Three boys and a pool: one last playdate

One of the hardest thing about making friends with other resident families is that they move away. This week we had to say goodbye to Owen's best buddy, William. While the boys are almost a year apart, they have been great friends going to museums, Miss Yovonne's class and lots of activities together over the last two years. Thankfully, his parents are hoping to return to Pittsburgh after a year in North Carolina for fellowship so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Owen and I headed out to the suburbs for one last playdate with William and their friend Sam. William and Sam are a year older than Owen, but they all play together very nicely.

William and Sam are potty trained, so when we went outside for pool time Owen insisted on "big boy und-a-wears" like his friends. Thankfully, there was an extra pair for Mr. Owen, and oddly enough he was the only one that kept them on the entire time ;)

The three Mamas pretty much laughed and took pictures the entire time of these boys splashing, eating and peeing everywhere. We joked that we need to start building material for their high school graduation slide shows ;)

 William watering the grass...(while peeing off the deck)

 Juice boxes and basketball

 Owen is the only one still wearing his undies in this picture - they are all eating marshmallows

 Despite the fact that we ABSOLUTELY feed this boy, he is one skinny guy!

and an ice cream sandwich to finish off the night!

We'll miss William and his Mama SO MUCH but we're crossing our fingers we'll be reunited with them again next June!

Water table

While I very much enjoy living in the city, there are days - especially in the summertime- when I am sad that we don't have a backyard for Owen to play in. Of course he spends his days in beautiful parks and museums and is none the wiser, but it would be nice to let him loose in the yard on a hot summer night.

We've been trying to find things to do in the evenings between nap and dinner. I bought Owen a water table last year, but he was still a bit small for it. It was HOT outside so I decide to drag it down in our front lawn and let Owen play.

First thing he did was climb up into it and said, "Pool!" --- I know, buddy. I wish we had a pool too...

but a fudge-pop and water table will have to do, city boy ;)

Mama and Owen: The Museum of Natural History

Owen and I have been trying to find places to beat the 90 degree heat. Today we used our membership to explore the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. I was hesitant to take Owen because I was afraid there would be nowhere for him to run and very little for him to do, but I was completely wrong. He loved every minute of the "dinosaur museum" and there were LOTS of activities for 2-year olds!

 Dino dig!

There was a great exhibit with a large table of rubber items to "collect" they gave each child a box and they could choose to collect frogs, snakes, dinosaurs, leaves or any combination they wanted. The collecting part was kind of lost on Owen, but he really liked sorting through the huge piles of rubber goodies and putting them in his box.

We'll definitely be going back, hopefully next time with Daddy!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Owen reads 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar 

These are some of Owen's most favorite books right now. It melts my heart to read him classics every night and I love that he knows so many of them by heart.

Our favorite kisses/tickle saying right now is,
"I'll eat you up, I love you so!" (From Where The Wild Things Are)
to which Owen answers in fits of giggles, "Max said NO!"

Father's Day 2012

For Father's Day Owen made a special gift for his Daddy at Miss Yovonne's class. He paint-stamped a card (and Mama helped him write on it) and did some hand prints. Then Miss Yovonne helped the kids decorate a pot and put a plant inside for Daddy.

This was the first time Owen really understood gift giving and asked me all week when we could give Daddy his presents. Thankfully, Jeremy had the weekend off so after a full day of pool time on Saturday we had lots of sleeping in and snuggles on Sunday morning.

Then per our "Daddy Day Off" tradition, Jeremy made whole-wheat chocolate chip pancakes. After breakfast Owen gave him his presents and it was so cute to see how excited he was to show Jeremy what he made.

"Hand paints! Card for you and plant!" -- Owen also sang him Happy Birthday and we both laughed hysterically. I guess there isn't really a song for Father's Day so Happy Birthday worked just fine ;)

That night we went out to a FABULOUS burger place for dinner. The wait was over an hour so we went to a park in the meantime and Owen wanted to swing on a big boy swing.

