring however the position will be filled as of June 2014. (more like July...) Some pretty fun outtakes from this little session with the boys, someday I'll share.

As of today, I'm 40 weeks and 3 days, was due June 29th. I have never done weekly updates nor have I kept track of anything officially with any of my pregnancies, so I give you this, just once :) And since these are traditionally supposed to be weekly for those good bloggers out there, I'll just adapt it to entire pregnancy :)

How big is baby: Currently the size of a small pumpkin. The boys find this really funny. The weekly fruit/vegetable comparisons are pretty comical.

Weight gain/loss: As of my appointment on Monday, 24. Think I gained 35-40 with Connor and only like 13 (successfully lost some weight in the first trimester, so of course I factor that in) with Grayson. 

Sleep: I am a tummy sleeper, so about anything past 20-ish weeks just kind of sucks. However I will say, after getting over the transition from not being able to sleep on my tummy, it's been pretty good, until last night. Since I'm officially overdue, I think it's fair I can pull my first 'I'm uncomfortable' card in the sleep department. Last night sucked. 

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: I don't know if I've ever CRAVED anything with any of my pregnancies? I do eat a lot of cheetos (puffs, only)...so if salty cravings are a sign of a boy, I'll be three for three. 

Movement: Felt movement much sooner with this pregnancy, and this baby is by far the most active I've had. Hope that doesn't mean it's the craziest...

What I'm loving: Trying to remind myself to savor these last few days, the last few kicks, etc. As the story goes, the second I told Bryan we were expecting, the FIRST words out of his mouth were, "This.Is.It". 

Symptoms: As I mentioned, prior to last night/yesterday, I've continually told people that I feel fine, really can't complain, would go another month if I just knew what the baby was, etc. Well...my story might change today, ha! Altho I still have a ton of work to do and I have yet to really prepare anything in the house for the baby...this body is ready to be done being pregnant.

What I'm looking forward to: Knowing what the heck this baby is and that it's healthy. I've been able to put our Hirschprung fears out of mind the past month or so, but as we're nearing meeting this babe, the worries/reality are back. Praying hard for a healthy baby!

 

So there you have it. My pregnancy in a nut shell. As of my appointment on Monday, we're potentially looking at being induced Sunday night. I'm having a bio-physical ultrasound done tomorrow, no worries really, but the fact that Grayson failed that (low fluid, low movement, measured huge), we're going to do that, another doctor will check to see if I've progressed any further (I have no faith I have) as mine will be out of the office Thursday, and then Friday I'll call my regular doctor and we'll make a plan. If we pass the ultrasound, and I have no further progress...I believe I'll just see my doctor on Monday as I have been the last 4-5 weeks. If we fail the ultrasound, it's possible they'd induce me Thursday night if there were any concerns. If we pass ultrasound and I have a little more progress, we might be looking at going in on Sunday. So...I'll know more in the next few days. And no, the thought this baby might come on it's own before then seriously doesn't even cross my mind. This body doesn't accept the fact that there's something inside that needs to come out.

Other random facts:
--Currently Connor still wants it to be a girl, has the entire pregnancy. Grayson was team pink, but has recently switched to team blue. I think the thought of a little girl freaks Bryan out, but he and I of course are just on the 'healthy' team.
--I just cleaned the baby's room the other day. It was a disaster. See below. I promise it looks much better now. But no change in decor...and probably won't be.

--We have names. Girl name has been the same for all three pregnancies, I hate picking out boys names. 

That's about all I can think of for now. The boys have been so great lately (knock on wood), playing pretty nicely with each other, so independent, it's hard to believe we'll have a helpless little infant around again, ha. How quickly one forgets the baby stage!

The WillowLot

You remember the movie The Sandlot, right? We have our own version happening just down the street several nights a week and I think it's the greatest thing ever. I just love so many things about it! It's random, never really planned, just whenever Evan and his dad want to play, a mass text goes out, and kids come running/biking/scootering on over. Every random kid that walks by is invited to play. There are no outs, there are no strikeouts, the little ones get lots of doubles and triples, and the moms and dads just get to watch, maybe have a few beverages, and enjoy the spring and summer nights. It's things like this I feel I can actually begin to enjoy now that I only have one job...prior to leaving my corporate job, I'd be stressing about getting back to my computer to edit, probably would just let Bryan take the boys down to the game and I'd miss out. I love being able to be more 'present' and relaxed!

