Cruz News

the potty training wars

2010-02-09T11:07:00.000-08:00

So last week Haley decided it was time to start potty training. My first reaction was..."um you are only 16 months and are way to small". My second reaction was "why is the world would I say no to you if you want to use the potty". So thus we began potty training Haley before Jacob is even fully trained! Since Thursday she has done really well. Usually only have #2 accidents as we have not had success with that one yet and a few #1 accidents. I had to order her special cloth training pants since the ones in the store are too small and so is any underwear I found. Today has not been a good day though. I guess that's to be expected though. I also think she's not feeling well today. She's been wanted to be held a lot today which is not like her and she's not telling me before or after she goes in her diaper. Yesterday she was telling me before and we had a really great day!

In other super awesome news!!!!! Jacob asked Jesus into his life today! I couldn't be happier. I told him the angels were dancing and happy too!

When he was this age

2010-01-22T19:40:00.001-08:00

So I thought I would share a picture of Jacob when he was 16 months and then a picture of Haley who will be 16 months on Monday. Do they look a like?

I will soon be returning

2009-09-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

Very soon I will be returning from my blog hiatus from this site. I have decided that Haley's carepages must come to an end some day and there's no better time than her first birthday. I will be able to still keep everyone informed on her progress and all hers and Jacob's milestones on this site. In just 8 days we will be celebrating Haley's first birthday! Just as with Jacob it is bittersweet for me. I'm so proud of both of them for all they have learned and endured. I'm excited that they are growing up. I am also sad they are growing up. I wish they could stay innocent and small forever. I don't ever want them to see the bad in this world. I wish they could always have that child like faith. I don't ever want to let go. The thought of Jacob going to school is exciting and scary. I know he'll do great and will be safe but it's hard not to worry.

I plan to post my last carepages update on Haley's birthday which I will also post on here as the transition. I don't know how many of our readers on carepages will want to continue to follow our family updates but I will offer it. Please pray for no rain on Saturday, it's Haley's party and I really want a beautiful day where we can be outside and just enjoy our little miracle!

Life after the NICU and March for Babies

2009-04-27T07:42:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I've posted on here. Most of you have followed Haley's story on her Carepages site. So I will keep this brief. Haley is doing so well. She is now 13 lbs 5 oz! She eats baby cereal and some veggies. She's tried peas, green beans, and carrots so far. She loved them all! She really enjoys eating and is so easy to feed unlike Jacob was. Jacob was an easy kid for most things but eating was always tough. Haley is a good eater, but the rest of the stuff is tough with her. We will be trying sleep training very soon. I'm borrowing a book from a friend and I really hope it works for her. She's been getting much better at night and is only up a 1 or 2 times now ( but still has those nights where she's up ever 2 hours too so nothing is really consistant yet ). Her napping has not been good at all though. I know I need to get her sleeping in her own room in her crib and that will help because Jacob wont wake her up but then she gets scared when she wakes up and no one is around. We'll get it figured out eventually. This weekend was the March for Babies. It was hot but no rain so it was good. We all made it the full 6 miles although some were doubtful. Haley only cried for the last 1/2 mile probably from being hot and hungry. Here are a few pictures from the walk.

precious pictures

2008-12-30T11:06:00.000-08:00

While Haley was in the NICU the March of Dimes arranged to have a photographer come in and take pictures of who ever wanted to have their baby's pictures taken. We were so excited and the pictures came out great. It's hard to believe she was once that small ( actually smaller ). This first one if my favorite by far. I love how she is looking up at me.

Kangaroo care ( skin to skin holding ) was so important for Haley's development. It helped her to relax and it helped us bond. Dan was even able to do it and he enjoyed it as well. Our body heat kept her warm while she was away from her heated incubator.

peeking at mommy

Love

Tiny feet

Stop signs
Stop signs is a term used a lot in the NICU. We attended a class on reading our preemies signals. Stop signs are an important one. It's how the baby tells us they have had enough or are over stimulated. It means stop and leave me a lone for a while. Haley used hers a lot. She was a trouble maker in the NICU. She actually earned the nick name Houdini. She was always trying to get the CPAP and leads and feeding tube out and rolling around in the incubator. Her fiestiness got her out of there in 5 weeks. I don't think anyone expected that.

Haley Joy

2008-12-10T10:27:00.000-08:00

Haley Joy. Born 9/25/08 29 weeks and 5 days. 2 lbs 9.6 oz 15 in. She only spent 35 days in the NICU. 1/2 the amount of time we were told to expect!

not posting for a while

2008-10-02T10:02:00.000-07:00

I will not be posting on here for a while. We have a special site for Haley where I will post updates. It is privacy protected. Dan and I appreciate all the prayers for Haley and if you want to have access to the site just send me your email address and I'll send you the invite. I think you have to join or something after your first visit so you can keep coming back. My mom had a little trouble so if you have trouble feel free to email me and I'll see if I can help you figure it out. It's a site the march of dimes helped us with and we wanted some we knew that we could control who was seeing and reading. Keep praying. It will still be quite sometime before we can bring our daughter home.

a cry for help!

2008-09-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

Please has anyone ever experienced bad swelling in pregnancy? As of now, blood pressure is ok so I am just trying to find things I can do to get it to go away! I put my feet up most of the day, drink 1 gallon of water, try not to eat too much salt, and try to get some exercise but not too much. My mom thought maybe some kind of tea might help but we don't know if there is any kind that would be best. If you have any magic tricks please tell me. When I get up in the morning ( which is backwards from how it should be ) I am so huge and sore I just can't take it much longer. I sat with ice on my legs last night, but no help. Thanks.

looking back

2008-09-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

5 years ago Dan and I celebrated one of the best days of our lives. Actually 5 years ago tomorrow but I doubt I'll have time to blog. It's hard to believe we've been married for 5 years already. So much has changed too. We have moved twice since then. We had our apartment which we only lived in for 6 months, then our house in croydon where we lived for 3 years and our current home. We adopted our first dog after about 8 months of marriage whom we loved for 1 year before he passed away suddenly. We then adopted our second dog Toby whom we are loving every day with. We had out first baby, Jacob. I can't imagine my life with out him. Now we are expecting our second bundle of joy and we just can't wait to see what this little on will add to our family. We've had good times and bad times. We've grown so much as a couple. I still get butterflies all the time. Through it all I wouldn't change a thing.

It's been a great 5 years. I can't believe it's been 5 years. I have been blessed with an amazing husband who is also a wonderful father to Jacob.

I'll never forget how it felt 5 years ago when we said our vows. I'll never forget the way we looked at each other and how happy we were on that day. I'll never forget because it's all still there. I'm more in love with Dan and he still looks at me as if we just started dating.

Thank you for a great 5 years. I can't wait to see what God has in store for the next 5 and beyond!

I'm ok

2008-09-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

Thank God everything is ok. No bed rest for this momma yet. I don't know what I'll do if it comes to that. Midwife's orders were, rest, drink even more ( we're up to 128 oz a day!!! ), and some coke to help with my headaches and hopefully relieve some swelling. Other than that everything is ok. Baby has be super active today and I'm so grateful for that. Whenever I'm worried about it this kid reminds me that he or she is ok. So in trying to obey my orders my post may be brief and not too many. I need to save my time that I'm not laying down for Jacob. He doesn't understand and I don't want him to really know what's going on. I just tell him mommy's not feeling well today and he needs to let me rest. He's so good about it and takes good care of me. I love my little boy.

ARG

2008-09-17T06:40:00.000-07:00

So this morning I woke up to not being able to move my fingers and a lot of pain when I try to walk. I've been battling swelling now for a few weeks but this is the worst it's gotten. And I'm sure when I go to the doctor today they are going to tell me it's not that bad, but when I called asking for advice they said I needed to be seen to make sure it's nothing. Gotta love that. The nurses say come in and when you do the midwives wonder what you are doing there. I am due for my next appointment anyway which was supposed to be tomorrow so they just moved it up 1 day. They had openings so it was no big deal. I feel like I'm living in my bathroom lately because of how much water I've been drinking in hopes to relieve the swelling. I've been really uncomfortable in my legs so maybe they can give me some tips of how to help with that.

In other news, Jacob has been wearing underwear for short periods of time and keeping them dry! I'm so proud of him. He's growing up so fast. I can't believe it. He's taking care of me today and just told me to I need to go lay down. I told him not to let me off the couch for too long and he's doing what I asked. So I must go and do as my little doctor orders! Maybe he'll give me a check up with his medical kit again.

Baby

2008-09-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

Just a few ultrasound pictures from our 3D ultrasound today. It was my early birthday present and I couldn't have asked for a better one. It was so amazing to see this little life that's been kicking me, waking me up, and making me pee so much. I love you little baby!

Just a little attitude

Feet crossed like mommies always are

Sprained Ankle

2008-09-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

Poor Jacob fell in a hole walking around my parents backyard last night. He was limping quite a bit so we put some ice on it and had him rest the rest of the night. I also gave him motrin. Well today he's still sore and limping. It seems to be a mild sprain. He can still walk which I am glad about but it's hard to keep him off it. We called the doctor and they said we're doing the right thing and if it's not better in a few days to take him in to get it looked at. It's not swollen and he's walking ok so I think in another day or so he'll be fine. Sometimes it seems to hurt more than others and he wont really walk then and other times he seems to be able to run. Of course after running he sits and holds his foot telling me it hurts again. So I'm letting him watch cartoons so he'll sit still. He's even eating lunch on the couch so we can keep it elevated. He's getting the royal treatment today. I love that kid and I feel so bad that he's hurting. I had no idea a 2 year old could sprain their ankle. Luckily when they do it's almost always very mild.

