Tuesday, December 8, 2009

A fun little clip

Compliments of Aunt Jenni:
(Not sure how long this will still work, but should work for a while at least!)

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Another trip to the ER

Just trying to get our yearly quota in for ER visits... This weekend Doug spent some time in the ER with Jaxon. On Friday morning he started coughing at school and by that afternoon he wasn't feeling very good. He started having problems with his breathing and even after a breathing treatment he was still having some problems (a breathing treatment should atleast last him 4 hours and after 2 hours he was struggling again). So Doug took him down to the ER after dinner, at first he was diagnosed with pnemonia (can I just say I haven't been very impressed with our ER doctors...) So they were finally admitted up into the Peds unit around 9:00 that night where he got to see the same doctor that he had seen the last couple times he was admitted for breathing problems. The Peds doctor looked at his x-rays and said that it wasn't pnemonia but that we have now been officially diagnosed with asthma. So Jaxon (and Doug) spent the night at the hospital and were finally released Saturday afternoon. Jaxon is doing lots better. He has two different meds in his inhalers and he's also on a couple different antibiotics right now. The doctor wrote out an asthma action plan for Jaxon and we will follow up with our regular doctor next week. Though I hate the fact that he has astma, atleast we know have an official diagnoses of what's been going on with him. This way the next time we have to go to the ER, we can tell them that he has asthma and they can start treating him right away instead of waiting around for them to figure out what is going on.

Otherwise though we are all doing fine. CJ is almost done with his medicine for his ear infection (that he got at Thanksgiving) he still has a bit of a snotty/runny nose though. Jaxon is doing fine now that he is on his medications. Doogie, Jayde and Ryann all seem to be staying healthy (knock on wood, I always seem to jinx us when I say that!)

My last doctor's appointment went well. Baby is looking and sounding good. My last blood test did say that I was borderline anemic, but they weren't really concerned about it at the moment. However, if my iron levels don't come up the next time I'm in then they will probably put me on iron supplements. I've never had a problem with being anemic before...I told Doug that this little one is really giving us a work out! I have also caught a darn cold, so I'm working on fighting that off as well.

Otherwise though, everyone is doing good. Jaxon and CJ ask me almost every day if it is time for baby Cassie to come out yet! Taking them to the doctor with me that one time really helped get them more into the whole baby thing! CJ and Jaxon still talk about how the got to "talk" to baby Cassie!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Decorating the Tree....






We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Not only did we get to spend the day with family Doug and I got to celebrate our 10 year anniversary that day. We definitely have a lot to be thankful for. Then the following day Doug's sister and her family were able to make it down. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins.

Everyone is doing good. CJ ended up getting an ear infection Thanksgiving night. We were able to get through the night (thanks to tylenol) and then in the morning I took him over to the ER to get checked out and get some medicine for him.

They are all growing like crazy! CJ is wearing 4T's, Jaxon is in 5T's, Ryann is wearing a 6 or 6x, Jayde wears a size 8 in pants and then a 10/12 in a shirt (she's long in the torso) and Doogie is wearing a size 10/12 in pants and a 10/12 in shirt though I think I might have to start going up to the next size for him soon.

The baby is looking good. I saw the specialist on Tuesday and then go in to see my regular OB today. She is weighing around 3lbs 1oz right now (according to the ultrasound) which puts her in the 62 percentile. So she is growing nicely and so far we have had no problems with the anitibody E. I get my blood drawn at least once a month to get a titer on it and so far the levels have been so low that they have to do special tests just to be able to see it.

Anyways, Doug put the tree up last night and the kids and I (mostly the kids) decorated it. They had a blast putting the decorations up on the tree and rediscovering all the oranaments that they had made over the years. It was a fun night. Doug even strung up some lights around the living room and in the kids' bedrooms! They thought it was really cool going to bed with their Christmas lights night light!

Hmmmm...what else has been happening? Oh yes, Jayde started girl scouts this week. So far she is really liking it. In a couple weeks they will get to go Christmas caroling at a retirement village and bring/share cookies with the residents. The next day Doogie and the cub scouts will do the same thing. This is all a very new experience for me as well as the kids since I never did girl scouts...so I'm learning things right along with Jayde. I think these are great programs for kids to get into and it really teaches them some wonderful values. Now I just need to get Ryann into her girl scout troup, but I haven't heard back from anyone yet about hers.

