#40by40 Check In #5

Honestly I have no idea how his happened after the week I had last week. I felt like I had a terrible, no good week.  My choices were not the best and we did a lot more eating out than I would have liked.

Somehow I managed to lose 2 lbs even though my eating was far from perfect, probably not even really considered good, haha.  I also only made time for my workout twice last week so I was really disappointed with that.  I keep blaming hubby being home after his back surgery and the fact that he hates eating at home, but ultimately I'm the one that chooses what I eat and whether or not I exercise.

With that said, even though my eating was not on par, I still tracked my daily eats.  I did great drinking my water most days.  One night though, the snack monster reared it's head.  Thankfully I was pretty mindful and didn't let myself go hog wild with the snacks.  I was truly expecting another gain on the scale this week, so was ecstatic when I saw the loss.  So was My Fitness Pal!

Over the weekend I was feeling really down and sorry for myself.  Honestly, I was surprised that I didn't let my emotions get the best of me and let myself go crazy with the snacks.  However, after seeing that I'm still making #progressnotperfection, I'm pretty pumped for my the rest of my journey.  Until hubby is back to work full time, I know it will take more effort on my part to be consistent in my tracking and workouts. As long as I maintain where I'm at, +/- 3 pounds, for the month of February, I'll be proud of myself.

Have a great week!

#40by40 Check In #4

Oh goodness.  I really need to get better about updating more than every couple weeks.  So, my update from my weigh in last week is that I lost 2.5 lbs for a total of 9 pounds lost. This week I gained 1/2 lb, making my total pounds lost 8.5.  

I kind of feel like I might be on the struggle bus just a little bit this month.  We've had a bit of stress as hubby ended up needing back surgery last week on Monday the 14th.  It's his 2nd one in 7 months.  He's going to be home with me through the end of February as he's on activity restriction and obviously after back surgery cannot just jump back into work.  Anybody else feel off schedule when their spouse is home with them rather than working?  It doesn't help that he's not a homebody and is going completely stir crazy while home. Also, he hates to eat lunch at home. He's definitely making this challenging for me, but I'm trying my hardest to make the best choices.

I've still been tracking my food, but I haven't been as strict and have been going over my calories quite a bit more than usual.  I've actually been doing really good getting in all the water I set as my goal (8-10 cups everyday).

I guess for this next week my goal will be to reign in the amount of times I let myself go over my daily calories, keep drinking my water, and a total of 4 workouts. Also, to update you next week. 😉

Have a great rest of your week!

#40by40 Check In #3

At my promise to be more transparent...I wanted to make sure to get this uploaded before the end of the day. ;) As you can see, I had a slight gain, but I am absolutely not worried about it.  I'm not exactly sure what happened or why I had a gain as I felt like I had a fairly good week last week.  I stayed within my calories 5 out of the 7 days and had 3 workouts.

I would love to hear how your week went if you've joined me on this journey. :)

#40by40 Check In #2

The week leading up to Christmas went as good as could be expected. I got myself back on track, {mostly} stayed within my calories, drank all the water I could muster, and got in three workouts.  The weekend before Christmas was a whole different story. No workouts, less water, and not 100% tracking.  And no tracking leading up to Christmas meant very little tracking almost the entire rest of the week.  The only good thing is that even though I was enjoying the Christmas goodies, I didn't let myself go hog wild and be out of control with the cookies.  I stayed in control, which is HUGE for me.

That being said, my first month of doing #40by40, I've lost a total of 7 lbs.  SEVEN FREAKING POUNDS! I haven't cut out any food categories, except telling myself and my hubby no thank you when I know I'm at or close to my daily limit.  During December, I made my goal to exercise 3 days a week, so for January I'm upping it to 4 days.  Have I had a perfect month?  Absolutely not.  I've gone over my calories several times.  There were days I didn't work out, even though I was perfectly capable and totally should have.  I've enjoyed sweets during my daughter's birthday and the holidays. 7 lbs is awesome and I know that over the next several weeks, there will be gains and losses.  But as long as I believe in myself and keep putting forth the effort, I am hoping to see another loss at the end of January.

Are you joining me on this journey?  C'mon let's go!