As for me, I'm pretty swollen again. Not sure what's going on but I'm doing all I can today to try to get it to go down and if it's bad tomorrow again I'll have to call the doctor. This baby is really giving us some trouble. I'm sure it will all be worth it when we finally meet this little one. I'm in the home stretch of the pregnancy. We've made it to the third trimester! I started exercising again to help with some weight gain I was unhappy about. I know I have to gain weight but I think it was happening to quickly lately.

So here's my question for those who have been pregnant before....send me your healthy recipies and exercise tips to get through this third trimester with minimal weight gain. I've done pretty good with the weight gain until recently. I've cut out junk food, but my sweet tooth is driving me nuts....Help!

Julie

a play date

2008-08-29T07:08:00.001-07:00

Jacob and James had a great time at the playground on thursday. Earlier this week I noticed Jacob trying to hand his mitt to his shadow so he could play baseball. I felt so bad. He just wanted someone his own size to play with. He's been really missing Sarah lately. I'm so glad it's only a little more than a week left and they'll be back. I think we'll have to plan to go visit as soon as possible when she gets back!

I have chocolate on my finger!

2008-08-25T06:49:00.000-07:00

Not words you want to hear from a 2 1/2 year old sitting on his potty not actually eating any chocolate! We had our first poop success although I have to say it was hardly anything, but we made a big deal anyway because he tried his hardest. My boy is growing up!

In other news, I spent a few hours in hospital last night. So far everything came back ok, but I'm still in pain! We still have no explanation for the pain and I am not waiting for one of the doctors to call me with some ideas and what they want to do next. I'm actually surprised they haven't called already. They were supposed to discuss it at their morning case study meeting and then call me. I'll call them if I don't hear from them by 11:00 or so.

I'll try to keep you all updated.

Where have I been??

2008-08-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Well home sick :( I am not on bed rest but I have another appointment on wednesday next week to see how things are going. As of right now everything seems ok. So since that was all good I decided I would just get sick. Not really but that's what happened. I really don't know what is wrong I just feel crappy. I have pains in my stomach which are concerning but I think it's totally unrelated to the pregnancy. If I have no relief after trying some things today I'll have to call the doctor and see what they think. Dan ( the best husband ever ) was able to find someone to be at the office so he can bring me some stuff to help me feel better. I'm glad he could find someone because I can barely walk let a lone drive to the store. So that's where I've been. Now I have to find a way to get myself out of this chair and back to my couch. Jacob's been taking care of me and he's been pretty good. I'm lucky he's been so nice and tomorrow is saturday. I'm sure he only has so much good left before he gets tired of mommy just sitting around all day.

bad day

2008-08-19T06:56:00.000-07:00

I going to the doctor at 12:00 praying my blood pressure isn't too high. I am pretty swollen and water is only helping a little. I'm hoping it's just me being crazy and it's not as bad as I think. Anyway, I am supposed to stay off my feet and keep drinking water until I leave so I guess I should get back to that. I'll hopefully post when I get home provided my blood pressure is low enough they let me come home. She said it's very early for pre eclampsia but if can still happen. I guess we'll wait and see.

YAY

2008-08-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

You're probably all sick of hearing about potty training from me. Well that's my life right now. Jacob had a great day and is finally getting the hang of it! He now goes right away or with in 15 minutes instead of sitting there for 45 minutes waiting. I'm so proud of him. He earned himself $1.25 because he went 5 times! And the day's not over yet! I think we can get at least 1 more time as long as we are not out all night. We have a few things to do before our crazy weekend. I'll be at my parents all day tomorrow helping prepare for Saturday and My brother and sister-in-law will get there around lunch time. Since they are staying with us we are trying to get the house ready tonight since we wont be home tomorrow. Dan's going to go straight to my parents after work and we'll all have dinner together. My Aunt and Uncle and Cousin are also coming up from NC tomorrow and should arrive around lunch time also. I'm so excited they are able to come. We don't get to see them alot since we don't have a ton of vacation time. We hope to have enough money to go there next summer again for vacation but with gas prices we're just not sure. Sometimes they'll stop by around Christmas if they are in NY seeing family. This year they'll have more of an incentive if they go to NY because they can stop in and see the baby! I can't believe we'll have another baby in december! I'm being reminded by tons of kicking and flipping as I type this. I'm starting to think this baby never sleeps which is scary! This post is so all over the place it makes me laugh. Don't you like my no separate paragraphs?

Well I guess that's all for now. Busy weekend ahead of us so I'll post updates early next week!

why?

2008-08-12T11:25:00.001-07:00

I just don't get it. As soon as we think we're getting caught up with bills something happens. I broke a window in our family room today. If it were anywhere else I'd just leave it and board it up for a while. This is the room we spend most of our time. It also only has 2 windows so with all the bags I have on it right now not much sunlight is coming in. I hate having to have the lights on, but poor Jacob only likes it to be really light when he's playing. Now that he's asleep I can deal with the way the lighting is with the light off. It took me forever to get it cleaned up. I was using a towel to kill what I thought was a fly ( actually a bee ). My dog was freaking out and Jacob wasn't too found of it either. I never thought a towel would break a window. Apparently it was already weak. I'm glad I did it and not Jacob when he was playing and threw a ball near it. He would have been so upset. He was good to stay away while I cleaned it up. I did cut myself, but it's not that bad. Hopefully Dan can replace it tonight. It is a standard size window and home depot has it in stock. Now we just need to figure out a few financial things to still be able to pay all the bills. It never ends! I feel so dumb for breaking a window and it couldn't have happened at a worse time.

Is it the weekend yet?

2008-08-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a rough week. I'm so glad that tomorrow is friday and then it will be the weekend. Not that I'll get much of a break but I get some. Dan's been helping my dad out with a lot so he'll probably be there most of the day but I usually go over too and then I have my mom to help with Jacob. It gives me a little break. Friends invited us over for dinner Saturday night so we're looking forward to that. It should be fun. They have 2 kids that are around Jacob's age so he should enjoy playing with them also. We're again struggling with the whole money thing. We just realized the commission check that's coming tomorrow is basically spent! That kind of sucks, but part of it is going to pay a bill so at least we wont have to pay that bill later this month. Most of the rest goes towards the carpet we just got in Jacob's room. Thank goodness we don't have to buy anything else to finish his room. We already have all the trim and Dan will work on getting that up a little at a time in hopes that Jacob can sleep in there maybe by monday. If not we might just put it off until next weekend after my brother and his wife go home. They are staying with us for the weekend. So now I have a lot of cleaning to do but that's ok. I don't mind because I needed to get it done anyway. It will be good to have the house clean again. I think I might have to recruit Dan to help me a little each night next week so we can actually get it done. I wanted to get a good cleaning done and have Dan take some stuff up to the attic for me also. The hall closet needs to be organized badly so I can fit more in it. That's one bad thing about this house, there's not enough closets. And of course when we added the hallway and redid Jacob's new room we didn't put in a closet! Oh well. It's something we'll have to add before we want to sell which isn't for like 10 years so it's no big deal. By the time we sell we'll have done a lot to this little house. It will be nice and hopefully sell with out any problems. Our next house needs to be exactly what we want though. I don't want to have to move again for a long, long time after that. It should be our last house before we retire and get something much smaller. We'll see how everything goes.

Ok enough nonsense rambling. I should go get some rest before Jacob and Jack both get up and the craziness starts all over.

a little regression

2008-08-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

So today is no where near as good as yesterday. Jacob successfully went on the potty 3 times yesterday. So far today nothing. He did however pee on the dinning room floor. He doesn't seem to want to sit on the potty today but we're trying to make it fun and a good thing. I know he has to go but he's being stubborn and I'm sure he'll just pee on the floor again if I'm not too careful. It's very frustrating and I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever happen. Maybe yesterday was a fluke. I don't know. I know it was only 1 accident but he just doesn't want to be on the potty today and I feel like I'm being mean. I don't want this to be negative but today I think it might be. I don't want to go back to diapers. He's been good so far. I just wish today was a little better. I was hoping for a better day. Nothing is interesting enough today to get him to be convinced to stay on the potty. He's been naked for a while so I can watch him more carefully and know when he starts and get him on the potty right away. We'll see how that goes. Any advice?

And another

2008-08-04T06:43:00.000-07:00

So after I updated Jacob was successful once again! I'm so proud of my little boy. Two times yesterday. This is huge for him. Nothing yet today but he hasn't been awake that long so we'll see what happens. I promised him a new toy if he has a good week. The carpet comes tomorrow in his new room and then it will be almost ready for him. A few last minute things and then it's done for him. He will likely be in his room by the end of the week. I'll post pictures of the progress later this week. We still have some painting to do but he'll be in the room before that's done. I think I'll paint the big yankee symbol next weekend and all the retired numbers should be able to go up with in a few weeks. Dan still has to cut out the circles for me and then I can paint them.