Anyways, I can't think of anything else that is super exciting. Basically we are just doing what we are usually doing and keeping busy! It's a little less hectic now that soccer is over, but we still stay busy with Doogie's cub scouts and now Jayde's girl scouts and next week Doogie will start playing basketball. Atleast it will be only one kid playing basketball and not three (atleast this year!) that will make things a bit easier. Jayde could of played as well, but she didn't seem to excited about the idea so we didn't sign her up...there's always next year!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Happy Birthday Jayde!!


Happy Birthday Jayde. I can't believe you are 8 years old already. It doesn't seem that long ago that you were a little baby! Your dad and I are so blessed. We have enjoyed watching you grow and learn and turning into the girl you are today. We love you Jayde and we are so proud and glad to have you as a daughter! I love this picture of Jayde with her brothers and sister, she looks like she is just having so much fun! :)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Happy Birthday Doug!


Happy Birthday to my husband!!

November seems to be a crazy month for us. Not only is it Doug's birthday today, tomorrow it is Jayde's! Then there is our anniversary and Thanksgiving...which happen to fall on the same day this year. I always feel like I'm go go going, but especially at the end of the year!

So anyways, Happy Birthday Doug! The kids and I are looking forward to sharing your special day with you!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Busy...


What is number 6 going to be like? I'm hoping she'll be a easy laid back baby, but knowing my luck I'm sure she'll be keeping me pretty busy just like her brother's and sisters. Last week Doug and I took the little guys (Jaxon and CJ) to my doctor's appointment. I think it helped them feel more involved in the whole process. They got to listen to the baby's heartbeat. My OB is great, he got down to their level and was playing with them and he asked Jaxon what he thought the heartbeat monitor was and when Jaxon said he thought it was a phone he played right along with him. So Jaxon got to "talk" to the baby through the heartbeat monitor. It was pretty cute, especially when my OB pretended to be the baby and talk back to Jaxon. Anyways, though Jaxon and CJ thought they were pretty darn special that they got to talk to the baby. We have finally picked out a name for our little girl, one that we both agree on. Cassandra Diana...though the kids all call her baby Cassie for short.

So anyways, baby Cassie is looking good. I went to see the specialist on Tuesday and so far the Antibody E doesn't seem to be affecting the baby in any way. We really like our specialist. It cracks me up that as soon as we get any questions or concerns out of the way Doug and him get into all sorts of interesting discussions (most that have nothing to do with our reason for being there). We have definitely lucked out in the doctor area here.

Anyways...since the kids didn't have any school today due to it being Veteran's Day, I figured it would be a good time to try and get our Christmas card pictures done. I recruited my mom to give me a helping hand (along with my step-nephew) and we headed to the park. Why is it that the oldest child is the most difficult one to get a decent picture of? We had to work really hard to get Doogie to give us a "real" smile and not one of those fakey cheesey ones. My step-nephew actually really came in handy for that since he started doing goofy things behind me to get the kids to laugh. The picture you see is one of my many attempts, I don't think it turned out too badly (and I still haven't gone through them all.)

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Playing Catch Up Again







Halloween has come and gone and we are already into November. Time does fly and November is a busy month for us. We have Doug and Jayde's birthday, Thanksgiving and our anniversary (which happens to land on the same day this year). I also need to get my rear in gear and get Christmas presents made and shopped for.

Keeping my fingers crossed as well that November brings good health to our family. The kids all finally seem to be over (except with a little bit of a cough leftover) from the crud they had a week or so ago. CJ had tested positive for the flu and they put him on tamiflu (which worked wonders for him). He was definitely one sick little guy, with the high fevers and cough. Thankfully though he didn't have any seizures with his fever which I'm hoping means he has outgrown that stage in his life. Jaxon was also on the tamiflu since he was starting to have the same symptoms as CJ, though we didn't have to get him tested.

