Fluid Levels

So, if you actually read my marathon update to the end you know that my amniotic fluid levels were really low (8) and the doctor wanted me to come back in today to check it again and determine whether we needed to get another specialist involved. This weekend I was able to up my water intake - which actually DOES impact fluid levels - to get it barely to a 10 today. That's still pretty low, but it's headed in the right direction. Now to drink, drink, drink...

Operation Big Boy Underwear Blackmail Photos & Update

I've been toying around with the idea of potty training Dylan for a while. A month or so ago he shot himself in the face on the potty (which we both thought was hilarious) and then on Super Bowl Sunday he had his 1st real success going peepee. Other than that he would just sit on it and occasionally toot. Nothing major. On one side people were telling me to go ahead and do it before Colton comes. On the other, moms were sharing their horror stories of trying to hurry up and get their children out of diapers before younger siblings came, only to have them regress. I was torn. Then I was homebound with Dylan last week trying to kick his cough with nothing else to do, so I thought I'd give it a try since I could sequester him and his toy cars to the hardwood floor/non rug/non leather couch area of the house (aka the kitchen). I called Kristen that 1st morning and she gave me a pep talk with some hints, since 1 1/2 year old Jackson started having success on the potty a month ago. The first order of business was to ceremoniously have Dylan put on the Thomas the Train big boy underwear and take the blackmail pictures he will hate me for when they end up in his wedding video some day. I have gotten the biggest kick out of looking at his cute little cheekies as he has been prancing around in his skivvies: Here's how the first few days have gone:

Day 1, in a 4 hour span before Autrey came home and took him to Cabela's- 2 accidents, 1 success

Day 2, most of the day until he went to Academy with Autrey in the late afternoon- 2 little successes of a few drops, 1 accident, 1 real success, then he asked to go twice and couldn't figure out how to release it so he had another accident

Day 3, in underwear all day long - HUGE day! 10 successes in a row (A few times he even asked me to go between the 15 minute intervals. This kid is responding very well to the M&Ms for sitting on the potty and the sucker or Hershey's kiss he gets for going peepee.), 1 accident at 7pm

Day 4 (Last Night)- He wore a diaper because I needed to be in other parts of the house that morning (carpet hazard) and he had friends coming over to play that afternoon and I didn't want to be stressing out. Without timers or asking him, Dylan told me twice he needed to go potty and was successful twice. He kept his diaper dry all day until we drove to the library with Autrey.

I think we are off to a great start. Only 4 wet accidents in 4 days and none of the brown variety. He has always managed to poop when he has a diaper on in the mornings or right after his nap. I know he doesn't want to poop in the potty yet and I'm not going to force him. So far, so good. Wish me luck...

The rest of the 27 month update:

*We bought Dylan and Colton bunk beds and new furniture for Dylan's room since they will most likely be sharing a room at some point down the road. Obviously Colton's bed will stay in the box for a few years, but sometime soon we will begin transitioning Dylan into a "big boy bed." He seems excited for it. So stay tuned...

*"lellow" = yellow, like Luigi from Cars. He usually requests a "green Chick Hicks M&M" for sitting on the potty. He knows that "Lika" (Lightning) is red and Mater is brown. Transferring that color knowledge to other objects isn't there yet.

*He saw a small tan Jeep the other day and called it a "little Mimi's truck" because it looked like the Tahoe.

*He is getting good at recognizing and naming shapes.

*He likes to count objects. He is usually accurate with 1-3 objects. From 4-15 the one-to-one matching is generally lost because he is counting too fast, skips objects, or points to them twice.

*He walks up and down the stairs with his feet alternating, like grown-ups do. He sometimes still puts his hand on the wall with one hand as he goes.

*He can sort his wooden pizza toppings into 3 piles of "peppa-onis," "peppas," and "mush-wooms."

*He continues to be OBSESSED with puzzles and cars.

*When I am cooking he will say, "I want to look!" and wants to sit on the counter to watch and help stir. I used to let him throw the raisins in the oatmeal, but then he decided to eat them all instead.

*He loves to color with markers. He takes off the lids, puts them back on, and puts them back in the container on his own.

*Even without me asking he will clean up his toys before nap/bedtime.