Nothing else new. I'm so proud of Jacob. I hope this week will be the turning point for him with potty training. All I need him to start doing is knowing before he goes so he can tell me and then we'll be much better. Right now the poor kid has to sit on the potty every 20 minutes and he sits there for a while. It's been working so I don't plan to change it just yet. If anyone has any tips please let me know. I'm willing to listen to any advice and try anything if this doesn't work for him.

We're having success

2008-08-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

Yup that's right Jacob has successfully peed in the potty 2 times in the past 3 days! Finally we're getting somewhere! I'm so proud of him so I had to share. I just found out my best friend had her baby so I'm so excited for her! I think that's all for now. I'll update later I have to go wake up Jacob.

Today's appointment

2008-07-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

Everything is going well. The baby is healthy and perfect size! I am still contracting but everything is fine so we are just taking it easy and keeping a close eye on things. After my next appointment we might have a Fetal Fibronectin test to hopefully put our minds at ease or prepare us for another early baby. We're just really hoping for a negative result on that test. Jacob really had a good time seeing the baby on the screen. The baby moved around a lot and he seemed to like that. My blood pressure was a little high again but it's still ok.

updates

2008-07-24T08:32:00.001-07:00

It's been a while so here we go. Jacob is sick again. This poor kid seems to always be sick. I think it's related to being a premie. He's feeling a little better today which is good. Hopefully this will be it for a while. He's gotten really into Thomas the Tank Engine which has been neat to see. He loves to play with his trains, but I am getting sick of watching it on TV. It's all we watch now.

The pregnancy is progressing along. I have been having contractions for almost 2 weeks now but they never last or progress so I just keep on going along with my day. I hope I can make it to a safe point in pregnancy before they do progress. I have an ultrasound tomorrow which we are excited about. We are not finding out the sex. I have been tempted but I think we'll stick with our original decision to be surprised. Jacob is excited to see the baby on the computer screen again. I'm glad he's so excited about the baby. He was talking to the baby last night and rubbing and kissing my belly. It was so cute. I love when he does stuff like that. I wish December wasn't so far away. I'm trying my hardest to optimistic that I wont deliver until December. I would mind late November but not too early this time. I don't want my baby to have to spend any time in the NICU. We have chosen a hospital with a great NICU though just in case. I have been very impressed so far with the hospital. I was there a week and 1/2 ago praying I was not in labor already and the nurses were really nice and the room I was in was a good size. We're planning to do a tour soon so we can see everything before hand and know where to go. Even though it's early I'll probably make my next appointment a longer one so I can ask questions about delivery since I never got to do that with Jacob. This way I know where to go and have an idea of what I can do to avoid any medication.

Well that's probably more than you all wanted to know.

pictures

2008-07-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

Just some new pictures for now...I need to go eat lunch

Our new little peanut!

Jacob and Jack

Painting his new room

Playing with Uncle Ray and Aunt Marie

Looking out the window of Uncle Ray and Aunt Marie's 10th story condo!

Me and my best friend Karen. She is is expecting her first any day now. It was great to see them again.

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad Dan is off today. It's almost like having a day off myself because I get help and someone to help entertain Jacob. I love being with him everyday and playing with him and watching him learn, but every once in a while it's nice to have some help and a chance to relax a little. We're going over friends tonight which will also be nice. Tomorrow I get to see my cousin for the first time since March and we get to meet her baby! I think and then sunday we'll be at Dan's mom hanging out with his family. It should be a good weekend. It's going to be a busy week. I have an exam this week and I want to spend some time with my cousin. I have Jack 2 days again plus tons of studying!

So if you don't hear from me for a while, it's just crazy around here. We hope to get Jacob's room mostly painted this weekend. Hopefully we are able to do that.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday weekend!

on the road to recovery

2008-07-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

Jacob is on his way to getting better. He is so much happier these days not that he was very unhappy other days though. He only has sores in his mouth now and they seem to be less painful since he can eat more and actually brushed his teeth! I am hoping he will be well enough to visit Sarah on friday. I don't think he is still contagious but I'm not risking it.

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. I have to get 1 filling but it's really small and should only take a few minutes. Other than that my teeth are good it's just been way too long since my last cleaning. I'm glad to get it over with and glad that we found the cavity early so it doesn't get bad. It will be my first filling which I'm not happy about but I'll survive. I made it through labor with out an epidural so I think I'll be ok.

I guess that's all for tonight. I'm tired from a long night at work so I'm off to lay down and wait for my wonderful husband to get back from the store. I forgot to leave him my car so he said he would go when I got home even though it was so late tonight. I couldn't have designed a better person to spend the rest of my life with! I love him to pieces!

Hand foot and mouth disease

2008-06-28T18:02:00.001-07:00

So these are the types of things you read about when you are pregnant and have a young child but never actually expect your child to get. We weren't completely positive at the doctor the other day but we are pretty sure now. His rash has gotten worse. He only has a few sores on his feet so far and I hope it doesn't spread any worse because I know he wont want to walk. For looking as bad as he does he is still pretty happy and good. I think overall he's feeling better with the exception of his throat. His mouth and throat are all full of sores so it's hard to eat and even drink sometimes. We took him out for ice cream tonight which he enjoyed. He just started getting itchy tonight so we added benadryl to the to his routine tonight. He's also taking motrin for pain. I'm impressed with him because he looks like he should be so uncomfortable yet he's still playing and being pretty good. So it isolation from other kids for the next few days for us. It stinks because he's been asking to see Sarah and he can't until he's better. I'm hoping he'll be better by the end of the week and we can get out of the house again. It stinks being couped up all the time. I wanted to let him swim in his kiddie pool today but then the storm started rolling in so I decided not to fill it up. This has been happening a lot lately and I feel bad. It would have been a nice day to go to the pool in my parents neighborhood but we couldn't take him being sick.

Oh enough complaining. I have a good little boy and I am so lucky for that. Dan and I actually stayed up late last night and rented a movie and it was so nice to have that time together. It's been a long time since we've sat and watched a movie together. We're usually in bed not long after Jacob anymore. Ok. I should go lay down because this baby seems to be complaining. I wish this pregnancy was less complicated. I'm learning the signals of when I need to get my feet up.

will it ever end

2008-06-27T06:17:00.000-07:00

Jacob has a doctor appointment today. His throat has gotten really bad. He has bumps or sores not really sure what to call them all on his through which have spread more in his mouth. I didn't get to see it really good this morning but he has on on the inside of his lip which he showed me so I know they have gotten worse. He's not really eating but is drinking some. I'm doing my best to keep him hydrated especially with the heat today. His throat is really swollen. My mom is coming with me to help because I know we'll need another set of hands and Dan can't leave work today. I'm lucky to have a mom near by willing to help. I hope there is something they can do because I can't handle many more nights like last night or days like the past 4 days! I need my little boy back! I'll post later with an update on how he's doing.

my poor baby

2008-06-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

Well we went to the doctor for Jacob. They are unsure of the cause of the pain but we are keeping track of what he eats and when it happens. Today started out pretty good. He ate breakfast well and was doing great. We sat and talked for over 45 minutes today! It was awesome. Then it was snack time and he couldn't pick something and then told me his stomach hurt so I suggested we just relax and if he feels better we'll have snack later. He didn't feel like eating though. Then I was getting ready to get lunches ready ( Jack came at 11:00 ) and Jacob told me he didn't want anything that his stomach still hurt. This caught my attention because this is rare for him. I thought we'll he's 2 so I guess we'll have this happen ever once in a while. Then he vomited! I felt his head and face and he was really warm. He does have a fever of 102.3 which isn't terrible. The doctor said if the vomiting gets sever we need to have him seen right away in case of apendicitis. So we're pretty worried about him.
He just woke up and seems to be a little better. He slept for 45 minutes on the couch and is now laying down watching his favorite movie. I'm letting him have some crackers because he's screaming for something to eat. What ever is going on it's not a normal virus! Keep us in your prayers.

15 weeks 3 days and a request for prayer

2008-06-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was crazy. This baby would not stop moving. I was loving it to some degree. It was so sick though from all the moving inside, that part I could have lived with out. Today things are a little less calm on that part. I still have 1 1/2 weeks until my next appointment so there's not much to update on that end.

Last night we were able to go food shopping and did really well with savings. I was so glad for that since money is really tight right now. Jacob was actually really good in the store which was so helpful. Over the weekend we picked strawberries. It was so much fun. We actually got 10lbs! We made 2 batches of jam so far and we are excited to share that and enjoy some ourselves. I think I'll have some before work tonight! We of course spent the weekend with my parents again. We have been working on their kitchen remodel for about 2 months now. It's coming along great and it's starting to really look like a kitchen. There are 4 upper cabinets left to install plus the bead board for the backsplash and part of the rest of the room as well. Then trip and some touch ups and it will look great! I'm so excited for them. They deserve to have their dream kitchen.

Right now Jacob and Jack are sleeping. I know nap time is coming to an end so I should go get my work uniform out and ironed so I can get ready once Dan gets home. I was able to get 1 1/2 hours of studying in today which was so great.