Life Lately

Hello again after a bit of a hiatus.  How was everyone's Christmas?  Ours was good...sad but good.  We ended up hosting Christmas Eve dinner at our house for my husband's family.  Thank goodness he has a small family so we're able to have all of them over and not be bursting out the seams of the house.  Okay, who am I kidding...we're bursting out the seams of our house with just our family of 6. Really though, for the one night, it was actually okay.  I learned a lot about myself that day, mainly that I'm not a hostess with the mostest and cooking dinner for more people than you're used to is a lot of work.

An old family favorite that my mom used to make - whipped jello!

My older girls were a huge help to us on Christmas Eve and in the days leading up to it.  I found them   cleaning/organizing/hiding the clutter.  They also helped prep the foods that we could prep a day or two in advance.  Probably their favorite part was the cookie baking.  We had so many yummy treats for our guests (and tons leftover).  I only forgot two things for our dinner that night - either corn or peas for my father-in-law and also to thaw the Cool Whip.  Whomp, whomp.  Pumpkin pie just isn't the same when using Reddi Whip instead.  For future reference, I should probably make a list and check it twice. 😉

I stayed up way too late wrapping presents on Christmas Eve after the kids went to bed.  2 o'clock in the morning was actually an early Christmas Eve as I've been known to stay up until 4 wrapping gifts in the past.  We woke up Christmas morning around 10 and discovered that our almost 14 year old Maltese, Gracie, had passed away.  In our gut, we were sure it was because she had been given too much prime rib fat the night before from our guests.  When I asked them to stop feeding her and the reply was to continue, I was annoyed.  So facetiously I said to them, "at least if she dies tomorrow, we'll know she had a good last meal." All I was doing was trying to make them feel bad for continuing to feed her.  Instead we ended up with a dead dog.  We had our vet do a necropsy (an autopsy for animals) and she told us that Gracie's heart was slightly enlarged.  We're still just so confused as to why she suddenly died from this heart issue when we've never had any heart issues diagnosed.  We knew she was old, in less than one month she would have turned 14.  But in our hearts and my gut, we feel like all the extra food from the night before is what contributed to her passing suddenly.

Gracie and I in the middle of November 2018.

Was Santa good to you this Christmas? Who's ready for a fresh start in the New Year?

Happy New Year

Source

Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas!

#40by40 Check In #1

After posting a couple weeks ago about my decision to jump on the healthier bandwagon, I thought I should post an update since I missed last week.  Okay, for real though, last week I was up a pound and was just embarrassed.  I didn't want to be a disappointment, even though I know that this journey is basically a roller coaster of ups and downs.  I'm here now to confess how the last couple weeks have really went.

The week of Nov 28th - Dec 2nd went well.  I got in three workouts and I stayed within my calories for the week.  I posted on the 7th that I had a three pound loss that week when I weighed in on the 4th. (-3 lbs)

The week of Dec 3rd - Dec 9th also went well I thought.  I felt great that I had gotten in four workouts and stayed within my calories for all but two days - Tuesday the 4th and Saturday the 8th.  I  was feeling pretty good, and then I weighed myself on the 11th and I was up one pound.  Instead of feeling bad about it, I chose to get in a good workout and drink all the water. (+1 lb)

My daughter's birthday was on the 10th so I knew there would be cake.  I even kept the rest of my day fairly light knowing I'd be having a big dinner and cake.  I didn't overdo it at dinner and I had a "normal" size piece of cake with a tiny scoop of ice cream so I really felt good about my choices.

Dec 10th - Dec 17th was a tad bit bumpy.  I stayed within my calories Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  I was able to say no to several excess treats/junk food.  Then Friday I thought I could say yes to a leftover piece of birthday cake because I had been so "good" the rest of the week. How can one yes spiral the whole rest of the weekend out of whack?  I wasn't out of control, per se...I just wasn't super strict about counting calories.  I also didn't make the effort to workout over the weekend so I only worked out twice last week.  I hit the reset button this past Monday and did a workout. I stepped on the scale yesterday and was surprised to see a loss of three pounds, especially after my weekend out of whack.  (-3 lbs)

All in all I'm happy with my progress of (-5 lbs).  I know this month is crazy busy with all the excessive cookies/candies/goodies, but I'm really trying to stay on the right track and not go overboard.

My plan for this week going forward:

• get in 2-3 more workouts
• track everything on paper & in MFP
• drink my water/green tea - 8 cups per day
• bake Christmas cookies with my kids - and allow myself to have them as long as I track it.

