The Wilhelmsen Botanical Blog

Well, it looks like last week was a bit less eventful and crazy then the week before.  This is in part due to the fact that it is hard to do much of anything when your husband gets home at 7:30 at night and your oldest goes down at 9:00.  That time between his arrival home and bedtime is generally spent playing a little with the kids and helping with diapers.

I am trying to get back into the hang of remembering to take photos so that I can be sure to document these early days with Lucas and of course continue to document Aiden’s life.  Here are a few I got of Lucas on Tuesday.  Tuesday was also a rough day for Aiden, first he was scooting around in his high chair (which we have warned him not to do on many occasions) and he tipped over, banging his forehead into the table.  A little while later he was leaning back against the closed bathroom door and when I opened (not knowing of course that he was leaning on it) he fell back onto the floor bonking his head a second time.  Later just before nap he was scooting around on his fire engine and yes, tipped over backwards onto the floor.  Thankfully the last time he didn’t seem to have actually hit his head.  When it rains it pours where Aiden is concerned I guess.

Thursday Aiden finally learned how to ride his bike forward.  He still prefers to go backwards but he can go forward.  For video of his triumph go here.  While we are outside enjoying the weather Aiden will occasionally stick his head out the playhouse window and ask if I want a hamburger.  This game of “fast food restaurant” he learned from the girls who live upstairs.

Also on Thursday I managed to snap this shot of Lucas making a funny face and sometime between Wednesday and Thursday Lucas lost his umbilical cord.

Another thing I let Aiden do to pass the time was to play in the sink with the water.  As you will see in the video here Aiden really enjoyed it.  So much in fact that the floor was mostly soaked as was his clothing.  😉

We also had round two on bathing Lucas.  As you can see it went a little bit better then the first time.  I don’t know if was because I had the water warmer, he was sitting up more or just that his body temperature is kind of regulating so that he isn’t shivering all of the time but he certainly did not complain as much as the first time.

Friday while we were outside Aiden went inspecting for spiders.  😉  Friday evening we went to our ward pinewood derby.  Our car was way light and Aiden was getting antsy so we decided to head home early, but before we did we let Aiden run amuck in the gym.

Saturday was our grocery shopping day, which is a large task when you need to go two places and time it around newborn feedings, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and naps.

Sunday we stayed in.  RSV season is near it’s end (or recently ended) and we just didn’t want to take any chances these first few weeks with Lucas.  When we have run errands we have either stayed in the car with him or kept him covered up.  We do plan to attend sacrament next week and stake conference the week after, then it will be back to our usual three hours.  🙂  Aiden is missing nursery.  We ate  Chocolate and Strawberry Stuffed French Toast for breakfast (recipe below), we have had it many, many times since we discovered the recipe.  It is VERY delicious.  We did however find cutting a pocket into french bread difficult so we just spread the toppings on a piece of bread, top with another piece of bread, dip it into the egg mixture and fry it.  It is quick, easy, and very tasty.  We also substitute strawberry syrup for maple syrup (I don’t now, nor have I ever liked maple syrup).

• 4 slices French or Italian loaf (not a baguette) — 1-inch (2 cm) thick
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) cream cheese
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) strawberry jam
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) milk
• 2 tbsp. (30 mL) granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. (5 mL) vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp. (15 mL) butter
• powdered sugar for dusting
• maple syrup and fresh strawberries as accompaniment

Cooking Instructions

1. With a sharp knife, cut a pocket into the side of each slice of bread — cutting almost, but not quite all the way, to the edges. Spread the inside of each pocket with 1 tbsp. (15 mL) of the cream cheese, stuff with 1 tbsp. (15 mL) of the chocolate chips and spoon in 1 tbsp. (15 mL) of the strawberry jam. Depending on the size of the pocket and the slice of bread, you may not be able to use the full amount of stuffing ingredients — just play it by ear and use as much as will fit inside. Squash the bread closed to enclose the filling.
2. In a bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla. Dip the stuffed bread slices into the egg mixture, turning to soak both sides evenly. Arrange on a plate.
3. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the stuffed bread to the pan and cook, turning each slice over several times to let it brown evenly and allow the heat to penetrate and melt the chocolate — about 5 or 6 minutes total. Dust lightly with icing sugar and serve with powdered sliced fresh strawberries and maple syrup.  Makes 2 servings.