Jeremy dressed Owen in a matching OSU shirt for the day, it was totally adorable.

Our First Trip to THE POOL!

The pool is open for summer so we spent Jeremy's day off enjoying the sunshine. Unfortunately, the baby pool was closed for repairs so we had to brave the chilly big pool this trip. Owen was shivering the entire time, but didn't seem to mind.

Target

It is a little known fact that if you are an EXTREMELY good boy while your Mama is shopping in Target, then the lady at the check out counter will give you a sticker. This special sticker entitles you to one free bag of popcorn at the snack counter. Bonus? You also get to keep the sticker ;)

...and every good little boy with a sticker knows that if you are getting a FREE popcorn at the snack counter, you also need an ICEE to wash it down.

Hence Mr. Owen is always on his best behavior when riding in the red cart because he wants nothing more than

"POP-CORN AND A COLD!"  

(he calls the ICEE "a cold" and it's so cute I can't stand it!)

28 Weeks: A Visit to Triage

Monday I had a particularly busy day scrubbing toilets and chasing Owen. Around 8:30 p.m. I began having four to five contractions per hour. I knew I had been pretty active so I laid down and was trying to stay calm and drink water because Jeremy was on call. By 11 p.m. I was having seven to nine contractions per hour and decided it was time to call the doctor. Since this is the window where I had cervical changes with Owen, they asked that I come in.

I was going to drive myself, which the doctor did NOT approve of, so we woke up Owen and took him. Plus Jeremy was on call and answering pages the entire time.

After signing a bazillion papers (one of which was consent to have my newborn’s picture taken. AT 28 WEEKS?! NO! And how is this essential paperwork?), I was headed back to observation. Jeremy and Owen were asked to remain in the waiting area, which was completely FILTHY. We rushed out of the house and didn't even think to bring socks for Owen. Jeremy let him watch Curious George on the ipod, and while they were both exhausted, Owen was a very good boy despite being woken up in the middle of the night. Here are my boys in the waiting room...

By the time they took me back and had me hooked up it was like 1:30am and the contractions stopped. Then a doctor came in and said she was going to examine me. All along they had been telling me who was on call for MFM, so I assumed this was a fellow. I was hesitant about the exam because I HAVE NEVER BEEN EXAMINED this pregnancy. Just as she was about to do it, I saw her fleece said, OB/GYN. I asked her if she was the MFM fellow, and she said, "No, I'm a resident but you'll be meeting Dr. "blah blah" from MFM shortly I don't think you've seen her yet" And proceeds to do the exam TWICE because she isn't sure what she felt!! Turns out she was a 2nd year resident, I could have had JEREMY check me if I wanted a second year resident's opinion! Then she says, "well the external OS is open but I felt the internal OS and it seems to be closed and I don't feel any baby parts pushing down." What in the HELL does that mean? And who says "baby parts" to an expectant high-risk Mama?? Next thing I know the nurse comes back telling me I'm free to go. At 3 a.m. I met my tired family back in the waiting area and we headed home.

Jeremy was BEYOND pissed that they wouldn't let him back (they said the rule was no toddlers, but the lady in the room next to me had her family with her). He had no clue what the resident was talking about either, and he was mad that they didn't just ultrasound me. Jeremy was like, "so she just pushed her way through the open part to keep feeling??? On a high risk patient??"

I was frustrated and just wished I would have stayed home until they stopped. But how would I know? I also have no Procadia at home or anything else to stop contractions. 

Jeremy came with me to the doctor the following day and we explained that we were less than thrilled about our time in triage. My appointment was with the chairman, he apologized said he'll talk to the resident and then said, despite her poor communication, everything still looks good.

So, I haven't had any contractions since so I'm hoping it was a fluke. I don't want any more digital exams than I have to so I'll go back to the doctor in two weeks. I'm still getting my P-17 injections every week and I've been trying to lay down during Owen's nap to rest a little myself.

Just need to keep this boy INSIDE!

