Gearing up

For whatever reason, I seem to do better with a deadline in regards to cleaning. Cleaning has never been my strong suit, so I have to look for any help i can get. A lot of times I invite someone over, so i have that deadline to get things done.

Andrews brother and wife are coming for thanksgiving as well as his dad(as long as it doesnt snow lol). Im looking forward to spending some time getting to know my new sil and have some family join us for our traditional feast.

So IM gearing up to do some things that I tend to put off like dusting and organizing bookshelves, steamcleaning carpets, decluttering all the places that pile up and reorganizing closets. I have hired a friend (Thanking God that we have the funds to do this now!) to come and help me clean some this week as well. I dont seem to have as much time to do the deep cleaning (hmm wonder why ... maybe cause of a sweet little baby girl).

God is good ... all the time!
MJ

Generally speaking, if your doctor takes one look at you and asks if you are okay, its not good.

I took Elaura in for her weight check today, as well as Josiah, since hes not feeling well. I have had a cold/cough/congestion since before Elaura was born but never bad enough to warrent a doc visit. Plus I have been dealing with pink eye this week as well. So add that to sinus/cold issues and I dont look great lol. So she wrote me a prescription for a sinus infection, probably time. It wasnt that I was playing a martyr or the like but I just never felt sick enough to warrent a doc visit. I really despise going in for them to tell me its just a virus, so I usually play dr mom at home before going in.

Josiah has a sinus infection and his strep test was negative, but he got a prescription as well. Elaura actually lost an ounce, I hoping its just cause she finally started pooping on her own now so maybe it will even out next week. Doc said too it could be cause im sick as well, so shes not getting as great of milk , but im not sure on that front.

It was nice to find out though that we are building up a bit of a reputation with our doc. I thanked her for squeezing us in (they didnt have appt slot for us, but told us to come in anyway) and she said no problem, that she knows we wouldnt call if it wasnt a crisis. So that was sort of neat. I also asked her bout some research I did bout a condition that I suspect Gideon might have. It was reassuring as wellwhen she said that it was good to be informed and that somtimes the patient has more time to do the research. So she was going to do her own research on it this weekend.
I had decided to look up some information last night and ran across a syndrome that Im thinking that Gideon may have. He may or may not but he has the majority of the symptoms and it would explain a lot of his delays as well. The good part of finding this now, is that his appt with his geneticist is only a couple weeks away! So I definitely plan on asking her about it, and given her field, she should be much more familiar with it. I think that God prompted me to find this now and IM thankful for that. Had i discovered this earlier, I would have to wait much longer to have my questions answered.

God is good ... all the time!

MJ

Hooray!

Elaura is pooping on her own! Exciting times :) I was just bracing to have to help her poop on Monday when she came thru on Sunday already. She has pooped 3 times already today, so Im thinking her system might finally have kicked in.

Its kind of funny the things we get excited about.

I really have been enjoying this month, adjusting in with the baby. One of the nicest things is we took the whole month off of therapy for Gideon. Hes in speech, occupation and physical therapy, each 2 times a month. And they do come to the house(so thats a blessing right there) but it does still disrupt the day. For the most part I really am enjoying not having the therapist come, or a medical appt to run to, or stuff like that. December will start it all up again, and we will continue the things that must be done. For now though, Im determined to enjoy my less scheduled days!

Ive also been on a kick to try and figure out better ways to store and organize our stuff as well as the purging that comes with times like this. Determining what we are keeping and how to store it better and make the best use of our space. Im happy to report our 2nd fridge is out of the kitchen and the new one down in the storage room, makes the kitchen seem much bigger!

Enough typing for now, my joints in my hands are acting up again but God is still Good all the time!

MJ

It broke my heart

Note ... not for the sqeamish, if thats you, you might want to skip this one lol.


Overall Elaura is doing well, adjusting into the family. She seems to have captured everyones heart. She loves to fall asleep with daddy, or snuggle with Josiah and Gideon is fascinated with his new baby sister. He loves to poke at her, give her pacifier or hat to her when she doesnt need it or reach to grab her at every opportunity! Shes slowly gaining back her weight, last friday she was up to 8 lbs 1 oz. She is so easily comforted that she falls asleep while eating ... so lots of poking and waking her back up to eat.

But she hadnt pooped in nearly a week. Thats not so good, so I put in a call to the doc this morning. He suggested stimulating the rectum ... yeah its as gross as it sounds. We will never use that thermometer again. Let me tell you, i really hope I dont have to do that one again. It nearly broke my heart to have to do it this time. I know Im helping her but it feels like you are hurting them. Lets just say it worked enough for now, that we have officially achieved operation poop for the day.

I hope her little tummy feels a bit better now and that she manages to poop on her own in the future. If not I will steel myself to do this again (I realy really hope not!!)

God is good ... all the time!
MJ

Trying to remember

I was laying in bed the other night and tried to remember all of the kids birth weights. I had the first 6 down pat, then the last 3 for whatever reason seemed to escape me. I dont think I ever had the birth lengths memorized though.

Im pretty sure though all of them except Elaura were over 20 inches. or at least 19. Elaura definitely seems to be the shortest at 18.5 inches. Anyway, I just looked up two of the weights on andrews blog -- Thank god for history -- so IM only unsure of one. I think i have an idea anyway on his but ill have to double check his birth cert to be sure.

I had 4 7 lb babies, 4 8 lb babies and two 9 lb babies. And no the 9 lbers werent at the end either, they were the 4th and 5th babies.

Katarina was 8 lbs 6 oz, Josiah was 7 lbs 13 oz, Nathaniel was a repeat weight at 8 lbs 6 oz, Zechariah was 9 lbs 1 oz, Elijah was the biggest at 9 lbs 4 oz, Ariana was 7 lbs 11 oz, Ezekiel was i think a 3rd 8 lbs 6 oz, or somewhere in that range, Zemirah was the smallest at 7 lbs 7 oz, Gideon was 7 lbs 9 0z and Elaura was 8 lbs 12 oz.

I was a 10 lb baby myself. I was positive that meant I would have big babies too but overall I think they were all fairly average.

God is good ... all the time
MJ