So, we're all caught up with where I'm at and where I'm headed on this journey.

Thanks for following along!

And She's Four

"I'm not a baby anymore." - that's what Maisyn told me when I commented that my baby turned 4 today.  And she's right...for the most part. I mean obviously she still acts like a baby when she doesn't get her way, but don't we all?  😉 Look at the adorable school picture that was in my inbox this morning.  Lifetouch must be working with Shutterfly because they gave me this digital copy just because I signed into my Shutterfly account.  And it's my favorite!

Our elf, Snickerdoodle, had a message for Maisyn right away this morning.

To start her birthday, we had a couple errands to run. One of which was picking up her cake. After our errands, I made her a quick turkey sandwich, which she ate in the car on our way to visit her Great Aunt Sandy. Sandy just had surgery on her hand, which she broke on Thanksgiving Day so we thought we'd go cheer her up. After our visit, we headed home for the afternoon nap. Went to pick up the kids from school, did our after school routine.  Then headed out for Bode's hockey practice. Once practice was over, we finally were able to actually celebrate the birthday girl. She picked Space Aliens for her birthday dinner. The alien was actually there tonight so we were able to get a quick picture. 

After dinner, we headed home where my in-laws met us so they could celebrate with Maisyn too. We had cake & ice cream after opening her presents. All in all, she had a great day.  Simple, but great!

Happy 4th Birthday sweet girl. May all your wishes come true.

Life Lately

Like I said in my last post, it's been quite some time since I've been here.  Surprisingly though, not much has changed in our lives.  Hubby is still working in construction for their family business.  We're still living in our tiny house.  The biggest change is the kids growing so much. Talyn is now 12 and in 6th grade at middle school.  Kinley is 9 already and in 4th grade, while Bode is 7 and in 1st grade.  And the wee little baby girl, Maisyn, isn't a baby anymore.  She's turning 4 soon and is in preschool two days a week.

My biggest life change is that I'm jumping back on the "healthy" living bandwagon.  Twelve years ago, when my oldest was born, I stopped making myself a priority.  I put everybody else's needs before my own, especially the baby's. The more kids we added, the further down the priority list I went. For a couple years I did make myself a priority, lost almost 50 lbs that year and kept it off until I got pregnant with baby #3.  I'm pretty sure I gained that all back when pregnant with little man, but the awesome thing is I lost all but 10 lbs of it after him.  Somewhere between losing all that weight again and getting pregnant a couple years later, I gained most of it back again.  Fast forward to now and my goal is to lose 40 pounds before my birthday in May 2019.

I feel like I'm probably crazy because it's December and all the holiday baking is about to begin. However, I just can't wait until January.  I need to start now.  My sister and I were talking after Thanksgiving one day and decided to jump into a healthier lifestyle journey together, even though we're thousands of miles apart.  I called her at the end of November after I came to the realization that I'm turning 40 next year!  I'm turning 40 and am not at all where I'd like to be health wise.  Her 39th birthday is the day before mine so we think it's the perfect amount of time for us to both lose some weight.

So, from now until my 40th birthday, I'm using #40by40 to remind myself of my goals. Obviously, it's the holiday season so I'm not going to be overly strict, but I am going to try my damndest! I'm not doing anything crazy or restrictive, other than cutting back on sugar.  I'm going back to counting calories using MyFitnessPal and exercising 3 times a week minimum. Maybe once the festivities are over I will increase my exercise to 4 or 5 times a week. For now though, I'm sticking to 3 minimum.  My first week in and I'm already down 3 pounds, which is super motivating to me.

Comment below if you're up for joining us!

3 Years & 9 Months Later

I'm back! Wow, it's been a while huh, lol.  Well, I'm still here, surviving my chaotic life with four kids.  I've missed this space like crazy so my sister convinced me to get back to it. I actually planned on just starting over, but after getting an entire blog set up just the way I liked it, I sat there and stared at my blank screen, having no idea what to write. I changed my mind and came back here instead, to my old space, spruced it up, just a bit and am going to make an effort to blog here again. I'm so excited!

March Goals

Before I get onto my goals for March, I want to recap my February goals. 

