Amidst The Peace and Chaos

I recently purchased this dresser (found on Craigslist) for $50:

I found black cup pulls for a steal on ebay. I’ve decided on a shade of green that compliments my area rug and couch, and tomorrow, I will have a newly redone piece of furniture!

It seems that most of Southern California is being blessed with much needed rain. Dan has the day off today, so he took the older two kids to a friends house for a few hours. I was able to take a short nap, enjoy a long shower, and spend some one on one time with Addison. She really enjoyed her individual attention, but grew bored, missing her two playmates.

I stood with Addison on our front porch for a bit, so she could be up close and personal with the rain. It got more personal than planned, when the wind suddenly kicked up, throwing rain in our direction. I had to jump backwards back into the house as quickly as possible. She responded by doing her Happy Dance-kicking both legs, while grinning from ear to ear.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about dust mites lately. I think this was brought on by the fact that I’m shopping for a new vacuum cleaner, and I’ve been learning a lot of new information. My husband has asthma, so choosing the right vacuum is very important to me!

One of my favorite websites, Apartment Therapy posted an article today with information about dust mites and how to keep them to a minimum. I felt this short article was worth the read! Please note, the photo is kind of disturbing!

This post would probably be a lot better with photos. However, I have none, and when this all happened, I was really not in a photo taking mood. I take almost full responsibility for the events that took place in my home today, because how dare I take a shower while my 2 and 4 year old children were wide awake and downstairs playing. Please also note that, when I begin a story that mentions me showering, it is not going to be a good story. It’s not because I hate showering, in fact I love showering and take full advantage of the weekends when my husband is home and I take really looooooooooooong showers. I shower daily, , even if it’s past 6PM, even if I’m not leaving the house that day, I will still shower at some point in the day.

I turned Curious George on the TV for my older two kids, and put my 9 month old baby down for a nap, then took a shower. When I got out of the shower I heard laughter down stairs and took that as a good sign (nobody was getting beat up, and I didn’t hear the sound of breaking dishes, so all must be well)! I took time to e-mail a friend, then text message my sister.

When I walked downstairs I was surprised at how cold it was, and noticed the sliding door was open. That’s when I noticed my kids built a fort with the couch pillows and cushions, and my throw blanket. Normally, this would not be a problem (although I do tell them at least six thousand times a day that the couch cushions are not for fort building, clearly they need hearing aids). However, the fort was built outside. And the couch is a brand new custom couch. And it was pouring rain.

I brought in the cushions and tore off the covers, and set them out to dry. Then I talked to my kids about why they can’t play with the couch cushions. This is when I noticed my two year old was holding a half eaten cookie. I took it away from her and saw that they had eaten all but two of the chocolate chip cookies I baked last night (I baked over two dozen). I now had to lecture them about eating all the cookies. And my mistake, I did use the world all. That’s when my four year old, who had been staring at me intently during the entire lecture, decided to interrupt me, and correct me by informing me they hadn’t eaten all the cookies. Silly me, I’ll have to be more accurate next time I have a serious discussion with him.

I’m not preaching at anyone. I’m also not anti vaccine’s. But I don’t go with the regular vaccine schedule either. We’re very, very, delayed when it comes to vaccines.

I have 3 kids, ages 4, almost 2, and 8 months. The most trauma we’ve dealt with, is my youngest living in the NICU the first 10 days of her life, but that had nothing to do with illness. She had a hole in her lung. Nothing I did or didn’t do could change that. It just happens to some people, sometimes.

My kids have had small colds, and they’ve had their share of throwing up, but it’s never lasted more than a day or two. My kids seem pretty healthy!

There is too much unknow about the vaccine, and there are risks (as with any vaccine). And honestly, I think if I knew they were going to get the swine flu, I’d probably still choose not to get them vaccinated against it. It’s too new, there have been complications, and I believe the risks out weigh the benefits. Why would I want to let my children be injected with something so foreign in their tiny bodies? That scares me more than the idea of them actually getting the swine flu.

My husband has asthma, he didn’t get the vaccine. My sister has asthma, she didn’t get the vaccine. They also haven’t caught the swine flu. Did I mention my sister is also pregnant?

