Monday, February 28, 2011

Growth chart... Redo

I just found this and thought that some of you might like it too. I know that when we go to the doctor and get the percentiles for our boys we are always in the eighty and ninety percentiles... This bypasses the need to worry about the numbers. As I read about the percentiles I discovered that they are based on bottle fed caucasians... Now that is not everyone so rest and know that your little one is growing just how God intended!

Inches and pounds: How much, how fast

Birth to 12 months
Infants add 10 inches in length and triple their birth weight.

12 to 24 months
Toddlers add 5 inches and 6 pounds.

2 to 10 years
Most kids have settled into their growth patterns, adding about 2 1/2 inches and 6 pounds each year.

Puberty
Girls grow 9 inches and gain 15 to 55 pounds; boys grow 11 inches and gain up to 65 pounds.

Life

Last night as I was looking through my pictures I realized that as a mom there are some pictures of my kids that will forever be grained in my head.  I think that if someone were to ask me to summarize life in pictures I could do it in a matter of minutes...  Something like this -























Sunday, February 27, 2011

Due Date

Six weeks early... Thursday was Zach's due date.  It is weird to think about the fact that March 3rd was Zach's due date and for the last six weeks I have had the privilege of seeing him.  Not that I have ever seen a due date... Zeke's due date was May 5, 2007 and came four weeks early on April 15, 2007, Ki's due date was May 5, 2009 and came two weeks early on April 29, 2009.  Not that a single due date has been made, however being that Zach's was so far from his birthday there is a sense of something special in my mind for this week.  This week rather than having a baby I am going to the doctor for my six week check up post delivery.  Time sure has flown by... granted not in the daily grind of everything, but in remembrance of the time that has passed. 

Thoughts

Since the craziness of life only seems to increase rather than minimize I have had a bunch of broken thoughts that would not take up a blog post in themselves... so here they come.

I am a mother of three sons!  Eeeeek!  The reality of this hit me this week as I was making doctor appointments for Zeke and Ki and the receptionist commented on how much she liked the names Ezekiel and Malachi and said, "I wished I would have thought of using Old Testament names for my three sons."  Before I thought about it I said well "all three of my sons are OT names."  Actually mentioning all three of my sons names to a perfect stranger in a conversation was so powerful to me.  I have three little blessings... Ezekiel Micheal, Malachi Alan and Zechariah William!

That leads to my next thought...

Housework, never before in all my life of cleaning have I been okay with dividing the household chores into more than a days work.  Before having my three sons I would devote one day to cleaning and I would start in the kitchen and work out from there and while cleaning I would have laundry going the entire time.  Now... granted Zach has only been home for a week and things might change once I get a hang of my new life, but now I have divided the chores up.  One day I cleaned the kitchen and floors, the next I did the vacuuming and yesterday I cleaned two of the three bathrooms.  Every day this week I have done at least one load of laundry, granted not large loads but loads non the less!

That leads to my next thought...

Although the housework is a lot and at times seems to be a little overwhelming, the need for more space is becoming more and more evident.  At the present time Zeke and Ki have taken all the cushions off the couch and are leaping from the couch arm into the pile of cushions.  These boys need more space.  Yesterday Zeke and Ki took their bikes into the backyard and rode around for over an hour... add a third to the mix and the backyard is not going to be big enough to hold them.  I am sitting in Michael's office right now thinking about, oh how nice it would be to have a full basement and one more bedroom.  When Zach is big enough to leave our room... where will he go?  Guess it is time to start praying for a bigger house with some land for my three sons!

Totally unrelated to everything else...

I am frustrated with preconceived ideas of some people... I was reading a blog yesterday for cloth diapers and then it lead into a long mantra about if you cloth diaper then this is who you are.  The list was very far fetched in my opinion and I felt like it was almost saying, "Since you are crazy enough to do cloth diapering then all the rest of these thoughts are your thoughts."  What about the idea that as a cloth diapering mom you are trying to cut back on your families budget and trying to be a little more eco-conscience, not that you are a rare bred that homeschools your kids, wears all cotton clothes, is a vegetarian, wears natural oils rather than lotions and you don't immunize your children.  Granted, I am not knocking any of these listed items but I hate the thoughts that is you "subscribe" to one of the listed then you are put into a box with all the others!

I am proud to say that as of today I have four pounds to loose to be pre-Zach weight and sixteen more to loose to be pre-kids completely.  It feels like a long road but I know that I will eventually get there.  I have decided that in the next week or so I need to go through my closet and take out all the maternity clothes so that I do not give myself the excuse to pig out knowing that I have fat clothes in the closet.  Ugh, after almost four years of being pregnant or nursing that time  has an end in sight.

Well for those of you that hung in there to the very end of my random ramblings here is a token for your eyes!








Monday, February 21, 2011

Lots happening

Yes, it is true, I have been absent from blogging as I have been very absent minded as well!  I feel like the last two weeks have been a blur. 

We got a good snow storm that came through town and brought a good amount of snow.  We went from 60 degrees to below freezing in a matter of two days and then got about fifteen inches of snow.  Needless to say Zeke and Ki were in heaven... so was Michael!  Michael made a big sled once again for the boys and even convinced me to get out on the tube a few times.
Zeke rolled this all by himself, he began at one corner of the yard and rolled it all the way to the other side.  After he had rolled it and it was too big to be rolled anymore he climbed on top of it and played king of the snow ball!

Ki has discovered that the snow is not all that bad.  He loves to hang out in the back yard shoveling snow off the patio.

Zeke headed down the ramp that Michael made.