My number one goal for February is to make exercise a daily habit.  I did really good here, up until the pelvic pain became so unbearable I ended up making a trip to my chiropractor.  I’d say the first 18 days were a success.  Either I used my treadmill or walked with my Leslie video, and took four rest days here and there.  After the visit to my chiropractor, I took a few more rest days and then tried again on my treadmill, only to have to pain come back almost instantly.  Out of the 28 days in February, I worked out 14, so half. 

My number two goal for February is to continue drinking 8-10 cups of water (64-80 oz).  I wasn’t very faithful in logging my daily water intake.  However, I do know that most days I got my minimum of 8 cups.  This is still something I struggle with, so most days to get my water in, I have to flavor it with Crystal Light.

My number three goal for February is to not eat after 8 p.m.  February trucked right along for me and I was feeling so awesome for doing so good not eating after 8.  Mr. Chaotic was so disappointed that I wouldn’t snack with him.  Then I’m not sure what happened.  My emotions get the best of me, Aunt Flo visits, and it’s like I just can’t get enough.  I truly need to get better control of my emotions as that would help tremendously in the mindless snacking department.

Overall, I felt like February was a success for me.  I could have made some better choices after 8 (like saying no to the pretzels that Mr. Chaotic was eating), but it is what it is.  I do know that once I get this pelvic pain figured out & taken care of I might actually be able to put my mind to this once & for all!  I was very surprised to learn that at the end of the month, I had lost 6.5 pounds! 

Moving onto my March goals – basically, I’m going to keep them the same, except the walking everyday part.  With the pelvic pain I just am not able to make the commitment.  I will still try my damnedest to get my eating back on track and to drink my water daily.  I’m also going to be making frequent trips to the chiropractor to get this pain taken care of.  As for the weight, well, my goal for March is to at least maintain my loss so far!  Carry on!

Valentine’s Day for School

A couple weeks ago, Talyn mentioned that for Valentine’s Day, she wanted to give Laffy Taffy (my favorite!).  I thought that was a super fun idea, so I scoured Pinterest looking for the perfect card to go with it.  I found it, however, there wasn’t a printable offered, so I made my own.  We printed and cut out the cards, then taped two Laffy Taffy’s to the inside of each card.  Here’s what we came up with:

For the teachers though, I found this pin, and thought it would make the perfect teacher gift.  I, surprisingly, had all of the supplies except the Mod Podge and the chocolates.  I couldn’t find any of the extreme glitter Mod Podge locally, just regular, so that’s what we used.  I just ran through the process twice.  I printed out the free printables and then added some pink ribbon around the jar lid for our own personal touch.  I love how they turned out. 

And look how glittery the jar is!  I might make one just for myself. 

Talk to me:

- Do you have a favorite Valentine’s candy?

- I would love to share my printable, however, I’m not exactly sure how to go about it.  Let me know if you’re interested and I will try to get it available for you!

TWO Months Old…Already!?

Miss Maisyn turned two months old lastTuesday.  I know they say time flies, but I think it’s going especially fast for me this time around because she is my last baby.  The stats from her doctor appointment last week are:

Head – 16 inches (97%!!)
Height – 23 inches (73%)
Weight – 11 lb, 5 oz (49%)

Big heads definitely run in the family as all of our kiddos have been in the 90th percentile or higher.  Her weight is a bit of a concern to me as she only gained two pounds since she was born.  Also at her other appointments, her weight has been in the 80+%.  I’m hoping it’s just because of her overly explosive poopy diapers due to formula changes & antibiotics.

I love that we have such a great schedule with her.  She is an amazing sleeper.  By amazing, I mean she sleeps through the night and has been for the past month.  Her last bottle of the day is between 11 p.m & midnight and she doesn’t wake up until I do in the morning. Most mornings I even have to wake her up by 7:30 to get her first bottle in.  With all the other kids I would just let them wake up by themselves.  That doesn’t work for us now, with the two older girls in school.  I don’t like making her wait until after the kids are dropped off at 8:30, so I wake her up – after grabbing myself a cup of coffee.  I’ve been very blessed with babies that love to sleep as they’ve all been good sleepers!