Our week: iPhone

So we broke down and bought iPhones because both of our phones broke on the same day. Mine was over 4 years old and the people at Apple looked at it like it was an 8 track tape. I could care less about a phone but it was basically the same price for both of us to have one, so now at the very least I have a better camera for taking impromptu pictures of our days. I'll try to share them when I can!

 This is what the second week of June looked like via iPhone photos! 

Lots of park play | Daddy had a day off and we all slept in | fresh blueberry muffins | Someone asked his pregnant Mama for pizza | and they put in a new cupcake shop next door | enjoying the Pittsburgh skyline from inside the Carnegie Science Center

June Strawberry Festival!

I realized that I never shared these photos from last year's trip out to the farm for the Annual Strawberry Festival! (it's the same farm we go to for pumpkin picking and the Bunny Festival) Owen was 15 months and LOVED it last year. He rode the big blue tractor and picked lots of berries. He wasn't walking yet and I can't believe he was crawling through the patches, but indeed he was.

The festival is one day only the first weekend in June and Jeremy made it home from work in time to go again this year. Mama was smart and dressed Mr. Owen in a RED shirt this time. We rode the big blue tractor out to the patches again and Owen was a great helper picking the berries. We also picked some sugar snap peas, but the crop wasn't quite ready yet and Owen ended up eating the two handfuls we picked before we even paid! We ate Amish donuts, fed goats at the petting zoo, Owen played on the wooden tractor and we had lots of strawberry-flavored treats. An awesome way to kick off some summer-time fun, family-style!

26.5 Weeks Pregnant: Memories of a scary time

Today was another OB appointment, and I have had a rough week. This is the exact time we found out that I was in preterm labor with Owen so every little ache, pain and contraction this week has been sending me into anxiety and tears. Jeremy was on call every other night this week, getting slammed, so we didn't really see him at all and it left lots of extra slack for me to pick up.

Owen and I waited almost 1.5 hours to see the doctor this time, and thankfully Owen was so well behaved. He ate snacks and watched Curious George on the ipod. When the nurse came in to see me she told me that I failed my 1 hr glucose tolerance test. The cut off was 135 and mine was 137. Since I have reactive hypoglycemia, I'm already at risk for gestational diabetes on top of ALREADY having a high risk pregnancy. She told me that I need to do the 3 hr test, which requires you drink the glocola and then wait in the lab for THREE HOURS to have your blood drawn. Owen came with me for the first one and waited the hour, but three hours with a toddler is NOT happening. I told her Jeremy doesn't have a day off for a few weeks and they said that until I have the test I have to check my sugars with a meter 4 times a day. On top of that, I tested postive for Group B strep, and while it is just an overgrowth of natural flora it's dangerous for the baby and I'll need to have IV antibiotics during labor and delivery.

All of this news was a lot for me as I was already pretty upset anyway. When the doctor came in, I burst into tears and told him how worried I am about bedrest/preterm/ doing too much. He came right back into the room with an ultrasound machine and measured a perfectly normal cervix (with of course, more tears from me...)

He told me I am doing a great job and that my body is holding onto this baby. He said that if my body wants to contract in the evening to just drink water and lay on the couch. Contractions can be normal and as long as they stop, or don't get increasingly painful, I'm okay. I'm still getting my shots so that is another thing working in our favor. He assured me that I'm not going to "make" myself go into labor by carrying Owen, doing laundry or just being a Mama. It made me feel a lot better.

So while some of the news was less than ideal,  what Jeremy reminded me of later is that what I pray for the MOST is a healthy, full-term baby and right now a long cervix was exactly what we needed to see. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers... I'll breath such a huge sigh of relief in ten weeks.

Memorial Day

Daddy was on call for Memorial Day but he was able to join us for an hour or so out at the fountain for some cooling off.

Jeremy taught Owen how to do a somersault at home on the carpet and O is still getting used to the idea that you cannot just bend down and do one where ever, when ever. When we saw him like this we were like, "NO! No not here!" and he gave us a very confused look but decided to play in the water instead.

Happy Memorial Day!