Please pray for Jacob. 2 things actually. 1. He's still having trouble sleeping at nap time because he is scared. He's had nightmares only at nap time for about 2-3 months. He is also scared of reflections and I am having a hard time trying to teach him what he is really seeing. We've had to close the blinds at my parents house in the dining room because he was so scared. 2. He's been telling us that his tummy hurts a lot lately. Usually when eating after only eating a few bites. After a few minutes he is ok and can resume with his meal. It sometimes will happen when he is playing or the other day in the car. Sometimes I know it's gas but others we are not quite sure. He is going to the pediatrician on thursday or friday depending on what hours they have available on those days. I just hope he doesn't need any extensive testing. I worry about him and since he was a premie he is more at risk for different things. We recently discovered he is allergic to cats and is likely to develop asthma. He has had croup 3 times since January. What we thought was croup could actually have been asthma so we need to watch him next time he gets a cold. It's so hard not to worry when it's your child. I am trying because I know I need to stay positive and trust God. I know He is in control and has His hand on my little boy. But please just pray for all of us and we try to figure out what is going on in his little body and mind. I hope the pediatrician can also help us with dealing with his fears. He has gotten worse again over the past few days.

Thanks everyone. Now I must get ready for work.

contest

2008-06-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

Check out this link for yet another neat contest for baby items
http://funandfreegiveaways.blogspot.com/2008/06/its-whimsical-baby-give-aways.html

Being prego myself I am always looking for new fun things for this little bundle of joy. I'd feel bad if I didn't get a few new things for this one since Jacob had everything new and this baby will get his hand-me-downs especially if it's another boy!

crazy kid!

2008-06-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my little boy decided he was not going to take a nap. I went in twice to tell him to lay down in bed and stay there thinking if he would just try he would fall asleep. The first time he tells me " I have poop " Ok so I changed him. The second time he tells me " I can't mommy " I told him to try and the next time I come in because he's being loud and is not in bed he would get a spanking. Well he didn't stay in bed but he also didn't make a sound. I thought it was funny that he was trying to hide it from me that he wasn't sleeping. We have a video moniter so I was watching him and he took all the diapers out of the box on the floor ( which was nearly full! ) and placed them on his bed. When I finally did go in there he told me he couldn't go to bed because it was full of diapies! At that point it was 3:30 so I had given up and told him he had to stay in his room for 15 minutes while I finished the meatballs for his punishment. He screamed the whole time and then we talked and got ready to swim. Needless to say today he is sound asleep and quite as a mouse!

Jacob's newest thing is to tell me something hurts when he is getting in trouble. Today it was his neck and yesterday his throat. Now I know they might hurt some since he was just sick with a sore throat and cough but for him to tell me when I am telling him not to do something or no you can not have cookies and ice cream for breakfast is a little nuts. He's getting way to smart and sometimes it's not for good.

Second trimester!

2008-06-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

We made it to the second trimester! How do I feel....crappy! I actually feel more sick then in the first trimester, but as long as my baby is healthy I'm ok with it. It's making it much harder to take this heat. Seriously 90 and 100 degree weather in June! This is nuts. We went to the pool in my parents neighborhood on saturday night and it was so great. It was just what we needed to beat the heat. Today is the worst day and Jacob is sick so I don't think we'll be doing any swimming. We'll see. I told him I could fill up his baby pool and he could swim in that tonight. It might help him cool down if I get the water the right temp. I think I'll fill it in a few minutes so it's ready after dinner while Dan cuts the grass.

I still don't have a belly picture. I need to get on that, but time is so hard to find these days. I have so much to do now that my semester has started for school. It's only 6 1/2 weeks long so I'll be free again soon.

13 weeks 6 days

2008-06-06T10:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Jacob was so good. He was helpful. I had Jack here and Jacob helped change him and got him toys and shared really well. Today it was just us and he was so grumpy! I hope he wakes up from his nap in a better mood! I wish the weather was nicer so we could play outside. We went out for a little while but could not go in the grass because it's so muddy.

Last week we took Jacob to the playground. He had so much fun. I thought I'd share some pictures from then. I can't believe how big he is. He did the slide all by himself. I could not believe it when he was climbing up and then sat down and scooted to the edge and slid down. He was so proud too.Jacob's new favorite part of the day is when we call Daddy! Here he is all grown up talking to daddy on the phone!

No pregnancy photos just yet. I'll work on that this weekend. I have been feeling very nauseous, which I am hoping has to do with how much this baby moves. We'll see. I should be out of the morning sickness stage by now. My sister-in-law was really sick when she was pregnant with Sarah because of how active she was. Maybe it's a girl. Who knows. Jacob was so lazy though and it was an easy pregnancy for me. I guess that's all.

13 weeks 3 days

2008-06-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

To clarify. The ultrasound picture was from 9 weeks. It says 10 weeks on it but my due date changed after that. I am now 13 week and 3 days! I feel some flutters but my midwife says it's probably not the baby....but what does she know. I really do believe it's our baby moving around. At the last ultrasound it was moving around like crazy. And to answer the burning question...no we do not plan to find out what we are having. The only thing that might change our minds is if they find something wrong at the next ultrasound that would lead them to believe our baby might not make it. I hate that we were not able to find out is Jaidon was a boy or girl. So I would want to know if I could if we were in danger of loosing this baby. Other than that we want to be surprised. It's so fun that way! Not that there is anything wrong with finding out...it's just not for us. I loved hearing those words after all the work of labor with Jacob..." It's a boy". Plus this way no one will know and Jacob gets to tell the family. He's so excited about that. I just hope that everyone can wait that long for him to come back and visit and then go out and tell the news.

In other news I already feel big. I'll try to get a belly shot ( sorry but way too many stretch marks from Jacob so I'll just wear a tight shirt so you can see ) soon. I'm nervous to post it because of how big I feel. I have however only gained 2 pounds so far!

Just in case

2008-06-02T08:02:00.001-07:00

I don't know if anyone reads this anymore but......
We're pregnant! Baby is due to arrive sometime around December 6th. So far everything has been pretty good. A few scares, but now everything is going so much better. Keep us in your prayers as we trust God with this tiny little life.

back to normal life and potty training

2008-05-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

Well we are back from vacation. It was so great to be away and see my brother get married. It was a fun time and I wish we were still there. I had so much fun spending time with family and now I miss them all. I'm glad tomorrow is saturday and I should see Dan at some point during the day. I still have 3 weeks until school starts back up and it's nice, but at the same time I miss it. It gave me something to do and helped me to not be lazy. I got a lot more done even though I seemed to have less time.

In other news Jacob is potty training. He seems to be resisting a little but we have gotten some advice that I think will help. He is able go long periods with out needing a diaper so I know he is physically ready. Any advice is welcome. We'll try to underwear approach later today and tomorrow. It worked for our niece so we'll give it a try. Anyway. When I locate my camera I'll post the few pictures I did get from vacation. We had a fun day on the beach and we got a few good pictures there.

fun contest

2008-05-16T12:13:00.002-07:00

Check it out. Surprise box! How fun. Just check out the site for more details
http://funandfreegiveaways.blogspot.com/2008/05/lets-get-this-party-rolling.html#links

Guess who's a big boy!!!

2008-04-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

Yup that's wright my baby is all grown up. He sleeps in a big boy bed now. I can't believe it. He is actually doing quite well and stays in his bed all night so far. Naps are harder because he's been having nightmares so he never wants to go to sleep. This week I have been sitting next to his bed with him until he falls a sleep but he doesn't sleep as long this way because usually after about 2 hours he realizes I'm gone and gets up crying. So we still have some work to do but he's doing so much better than I expected. He is finally feeling better but still coughs when he runs around outside too much. His inhaler seems to help that a lot so we only use it as needed right now. I still have my cold and I can't seem to get rid of it. I am back to coughing a lot today. Hopefully tomorrow it will improve back to how it was 2 days ago. Only less than 3 weeks and we'll be North Carolina preparing for my brothers wedding. I can't wait. It's going to be so since to be away for a whole week. We actually haven't gone away for a whole week since our Honeymoon. We've gona away just only for long weekends. This should be so nice even though we'll be a little busy. We have a few days of just relaxing and enjoying being with family.

croup again

2008-04-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

Jacob has croup again. It's so much harder to take care of a sick toddler when you are so sick yourself. Please keep us in your prayers this week as we both try to rest and recover quickly. I can't visit any of the wonderful babies that are around these days until we are both better!

AAAAAAHHHHHHH

2008-04-09T08:38:00.001-07:00

I hate being sick. I'm going to the doctors today. I probably wont be able to update much since I have trouble sitting up and pretty much doing anything. I'm so lucky Jacob is so good for me.

I don't understand!