Maisyn is such an easy-going baby.  She tolerates her big brother’s incessant smothering of kisses.  Maisyn absolutely loves it when her big sister, Talyn, reads to her in the rocking chair – so much so that she usually falls asleep. She also truly adores the time she spends snuggling with big sister, Kinley.  I love that each of the older kids absolutely are so thrilled by their new baby sister.  All-in-all, she’s a very happy baby and seems to be pretty content with all of the chaos that goes on in our day-to-day lives.  She’s super smiley, becoming quite “talkative”.

Maisyn is wearing a size 1 diaper, though I did buy size 2 for when these are gone.  She’s still in size 0-3 month clothes.  The only thing we know that she for sure doesn’t like is her darn nuk.  She absolutely, positively hates it.  I hate that she wants to be a thumb sucker.  We are constantly replacing her thumb, finger, or fist in the mouth with a nuk, but she constantly spits it right back out.  It will be my luck that she isn’t going to like the thing until it’s time for me to take it away!

Talk to me:

Do/did you have a baby that was a great sleeper?

February Goals

My number one goal for February is to make exercise a daily habit.  I’m not talking hardcore working out right now, as I’m still experiencing slight pelvic pain.  However, I am capable of walking a minimum 20 minutes on my treadmill or using my Leslie Sansone Walking DVD.  I am also trying to add in some strength training.

My number two goal for February is to continue drinking 8-10 cups of water (64-80 oz).  I’ve noticed that as long as I get my walk in, I am able to get my water in as well.  I’m also including coffee, tea, and milk in my water count as well. 

My number three goal for February is to not eat after 8 p.m.  This one is so simple, yet such a struggle for me.  Nighttime snacking is my biggest enemy…definitely my unhealthiest habit. 

Your turn:

Tell me your number one goal for February.

January Goals Revisited

At the beginning of January, I shared a few goals I was setting myself for the month.  This is how I did.

1) Drink at least 8-10 cups of water DAILY  -- Eh, I did okay here.  Most days I drank at least 8 cups, including my milk, coffee, and tea.  Some days only 6.

2) Start tracking my food again with SparkPeople  --  I did great here!  I tracked everyday from the 2nd through the 24th, missing just one day.  However, since then, I haven’t done so well. 

3) Get my butt back on the exercise train, once my doctor gives me the approval.  My appointment is in the middle of the month, so just a couple more weeks!  -- Eh, I didn’t start any exercise as I’ve still been having pelvic pain from the cyst.  I’m waiting until my period ends to even try walking for exercise.

Postpartum Doctor Checkup

My six-week postpartum appointment was last week, Friday.  I was super anxious to meet with the doctor so I could see what the world was going on with my pelvic area.  Every time I’d walk from one end of the mall to the other, I would get this severe pain in the left side of my pelvis. 

When I explained this to my doctor, she was kind of worried that it may be scar tissue from my postpartum tubal ligation.  If it were that, then she said I would need to go back in for surgery again so they could remove the scar tissue.  She sent me down to get an ultrasound so she could see what is going on.

The ultrasound revealed that I have a cyst on my left ovary, which was causing the pain.  My doctor told me that the cyst could possibly go away on its own once I got my period back.  If it didn’t go away, then she said I would have to go on birth control for six weeks to help shrink the cyst away.  I thought that was a crazy idea since I just had my tubes tied.  But I’ll do whatever I need to get this cyst to go away, which will hopefully make the pain go away as well.

The ultrasound also revealed that my uterus is still very, very large.  I’m not sure how exactly it’s measured, or in what increments (cm, mm, grams, etc), but she told me a normal uterus is 100.  My uterus is 269!!  Two and a half times what normal is.  She told me that because of this, it will cause heavy and painful periods and that basically I will be having a hysterectomy sometime in the next 10 years.  It just depends on how long I want to deal with the heavy, painful periods.

I am definitely not looking forward to having my period anymore! (not that I did before, but you know what I mean)  Ugh!!

Talk to Me:

Have you experienced heavy & painful periods?  Please share any relief suggestions you may have!

Life With Baby #4

Here we are, one month after the birth of Maisyn, and I wanted to share how our life has changed and update how she’s doing. 

Week 1:  Like I explained in the NICU post, Maisyn’s first week of life was spent at the hospital, which in turn meant parts of our days were also spent at the hospital.    I also had my tubes tied two days after Maisyn was born and was using her NICU time as my recovery time when I wasn’t visiting her.  I had a terrible time in recovery & had a rough couple of days after my surgery.

