Still hanging in there!

Just got back from my doctor's appointment and everything is looking good. I'm still at 3 cm dialated and he said I might be a little over half way thinned out. But my cervix is still not showing the "signs" or having the feel of going into early labor at the moment. But the baby is sounding great and measuring well and my weight and blood pressure looked good. So it looks like this little guy is behaving himself for now! Guess my little talk with him of waiting for his daddy to get here has been paying off! LOL! My next appointment is next Monday, my OB has that week off so I'll be seeing one of the other doctor's in the practice, but then the week after that will be "show time" so to speak. I'll go in on Thursday the 12th and have my amnio done and than get induced on the 14th! Doug got his tickets to come home! Hopefully he won't run into any delays. The kids are sooo excited that he'll be here soon. Doogie even made a countdown calendar for the occasion and every day marks another day off!

Otherwise things are going well. We are still working on the whole potty training thing with Ryann. At first she was pretty excited about it, but now I think she is realizing that this is work! So she isn't quite into any more. She does okay as long as I remind her constantly to go in and use the potty. But she hasn't been telling me herself when she needs to go. So I'm hoping something is going to click soon and she'll just start doing it! It would definitely be nice to have her out of diapers by the time this guy is born! Right now we are working on the sticker chart (which she does like...but I think the "newness" of it has worn off some) with the promise of when she fills up her chart with stickers she'll get to go to the store and pick out a toy of her choice. She definitely likes the toy idea...so I'm hoping that will get her more motivated. So we've been basically sticking close to home for the most part so that she can use that potty, and I really don't feel like dealing with any "accidents" while we are out and about!

So anyways, we are just hanging out and enjoying the nice weather! The kids definitely sleep alot better when they spend most of the day outside! So that's about it for us at the moment...but I will update if anything else happens! :) I've added some recent pics of the kids enjoying the nice summer weather!

Looking good....

First off, a very Happy late Father's Day to all the dads out there. I hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday. I know we did. We all went over to Doug's parents' house and bbq'd and swam. I think we all get a bit too much sun though! But the kids did have a blast swimming and boy did they conk out fast last night. Ryann pretty much fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Doogie was pretty pleased with himself, that he can now go in the pool without any floaties since he passed the swim test (he has to jump in at the deep end and swim all the way to the other end of the pool without touching the bottom or going to the side of the pool). He still has to make sure that someone knows he's in the deep end though so that we can keep an eye on him!

Ryann is wearing underwear today! I have kept meaning to start working on potty training with her, but figured I would wait until after the move and school was done with so that I could devote more time to making sure I "reminded" her to use the pottty frequently. But she pretty much decided to do it on her own. Yesterday she kept going in to sit on the potty, she didn't do anything (she usually told us after she had already gone), but that is still a good sign. So I figure now that we don't usually have to be anywhere and the weather is nice, she can just run around in her underwear. So we'll see how well she does, hopefully she will be officially potty trained soon and I will just have Jaxon in diapers...well until this little guy arrives!

I had my OB appointment today. I'm a little past 34 weeks now and if I do go into labor now they wouldn't stop it. However, it looks like the little guy has been behaving himself and I'm still at 3 cm dialated and 50% effaced and he said that my cervix didn't have the feel of going into pre-term labor at this time. So that was good news! My blood pressure was back to normal this week (last week it was a little high) and I lost 4 pounds! That didn't surprise me too much since I haven't had much of an appetite lately...probably the heat, it just takes everything out of you! So I go back in next Monday for a quick check to make sure things are still staying the same...he's going to squeeze me in as soon as he gets there in the afternoon since he is going to be gone all morning for some meeting. Hopefully he won't be late getting out of it! He was running a bit behind today so I was actually almost there for a couple hours! Oh and did I forget to mention that I have an end in sight?! LOL! We talked about inducing me on a certain day so that we could hopefully get Doug here in time for it. He said that technically they can't induce me until I'm 39 weeks along....but since I tend to go early (Doogie and Ryann were 1 week early, Jaxon was 2 and Jayde was 3 weeks) he said that to go in earlier than 39 weeks I would need to get an amnio done first to prove that the baby's lungs were mature and then if that came back good than he can induce me. So I go in July 12th to have an amnio done, they will get the results back on the 13th and then on the 14th they will induce me....so unless I go into labor earlier than that (and there is still a chance that could happen) this little guy will be coming on the 14th of July! :) So I told Doug to start looking for plane tickets!

It also doesn't look like the FBI transfer to Richland is going to pan out for us. :( There is still a slight chance that it could happen, but it doesn't look promising. So keep your fingers crossed for us that one of the other jobs that Doug has been looking at falls into place for us and that he'll be back home with us in WA really soon. I know we are all really missing him and there isn't a day that goes by that the kids don't mention him. Usually with a "I miss Daddy", it's kind of heartbreaking to hear that. And it can't be that fun for Doug being all the way over in NJ by himself either.

So anyways, that's the latest news on us. I will keep you posted as I hear things! :)

Still hanging in there...