Grayson has come a long way since our very first WillowLot game! From at first walking to put the bat back down on the grass after hitting it and running towards the ball (ha), to now throwing his bat down and taking off towards first!

Connor's Last day of Kindergarten

Well, we made it through our first year of school! Not that I was worried, but I still can't believe I now have a first grader! (assuming he passes today :))

We went from having to walk into school together, onto the playground and wait until we found someone we knew that he could go play with, to essentially being embarrassed that I wanted a few extra hugs and kisses at the car today at drop-off before he took off running. Typical, I suppose, but it's my first kid in school so I can talk about it :)

So proud of how much he has achieved and learned this year, kudos to his awesome teachers and great school!  We love you, Connor!

Baby #3: progress!

As I posted on Instagram yesterday (@crbode), I give you not a belly pic...but a progress report. Oh, this blog didn't know I was pregnant? Sorry about that :) Officially 36 weeks this past Sunday/Monday (I think the doctor has me down for 6/29, I have 6/30) and had my first check on Monday. As I was getting checked by the student, I was complaining to my doctor why my body doesn't do babies...and why it seems every other woman (okay, not every) progresses, has great and fast deliveries. He just kind of shrugged and apologized to me, ha. I tell him that I have a bet with Angie that if I'm anything MORE than a zero...I owe her a pedicure. And then..the student proclaims that I'm, and I quote, "definitely more than a zero". A two! 50% effaced! Whaaaaat? I looked back, to when I used to blog, and I wasn't at that more than 12 hours into labor with Connor, and I was induced with Grayson a week overdue only being a 1. This.is.huge.

Okay, enough about that, I realize it's definitely TMI, but seriously, I wanted (still do?) a shirt made. Ha. I fully realize this does not mean baby will come early, I just now have some ammo to negotiate with my doctor to not let me go more than 7 days overdue before he induces me...hopefully :) When I tell him things like that, he just gives me a look that I am certainly not about to tell him what to do.

Also not trying to think about next Monday's appointment if my actual doctor checks, not the student, and he says she didn't have it right and I have no progress at all. It wouldn't surprise me, but sure would be a downer.

our two front teeth.

Well, I figured after yesterday's traumatic events....it'd be a good thing to blog about it to 'record' so we can look back on it someday :) I don't promise any regularity to my blogging again, but it is a goal this winter to get back on track!

Starting Monday night of this week Connor started complaining about his teeth hurting. Being five and a half, I assumed that it was just his baby teeth finally starting to come in and the pressure of the new teeth was maybe bugging him. So in my nicest mom voice...I told him to suck it up :) It didn't help that about a week ago I woke up with horrible tooth pain and the following day I had a wisdom tooth pulled out. I assured him, no one was going to pull his teeth out.

Oops.

Tuesday and Wednesday morning he complained again, on and off, again, we just talked about how it's normal to lose teeth, etc. Wednesday we get a call from the school nurse that he's been crying for about 15-20 minutes about his tooth. So, I made the call to the dentist who fortunately was able to get him in right away.

Right away turned into 40 minutes of waiting in the chair...moaning, crying, etc. We were 'that' kid in the dentist office probably ruining it for the rest of the children. Didn't help that shortly into our wait there was a kid in the 'back room' NOT having a good visit. This didn't help Connor's mood. Little did we know we'd be 'that' kid shortly.

Finally the dentist arrived and after just a brief check (yes, Connor still screaming, yelling, crying), she said there was an infection and the best/only thing to do would be to remove the teeth. Of course she didn't say that loud enough for Connor to hear, but I will admit I nearly started crying.

So, enter the torture chamber. I had called Bryan in for reinforcements by then. I finally got Connor settled down while we waited for the dentist to be ready, which was a welcome 5 minutes of silence. To sum up the following five minutes, the dentist had Connor in a headlock, Bryan was on top of his chest and I was on top of Connor's legs to restrain him for the extraction. He refused the sleepy gas (wasn't going to go under, but just get sleepy), so we just did local. In between screams and yells, Connor shared the following:

WHY CAN'T I CLOSE MY MOUTH!
WHY ARE YOU ON MY LEGS!
GET OFF MY LEGS!
MY ARM!
WHY CAN'T I FEEL MY TONGUE?!
GET OFF MY LEGS!
MY LEG HURTS!
I'M SO HOT!