Week 2:   Her first weekend home with us was spent Christmas shopping and she was such a trooper.  The older girls still had school Monday & Tuesday before Christmas.  Wednesday was spent baking Christmas goodies while Maisyn slept in her bouncy seat. We then went to my sister-in-laws to spend Christmas Eve with Mr. Chaotic’s family. 

Week 3:  Christmas morning we opened our gifts & then spent most of the day trying to tame the chaos of toys.  Later in the afternoon, Mr. Chaotic’s parents came over for prime rib dinner.  We had Maisyn’s first doctor’s visit December 29th.  She was up to 9 lbs, 10 oz.  The pediatrician had to cauterize Maisyn’s belly button as it had been oozing since the day the umbilical cord fell off.

Week 4:  Having time off from school & the older girls spending time at Grandma’s kind of threw us off schedule a bit as I took advantage and used my mornings for sleep.  Not that Maisyn is sleep depriving me.  She’s a champ when it comes to sleeping.  Still on schedule as expected…eat, sleep, awake, eat, sleep, awake.  Every four hours almost on the nose.  We were supposed to go to a New Year’s Eve Party, however we decided to skip out as influenza has been going around like crazy here and I don’t want to expose Maisyn.  Girls head back to school, except Kinley, who has pink eye.  Headed back to pediatrician for Kinley’s pink eye and to have Maisyn’s belly button cauterized again.  It’s still oozing.

Week 5:  Kinley finally heads back to school and Bode, Maisyn, and I try to get into a routine.  Maisyn starts sleeping for 5-6 hour stretches during the night.  Days are spent being a little more awake.  If I’m not holding her, Bode is begging to hold her or she spends time in her bouncer seat, which she doesn’t seem to mind. 

Miss Maisyn also seems to think it’s okay to suck her thumb.  She has never cared for her pacifier, however, I do not want her to be a thumb sucker.  I’ve heard one too many horror stories about how hard it is to break that habit once it becomes necessary.  It’s hard enough to get rid of the pacifier, I can’t imagine how to stop thumb sucking.  It’s not like it can be cut off & tossed in the garbage the way a pacifier can.  Also the stories about the damage thumb sucking does to the child’s teeth.  I truly don’t want to have Maisyn endure that.

Talk to me:

--  Did you have a good Christmas & New Year’s break?

--  Do/did you “allow” your child(ren) to suck their thumbs?  Was it a hard habit to break?  Were there any dental issues?

Maisyn’s NICU Visit

Thursday Evening: We walked to where Maisyn’s NICU station was and immediately I was flooded with tears again.  She was back on the newborn warming table wearing just a diaper.  She had tubes into her nose, delivering the oxygen.  She was covered with monitors taped to her tiny body needed to measure her vital signs.  A cuff around her foot measured her oxygen levels.  An IV into her hand ready to give her the antibiotics she needed.  Tears streamed down my face as they rolled the echocardiogram machine over so they could check her heart to make sure the breathing issues weren’t caused from a heart defect of some sort.  I never realized how incredibly difficult it is for a parent to have a baby in the NICU. 

The pediatric neonatologist/cardiologist was there as the technician did the echocardiogram.  He assured us that everything with her heart was fine.  The reason she seemed to be having issues with her breathing was most likely due to an infection of some sort.  They would have to draw more blood work the next day to check her infection levels again. As of right now though, her visit would be a minimum of three days.

Friday Morning: I was scheduled to be at my surgery by 11:30 a.m, so we went over to the NICU around 9:30 to visit baby girl. Again, as soon as I start walking towards her little crib, I am overtaken by tears. I informed the nurse I would try to be back later that night after a little bit of rest, but she assured me she wouldn't see me until at least the next day. Mr. Chaotic and I took turns snuggling with Maisyn and rocking her. We came right between feedings so were unable to feed her during this visit.

Friday Evening: Mr. Chaotic brought Kinley with him to visit Maisyn. Kinley thought it was so neat having to scrub in. LOL. Hubby got to feed her and Kinley was able to snuggle her little sister. Their visit was cut short by the nurses due to shift change in the NICU.