Saw my OB this morning for a recheck. My blood pressure was slightly elevated...which is unusual for me, I don't usually have a problem with high blood pressure. When he checked me I was up to 3 cm dialated (I was 2 1/2) on Friday. So he decided to do a FFN (fetal fibronectin) test. Which can basically tell you if you are in danger of going into labor early...think he said if it came back positive that I would have a 97% chance of going into labor within 10 days or so. Luckily though the test just came back negative which takes my chances of going into pre-term labor (within 10 days) down to 47%. He also decided to hook me up to the monitor for about a half hour to check for any contractions and to make sure that they baby was moving and sounding okay. All that checked out fine as well, so now I'm just back to taking it easy and keeping an eye out for any other pre-term labor signs. I will go back in to see him in a week (next Monday) and hopefully there won't be any other changes for a while and this little guy will just hang out and "cook" for a bit longer!

7 Weeks or less...

And it is looking like it is going to be less...how much less I'm not sure yet! I'm at 33 weeks right now and just had my doctor's appointment with my old OB...finally got in to see him! I have been feeling a ton of pressure lately, lots of braxton hicks and maybe some actual contractions, not to mention the baby feels like he has dropped. Looks like I was right, since they decided to check me out to be on the safe side and I'm already 2 1/2 cm dialated and 50% effaced. He said it could be nothing considering that I've already had a bunch of kids or I could be in pre-term labor. So to be on the safe side I got a steriod shot today and have to go into labor and delivery tomorrow morning (since he will be on call) and he will give me my other one there. This is so just in case I do go into early labor it will help the baby's lungs develop faster. Then I will come back in and see him on Monday since he wants to check me again and see how I'm doing. He will actually be on call that day as well but he's making an exception for me and going to come back to office just to see me. So I get the special treatment already! LOL! He did one test today, but it wasn't the one that he hadn't wanted to do. So I think he will do the fetal protein test on Monday when he see's me and that will help tell him if I'm in pre-term labor or not. He didn't put me on bedrest officially, but told me to take it easy and all that fun stuff. He also sounded a bit ticked off that this was the first time he had seen me considering I got into town at the beginning of April and when I told him it was because they wouldn't see me because they hadn't gotten my records yet, he did not like that at all. So I think he is going to be talking to people about that! I also asked him what the chances were for him inducing me on a certain date so that Doug could be there for it. He said I had a good chance of that as long as I didn't go into early labor on my own, and he'll be able to tell me more about when that will be when he see's me on Monday. So that's my exciting day so far!

It was also the last day of school for Doogie, so summer has officially started here. I don't even know why they bothered to have Kindergarten today though anyway since they only went for about an hour! But then they did get to take a tour of the new school that they will be in next year.

So otherwise everything is going fine. Ryann is back to normal and the impetigo is pretty much all gone. She has just another day left on her antibiotics. And the good news is that none of the other kids got it! I am keeping an eye on Jaxon though since he's eye looks like it might be bugging him, it looks better this morning though after he had his bath...of course it has to be on a Friday too! So we'll see how it looks later.

Anyways, that's about all the news for now. But I will keep you posted if anything changes! :)

Not the way I wanted to spend the day!

Well we spent a good portion of the early afternoon in the emergency room with Ryann! Poor thing was just all lethargic and she kept just falling asleep. Which is so not like her at all. She also had a crusty looking rash on her head (in her hairline) that I had noticed early and had been putting neosprorin on, but it was still spreading. When I noticed the rash on her head was getting worse I decided I was going to take her to the doc on Monday...but the real thing that worried me was just how out of it she was and I didn't want to wait until Monday for that. So we headed for the emergency room where she pretty much slept off and on the entire time we were there! The nurse brought her in an italian ice and juice which perked her up a little bit, she wanted it...but even then she kept drifting off to sleep between bites. So it looks like she had gotten a little dehydrated too. She really freaked me out for a while there when I couldn't get her to wake up to drink the 3rd cup of juice the nurse brought in! We even looked out in the hallway for the nurse but she wasn't there at the time. Luckily though I finally got her to wake up a little bit after that and she drank some more for me and started to perk up more. By that time the doctor finally came into the room to check her out. He was pretty young, didn't look like he was old enough to be a doctor! LOL! Funny though that Ryann really started to perk up once he came into the room and she even started smiling at him (something she hadn't done for anyone else!) Guess she likes cute young guys! :) She even began to finally talk...and we hadn't heard hardly two words out of her mouth all day! So on top of being a bit dehydrated...though I could of sworn she was getting enough fluids! But the nurse did point out that with them being so much littler and alot more active, they actually tend to get dehydrated alot faster than we do. So I'm going to be really pushing the fluids alot more! But anyways, on top of being dehydrated the rash on her head was impetigo (a staph infection and very contagious) and on top of her body trying to fight off that and then being dehydrated that is what probaby caused her to become so lethargic. So she is on antibiotics and also has some ointment to put on her sores. We will also have to keep her out of the sun while she is on the medicine since I guess it makes her even more sensitive to the sunlight. And we also have to make sure that she doesn't spread it to the other kids...so that will be fun! UGH! So we have had quite the day today...but I'm happy to say that she is already acting alot like her normal self. Still not quite as active, but atleast she is smiling, talking and a heck of a lot more animated than she was.

