Wordy Wednesday

Just a couple random thoughts on my mind this beautiful day here in Northwest Washington...

- We joined a gym a few weeks ago, it's great. They have a supervised playroom for kids (and babies) so I can get my workout on during the weekdays. We've also been going as a family on Saturday mornings too. Since I'm PG I'm not able to push it too much, but it's nice to stay more active this pregnancy and a great way for Braden to get some kid time... and me some alone time a few times a week! :) It is a little disheartening though to be working out but the scales are still headed in an upward direction and I'm getting bigger and not smaller, but it's helping me become stronger which will help when I attempt a VBAC delivery this September (that means I had a c-section with Braden... and am going to plan a natural delivery this time. Often once you have a c-section you usually have another one, but I'm giving it a shot). ANYWAY.... this was all to set up my first random point.

Thanks to the super skinny minny next to me on the elliptical machine today. I stayed on an extra five minutes because I didn't want to seem like a wuss and distracted myself by dreaming about the day in about 7-9 months from now I can start aggressively trying to be skinny minny again too.

- After the initial surprise that Baby Boy Ramsey was actually Baby Girl Ramsey, Chad has been quite cute about it (sorry to embarrass you Chad)... but he did have this to say while acknowledging we have nothing girly, (no clothes, no bedding and we don't live near people we know to grab all those hand me downs). "I'm looking forward to to my baby girl, but I won't even see her for 5 more months and she's already costing me a lot of money"!

- Braden is potty trained at home... not when we leave the house, mostly for my own self convenience of not having accidents everywhere. I'm starting to venture out with him in small doses free of training pants, it's going ok. He's started to tell me when he has to go potty... this past Sunday I was so proud of him when he told me he had to go - only that we were in the check out line in the grocery store and our cart has already been emptied out. So we waited... and I was sweating. We made it though... we ran right after we were done...and he made it. Until he had held it so long and had to go so bad he had no control where it was spraying... which ended up all over me. It was a humble walk for me back to the cart and our car.

- Need more Big B potty stories... he's started peeing standing up. He thinks it's fun... I think it's still too messy, but it's getting better (and I have a HUGE towel that is covering the floor. And the other thing he has to do... yeah, he doesn't like me to be in the bathroom with him most of the time... and peeing standing up seems quite tidy otherwise... it's an adventure and we're slowly but surely making some progress.

- Braden wants to be naked all the time. He is constantly taking off his pants and underwear and I'm constantly running around after him to put them back on.

- I know what made me sick before my doctor's appt Monday. I've tested as slightly anemic because of the pregnancy (your blood supply increases by about 50%) and since I'm the worst at eating veggies... let alone extra veggies, I need to take iron supplements each day in addition to my prenatal. Well that can be rough on your tummy, especially early in the day. The label warned me... I didn't listen. Lesson learned.

Big B Stats...

Today we went to the pediatrician for Braden since we just moved and could meet the group that was providing us with the referral to Children's Hospital in Seattle. Braden is 28 months and we got his "stats" today... he's living up to my name for him... Big B.
Weight - 34 lbs (90th percentile)
Height - 38 inches (95th percentile)
I can't believe my baby boy is 3 ft 2 inches already! All I could think of today was - how old will he be when he's taller than me (I'm 5'2")? It now makes sense that most people we talk to think he's already three years old!

And Baby Ramsey is a...

Would you just look at that huge belly... and I'm only half way done!!! Now onto to our GENDER DISCOVERY STORY...

Well, well, well. Interesting morning. It started out rough, I got sick... and emptied my entire stomach by 9am. I didn't want to be dehydrated (and not pass my pee tests at the doc today!) so I tried to chug some water.

Walking into the doctor this morning was pretty anti-climatic. Let me explain...

I must confess. 3 1/2 weeks ago I had a quick ultrasound and the doctor and I saw some... "boy parts". I was easily convinced since my "mommy's intuition" told me I was having another boy. Of course would have been happy to have a girl, but loved the idea of my two boys rough housin' as they grew up. So this picture was easy for us to buy into. But still... we decided to wait until the big ultrasound today just to be sure and let a professional confirm that we were indeed offspringing (I don't think it's a word, but I like it anyway) another Ramsey male.