Saturday Afternoon: Maisyn's nurse called me to inform me that her infection levels had gone up so she wouldn't be able to come home on Sunday as she would need at least seven days of antibiotics, maybe even ten days. Also, they had tried taking her off oxygen, however, overnight her levels dropped. She had to be put back on oxygen. Hubby and I weren't able to get there until late afternoon (after shift change). Tears streamed down my face some more as I snuggled her, knowing she would be staying in the NICU longer.  She has to be off oxygen for at least 24-hours before she can be released.

Sunday: Still no change. Still on oxygen and still getting antibiotics twice a day.  And I still cry when I go visit her in the NICU.  Does it ever get easier?

Monday Morning:  Bode & I go visit her after we drop the girls off at school.  She was sleeping when we got there, but I took her out of her little crib so we could snuggle her.  I learned that she had more blood work taken early that morning and her infection levels have dropped!  Her oxygen level was at 35%.  We were there long enough for two feedings (four hours+).  Bode insisted we stay at the hospital for lunch.  While eating lunch, we called my mother-in-law so she could come to the hospital to visit Maisyn too.  Once she got there, we went back upstairs to visit.  This time, Bode was very antsy so we didn’t stay long.

Monday Evening:  Mr. Chaotic took the girls to see baby girl.  He learned that the nurse had lowered Maisyn’s oxygen levels to 25% and she was doing great! 

Tuesday Morning:  I had my MIL come stay with Bode at the house while I went to visit baby girl.  When I got the NICU, Maisyn was sound asleep.  Today was the first day I didn’t cry when I was there.  I picked her up so I could snuggle her while she slept.  When she woke, the neonatologist did his assessment of her.  He wanted the nurse to lower her oxygen, in which she did down to 21%.  The whole time I had been snuggling her though, the little tubes kept falling out of her nose, which basically meant she wasn’t getting any oxygen.  The nurse said that was fine though as they wanted to start weaning her off  if we wanted to bring her home Thursday. 

Tuesday evening:  Mr. Chaotic & Talyn went to the NICU and Maisyn was off her oxygen!  They took her off it at 2:30 that afternoon and she’s been doing great all day.  Best news ever!  Nurse mentioned that Maisyn had lost a little weight so that was a new concern.

Wednesday Morning:  Again, I had my MIL come stay with Bode so I could visit baby girl and not have him being all crazy in the NICU.  Maisyn was still sound asleep and still off her oxygen! Instead of picking her up & snuggling her, I just let her sleep in her crib.  I asked about the weight issue and the nurse said there wasn’t an issue as Maisyn had been gaining weight.  When she woke, I changed her, fed her, and then just snuggled her for a bit.

Wednesday Evening:  The whole family went to visit baby girl tonight after supper.  It was complete chaos as the kids were acting all crazy and being loud.  She was still off her oxygen, which means she made it past the 24-hour mark and she was on track to come home Thursday.

Thursday Morning:  MIL came again today to watch Bode for me and this time she brought my nephew to play with Bode.  I went a little bit later than I had been because she had been sleeping till after 9:30 the past couple days.  Maisyn woke up shortly after I got there.  I changed her diaper and while doing so she pooped on me.  The neonatologist then did his discharge assessment.  I then fed her, put her take-me-home outfit on her, and we waited for Mr. Chaotic to show up.  While waiting, Maisyn’s nurse and I went over the discharge paperwork.  Around 11, Mr. Chaotic arrived.  I put Maisyn in the car seat, the nurse walked us downstairs and we said our goodbyes & thank you’s. We then decided to eat lunch one last time at the hospital.  I arrived home with her just after twelve noon and Bode couldn’t be happier!

January Goals

I have a few simple goals for the month of January.

1) Drink at least 8-10 cups of water DAILY

2) Start tracking my food again with SparkPeople

3) Get my butt back on the exercise train, once my doctor gives me the approval.  My appointment is in the middle of the month, so just a couple more weeks!

Side note in regards to exercise – I tried my hardest to get back on the treadmill January 1st.  I lasted 15 minutes, walking very slowly.  Embarrassing, right?  Ugh.  I began having some pelvic pain and then I noticed before I went to bed and again this morning that my flow picked up.  I don’t want to overdo it so I’m just going to wait these next few weeks out.  Rather than focusing on exercise, I’m going to be focusing on what I’m eating and tracking each and every morsel!

Talk to me…

What are your goals for January and/or the New Year?