*While praying he will now bow his head and close his eyes, at least at the beginning.

*His favorite game is to "Boo" us. He will hide and then say "Boo" in a tiny little voice. When he "Boos" daddy when Autrey comes in for prayer, it is usually followed with intense tackling and flying in the air. Dylan loves it.

*Heard recently:

-"Dylan" and "Shilo" (he can pronounce the L sound now).

-"gril" and "buy" are still girl and boy.

-"Snow-b-oh" = snowmobile, like the one on his Bob the Builder vest

-"Daddy's at work. He's helping people."

-"Christmas treat" = Rice Krispie treat

-After we got home from Tommy's birthday weekend: "Amarillo orange" "No, uncle Matt! Don't take it away!" (I have no idea why he would say that when Matt wasn't even around.) "Tommy coming over?" (He said that after I spent a few hours deep cleaning the house. I promise I clean more than just when we are having company. This is me, Miss OCD, remember?)

-"See ya later alligator. After a while crocodile."

-"That's mama's belly. It's Colton's room."

-Me: "You're my favorite big boy. Colton's my favorite baby"

Dylan: "Thanks, mom!"

-Me: "What's your name?"

Dylan: "Dylan Duke" (said really fast).

Me: "How do you spell it?"

Dylan: "D-Y-L-A-N!" (also said really fast)

Me: "Where do you live?"

Dylan: "I live on _______ (omitted for security purposes) Road."

Quick Colton 26 week Update:

*I love watching my belly move through my shirt when Colton kicks, which he does a lot. He is a mover and a shaker...and I'm convinced my boys both enjoyed sitting on my spine. Autrey started doing SI stabilizing exercises with me, but it is still pretty painful during the day and at night. Unfortunately everything the doctor recommended I could take to help me sleep more than 2 hours at a time all night long didn't really help (Unisom, Benadryl, Tylenol PM). Even when I take 2. Oh, well. When I went for my 26 week appointment today the doctor said everything looked great with Colton and my cerclage is holding up well, but that my amniotic fluid level was low. I have to go back on Monday to see if it was a one-time fluke, or whether it means there is the threat of growth restriction or the need to be more aggressive with my Protein S deficiency treatment (Is there anything more aggressive than daily Lovenox shots?? I shudder...) and I might need to see a perinatologist. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do besides wait until I go again on Monday and find out for sure. Turns out that fluid level isn't a reflection of the amount of water I'm drinking and I'm already limiting my physical activity as much as I really can. I know what I'll be praying for this weekend...

Happy Valentine's Day!

A few weeks ago I got really excited about Valentine's Day. I enlisted Autrey's help in getting Dylan's hand and footprints for this cute wall hanging. "From the bottom of my heart to the tips of my toes...I love you! Love, Dylan"I also decorated the house. Some of the decorations I made:I made strawberry flavored frosted "Christmas treats" (rice krispie treats) as "balentimes" (valentines) for the Duke crew, my visiting teachees, and the neighbors:Mimi made the kiddos cute Valentine shirts while she was here this weekend. And Dylan's wasn't too girly. :)So cool:
Special eggs with cheese and toast for Valentine's Day breakfast:Valentine's Day dessert we made that afternoon with Derek and Sylvie Kellar when they came over to play with Dylan:Dylan enjoying the suckers Grandma Miller, Norma, Russell, and Marilyn sent. They know him well:I went on Pinterest and found a new recipe for dinner, Parmesan Chicken Bundles. They were so good! Before sauce:Ready to serve: Extra filling on bread and some garlic bread:

Ready to enjoy!

A little excited about food, no? I had actually planned to also have a salad, pineapple, and veggies but luckily Autrey got home just in time to stop me from going overboard. He also brought home gorgeous chocolate covered strawberries (I ate too fast to take a picture of). Oh, and Blue Bell ice cream to eat with our Redbox movie, but we were too full last night. It was a good relaxing evening with my favorite people, Autrey and Dylan. Happy Valentine's Day! We love you all!

1st Overnight House Guests! (in August)

This is the last of my ridiculously 'overdue' posts and I will be all caught up from the past few months. Yay! The reason I haven't posted before now is I keep forgetting to ask Meggan for her pictures to add to mine (since she is a professional and hers are much better than mine), but since she has her hands full with sweet 1 1/2 month old McKay I am going to go ahead and post them and add hers at a later point in time.