My ultrasound this morning wasn't smooth because I was in fact still dehydrated and my uterus was cramping (you know you don't drink enough liquids, have a big work out and your muscles cramp... the uterus is a muscle too). So things were taking a really long time to get the right views and measurements since the baby was kind of stuck in one place and couldn't really move around). It was over an hour... we finally got everything they needed. I'm happy to report that all looks normal and well with Baby Ramsey. At the very end, the very nice ultrasound tech wanted to give us the "money shot" so we could confirm the gender (did anyone catch on these last few weeks when I used words like gender revelation or gender confirmation instead of gender discovery? Well that's because we "knew" and I didn't want to completely lie about it!) After three trips to the bathroom, moving around, stretching, chugging more water we finally got a look between those legs that had been crossed tight the whole time... and we discovered ...

IT'S A GIRL!!!

We were SHOCKED! It's just kind of starting to sink in. We know we're lucky to experience the chance to have one of each and there is a lot to look forward to (have you seen how cute baby girl clothes are???). Braden is going to be such a great protective older brother! And I know there are a lot of you out there hoping Chad would someday have a daughter that would just wrap him a million times around her tiny little finger.

So now we go back to the drawing board and start to narrow down names for a girl. We likely will keep that to ourselves and share with you all when she makes her grand entrance in September. I did ask Braden what he wants to call his little sister and he told me "Dinosaur".

Here are some pictures of our dear daughter... wow.

It's a foot! :) So cute!

QUICK... Vote!!!

Quick... look to your right. I added a poll. We're revealing the gender of Baby Ramsey tomorrow (Monday) and want to see what you think! We should be able to send out the update by about 3pm Central time! :)

The Heart of My Child...

I've put off writing about this because I was waiting for more information... and I didn't know how much of it to put out there, but we're kind of at a standstill (and I have an adorable video to post) so I thought I'd just dive right in. (Some of you already know this background, but for those of you that don't, I'll start with a quick summary... or at least as quick as I can be).