While we were waiting for the novocain to set in, he ripped his shirt off, he was nearly dripping sweat from trying to get out of our restraints.

I will admit, at times, the four of us (dentist, hygienist, Bryan and I) were borderline laughing. We all know what it feels like to have numbness in your mouth and so his reactions were fairly normal, and obviously there wasn't a whole lot we could do.

The actual extraction took like 5 seconds, it took us a little bit to calm down afterwards, and then we were on our way home. See picture below, and yes, I was concerned that he was going to choke on the gauze when he fell asleep 2 minutes into the car ride home.

A few hours after we were home, he started to perk up, eventually agreed to look in the mirror, laughed at himself, thought his teeth were cool, etc. Of course every now and again he'd remember that he should be taking advantage of his condition, ie making me spoon feed him his mac 'n cheese, provide a few peanut butter cups, his friend Gwyneth brought him an ice cream treat, it was Schwans man night so he got something there, etc....we figured he did deserve it, it was quite the day!

Bode Easter 2013

3.31.13

The Easter bunny was good yet again to the boys out at the Bode farm! We had fun with eggs and then of course the hunt for the Easter basket. The bunny gets pretty clever out there, we have clues we have to find and riddles to solve!

Off to the shop for the final clues... 

Success! Silly bunny hid the baskets in the tractor. 

Oh Grayson. What other child would need to be talked into digging into his basket? 

 a bus!

drives just like his...

grandma Ruth? (kidding, mom...)

Let's just say, Grayson might not have the coordination (yet?) that Connor seems to have. When we gave Connor this gator for his 2nd birthday, it was about 20 minutes (who knows what it really was, compared to how long it's taking Grayson to figure it out, it feels like 20 seconds) before he was already shifting into reverse, driving everywhere, etc. And mind you, he was not, running into anything. Anything.

Grayson, well, he's stubborn. Heaven forbid you tell him to STEER [enter meltdown] or try to show him the correlation between the tires and turning the sterring wheel [enter meltdown]. So, I just let him drive in circles. The other weekend during the garage sale he decided to hop on and seriously just drive and crash into everything at the sale. I would have loved to see a video tape of the scene as I jumped out of my chair and literally superman dove for the tailgate, ripping the tailgate off, trying to stop him. [enter  meltdown].

Thankfully, he's just been content letting Connor drive him around lately. We'll try again in a few months. Maybe a year.

hallway racing

3.15.13 (getting closer to being caught up!)

Our hallway takes a beating. You should be thankful I didn't get this on videotape, it's ridiculously loud. But, they're having fun and I just love seeing them play and interact as brothers should :)

Picture overload. There were too many expressions I liked!

update on Grayson

Well, it's been about 6-7 weeks from Grayson's surgery, doesn't feel like it's been that long at all (and not in a good way?).

We saw his surgeon about two weeks after the surgery to see how things were going and to make a plan for the rest of his recovery and beyond. At the time, Grayson's diaper rash was out.of.control. Nearly bleeding it was so bad. Add in the fact that he poops like every 15 minutes, it was horrendous those first 3-4 weeks. Literally, one day at daycare he went 17 times. With a two hour nap in there. No lotion we tried worked or did anything miraculous. We stopped giving him miralax against doctor's orders because seriously, 17 times in a 6 hour period? That's about every 20 minutes. And considering it took him a good 30 minutes to recover from a diaper change, it wasn't good.

Thankfully...the diaper rash is finally under control in probably the last 2 weeks or so. He still doesn't like diaper changes, but he's to the point now of telling me when he's dirty and asking that I change his diaper. I suppose that's good! Although everytime I ask him if he wants to wear big boy underwear like Connor he says NO. And if you know Grayson, he's tough to argue with.

He still is going about 3-5 times at school and 3-ish times at home. Down from 20+, but still a lot. Doctors say this is normal for up to six months post-surgery. So, we will just wait this out!

Oh, and daily dilations have stopped. Thank God.

Oh, and since returning to school from surgery. Drop offs are a nightmare. Every.single.day they have to essentially remove him as he's clinging for dear life to me. Seriously not a fun way to start EVERY day of work. :(

Other than all that...he's our happy, silly and adorable little guy! Still can't believe he's two already! He started referring to Connor as 'brother' today. When I picked him up, he went running towards Connor's room yelling "get my brother" and then when he got outside in the pre-school playground, he yelled, "brother, where are you". So cute. Love those boys to pieces.