My son has a good friend who was sick, and was tested for h1n1, it came back negative. He was feeling better a few days later, and we all went trick or treating together on halloween. Poor little friend got sick again, and was tested, again, for h1n1 (2 days after halloween), this time it came back positive. Even after spending a couple hours with me, none of my kids got sick. Nothing. Not even a sneeze or sniffle.

From what I’ve heard from several people and news sites, there has only been a small percentage of deaths associated with the swine flu. Much smaller than with the regular flu. I can’t be positive on numbers, I’m certainly no expert.

I decided to avoid the stress factor and not freak out about what can be. I live in California, but I’m not going to be scared every day about the Big One (earthquake), that I keep hearing is coming at some point. People get food poisoning all the time, but I shouldn’t worry every time I sit down to eat. I think the fear its self is more dangerous than the possibility!

Today was a pretty great day!

It started out rough, I had been told I would get to breastfeed Addison, then I was running a few minutes late, and I called the NICU to let them know, gave them permission to give her a bottle if necessary, but ONLY if I’d still be allowed to try to nurse her.

When I get there she was still under the photo therapy lights, and they wouldn’t let me nurse her, or hold her for that matter!

I sat there crying, trying to figure out which staff member to let my anger out on. A nurse came in and finally let me nurse her!

It only took Addison about 2 minutes to latch on properly, which seemed long to me given that Bethany got it first try, but Addison is 5 days old and at that point, had only had one or two bottles, and hasn’t been held very much (which really makes me sad). She nursed great, and eventually fell asleep while comfort sucking. I held her like that for about 20 minutes.

She was very wide awake when we first got there, and just really wanted attention. She kept pulling her little eye protectors off and making screaming noises. Not obnoxious screaming, but just screams here and there to let us know she was not happy being in her cage.

I just called the NICU for the latest. She’s been off the photo therapy lights since 6 PM, feedings are going great, and they’ll hopefully increase tomorrow. They’ll do another blood check for jaundice in the morning, and hopefully those levels will be down.

I’ll go back to nurse her in the morning.

We still have no clue when she’ll be home. We get a different answer every time we ask, so it’s getting frustrating. It sounds like all that needs to happen now is everything remain stable, and her feedings increase, which makes me hopeful for Thursday. If it goes beyond that, we’ll probably put up a fight to get her out.

I’ve added new photos my online album, she’s getting more and more adorable. I think her eyes are blue, but it’s hard to tell. (They were still yellowish today due to jaundice). To me she looks a lot different from the other 2 kids. They looked exactly like Dan at birth, but I don’t see that in her. She also has a lot less cheek fat then the other 2 did, and unlike Bethany, her legs are long and thin.

Just a super fast pregnancy update: I am 36ish weeks pregnant and had a Dr. appointment today.

Due to my previous delivery, I’ve been scheduled for a c-section for the 31st of this month, but I’ve had a really hard time accepting a c-section. So today I talked to my doctor about my options for a natural delivery.

Turns out I’m 2 cm dilated, and she said she won’t force a c-section on me, ultimately it’s my decision, however there are risks involved. I’m hoping and praying that I go into labor within the next few days, because I’d feel comfortable going natural at this point.

If I make it to next week, I know the risks aren’t worth it, and I’ll carry on with the c-section plan. I know it’s not the end of the world, but after 2 natural deliveries, I’d hate to have a c-section if it can be avoided!

Liz is in town with Georgia, and they stopped by for a couple hours today. It’s so fun to watch babies interact. Georgia was born 5 weeks before Bethany. About 5 minutes before they came over, Bethany decided to start actual crawling. She’s been cruising around the room using her own methods, and I’m surprised she wasn’t crawling earlier. Oh well, as of today, she crawls.

Georgia pulls herself up without effort, and is starting to cruise while holding onto things. She’s a few pounds smaller then Bethany, but that’s expected considering Bethany was a 10 pound baby.

Bethany has her 3rd tooth coming in right now. The bottom front two have been here for almost 2 months, but now she has a top tooth (2nd to left…not front) about to poke through the gums any day now. I think I can see the whites of a few other teeth, so I guess she’ll have a mouth full just like Daniel. Although when Daniel was this age, he had 7 teeth already (yes 7! this kid had 2 teeth before he was 4 months old!)

Here are some photos of Bethany and Georgia. I tried to get some of Daniel but he was too busy showing off trying to get attention, so he wouldn’t sit still or face the camera.