We were able to get everyone half way healthy (barely) in time for Halloween. The kids had a blast trick or treating this year. CJ had talked about his bucket, getting candy and saying trick or treat weeks in advanced, he was so excited when he actually got to do it! After every house Jaxon would turn and look at me and ask if we were still going to trick or treat! After going around our block the two little guys were worn out from the walking so Doug took them home while I stayed out with the three oldest, we were also trick or treating with some friends of Jayde's and they all had so much fun together. I think I was just as worn out as the kids when we finally headed home with their buckets full. So now we have way to much candy in our house and I'm having a hard time resisting it! Darn candy is going to make me huge!

Speaking of getting huge, the baby is doing good. I go in later today for my appointment with my regular OB and then go back in to the see the specialist next week. The kids are starting to get more excited about the baby, now that my stomach is getting more noticeable. The girls especially are always coming over and patting my stomach and saying "hi" to their baby sister.

So anyways, nothing super exciting to report. Just trying to keep everyone healthy and keep up with all the kids!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Behind again...

I know I haven't been keeping up very well lately on the blog, sorry about that. This pregnancy has definitely been a lot tougher on me than the other ones...wonder if it's because I'm getting older?! I had trouble with nausea early on (well into the third month) with this one, I don't remember feeling that bad with any of the others. I definitely don't have all the energy I used to, I tire out way faster than usual. Usually by the time we get all the kids down to bed at night I'm ready to go to bed myself and during the day I'm going back and forth dropping and picking kids up from school. So to sit down and find a time to write down everything that has been going on takes some doing! Alright, enough of my whining!

Things (obviously) have been busy as usual. So lets see if I can hit the bigger points and get everyone caught up. Jayde had surgery a couple weeks ago to get her other tube out of her ear (her other one pretty much came out on it's own, the doctor was able to pull it the rest of the way out in the office at one of her appointments). It was a quick and easy procedure and she was in and out in no time. Her tummy didn't really appreciate the meds that much (they had to put her under) so she was feeling kind of sick for the first half of the day before she started feeling like her old ornery self again.

Doogie, Jayde and Ryann are having fun playing soccer. They end the season on Halloween. Doogie scored a goal in their last game! He was pretty excited about it and it kept a smile on his face for the rest of the game. Next Saturday we will have 5 games (which means we will pretty much be at the soccer fields all day). Both Ryann and Jayde have double headers and Doogie just has one game to play in. I'm hoping the weather will be nice for it!

Jaxon and CJ are enjoying preschool. CJ has absolutely no problem going to class and me leaving (though it probably helps that Grandma has been helping out in his class most days!) Jaxon loves going to school too, though I guess he hasn't been liking going to music class (which is strange since he really likes music). Hopefully that will pass and he'll start to enjoy it again. I get many people asking me if Jaxon and CJ are twins...probably because they are pretty close to the same size (CJ's a big boy!) They pretty much wear the same size, which is kind of nice that they can share clothes!

Baby girl is doing good. I go in tomorrow for another check-up with the specialist. When we were in the car one day after I picked up the kids from school we were talking about the baby in my tummy, when Jaxon all of a sudden turned and looked at me and yelled "Mommy, stop eating babies!!" I have to say I got a pretty good laugh at that! We were all laughing and giggling in the car. So now every once in a while one of the kids will tell me "no more eating babies!"

Anyways, the kids are getting excited for Halloween. CJ talks about getting candy in his bucket and saying "trick or treat". It's pretty darn cute when he says it, I have a feeling he will get plenty of candy! I will be sure to take lots of pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes.

Well, can't think of anything else super exciting that has been happening...if I do I'll make sure to update the blog. I know I need to get some more pictures up as well. So I will try to do that soon.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Two Year Pics

I finally got around to snapping some more pictures of CJ for his two year photo shoot this afternoon. It wasn't easy...he is very easily distracted by everything! Guess that's what I get with having a very busy and curious two year old boy!









