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!