Wednesday - October 10, 2007 - (Braden is 10 months old). After two days of a high fever I had an appointment to bring Braden into the pediatrician. In the meantime we were told to give him Infant Motrin to control the fever. For good measure and to give the doctor the next day the most info possible I decided to wake Braden up about 10pm to check his temp again and see if he needed more Motrin. Well... not only was his fever completely gone... it dropped in the other direction to 94.5. Braden was in good spirits, his hands, feet and lips weren't cool so I put him back to bed. But it just wasn't sitting well with me. So I hopped onto WebMd... and Google... anything to see what a low temp like that meant, particularly in young children. Guess what, there isn't a lot of information out there for low fevers so I called Northwestern Hospital ER and asked them what they thought... they told me to bring him in immediately and that his temp was indicating borderline hypothermia.... say what?!? We got there, they hooked him up to things and found that his heart rate was in the 50s. Doctors and nurses are stunned by this. What does that mean? We didn't know, what's average for a kid his age? Say that again... 100-120??? So again... what does this mean?
We were referred to Children's Hospital in Chicago and went directly there. Braden was given a few EKGs, an IV, and an Echo cardiogram. (His low fever was gone now... and hasn't ever returned, there has never been an explanation for this, only that is was the warning sign that kicked everything else into motion). Indeed this heart rate was generally staying in the 50s/60s (and into the 40s when he slept). We were moved to the PICU and stayed there for several days. They ran ALL kinds of tests on him and he remained in good spirits the entire time. Nothing about him seemed "sick". His Echo showed that his heart was functioning at 100%. All the tests came back with no information (except that he was showing slight signs of hypothyroidism). He wasn't born with a low heart rate like this...
I could share many more details of the hospital stay (which Chad had to leave, two of his very best friends were getting married that Friday and he was in the wedding). Braden wasn't in any "danger", they had gotten the information they could for the time and sent us home that Saturday afternoon.
The diagnosis: Bradycardia with a Type One Second Degree Heart Block (Wenckeback AV Block) In case you want to know what that is, click the link.
Hmm... so now what? He was put on a low dosage of Thyroid medication (which he has been off of about 6/7 months now and has tested twice since then with a normal thyroid). But that was it... since the Bradycardia showed no symptoms and a follow up 3 months later showed no change it just "is what it is", no medications, no limitations. But something for us to keep tabs on, which finally brings me to the point of this post.
It was about the time we needed to get things checked out and we were also leaving Canada. We wanted to take advantage of getting testing done before we left because of the "free" health care. So while Chad loaded up the moving truck, I took Braden in for some follow up testing. All the blood work came back normal (woo-hoo, always a relief). And the EKG "looked good" according to the nurse, he still had a low heart rate, but nothing "shocking" showed up from her look at things.
Well... well... well...
3 WEEKS LATER Chad gets a frantic call from someone in Canada telling us that they have looked over our son's EKG and he has a heart block (a complete heart block... what?) and he's never seen anything like it in such a young person, we need to bring him to the ER. And off we go. We're not really panicky since the child is showing NO signs of slowing down and it's been 3 weeks?!?! But I'm concerned, a bit scared and questioning myself and how I didn't call to demand the results sooner, blah, blah. We get him there... sure enough they locate a Heart Block... but it's not complete but to know if it's made any change from before we have to take him to the experts. In Seattle.
All the referral paperwork as been done and the earliest we can get in for a "non-dangerous, non-emergency" visit is Friday, May 22nd. The doctors in Bellingham told us this isn't something you see in children his age and it's best that we work with the (it's long I'm warning you) Electrophysiologist Pediatric Cardiologists to check in with and see if there is any plan of action we need to take and make several visits the next 6-12 months to get a really good look at things.
The good news... Braden is in no immediate or predictable danger! Seattle Children's Hospital is ranked #8 in the country, which is also a relief to know he'll be in good care. And quite frankly, it's very comforting just to spend time with Braden and see how strong he is and looking at him you would never, ever think his heart beats at half the "normal" rate for a kid his age. We're optimistic and just think (and hope) his heart is just that much more efficient to do the same job with half the work (future super athlete???) :)
The bad news... it's my child's heart and knowing it's not perfect is a scary thought.
Wait... I take it back. His heart may not function perfect according to the textbooks... but his little heart with all his hugs and kisses and cuddles is absolutely beautiful and perfect through his mother's eyes.
Now - if you've made it this far it's worth it to watch the very quick video of Braden in the ER last week. So it's clear - he says, "Let's get out of here, Let's get out of here - fake burp - Excuse Me!"

Some Exploration

The weather here has been fabulous... but realizing we live in the Northwest we could wind up with rain for a week straight. We also have this brand new area to explore and that's just what we've been doing! (This has also resulted in some long and tough walks!) We've only just begun with the exploring, there are a lot more parks and such for us to check out!

Monday morning... I heard about Lake Padden, with it's 2.6 mile walking trail and large playground. Here's Braden on the first half of the walk (note, it's flat here, right?)

Wait... is this the same trail? Yes, the other side of Lake Padden, this is where all the ups and downs on the trails were, as well as a gravel path. I have discovered that my city umbrella stroller is not equipped for long, "off roading" type walks like this. Braden thought we were in the "jungle" and kept looking monkeys.

Whew... we made it to the park. I may or may not have been a bit sweaty after that second half of the walk and needed a few minutes to recover. (Do I get sympathy points for pushing 35 lbs plus and being almost 5 months pregnant?) Tuesday we went to a little historical district called Fairhaven. Very cute with cafes, little specialty shops, etc. I didn't get a good picture of that. From there we took the boardwalk and a trail to Boulevard Park on the water.

A shot of the boardwalk and Bellingham Bay, it was really peaceful and pretty. I managed to get an almost bare shot, but really there were a lot of people out and about.

Boulevard Park. Big B running in circles chasing after a baseball the older kid kept throwing around for him.