We had our 1st overnight house guests! Ben, Meggan, Kate, Luke, (and McKay) Boston scheduled a 1 day chiropractor conference for Ben in Dallas so they could come down to see us. I was sooo excited to see them again! They were some of our best friends in St. Louis and I really missed them. Coincidentally our good friends, Rod and Jana Thorley, had also recently moved down from St. Louis to Frisco so we were able to have our own little reunion Friday night. We had a blast! (And need to do it again! *cough, cough*)

Ah, my girls:And how cute are these 2 goobers?While Ben was at his conference most of the day Saturday, the day for the rest of us was filled with a pancake breakfast, watching Autrey assemble an IKEA bookcase we got in Frisco, a quick visit to the temple distribution, lunch at St. Louis Bread Co. (that's Panera to the rest of you non-St. Louisians) for old time's sake, playing, relaxing, and laughing. When Ben got back we had BBQ steak and corn on the cob and then set up a 'water slide' for the kids to play with. Pictures and videos of the water fun: (Dylan just saw the picture above and said, "It's Kate! Silly Kate!" without me saying a word. I didn't think he would be able to remember her name. Guess he loves her as much as I do. She was my little buddy. Even named her toy pony after me.)My favorite:

Then we put the kids to bed and watched our 1st movie on Autrey's new giant TV with our own personal pints of Blue Bell ice cream. It was a great weekend visit! Since they had a long drive back to Memphis they left just after we went to church. We came back to find their messages on our chalkboard cabinets in addition to mine. I kept it up there for almost 2 months until I erased it for Maggie's party in October. It made me happy to see it every day. Before the Boston's came I got all excited to play hostess and took a page out of the playbook of Christie Halverson. I made sure there were plenty of towels:
And made a 'hotel basket':

Obviously I get excited when people are coming to visit. Since August we have been lucky enough to have all of the Duke crew stay multiple times (they are coming again this weekend), Aunt Elaine and Brenda came in December, and my mom came in January. This is generally what the basket looks like when guests visit, but it changes depending on the preferences of the guests...and I take requests:

So, who's next? Seriously...

PA Trip/Meagan's Wedding Open House (in Oct)

I'm playing posting catch up this week, as you can tell. In October, Dylan and I flew out to PA so we could attend Desiree's volleyball Senior Recognition Night and Meagan's Wedding Open House. Nice 2 for 1 trip. Sad that Autrey doesn't get to come to these things, but that's what happens when he only gets 2 weeks vacation. And Christmas and Thanksgiving are included in that 2 weeks. I didn't take a lot of pictures this trip, but that's ok. I was in the beginning of my pregnancy and exhausted coming off an intense week before I left. I actually had a miscarriage scare the previous week so mom had me resting whenever I could, even though everything ended up being alright. Anyway, here's G-ma with her grandkids before the ceremony:Desiree' with mom and dad (excuse the blur). My baby sister's all grown up. *sniff, sniff*:
G-ma took Ash and Dylan on a walk before bed, double decker:

Playing together:

Rockin' the hawks in the tub: The 1st wedding cake Kristen made that we had at the Open House. It was the best tasting cake. EVER!

Dylan had a rough night that night. He had 4 teeth coming in at once and was quite feverish. He was a good sport, considering. At the end the poor guy freaked out when his Tylenol wore off and cried so hard in the car on the way home he threw up all over himself. So sad. And if you're wondering, it is not possible to catch vomit with your hands. I tried. These two, however, had a great time and were all smiles. I snagged this cute pic from Kristen's blog since I was unfortunately not able to take any pictures of my own. (Too bad we didn't record my wardrobe malfunction while we were getting dressed, right Kristen and Desiree'? Note to self: Don't expect your bridesmaid dress to fit exactly the same as it did before you got pregnant. And it helps if you have all the pieces to your dress. Good times!):

Actually, this trip was a 3 for 1. I planned a layover in St. Louis on the way home to see some friends. Cambria and Kristi were able to meet up and get the news of me expecting baby #2 in person:

Autrey is a total sweetheart. I found this waiting for me at home:

Makes me feel like we're still newlyweds.