Anyways, hopefully we won't have any more episodes and everyone else won't catch this lovely stuff! We actually had a run of it in the house a couple years ago with Doogie and Jayde...and I remember wondering if this is what Ryann had as well. Guess I was right! LOL! I'm just glad it wasn't something super serious...this is actually pretty easy to treat we just have to be careful not to spread it around more.

Otherwise though we are all doing well, and just hanging in there. Doogie has his last week of school and then he will be out for the summer! And I go in for my doctor appointment on Friday. I've been having a ton of Braxton Hicks lately and it feels like this little guy has dropped. So we'll see how I check out. Also going to talk about maybe inducing me on a certain day so that we can make sure Doug is here for the delivery! Unless I end up going into labor on my own before that!

The pictures are from Friday when the kids were over at Grammy's and Papa's pool having a blast swimming and keeping cool in this really hot weather! They love to swim and this was Jaxon's real first year of being in the pool and he absolutely loved it!

Just 9 weeks or less....

Wow, can't believe I'm already 31 weeks along! Just 9 weeks left to go.... or less! Probably less since I have gone early with all the others. Just had my doctor's appointment this afternoon and everything was looking good. Baby is growing well and heartbeat was nice and strong! They finally got all my records from NJ, but now I need to sign a release for my records from TN since they want my records from my c-section. They don't think there will be any problem having another v-bac since I already had one at the same hospital and same practice who did my c-section. But they said they would just feel better if they had my records for it.

Otherwise everything is going well!

Doogie had his Kindergarten Music Program on Thursday. It was really cute and I'm glad I was able to go to it. He had one back in NJ that I wasn't able to make it to, I had stayed home with the other kids and Doug went to it and recorded it for me. So I made sure to bring along the video camera to capture it all on tape. He is doing well in his coach-pitch...he has really improved since he first started. Before he would really shy away from the ball when it was thrown or hit to him, but now he will atleast get in front of it and try to get a mitt on it. He had a hard hit ball hit to him at his last game earlier this week and he managed to knock it down and keep it from going past him. He is also doing really well at hitting off the coach and not having to use the tee, one of these games I going to have to bring the video camera and record him playing.

Jayde is doing good too. She loves going to speech 2 days a week and working with her speech teacher. And though she doesn't officially qualify for the speech program over the summer her teacher said that she would give me a call when it started up in July and squeeze her in anyways. One of the many reasons I really like her, because she genuinely cares about these kids and wants to help them as much as she can. I have to start doing tongue exercises with Jayde. Atleast a couple times a day I have to take one of those tongue depressors and push it down gently on the middle of her tongue. I guess she has a weak middle tongue muscle and it makes it difficult for her to pronounce some of the sounds. So doing this should help strengthen that muscle and we should be seeing some improvement in a month or so. She is also improving with her t-ball as well. She is really starting to whack that ball off the tee! They are just so funny to watch at that age. It's really more like playing mob ball where everyone just races to the ball and trys to get it first!

Ryann went in for her 3 year check up today and she is looking great! She weighed 37 lbs and was 39 inches...so she is in the 90th% in both height and weight. Developmentally wise she was doing alot of things that are in the 4 year old catergory...which our doctor says puts her ahead of the game. She didn't have to get shots this time, and she doesn't have to go back in for another well check until she is 5! She did a great job cooperating and sitting still for the doctor and nurse, think she got used to it when she had all those ear infections!

Jaxon is turning into such a little boy! He is losing that baby look...I can't belive how big he is getting. He is such a funny little guy. He has discovered the art of blowing kisses and it is pretty darn sweet. He also has figured out how to "jump"! Well atleast he thinks he is jumping! It is funny to watch as he crouches down and than springs up as fast as he can and throws his arms up in the air with a huge smile! He will do it over and over again, I think he is going to have pretty strong leg muscles! His also been using sign language a bit along with some of the words he knows, not to mention picking up a bunch of new ones. He is like a little sponge!

Doug is doing well in NJ. We of course miss him like crazy. But things right now are looking pretty promising. So we just continue to keep our fingers crossed that he will be back in WA with us again very soon.

My Baby is Three!!

I can't believe it's already been 3 years! Where does the time go? She also shares this birthday with her cousin Zach who is 2 today. So a big happy birthday to him too! One of these days it would be nice to get together with them on this day and just have one big old party! Ryann is definitely loving all the birthday attention! She probaby thinks that every day is her birthday right now since we had her party on Saturday and it seems like she is getting something almost every day! LOL! So Happy Birthday to my little girl!! Why does each birthday seem to get harder? I mean you want them to grow and learn new things...but than again you also want to keep them just the way they are now! Guess that's why I take so many pictures...I always want to be able to remember the way they were at this age!

Oh and it looks like Mr. Jaxon isn't done getting those teeth in...he just got 6 in all at once and now he is getting two more! Poor guy, no wonder he's been a little grump lately and try to take a bite out of everyone! LOL!

And I finally got the pictures to upload....can't believe how big they are all getting! I'll try to add

some more pics later!