After all the little exploring adventures we went back into Fairhaven and stopped at a little red bus cafe on the corner to get ice cream! 24 flavors of soft serve... YUM!

Tulip Town

This fine Sunday we took a family outing 35 minutes south to Mt. Vernon... there we met our friends Paul and Stephanie (they live in Seattle), after a big lunch we hit up "Tulip Town". This month long festival attracts impressive numbers. This year the blooms are about 2 weeks behind, we thought we waited long enough, but you'll see that there is still a lot of green where the flowers haven't opened yet. Even still... very pretty to see in person the rows and rows of colors like that. I'm sharing some pictures, but Paul has a fancy camera and those pictures are better, but for now mine will have to do! We do not have many pictures of the three of us. Usually Braden is the star and one of us (usually me) is behind the camera. Paul and Steph were kind enough to let us take advantage and get some family pictures together. And oh... even though you could accurately call me "Chubs"... try and refrain. Remember that busting belly of mine has a growing human. (ok, maybe you weren't going to call me "Chubs"... maybe that was me... it's the truth people! I just need to remind myself that there is a growing human in there)

Paul, Steph and Big B... See the mountains in the background? It was an overcast and kind of hazy day, I imagine it's quite a clear shot on a nice day. (Hey... notice that the growing human is making another appearance?)

Red and yellow flowers together always look so nice... great contrast! That's the color combo I need to be sure to put in one of my big pots (more on that later... and maybe here is where I should apologize to my friends, I have no idea what is happening to me considering I spend time pondering what I should put in my potted plants... do I need a "city" intervention?)

Sorry Chad...

Just an afternoon at home while Chad's at work. The high heels... the sunglasses... the boy did it all by himself. I tried to get him to take off the navy socks and put on pants, it was all happening so fast, this wasn't a battle worth fighting. The final product was his own special creation. I was just left behind to document as he "strut his stuff" all through the house. Apologies to my husband... I couldn't resist.

Update on Baby Ramsey

I'm officially 18 weeks today (or 4 1/2 months for those of you that the "weeks" of pregnancy are confusing). I met with the doctor here in Washington about a week and half ago, got a check-up and quick ultrasound, everything looked good. We have the next appointment two weeks from now (Monday, April 27th) and will get a gender confirmation!

I've felt Baby Ramsey moving around a bit, I wish I felt it more often, but it's still early. It should become more frequent and stronger in the next few weeks.

I've included some shots of the belly... this one with Braden, he was actually kissing the belly (it looks a little odd here). Every time you ask him where the baby is he lifts up my shirt, kisses my belly and says, "hi, baby!".

Let's Play Catch...

Catch up that is... I'm way behind on posts. So... are we unpacked... not completely, but we'll finish with some of those boxes and hanging things on a rainy weekend (we live in the Northwest... happens... a lot!)

We've kept pretty busy here, we had a beautiful weekend and Monday, Tuesday here... it's gotten chilly again for now, I'm sure we'll have a lot of back and forth before nice spring/summer weather settles in. On to pictures/stories, I know that's all you're reading this for! :)

Enjoying some coloring and snack on the patio on a beautiful day!

It's probably a few weeks early, but we went ahead and got some of our plants potted. Things look a little bare now, but that's because we had to leave room for them to grow!!!

This is the house across the street from us, no one lives there yet. I took a picture because Braden all on his own has named it "The Barn"

At our new place we have a playground just a few blocks away. It's kind of small, but it works and Big B and I really enjoyed the nice weather and playing around.

Braden playing soccer in the backyard, and another pic having another snack on the patio. This day is was warm enough for shorts! We have loved having the backyard for Braden to run around in (and I've enjoyed the lounge chair!).

Check out this plug...