CJ's first day of school and soccer pics





Sorry for the delay everyone. Still recovering from being sick all last week. I'm finally starting to feel better but I wear out really fast and don't have alot of energy. I hate feeling this way so hopefully I'll be back to normal soon! The pictures are from CJ's first day of school a couple weeks ago and the soccer pictures are from last weekend, I didn't make it to this weekend's games was still feeling pretty weak. Ryann didn't have a game that week. Oh and I forgot to mention that Doogie scored a goal in the games last weekend, I wish I had gotten a picture of it. He was so excited.

They all did pretty well at their games this week according to Doug. I don't think any of them won this time, but they all just improve so much from game to game and atleast we aren't just getting blown out of the water anymore!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

So....who wants to know???

I had my appointment with my specialist today. The baby is looking good. We were able to find out the sex of the baby as well...but I'll hold you all in suspense until later! Doug's blood results came back as having Ee which means there is a 50% chance that he'll pass the E on to the baby. My titer revealed that right now I don't have high doses of antibody E in my blood at the moment but he said that could always change. So we are going to just monitor right now with ultrasounds, I go in again in two weeks.

I know I'm really behind on updating and posting pics and I promise I will get to that soon. I've had some sort of flu bug this week and have been feeling horrible, feel a bit better today but after doing all the running around, getting kids ready for school, dropping and picking them up and about ready to pass out again. Think it will be another early night for me so I can kick this stuff out of my system.

CJ had a great first day of school last week (I'll try to get some pics up soon). He didn't make any protest with me leaving at all. He is pretty comfortable there though considering he is used to dropping off Ryann and Jaxon there all the time!

Soccer has been going well, the kids really improve every time they play. We did have problems with bad sportsmanship from one team last week, but our kids still played hard even though they got slaughtered by a much more experienced team. I have some pictures to share of the games as well. We have another full weekend of soccer this Saturday as well. I just hope I am feeling better by than so I can go and enjoy their games.

Okay, I guess I've held you all in suspense for long enough. Let's just say we now will have an even number of boys and girls! Yes, that's right....we are having a baby girl! Jayde and Ryann were pretty excited to hear that and it makes me right once again at knowing the sex of our baby (I am now 6 for 6). Now we need to start thinking about names!

Anyways, that's about all for the Crowe family. We hope everyone is doing well and we will continue to keep everyone posted. I promise to try and get some pictures up soon!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Jaxon's first day of preschool



Jaxon finally had his first day of preschool today (he's been looking forward to this day since the other kids started going!) He loved it! I had no problem dropping him off and leaving him. The only one who threw a fit was CJ! He was not happy about not being able to stay! I just kept telling him that on Wednesday he will get to come. Hopefully he will be as enthusiastic to stay in his class as he is in Jaxon's!

On other news, I had my doctor appointment today (with my reg OB) and everything is looking good. I go in next week to see the specialist again. I go back to my reg OB in 3 weeks for another ultrasound...we'll see if the baby cooperates and lets us know if we are having a he or she!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

First Soccer Games




What a crazy day yesterday was. Doogie, Jayde and Ryann all had soccer games right on top of eachother. So I only got to watch about half of Doogie's game before I had to take Ryann over to her game. Then I got to watch most of Ryann's before I had to take Jayde over to hers. Since Doug is couching Doogie's team he missed most of Ryann's and then he only got to see around 15 minutes or so of Jayde's (he actually ended up being the ref for a bit until the coach showed up) then he had to take Doogie over to a cub scout activity that they were doing (he helped me by taking Jaxon with him). Which reminds me if you want to buy some popcorn (flavored, plain, etc...) let me know since this is what Doogie is selling right now. Back to soccer though...they did pretty well considering it was their first game and Doogie and Jayde hadn't played for a couple years (not since we were in NJ) and Ryann hadn't really played at all. Doogie's team had all new players on it (the kids had never played together before), so I think this showed them the things they need to work on and to get them to play better together as a team. On Jayde's team the girls had already played together for atleast one season (Jayde was the new player). I think they would give Doogie's team a run for their money! Ryann's team of course was brand new, but some of them definitely have alot of raw talent! The biggest thing all of them need to improve on is to get more aggressive in there and go after that ball more. But otherwise I think they all did a great job. Jayde played goalie a couple times in her game and she did a pretty good job, she missed a few but then she also stopped a few. Ryann's team doesn't have goalies this year, but I think Ryann would make a great goalie! Sometimes when we are practicing in the backyard she will play goalie against Doogie and Jayde and she is not afraid of that ball at all and will dive all over the place for them! Next weekend will be another crazy Saturday and Doogie also has a double header, so instead of 3 games we will have 4! Only problem is one of Doogie's games is at the same time as Jayde's! Good thing they all play at the same complex though, that way I'm not driving them all over the place. I'll just have to race between the fields and catch as much of both games as possible!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Pictures







Some pictures of Ryann's first day of school and some of our new puppy "Athena".