2008-04-07T08:11:00.000-07:00

On friday the heat wasn't working so we called the home warranty company and the guy came out and supposedly fixed it. So yesterday when our heat came on the whole house filled with the smell of gas really fast! So we turned off the heat and opened the windows. After about 1/2 hour the smell was gone. We couldn't find the source of the problem so we left the heat off and went to church. Dan and my dad came back to try to figure it out. The thought it might just be some oil that the home warranty Friday. Later last night the smell was starting to get strong again. Dan called the home warranty company again and they said that heater guys probably wouldn't call us back until morning. Ok this is an emergency! Still they said they wouldn't call back until the morning. So for a company that claims to have 24 hour emergency service....they lied! We called our normal heater people and they came out with in 1 hour. We had a bad gas leak and our heater was not properly put back together. We had this ( much better repair guy ) document what happened and we'll see what we can do. I will never use the home warranty again! Thank goodness we don't think we were breathing in the gas too much since it was only coming out when the heat was on and it was warmer this weekend and we weren't home a lot!

finally

2008-03-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

I finally have the time and energy to update. Although there's not much to update on. Jacob is in the process of giving up his nap. This is really scary for me. How will I entertain him all day now. At lease summer is coming and we can play outside and swim, but rainy days are another scary thought. Any advice is welcome. I can't believe he is doing this already he is only a little over 2! Leave it to my kid. The good sleeper. When he naps he sleep for 3-4 hours. It seems to be every other day. He woke up really early this morning so I thought he would take a nap. I'm not so sure now though. He's in his crib playing right now. He did nap yesterday though for over 4 hours. I don't understand it at all. Jacob is also talking a lot. Full sentences. He counts pretty well when he wants to. He can get to 15 by himself, unless he's being silly, and 25 with help. He knows his ABC and tries to read ( although he only says the parts he remembers from when we read or makes it up by the pictures ). He makes us laugh every day which is so great.

Today is Dan's birthday and we are going out to dinner and then to his mom's for cake with the family. I was not able to do anything special for him since he just recently got his dream car which was part valentines day, part birthday and part anniversary. I feel bad not having a gift for him though. He doesn't expect anything though so it's not too bad. I did go out and get him a card though. It was nice to get Jacob out of the house for a little while.

Tomorrow is my cousin's daughter's birthday party. She's turning 2. Her party is at bouncing off the walls so Dan will finally get to see Jacob playing there. It should be really cute. My cousin rented the whole place so there wont be any other kids besides family. It should be fun.
Jacob has recently been picking up on everything we say. Yesterday I caught him lecturing 'Dusty'. He was telling Dusty no tackling him ( because he's not allowed to tackle anymore after he tackled Jack making him cry for 1 hour! ). He kept saying "don't do it" and then the kicker " You hear me?" I was cracking up. It was great.

Another great give away

2008-03-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

I promise to post some updates on me soon. But I had to pass this along to anyone interested in trying their luck!!!!

Pink Lemonade Boutique Bags has generously donated their popular Retro Kiwi Flowers Handbag to one lucky winner! To enter, just stop by their site http://www.pinklemonadebags.com/store/default.asp before March 21st and take a look around. Then leave a comment on http://islandlife808.com/and mention which design is your favorite. That’s it! A random winner will be selected and notified on March 22nd.

why not give it a try!!!

Blog Party

2008-03-07T17:53:00.001-08:00

Well, it's time to party! 5 Minutes For Mom, along with a whole bunch of sponsors are throwing a 2008 Ultimate Blog Party. There are TONS of prizes to be won and TONS of blogs to visit. Check out the prize list, comment on your favorites and post your blog to Mr. Linky if you have one. It's a cool way to meet new people and just have fun!

GOOD LUCK and have fun!

Edit!
I forgot to post the prizes I like!!!!
1 A Rocking Horse To Love
11 Good For The Kids
12 Happy Panda
29 My Mommy’s Bracelets or Baby Girl Bracelets.
52 Jendi Jean Bag
84 Baby Sling
85 Noah’s ABC Stacking Blocks
97Island Baby Boutique

And anything else. I love them all!!!!!!

update

2008-03-04T12:35:00.000-08:00

I felt like I should update, but I don't have a lot to say. I have decided to volunteer with the Angel Teddy Bear foundation. I finished writing out my cards and have my bears ready to deliver to my Ob's office. When I called to ask them if they would like to be involved they were so excited about it. It really helped me to feel like this is the right thing to do. It's a way to honor Jaidon. I am going to deliver them tomorrow.

Tomorrow night we are going to see Sesame Street live. Jacob has been talking about this for over a month! He is so excited. I can't wait to see how he reacts when we are there. On friday we are going to sesame place for the March of Dimes Family teams kick off. It is a small event where the kids will also get to meet with the characters. Jacob should love this. I am also excited to meet some of the people from the organization.

Tonight I have work. Boo. I don't feel like going tonight. Oh well....I guess I have to. I should go and finish getting ready since I have to leave in less than 1 hour. I guess that's all for now.

Pink Lemonade

2008-03-03T06:06:00.000-08:00

Please check out http://pinklemonadeoflife.blogspot.com/ They are having their March madness contest and are giving away awesome prizes!

Bath and body works give away

2008-02-26T10:02:00.000-08:00

Here is another giveaway for you from one of my new found blogs...freebies, what is there not to just love? Besides the freebies, Rebecca is also the owner of Quote The Walls, check her out when you get a chance.

Visit Fun and Free Giveaways for a chance to win a bottle of White Cherry Blossom body spray from Bath and Body Works.....my favorite place.

Good Luck!

snow

2008-02-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of Jacob in the snow.
At first he didn't want to leave the porch because he didn't like the snow. He did adjust but still would only walk where the snow was already packed down so he didn't sink in!
The last one is Jacob catching snowflakes with his tongue!

In His Time

2008-02-22T12:58:00.001-08:00

In His time, in His time,
He makes all thing beautiful in His time.
Lord, my life to You I bring,
May each song I have to sing,
Be to You a lovely thing, in Your time.

In Your time, in Your time,
You make all thing beautiful in Your time.
Lord, my life to You I bring,
May each song I have to sing,
Be to You a lovely thing, in Your time.

In loving memory of Jaidon

2008-02-22T12:54:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post a picture of the shadow box picture I made in memory of Jaidon. So here it is.
Dan wrote the poem which I am sure you can't read but I think I posted it before.

Nothing new to report

2008-02-21T17:39:00.000-08:00

I wanted to update, except I have nothing to update! Everything has been pretty much the same around here. Jacob keeps growing. He can count to 7 all by himself and to 13 with help. He also can almost say the alphabet with out help. He can spell Yankees!!!! He cracks me up.
We started allergy vaccines on Toby. He get's a shot every other night for the next few weeks and then every 3 weeks for a long time! I give them to him so I don't have to take him in all the time but I feel bad doing it to him all the time. I have lost another 2 pounds! I am down I think 2 inches around my waist and 2 1/2 or 3 around my hips. It's coming off easier than I thought although I slowed down with all the valentines candy and then a set back due to emotional issues. I still have occasional bad days and on those days I eat poorly. I am getting better with that.
Ok so maybe I did have some things to update.

I'm marching for the babies

2008-02-13T10:40:00.001-08:00

Our new niece

2008-02-12T07:41:00.000-08:00

Sandy was born on February 7th 2008 at 4:04 am weighing 8lb 3 oz and 20 3/4 inches long. She is adorable. Mom and baby are doing great!

Jacob's party

2008-02-12T07:35:00.000-08:00

My little boy is 2! I can't believe it. I'm so glad everyone was healthy so we could finally celebrate! Jacob enjoyed his party and having so much attention. He loved opening presents and eating cake! We gave him a small piece but he was still really hyper after it! Here are some pictures.

Long night

2008-02-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

Long night, but for a great reason. I am an aunt again! My sister-in-law had her baby. I'm so proud of her. She did it 100% naturally! As soon as Jacob wakes up we're going to go and visit. YAY!

YAY!!!

2008-02-06T10:18:00.000-08:00

The whole family is finally better!!! I still have my cough but that's it. I am so happy to have a healthy family. I have a study session planned with Barb at work tonight. She really helped me 2 weeks ago when we studied so I am glad to have her help me again. I'm really lucky having such helpful friends at work. Jacob's party is on saturday. He keeps talking about it so I know he is excited.
Today it is really nice out...well not nice but not really cold. It's cloudy. Jacob and I decided to take a walk around the block and get some fresh air. It was so nice. We both have fun. He walked the whole thing. He wanted to take his stroller but I convinced him to walk. I offered to take the wagon but he didn't want to take all his boys out of it so we didn't. I wish it would stay warmer like this. It's really nice to not have to wear a coat and to be able to go outside.
I once again have no pictures. Sorry. I'll try to take some tomorrow.

No party :(

2008-02-01T06:40:00.000-08:00

We had to reschedule Jacob's party to next saturday. He started vomiting again this morning. It really stinks because there are some people who can't come next saturday and we just bought all the food last night :( Jacob is going to the doctor today to make sure it's still just the virus. I hated having to call everyone today because we just told everyone on wednesday that it's still on. He was getting better. He is actually eating right now which is good. He's having crackers. He told me his throat and tummy hurt. Poor kid! So it looks like I will have to venture out into the rain today. I'm really glad we didn't make his cake last night like we were suppose to. My brother and his fiance were suppose to come this weekend too. I don't think they'll be able to come next weekend :( Jacob loves seeing them. My dad is also still sick so I don't think they will come so they don't risk getting sick because they are both really busy with school. This really stinks! I want my little boy to be better. No one wants to be sick on their birthday. His present came in the mail yesterday so we will still give it to him tomorrow and we will celebrate and maybe my parents will come over to celebrate or we can go over their house to get out of the house for once. We'll see. I'll leave you with two pictures. Sorry we haven't taken a lot of pictures since we've all be sick....I am finally feeling a lot better today!