June 3, 2002 - I walked into my first "real" job after 2 years of grad school... my sorority executive office... in Arlington, TX. That first day I was very nervous, but quickly began to feel at ease because I was someone else was having their first day too... someone that I am still friends with (Chad and I introduced her and her husband, what fun!). Many of you have heard me talk of Jessica (also of Jessica and Ben :), she is one of those people that makes EVERYONE around her feel good, important, listened to. She's also a domestic diva, she can take risks in the kitchen and baking I could only dream of! And she's fun... oh so fun (at 22 and 24 we celebrated our birthday weekend by getting some matching body art), and when she works, she's one of the finest professionals and a very talented writer. Her career in Public Relations has brought her to Children's Medical Center in Dallas... now here's that plug I was talking about.

Jessica, in addition to all her other fabulous responsibilities, is writing a blog for her work. I've always admired her writing style, direct, not too wordy, but yet incredibly descriptive and you feel like she's writing just for you. A laid-back, but very professional style... you'll see... and you'll enjoy! And unlike me... she doesn't go on and on rambling with really long posts that make you dizzy! It's a great resource if you have children, getting ready to have children... or just like kids! :) So bookmark it... it will be one of those daily 3 minute reads and you'll be smarter for it! It's called "From the Red Balloon" and here's the direct website - http://www.childrensmedicalcenter.blogspot.com/

Scatterbrains

It's been a very hectic very weeks, but we've made it with just a few little blips of complete scatterbrain syndrome.

THE LOCKOUT - First day in the house that Chad was back at work... I woke up with Braden and immediately checked to make sure all the doors were locked so my little escape artist couldn't escape (although he's tall enough to reach the door and the lock on the front door... we're still working on a solution, but he hasn't run off yet so that's a good thing). Anyway, I locked the door to the garage too. But it's one of those tricky ones that even while it's locked... you can open from the inside and it just locks behind you from the outside. A few hours into the day the playroom is all set up and Big B is happily playing. I grab the trash out of the garbage can to take it to the big garbage can in the garage. Now I didn't realize it was a "trick lock" and had completely forgotten about it and since I opened the door no problem I took the bag out... only to be locked out!!! While Braden was playing inside! There is a side door on the garage, I ran out there (no shoes... fun) and discovered that the porch door was unlocked and I was safely back inside! (So much for me being successful in making sure ALL the doors were locked, upon entering the house I locked the porch door behind me). I checked on Braden... he had no idea that I was even gone. Then I remembered I left the side door in the garage open (because I didn't want that to lock behind me either) and ran out to the garage to shut and lock it... only I never unlocked the tricky door lock to the garage!!! That's right... it locked behind me again. But this time, the porch door was locked too! Now I'm completely locked out of the house (still no shoes) with my toddler alone...

Well...I knocked on the door and called Braden's name hoping he would hear me and I could tell him to open the door and let me in. It worked... after about two minutes I was safely back inside the house. The whole time I could hear him say, "Mommy? Mommy's hiding! Where are you?" When he got to me he opened the door and said "Mommy's hiding... silly Mommy".

MR. FORGETFUL - It started when Chad traveled to Calgary last week for work and forgot his laptop power cord in his hotel room... and with his new laptop it's some fancy "doesn't work with the standard laptop cords". What does that mean? Going to Radio Shack and purchasing a ridiculously overpriced fancy cord that works... but that's not all. Leaving for another work trip yesterday Chad forgot his cell phone... he'll be gone three days so obviously he needs it. Yesterday Braden and I made a trip downtown Vancouver to bring it to him.

THE FLIGHT - 99% of the time when Chad travels for work, he leaves Tuesday evening after work. I think only once or twice has he left on a Monday evening instead, but it's always an evening flight. This week he's off to Winnipeg and then Edmonton. Winnipeg is a long flight with a two hour time difference, so he was scheduled to leave at 8pm and land at 12:40am... yuck! Or so we thought. I've been bugging Chad to send me his flight info before he travels so I know what flights he's on and when he's due to come back. Finally this week he remembered. About 5pm yesterday I take a look at it and what do I see??? A booked flight that left Tuesday at 8 AM!!! I immediately call him and it works out that if he really rushes he can make a 6:45pm flight out... I'm happy to report he made it, just as they began to board!

Hopefully I won't have anymore scatterbrain stories to share...