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Catching up!

I just realized that I never posted Ryann's first day of school pictures, but blogger isn't letting me load them for some reason so I will try again later. She is really liking Kindergarten. It just amazes me how grown up she looks standing in line with the other kids getting ready to go in! So far they are all having a great time in their new classes, playing with old friends and making some new ones. Jaxon and CJ will start preschool next week. Yesterday was their orientation, they got to hang out with their teacher while I got to sit in a parent meeting.

Doogie, Jayde and Ryann are also playing soccer. Of course they are all on different teams so it makes it interesting getting them all to practice (on Tuesdays Doogie and Jayde both have practice). They all have their first games this weekend. It's a good thing they all play at the same place so I won't be running around quite as much trying to watch all of the games!

Doogie is also doing Cub Scouts. He went to his first meeting last week. The only problem is one of the parents was being extremely rude when she saw Doogie was there. Doogie and her son were in the same class last year at school and they had some problems getting along. Now I know Doogie isn't perfect and he has his moments but this other boy has alot of issues. So when she showed up with her son and saw Doogie and then preceded to say "I thought we wouldn't have to see his face ever again after we left that school" (I guess they switched schools) she was totally out of line and extremely rude to say that especially in front of everyone. I wasn't there, otherwise I probably would of had something to say to her. Doug had never met her before so he wasn't sure what was going on and if she was joking or serious. But after a few other comments he heard her make he realized that she was. Her son than preceded to have a few melt downs during the cub scout meeting and cause some problems of his own. I told Doogie not to let them ruin this for him. And Doug also talked to some of the den leaders about it as well. So we will see what happens at the next meeting (I believe they only meet once a month.) I might even have to make it to the meeting myself!