Silly Zeke, loving the snow!
After one month of traveling back and forth to visit our newest addition - Zechariah got to come home!  February 19th Zach got to come home and join the rest of the family.  Let me begin by saying that having Zach home is so nice.  I think that he too enjoys being home.  Saturday night I think he realized that he was home, he just wanted to be snuggled!  Ahhh - getting to snuggle my baby is so nice.  While in the hospital we were limited to our snuggle time, in the beginning we could only place our hands on his head and feet, then we could hold him for ten minutes every three hours and towards the end we could hold him for thirty minutes after his every three hour feedings.  Now that he is home there are no rules... I can snuggle him all I want!  Today Zach got to meet his pediatrician.  Zach weighed in at 6 pounds and 14.6 ounces, in one month's time he went from 5 pounds to nearly 7!  Our next hurtle will be to have a cordless baby.  Zach is on supplemental oxygen and will most likely be on it for another month or two.  I mentioned to Michael how nice it will be to have a cordless baby and he said, "In this day and age you would think they had wireless babies!"  LOL!  Soon I know!
Zach getting a bath

Tiny hand holding mommy's ring
Michael's sister Missi and her family came to visit us from Alaska.  It was so nice to see them again as the last time we had seen then was two years ago.  Unfortunately I was not thinking "picture opportunities" so I only got two pictures the entire time they were here.  I know that Missi got a few pictures of the entire family this past Friday.  On Friday the four of us headed out to Michael's dad's house as Missi and her family was there and Alisha and her family... so for the first time in over fifteen years all of Mark's kids were in the same room with all their families.  I look forward to seeing those pictures!
Zeke and Izzi

Cousins... Ki, Zeke and Izzi
Other news... Today Zeke had a speech evaluation and it was decided that our insurance will now pay for speech therapy for him!  This has been a year battle of ours, we first tried insurance and was turned down, then we went to ChildFind and at the end of December we pulled him from that program and we were feeling like we were lost.  At the end of January Zeke's occupational therapist called the speech evaluator that first saw Zeke through insurance in April of 2010 and requested that she re-evaluate him.  Now almost a year later - Zeke will now be able to get some help for his speech!

Today I am feeling so grateful!  My family of five all under one roof!  Zach is growing big and strong!  Zeke is going to be getting speech help!  I have a wonderful husband!  I am blessed by my friends here in Colorado who have poured out love and support these past four weeks.  I have an awesome church family and a pastor who in this past week has spoken on two occasions right to me!

God is good all the time!  All the time God is good!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Set back

It is with a bummed heart that I write this post! Where to begin? Saturday... I guess, I came and spent time with Zach and he was doing really well. Sunday we got a big storm in and I spent the morning at the house enjoying my time watching Michael and the boys play on a sled hill that Michael had built up. When I came into the hospital Zach was doing great, taking his bottle feeds well and was awake and alert. I jokingly told the nurse that he was getting his job done so that he could come home and play with his brothers. Sunday night Zach had to use the tube for one feeding but it was not a big deal. Because of all the forward progress he was making and his ability to take his feedings by nipple the doctor decided to remove his feeding tube this morning. The doctor this morning explained to Michael that what is keeping Zach here is his need to gain more weight. With that being said Zach's bottle feedings were going to be supplemented with some fattening powder. When I arrived today at four for Zach's feeding I was informed that he did not pass an important test called the room air, which is to test his oxygen saturation if he were to pull his tube. He has to hold an O2 level of 80% for forty five minutes. When tested today he held his level for twenty minutes and then desated. For the last two feedings, the seven and ten, Zach had some bigger set backs. For both of those feedings he had heart rate drops and oxygen saturation drops. In his nineteen days of life he has only had two other heart rate drops, so to have two in such a short amount of time is alarming. After some discussion back and forth between the NP and the RN the final descision was to put him back on a feeding tube. The thought is that maybe we are stressing him out too much and he can't take the full feedings. There is also thought that maybe he is getting sick and is not able to handle the feedings because his body is fighting something else. So as of right now, there is no idea of when he will get to come home. The nurse is going to see how he seems at the one o'clock feeding and see if he is still acting tired and if he is then she will do a blood draw on him to check to see if he is indeed fighting something. So, although we were thinking that we were going to get our baby home soon, things have changed!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Random thoughts

I am so glad that we have had this frigid cold weather, it gives me a good excuse for not leaving the house and just be lazy.
I love the fact that some of zeke's favorite movies are, The Sandlot and Back to the Future... Movies that I can actually tolerate.
I am wondering if speech therapy for Ki was the best idea, this kids has not stopped talking all day long.
I will be so happy once all five of us are under the same roof. I hate having my baby in another place and also hate that Michael and I are running back and forth from home to hospital.
I will be so glad once this crud leaves our house... It is nothing big, but just the body aches and the sore throat. Been a little under the weather the last two days, therefore I declared today a movie day, and have hold true all day!
I am so excited for my sister and her family to come and visit... Down to single digit days, Missi, Wes and Izzi fly in on Saturday. It will be nice to snuggle with little Izzi.
I am hoping the my little guy will be able to come home by the middle of next week. Zach is doing really well, he is in a crib, out of the incubator and is scarfing his bottles.
Been thinking that with this cold weather I should do some baking... Thinking is about all I have done. Nothing has been made in the last three days, but I keep mentally preparing for it.
I have completed all of Zach's laundry and put it all away in the drawers. Talked with the nurse this morning and she said that there is no need to purchase premie clothes because he is growing really fast, the just born clothes may be baggy for a few days but he will soon fill them out.
So in the last week I signed up to sell Uppercase Living and Initials. If you are in need of either let me know... Both are great as it is all about you... You get to personalize it all!
Been having some serious cravings the last week... My oven just finished warming up my latest craving of spanikopia... So. Off I go to devour the entire tray!