Getting better

2008-01-30T09:32:00.000-08:00

I think we are all finally getting better. Dan and I got a stomach virus as did Jacob on top of his croup. His cough is much better and his stomach virus is much better although he still wont eat much. I can't blame him because I'm not eating as much either. His throat might still hurt too, I don't know. I think he is feeling much better overall since he is being bad again! I just lost my babysitter for tomorrow and our dog needs surgery! My sister-in-law is 37 weeks pregnant and was put on bed rest today! They think she may have pre-eclampsia and are running some test. She may be induced on monday if she doesn't go into labor sooner. she was supposed to watch Jacob for me. My other sister-in-law might watch him but since we are not completely sure if he contagious or not I don't know if she will. She has a 2 1/2 year old, my niece Sarah, and I would hate for her to get sick. I told Dan to tell her it's up to her and it's not a big deal if she can't. I have no idea what I'll do if she doesn't though since I have no one else. I originally scheduled Toby for last thursday and then canceled when Jacob got sick. I don't want to have to cancel again! Lets hope something works out. Toby has bad anxiety issues so I like to stay with him the whole time if I can. We'll see what happens. Pray for my sister-in-law. I'm sure she's nervous. She's having a little girl.

Croup

2008-01-25T11:26:00.000-08:00

Jacob has croup. It is no fun at all. He is on an inhaler to help his coughing and breathing although it will take some time to work so for now he still sounds awful! He doesn't have a high fever which is really good. Today he can barely talk because he has lost most of his voice. Unfortunately it will take a week to get better so no church on sunday ( this really stinks because it's supposed to be his last week in the nursery before he moves up ) and no Jack on monday. I am hoping he'll be well enough for Jack to come on thursday. Jacks party is tomorrow and we can't go to that either. Jacob needs to get better before his party next saturday! I can't believe he'll be 2 in 1 week and 1 day. He is growing up so fast. I don't have any new pictures today. I have been really bad about taking pictures. When he was a baby we took pictures almost every day! Anyway, I probably only have a short time before he wakes up. He slept 13 1/2 hours last night so I am not expecting too much from his nap today but I am hopeful he'll get something so he can rest and get better.

Boucing off the walls

2008-01-18T09:30:00.001-08:00

We went to bouncing off the walls again yesterday. Jacob had a blast. We took my sister-in-law and niece also. They had fun too. Sarah ( my niece didn't want to leave ). Here are a few photos of the kids. My sister-in-law was laughing so hard at Jacob jumping that she was crying.

Last a video of Jacob and Sarah jumping....notice how Jacob spends most of his time trying to get back up!!!

He made me cry

2008-01-10T10:43:00.000-08:00

Today Jacob said to me " mommy, Jesus in my heart" I cried. He is so cute and is starting to really remember and somewhat understand what I say. I know that he is too young to be saved...but it feels so good to know that I am getting through to him as much as I can about God.

a little better

2008-01-08T19:12:00.001-08:00

I'm doing better today. My friend went into labor at 25 weeks. The baby died a few hours after being born via a c-section. Keep her in your prayers still. The funeral will be next week.

Jacob is doing really well. He's talks all the time and we can understand most of what he says. We actually have conversations which is so fun. He's huge too! His 2nd birthday is coming quickly. Only 3 1/2 weeks. We're having a baseball theme party which should be fun too. Baseball park food...traditional ball park food....hot dogs, peanuts, pretzals, and pop corn. If I can find some cracker jax I might get that too.

Anyway....Dan just got back so I'm going to go get ready for bed. I'm tired. Work was crazy tonight.

why

2008-01-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

For once I need some good news. We were doing great for a while all good news then bam. It's been 1 thing after another. I can not give details, but pray for my friend. No matter the outcome she needs it. And pray a small prayer for me. My faith is being tested. I feel very worn down right now and this is when I need to keep my focus on God. Thanks. I'm going to go spend some time with my #1....Jesus!

Finally

2008-01-05T20:08:00.001-08:00

Jacob is finally better. He's been sleeping well and eating pretty good again too. I also think he grew. His pants fit differently. One pair that was perfect length is almost too short now. We are actually buying 2T for him for everything. He's always been small so this is so strange for me. I think he's finally catching up. We went to disney on ice today. Jacob was a little nervous but did have fun. He's been talking about it all day and I expect he'll still talk about it tomorrow. I wasn't sure if he would sit still the whole time but he was great. This is good because we are taking him to sesame street live in march as a birthday present. I think he'll really enjoy that as well. We also got all the stuff for his party. I just have to get the invitations out in the mail this week. I started working on them tonight but then I started to feel sick. I think I ate something bad. I'm waiting for drugs to kick in before I go to bed.
In other news Dan bought a new car. It's a project car so he still has the old one. It's also his dream car that will only be used on nice days and will not be driven to work daily. It's a triple white beetle! He's so excited about it. The guy will deliver it on the 26th. I told him " happy valentines day, happy birthday, happy anniversary and merry christmas." he was fine with that too. I guess that's it for now.

Back to Normal...whatever that is

2008-01-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

Today we returned to our normal lives. Dan returned to work and Jacob and I spent the day at home. I started my workouts today. It was simple. I was hoping to find something on demand but of course we needed a special subscription for all of them. So I made up my own until I can get out and get a DVD. I honestly don't know what I want either. Something that will burn calories but not be to difficult. I have a quite a goal so I need to work hard. I'd like to loose 10 pounds by march. I know that's unlikely, but I am going to try. I also started getting back into spending more time with God. It's so important and I want to make that a priority in my day. Lets hope I can keep up with both. All out of town guests have left and the house is quiet. Jacob is napping and still pretty sick. This cold will not seem to go away. On saturday we are going to Disney on Ice courtesy of my sister-in-law. It should be really fun. Well I guess that's all. I'm sad for the holidays to end, but happy to get back to a normal life. We have Jacob's party to begin planning now so I guess life is never calm:)

Sick

2007-12-28T10:10:00.000-08:00

We are all sick. Jacob slept in until 10:00 today so I knew even before he got up it would be a hard day with him being sick. He had a fever of 103.3 which is already better after only 1 dose of Motrin. He seems to be feeling much better too. We just can't let that motrin wear off completely. We visited with friends last night which was so nice. It's been 2 years since we last saw them and we've each had a baby since last time. It was so fun to watch Jacob and Kelton play together. They are only 2 1/2 months apart. Jacob was really good about sharing his toys, I was really impressed. I have to keep an eye on him because I just found out the little boy, Jack, that I babysit might have RSV! So now we have to watch him more closely to make sure he doesn't get worse. He also has 2 ear infections so I'm keeping my eye on Jacob's ears as well. Poor little Jack. Tonight my brother and his finace come back into town and we'll have Christmas with them at my parents. Tomorrow is crazy, as long as everyone is feeling up to it. We have brunch with Dan's dad and stepmom, lunch with my extended family ( I get to see my cousin who is pregnant and I haven't seen her since september and we are really close!!!), and then dinner time at Dan's uncles house. It's going to be way to busy. Sunday will be relaxing. My Aunt and Uncle and cousin are stopping in for a visit and we're excited to spend the day with them. New year's eve will be with my brother and his fiance at our house and then new years day back at my parents. I can't think of anything else. Then life gets back to normal and we start planning our little boy's second birthday party!!! I can't believe he'll be 2 soon! WOW! I can't wait until God blesses us with another. I know it will happen in his time! Sorry no new pictures. I'll get some tonight at my parents house.

Short

2007-12-26T12:44:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post that Christmas this year was great. Despite a few sick people ( now Dan and I are both sick!!!) everyone had a good day. Jacob made out really well and was polite most of the day. He said please when asking for help and thank you when anyone helped him or gave him a gift. He's such a good kid. He had a few minor melt downs but nothing bad. It was a lot for him to take in all in one day. This morning he played with all his new toys with the exception of his tool bench which my dad will bring over this week because it wont fit in our car. He even got a power wheels! We haven't taken it out of the box yet but probably will tonight. I'll finish with a few pictures of our precious boy.

Christmas is coming

2007-12-20T12:40:00.001-08:00

I am finally getting into the Christmas spirit. It got a little delayed this year with all that has happened, but we're getting there. I spent some time yesterday making cookies and listening to Christmas music! That was a lot of fun, and very yummy! I have decided not to worry about loosing weight until after the holidays! Today I wrapped most of the presents. I still have Jacob's to do but I'd live to get different paper. I know he's too young still to make any connections with wrapping paper, but I still want to.

I wanted to share with you all something I have learned. God has taught me to really be thankful for what we have. Not that I wasn't thankful before, but I appreciate it even more now. I get much less stressed about little things and much less frustrated with Jacob when he doesn't listen. I've learned to pick my battles with him even better and I hug him every chance I can. I could never have gotten through all this with out him. I've also learned once again that God never gives us more than we can handle. I thought I couldn't never handle loosing a child. That was one of my biggest fears. God's getting us through it. I think I got a slight glimpse of what Mary may have felt. I'll never fully understand that but I have felt that pain of loss.