Last weekend we took our last camping trip of the year. We went back up to La Wis Wis again. This time however, it was a total disaster of a trip! We went with some people that we had gone with a couple times before. Not only did it rain on us the entire time, but the tension in our campsite could be cut with a knife! I think some of it had to do with the fact that we decided to share the same campsite this time so we wouldn't have to keep going back and forth so everyone was right on top of each other (especially with it raining we were all stuck underneath the tarp with everyone.) I think the only time we had fun was when we went off and did things alone without them. We went over to Packwood on Saturday for the big Flea Market they have there every Labor Day. We had a great time walking around looking at things (even in the pouring rain) and we walked out with a very sweet and gorgeous golden retriever puppy. I don't think our camping partner was as thrilled about sharing the campsite with a puppy as his kids were though. We had a tough time with his kids causing problems for everyone else and then they wouldn't listen to us (or really even their dad for that matter). Him and his kids weren't being very nice to the dog and Doug even had to get on his boys for being mean to her. The boys would play with the sticks in the fire (something I didn't want my kids doing) and then one of them took out one of the sticks they were playing with and ended up getting Doogie on the arm with it! The same boy also stabbed Doogie with his pencil in the foot when they were sitting in the tent trailer coloring and he also hit Doogie with a stick right on the hand! Most of this happened on the very first day too! So needless to say Doug and I were getting a tad bit annoyed. The final straw though was the final day, Doug and him were packing up the campsite and I was going to go and take the puppy for a walk to get her to go potty and tire her out before the car ride home. I was just going to take my kids along with me but the next thing I knew his boys were walking along with us. The youngest one (he's six) gets babied big time by the dad. He saw this big stick while we were walking and wanted to take it back to our campsite for more firewood. He wouldn't listen to any of us when we told him that we didn't need anymore wood because we were getting ready to go home and insisted on dragging it along with him slowing everyone down since we would have to stop numerous times so he could catch up with us. I finally had had enough of it when we reached the corner and we were going to turn and head back down to our campsite. We waited once again for him to catch up and again tried to get him to just leave the stick there. He ignored us and then made it worse by turning around and walking back in the other direction! I then told him that I wasn't going to play this game with him and that we were walking this way and that we were leaving. He still ignored me and kept going. So I told him goodbye that we were going and started walking. The rest of the kids (including his older brother) came along with me. We walked back to the campsite and while we were walking I informed his brother that if they weren't going to listen to me than they couldn't walk with us anymore. When we got back to the campsite the guys were just about done and the boys dad immediately asked where his other son was (I forgot to mention that I could see him walking in the opposite direction through the trees while we were walking back to the campsite). I told them what happened (oh and also forgot to say that while I was having this stand off with the boy that Ryann started saying her tummy hurt, which usually means something is going on with her blood sugar so I wanted to get her back to the camp). He got all upset and starting saying things like "he's only 6, he doesn't know how to get back to the campsite" and things like that (which is a bunch of bull, all the kids know this whole campground like the back of their hand they have been there many times). Then he got mad at his other son who is 8 for not staying with his brother. They went storming off down the road looking for him, then decided to come back and get in the truck and look for him. Not long after they drove off the boy in question made it back to the campsite dragging his big stick behind him. Doug stopped him and told him that he wasn't going to be allowed to go walking with us anymore since he didn't listen to me (or anyone for that matter). He didn't really seem to care all that much though. I finished helping Doug get things packed up. When the dad and other son got back a few minutes later he hopped out and pulled the boy aside and had a talk with him and had him sit in the truck while he finished getting things loaded up. He didn't say another word to me, he did say goodbye to Doug though. So I guess I'm the evil person who left his 6 year old son behind. I honestly was fed up though, and really the only other option was for me to have gone after him (dragging all the other kids, one who's blood sugar was doing goofy stuff, not to mention a puppy) but even then I don't know what good that would of done, he obviously wasn't listening to me and he's not my kid so I can't just grab his arm and make him do what I want him to do. So really if he wants to blame someone he should be blaming his child for not listening and also himself for letting his child behave in that manner. So that my friends was our camping trip from hell. I don't think we'll be camping with them anymore!

Now to top off my already crappy weekend, I now have caught a nasty head cold (I think I might actually have a sinus infection). So I'm having alot of fun... So as soon as I get Ryann off to Kindergarten in a bit I'm going to take a nap! My mom is watching the little guys for me (and the puppy) so I can actually get some rest and Doug is going to pick the kids up from school for me.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

First Day of School





School started off smoothly for us on Tuesday. Doogie and Jayde settled right back in like they had never left (though I'm sure Doogie would of loved some more summer vacation!) Ryann went in later that morning for her kindergarten testing. She was pretty excited about it and she got to see one of her buddies from preschool there (unfortunately they won't be in the same class this year, but there's always next year!). She didn't go to school today, the kindergarten teachers used today to figure out where they were placing the kids and also figuring out who might need more help in certain areas. We found out this afternoon that she will go in the afternoon (like we requested) and found out who her teacher is. Tomorrow she goes for a shorten day to meet the teacher and what not and I get to go and hang out with her as well. Then starting on Friday she will start going at her regular times. I will take some pictures of her tomorrow for her first day, but for now I'll leave you with some of Doogie and Jayde. I have to laugh at how much more naturally Jayde poses for the camera than Doogie does! Guess it must be a girl thing!

Jaxon and CJ don't start preschool for another couple weeks, though they get to go and meet with their teachers next Wednesday and than starting on the 14th (for Jaxon) and the 16th (for CJ) they will get to start going to school as well. Jaxon really wasn't too pleased on Tuesday when everyone else got to go to school (even Ryann, for her testing) and he didn't get to go. He carried his school bag around with him for most of the morning!

Friday, August 28, 2009

#6 is on the way....

Alright, for those who don't know yet....the Crowe Family is happy to announce that a new little Crowe is on the way! We are due February 21st, though if this baby is anything like the rest of our children than he/she will probably arrive before that!