I have spent so much more time with family the past 3 weeks than I usually do. We always try to see them all when we can but we've made it more of a point to spend as much time with them as possible. We choose not to go to our companies Christmas parties, but instead we spent the weekend with my parents and brother and his fiance.

I don't remember is I shared this on here or not. Dan bought me an awesome necklace. It's two baby feet. They are the size of a 10 week old fetus. Our baby was around 10 weeks so they are about the same size and Jaidon's little feet. I wear it every day. It reminds me that he ( or she ) is with us always. And even though he ( or she ) is not here on earth with us he is still celebrating Christmas with us because he is in our hearts.

It's hard to believe that after Christmas and new years we have to start preparing for Jacob's second birthday! I need to get the invitations to his party so I can get them out in the beginning of January. I can't believe he is almost 2! Time has flown. He is really turning into a great kid too. He is so polite. He says please and thank you most of the time with out being told to. We're now working on excuse me. I am so excited to see his face on Christmas morning. He is getting so many great toys and I know he'll be excited. We are also teaching him the meaning of Christmas. He knows that it's about baby Jesus. That's about it though. We're working on it. I'm hoping we can get him to sit still and we'll read the Christmas story on Christmas eve.

Well I suppose I've rambled enough. If you're reading this thank you for listening.

Just some photos!

2007-12-19T10:22:00.001-08:00

Update

2007-12-17T10:20:00.000-08:00

Everything went pretty well. Initially the surgery went really well and I was feeling pretty good. Saturday night things got a little bad but the doctor called in some medicine for me and my wonderful husband went to two different 24 hour pharmacies to get it for me. I woke him up around 5:00am in horrible pain and bleeding really bad. I'm glad the medicine worked and we didn't have to go to the hospital. Dan and I are working through all this and I think we are doing pretty well. We both know God is in control and everything is going to work out according to his plan.
We were able to spend a lot of time with family this weekend. Jacob loved that. I think he ate too much yesterday and then played way to hard. He vomited in his crib last night making a huge mess for me to wake up to this morning. Needless to say he got a bath first thing...and he was not happy about that at all. I then had to clean his room and wash everything in his crib. Including his 4 stuffed animals he can not sleep with out! 2 of them are still not dry because they had to be hand washed and air dried. He had trouble getting to sleep but he finally did and I think he'll sleep for a while. I need to stay off my feet for a few hours while he is asleep even though there is so much I need to do. I can feel the effected of this morning already. My body is less forgiving these days.
I have another appointment next week. This is when we'll find out how long we need to wait before trying again. We are not ready to start trying yet, but we definitely will in time. I think we were hoping for around the end of February or March sometime. We'll see how things go for that.
Jacob's new favorite thing in the car is to go up and down hills. He actually asks for them now. He'll say "Hills??" or "up or down, up or down!" He doesn't understand that we can't make them happen. It's so cute. He had so much fun with "guncle Ray" this weekend. He didn't want them to leave. He was asking for "guncle Ray" and "Aunt Me" this morning. I told him they'll be back next week but it's hard to him to understand that too. Poor kid.
I should probably go and put my feet up for a little while.

Tomorrow

2007-12-12T12:23:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is my surgery and I'm a little scared. I know everything is in God's hands and I am trying to rest in knowing that. It's hard because everything I have prayed for recently God has chosen the opposite for me. I was praying for an early surgery time and it wont be until 10 or 10:30. I was really hoping for closer to 8 so I'd be home sooner and I wouldn't have to go so long with out eating! Anyway, just pray for us. Tomorrow will be hard and I really just want it to be over and to move on.

Jacob in the snow

2007-12-10T12:25:00.000-08:00

Well it was only a small amount of snow but we had to take him out. He had fun throwing tiny snowballs. It was so cute. Here are the pictures.
This last picture is the result of mommy not paying enough attention to Jacob. We was coloring in the family room while I was getting dinner started....
That's our dishwasher with purple crayon on it. Good thing it came off with no problems!

Jaidon Cruz

2007-12-08T06:42:00.000-08:00

We have decided to name the baby Jaidon Cruz. It would have been good for a boy or girl. Say a little prayer for baby Jaidon today. We know that this little child is in the presence of our Savior. I just want him or her to know that we loved them. They will forever remain in our hearts.

The worst day of my life

2007-12-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

This will be short. Today we found out we lost the baby. It sucks! I had an ultrasound and unfortunately there was no heartbeat. There were no signs so we were completely taken off guard. Please keep us all in your prayers. I will have a D&E on thursday since I was 10 weeks and I just can bear then thought of waiting for it all to pass on it's own. Since this happened so recently we have no idea how long it could take. At least now I'll know.

Jury duty, snow, and strange packages

2007-12-05T09:31:00.000-08:00

So I will be excused once again from Jury duty. I am sure they will try again in a few years and once again I will probably have to be excused due to childcare reasons. Oh well. I least I don't have to worry about it now.

It snowed this weekend and it's snowing right now. I had to check the forecast because it's coming down pretty good and already sticking! We're only supposed to get a coating to and inch so I imagine it will stop soon. I love snow, but I didn't want to get too much because I hate driving in it. I have to go and take my last exam for this semester tonight and I can't put it off so I have to go regardless of the weather. Jacob was loving just looking out the window watching the snow fall. I always love doing that so it was fun to share that with him. He still doesn't have boots so I don't know if he'll go out in it today or not. It's there's not a lot I'll throw on some warm clothes and a couple pair of socks and older shoes and let him check it out. He wasn't walking yet for snow last year so he hasn't really experienced it.

Yesterday we got a really strange package in the mail. It was addressed to our address with my name on it. It said it was a free gift from direct TV. We don't have direct TV so we were suspicious. I immediately checked our credit card and bank account online since we had someone steel our credit card number recently. Everything was fine. Dan finally noticed there was a phone number for who it was supposed to go to on the box. Darn, because it was a portable DVD player. If we don't reach this person then we will keep it...Merry Christmas to us! We will try to reach them and see if they were expecting anything to come. It was supposed to go to a PO box but there was no box listed so somehow it came to us. There was a sticker with our address on it next to the original address label. Oh well. We want to do what is right and try to get it to who it belongs to. We would love to keep it, but we know that is not right unless the owner can not be reached. Maybe God will reward us for doing what is right someday.

No pictures to post today. We just found our camera. If I take Jacob out after his nap I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and maybe even video!

leaps and bounds!

2007-11-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

Jacob is making leaps and bounds lately with Jack. He actually hugged and kissed him with out anyone asking him to. They were playing and Jack touched him and he said " awe Jack " and hugged him. I think he'll be a good big brother after all. We were a little nervous because he wasn't so good with Jack a few weeks ago. He would scream whenever Jack even came close to him. Now they play together and it's so cute.

This pregnancy has been very different. I have had morning sickness, afternoon sickness and night sickness. I've also been tired and really distracted. I can't seem to remember anything, which is especially bad because I have 1 more final exam to take. I did ok on my last final but I had to review right up until the test. I have my next appointment tomorrow and I should get some more information on my ultrasound. I am going with out Dan so hopefully it's only good news. I may also be getting an adjusted due date.

My parents are moving this weekend. This will be the first time in 25 years for them. This was the only house I lived in growing up. Needless to say they have a lot of stuff. They actually got 2 moving trucks! It's going to be a crazy weekend.

Well

2007-11-23T11:18:00.001-08:00

Since Dan already posted this on his myspace I guess I can too. I was going to wait until monday but oh well.
Yes that is a positive test! We're due July 6th. And we are super excited.

On another note I just got summons for Jury Duty. I hope I don't have to go because Dan will have to take off to watch Jacob and they'll have to allow me to eat every 1 hour and excuse me if I get sick. I have been much more sick with this pregnancy than last time. I think they will excuse me but you never know. I also have school and tons of other crap. I wouldn't mind being called for it years down the road when my kids are in school. That's different. This is just bad timing again. Last time they called me Jacob was 4 weeks old. I got excused then. We'll see what happens.

Antiquities

2007-11-19T07:54:00.001-08:00

Update

2007-11-16T07:19:00.000-08:00

Jacob seems to be ok. He broke out into a bad rash last night which has gotten worse today. We we called the doctor who told me that it happens a lot when a high fever breaks. They told us that this actually means he is no longer contagious too. So now he is on Benadryl and hydrocortisone cream until it goes away. Poor kid, I can't wait until he is back to normal! He seems happier today. After his nap yesterday he just screamed for about 45 minutes. I actually called Dan while he was on his way so he could actually hear Jacob screaming and he would get home quick. Jacob did eventually calm down, but we had to be careful what we did or he might freak out again.

I should get back to him, he wants to play.

another day

2007-11-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

Jacob is sick again. Poor kid. It seems like he's always got something. We are happy to report that it is not as serious as we thought. He only has a viral infection of some sort. He has a strange purplish-red non raised rash on his face a neck which can be a sign of a bacterial infection but the doctor does not think that is what this is. We do need to keep an eye on his fever though because it's been high. Last night is was 104.3! Keep him in your prayers. He is very uncomfortable and unhappy today. It's been a rough day. He finally fell asleep which will hopefully help him to feel a little better when he wakes up.
On a better note we got our antiquities pictures today. They came out great. We ended up buying a second pose because we thought it was so cute. If we ever locate a scanner and figure out how to scan them and send them to ourselves I'll post them. I'd like to get copies made so we can give them out at thanksgiving. We just need to figure out the scanning thing. I'm sure we'll get it figured out soon.
I don't have any new pictures to share today....I've been bad with that. So I guess that's all for now. No other news to report at this moment.

C is for Cookie!!!!

2007-11-02T07:15:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!!! Jacob will be dressed as cookie monster tonight as we travel around to see family. He loves his costume that mom-mom made for him. I'll post pictures tomorrow. The pediatrician's office is dealing with the praxiar bill so it should all be resolved soon. I'm trying not to think about it until I hear back from them what's next. Nothing else to share right now. I'll post pictures later.

You've got to be kidding me

2007-10-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

Today I received a notice from our insurance company saying we owe $1648.00 for when Jacob has the pulse oximeter. WHAT? They were supposed to cover it. We did have it a lot longer then we were approved for but that was because the people at Praxair never came to get it. I called them before we moved and then never received a call back until August! There is no way we will pay this! I was so angry that Dan is calling the pediatrician's office to find out what we were approved for and see what we need to do. My blood pressure is probably through the roof right now!!!!

Funny

2007-10-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

You know when you have an almost 2 year old funny things will happen. I was reading for school when I needed to look something up. I figured Jacob's playing really good by himself it would ok since the computer is in the family room where he was playing. After only what seemed like 1 minute I couldn't find him. Then I heard him talking. He was in the far corner hiding behind the couch and end table so I couldn't see him. He had gathered up all his balls and favorite toys. Then He found the phone...the real phone. He was talking on it too. He had actually dialed. I have no idea who he was talking to, but at least we have free long distance. Lets hope he stayed with in the US!
He also was very good at taking turns with Jack today and even gave Jack 2 hugs! He's finally starting to like the little guy! YAY! My life is getting a little easier.

WOW

2007-10-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

I read somewhere that kids Jacob's age learn on average 20 words a day! I think it might be true for my little guy. He always repeats the last words of sentences that we say. A lot of the time it's a word we've never heard him use!
Last week he had another episode of wheezing. We went to the pediatrician who thinks he might have asthma. We just need to watch and wait. I really hope it's not asthma, although I know so many people live very normal lives with asthma. I still don't want anything to be wrong with my little boy! He is just so precious. Now just a few pictures from the fall fest at church.

what

2007-10-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

Just a couple

2007-10-16T06:49:00.001-07:00

Jacob's favorite thing to ask for is "a couple". Not matter what it is he says "a couple". It's so cute. So here are a couple pictures of him sleeping...

Pumpkins

2007-10-16T06:24:00.001-07:00

On saturday we went to the pumpkin patch. Jacob had a blast. Jeremy , Bozena and Sarah went with us. The two of them were so cute running through the pumpkin patch and riding on the tractor.
On sunday afternoon we went to a baby shower for a good friend of Dan's, EJ. Jacob loves EJ because he's a kicker in football. We taught Jacob to kick the ball like EJ and he does. EJ and his girlfriend loved it. Jeremy, Bozena and Sarah were there too and Jacob and Sarah played together really well. They were chasing each other and just had a lot of fun. It was great to see them interacting so well. It's going to be nice that they'll grow up together.

Bored

2007-10-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

I'm bored. I studied for a little while, but I needed a break. I guess I can share some photo's I finally uploaded.
There you go. My little man. He has been so crazy lately I can barely keep up. He talks like crazy, even in short sentences and he can identify almost all of the letters now. He's so much fun!

We're having a.....

2007-10-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

GREAT DAY! I bet you all thought something different! Everyone keeps asking me when are we going to have another baby or are you pregnant. No I am not pregnant. I thought I'd just have some fun with everyone since I feel like I'm going to go crazy from all the questions. This is one of the big reasons I've been trying to loose weight. I never lost all of the baby weight so in certain clothes I look like I am at the beginning of a pregnancy! Anyway. We are having a good day. Jacob is playing really well by himself allowing me time to relax. I haven't been feeling great ( another reason for people to ask ). I've been having headaches again leading into migraines and nausea. Today's not too bad yet. I think I'm spending too much time on the computer studying for school. I have an exam tomorrow so I really need to study. Anyway, I'm going to get back to my son and keeping him out of trouble. I'll post some pictures later if I get a chance to get them off the camera.

Fun times

2007-10-04T10:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to the park to play on the playground. Jacob really enjoyed himself. I wanted to take him down the slide but it was wet at the bottom. He had a lot of fun swinging on the swings and climbing around.

Here are some pictures Dan took while I was at work on tuesday night. Jacob climbed into the bottom of our TV stand. He's so silly.

On Saturday we will finally get out estimate for central air conditioning. I hope it's a good one. We are going to try really hard to save up the money for it and have it installed by the spring. We also have a few little odds and ends that we are going to do around here. As soon as we can get a nice piece of wood we can take out the built in hutch that's just really annoying and make it more like a serving station. It's really nice brick on the bottom so we just need a top for that and we can take off the hutch. Hopefully we can do that in a few weeks.

Where do they get their energy?

2007-10-01T18:25:00.000-07:00

Jacob has gotten so crazy lately. He could just run back and forth across the room like 15-20 times. And our family room is really long! He's starting to have form when he runs, like a big kid. It's so weird. He used to just bounce but now he bends his legs more. I can't believe how much he's grown. He learns new things everyday. He knows almost all his letters and can identify them in a book, and knows a word that begins with them. He only has a few more letters to learn. We are working on learning to sing our ABC's. He can count to 3 now also. His vocabulary is huge that I can't even count how many words he says, and he speaks pretty clear these days also. He can say short simple sentences when he wants to. He also knows some sign language and we are probably getting him some sign language DVD's so we can all learn more. He's a smart kid ( at least that's what I think). He can finally jump too. For the longest time he would only get 1 leg off the ground, now he can get them both up! He can kick a football really far and get it in the air. And boy can he ever throw! He has got quite an arm. Everyday I wonder where he gets so much energy. We eat mostly the same things and yet he has twice as much energy than I do. I can't keep up with him sometimes. I love that kid. I really love him!

taking time to breathe

2007-09-27T19:10:00.001-07:00

Jacob plays outside every day now. He just loves to be out side, but not getting dirty. Everytime he touches the ground we need to dust off his hands. He's so funny.
He thought it was funny to throw the ball over the fence on our deck and make mommy get it and through it back. After a few times I caught on and stayed over there.

Today I had to take two exams after Dan got home from work. I was so stressed with good reason. They were really hard. I'm so glad they are over, but now it's time to start preparing for the next few. I'll be glad when Christmas break is here. I love school, but it's so much. I need to plan my classes a little better next semester. I can't plan two hard classes together. It's way too much. Plus I have Jacob and then Jack 2 days a week. It's been exhausting! Anyway, while I was out Dan and Jacob hung out. This is a picture of Jacob laying on the couch watching curious george. He loves that show. He calls it Georgie. He only watches it every once in a while but he asks for it all the time. I think we'll have to get some Georgie books for Christmas!

Here are some pictures

2007-09-24T11:40:00.001-07:00

Just a few pictures.

All is well

2007-09-24T11:30:00.000-07:00

All is well here in the Cruz house. Jack is here today and he and Jacob are both sleeping right now. I actually get some time for me! They played well this morning once Jacob decided to share his toys. He's still learning how to share, but he is getting better. The cutest thing was when Jack started to climb on me and Jacob pushed him away and said "no, my mommy!". He didn't push hard. I had to try not to laugh because it was cute that he was trying to keep me all to himself. I was good and told him not to push Jack and that he was allowed to climb on me. He seemed ok with that, although I could tell he still didn't like Jack climbing on his mommy.

I have two exams on thursday. I'm a little nervous about them, but I've been studying so hopefully I'll be fine. I know physiology will be multiple choice so I just need to read through my notes a bunch of times and try to reword things so I know that I understand them. Anatomy has a lot of fill in the blanks usually so I really need to know that stuff. Luckily Anatomy doesn't have a lot of material, so I should be fine.

Yesterday was a good day in sports for Dan. The Yankees gained a game and are now only 1 1/2 games back from Boston, and the Cowboys continued their winning streak another game and are now 3 -0! It's always nice to see Dan happy when his favorite teams do well.

quick

2007-09-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

This is going to have to be quick today. We are cleaning and Dan is putting on new locks. They are really nice and we got them for free from his work. YAY. Tonight we're going out with friends who we haven't seen in a really long time. I'm so excited. They are expecting their first baby in March. It's so neat to see how excited they are. We're going to try to go together and pick pumpkins with Jacob sometime in october. I hope he enjoys that. I should return to my cleaning and check to see if Dan needs any help. Have a great weekend everyone.

Happy Anniversary

2007-09-20T06:53:00.000-07:00

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe our wedding was 4 years ago. So much has changed, but one thing has not. I still love Dan with all that I am. He is my best friend. I couldn't ask for a better husband and father to our children.