Below is my recent ultrasound pictures (taken yesterday).


The ultrasound technician said we had a busy little tyke who was moving around so much that his pictures kept coming up blurry when he was trying to measure things! I said that sounded like one of our kids alright! Anyways, though the baby is looking good, growing right on tract and weighs approx. 4oz right now. I am 14 weeks and 5 days along right now.

Our only big concern is the fact that one of my blood tests came back saying that I have antibody E. Now, lets see if I can explain this to everyone without totally confusing anyone! Everyone's blood cells have antigens attached to it (there's a huge long list of them). We are dealing with the E antigen. The doctor said I am two little e's (ee) and they are assuming that Doug has atleast one big E. So Doug and I both got to go in and get some more blood work done yesterday afternoon. They wanted to get a titer on me and they wanted to see what antigen combo Doug had (Ee or EE).

Now let me jump around a little bit more, since they do this blood test (to check for antigens) at every pregnancy and it never showed up with any of my other ones. Than they are assuming that it sometime during my delivery of CJ some of his blood crossed out of the "protective" zone and into my body and my body threw up the "intruder alert" and made antibodies up against it.

Alright back to Doug's and my blood...if Doug comes back as Ee than there is a 50% chance that he gave the baby the little e and since I'm ee I would of given the baby a little e as well and if that's the case than we should be just fine. Now if he is EE than he would of given the baby a big E and we are going to have to watch things alot closer (as well as if he gives the baby the big E if he is Ee). If the baby has the big E my blood cells could go across the placenta and attack the babies blood cells and could cause the baby to become anemic and very worst case scenario even die (the doctor says that is highly unlikely though). If the baby ends up becoming anemic they can give the baby a transfusion to help fix that problem. They also might do a amnio on me (depending on how our results come back) to see how much antigen E the baby has.

Have I totally confused everyone yet? I'm still trying to get a grasp on everything (so I could of said something wrong or mixed a few things up). The doctor did seem pretty impressed that Doug and I had understood things so well, he said most people don't have quite as well as an understanding when they tell them. I probably have Doug to thank for that since the questions he asked the doctor helped me to understand things better. But SSshhhhh...don't tell him I said that!

Anyways, though they have an excellent success rate for this kind of thing and we should have a happy and healthy baby in around 6 months or so! My pregnancy will just be alot more closely monitored (feels weird to be considered in the "high risk" group). I will see the specialist for this but will continue to see my regular OB as well for my regular appointments. Feel free to ask any questions and Doug and I will try to answer them the best we can. We will keep everyone posted! :)

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Some pics from this morning









Catching Up!

Sorry it's taken me so long to post something. Life has been busy over here! Doogie turned 9 a couple weeks ago (August 9th). We went and celebrated it over at Red Robin's (this is where Doogie wanted to go!) He had a good birthday and I still can't believe he is 9! It's been so much fun watching him grow and learn and turn into the great young man that he is. We are all very proud of you Doogie!

Last weekend we went camping again at La Wis Wis (pictures to follow). We had a great time, the weather started off a bit cool but by the last day it had warmed up quite a bit. Jayde got to see an old friend of hers from Jason Lee, the were Kindergarten classmates. Her mom and I went to highschool together so we all chatted a bit and let the girls play for a while. The only downside of the camping trip was that we were worrying about Doug's grandfather who had taken a fall and hit his head. He lost quite a bit of blood and we are so grateful that he is doing better and now home from the hospital. We are planning to get over there and visit very soon.

On the last day of our camping trip we decided to take one last hike around before we headed home. We ended up going over to one of the creeks. We had noticed on previous camping trips that there were little fish swimming around in them so Doug and the kids decided to try and catch some. The actually caught quite a few (mostly with a cup and trapping them), Jayde however caught four fish with just her bare hands! Maybe she has a fishing career ahead of her! They definitely aren't squeamish about touching and catching fish either! We decided to try and take them home and see how they did there. I was surprised that all but one fish survived the ride home. I went to the store and bought a fish tank and what not, but unfortunately the fish only lasted another day or so. There was just too many enviromental changes and what not. So we are planning on getting the kids some goldfish instead!