In the afternoon I started another blog.  This one encourages reader participation.  To check it out and to submit your own entries go here.  We took it easy most of the rest of the day but went to visit my grandparents in the evening so that they could see Lucas and Aiden.  I tried to get a cute picture of the four of them but Aiden wouldn’t cooperate because he wanted to go, Go, GO!  🙂

We ended the evening eating at Chuck-A-Rama with my dad.  Thanks for dinner dad!

I am off to get a nap now while I can (Lucas miraculously went right to sleep after eating), thanks for reading!

So last week was a busy week as we transitioned from a family of 3 to a family of 4.  Thankfully Brandon was able to stay home on Monday and Tuesday to help me get used to the idea of having two kids as well as to be a kind of buffer as I learned what adjustments I would have to make as I juggled the needs of two kids.  Now, a week and a half later I am still a bit shell shocked, the drop in hormones is causing my emotions to run wild, but I think if I continue to take things one moment at a time and not look at the overwhelming big picture then I just might survive this big change and adjustment.  😉

We opted to head home from the hospital on Sunday, just a mere 24 hours after Lucas was born.  In order to make the concept of having a new brother an exciting event rather then just a huge change for Aiden, we copied an idea from my mom.  When I was little and they brought my sister home we had a “birthday” party for her.  She got a present for me and I picked a gift out for her.  It was complete with birthday cake and party hats.  We did the same with Aiden.  Aiden picked out a little elephant toy for Lucas and Lucas got Aiden an Elmo K’nex set.  We had yummy pizza and birthday cake to eat, wore our impromptu party hats, had a few balloons as decor, and we even sang happy birthday to Lucas.

During the party Aiden played a little golf and of course the party boy slept.

Monday Lucas had his first visit to the pediatrician (mandatory because we left the hospital early) and all of his test results came back normal.  Now I wasn’t there so I don’t know all of the details as to exactly what was tested but I am glad that Brandon came back to report a clean bill of health for Lucas.

Tuesday we tried to straighten up as much as we could and Brandon was able to go and get a haircut.

Wednesday I was feeling a bit overwhelmed but took things one at a time and did ok until about 6:00.  That is when Aiden got to where he’d had enough of sharing mommy and wanted more, More, MORE attention!

Thursday my grandma and dad came over to visit, see Lucas, and spend some time with Aiden.  It was a nice diversion in the day.

Friday I gave Lucas his first bath at home which I can tell you he did not appreciate.  Despite the warm water he was shivering and his little hands started to look purple.  I tried to wash quickly while at the same time attempting to soothe Lucas but in the end I just had to hurry and finish washing him so that I could get him out of the tub.

Here he is starting to recover from the trauma of a bath.

And now a return to normalcy (a fully clothed state).

Friday Brandon was off work again!  HOORAY!  So after Aiden and Brandon returned from the dentist we decided to brave going out to get some errands done as a family of four.  After a stop to Wal-mart we decided to get a bite to eat at Texas Roadhouse.  As you can see, dining out was an adventure, from Aiden’s roller coaster of emotions, to my needing to feed Lucas in public while sitting at our table but we had a nice time and delicious chow!

In the evening we (mostly Brandon) did a little bit of garden prep work.  We now have a fence up around the garden, it has been squared (we removed extra grass to make it a more exact rectangle), and we tilled it a little bit.

As you can see Aiden was a big “help”.  Any time a tool went unguarded he would hurry over to try and pick it up.  When Brandon was finally done with the shovel he stuck it in the dirt and told Aiden that it was his very own sword in the stone and that if he could get it out of the dirt then he could use it.  Needless to say, he was not strong enough (and Brandon knew that would be the case).

This is how Lucas felt about the whole thing…

Because Friday was such a success we ran a couple more errands on Saturday.  We stopped at the mall because I had something to pick up and then ran to Costco.  The trip went quickly and we made it home in time for some lunch.  Just before nap Brandon and Aiden put dirt in our little seed planter and then while he slept Brandon and I planted the seeds.  Here’s hoping it is a success.

Later that evening my dad dropped by because he was in the area for a dinner.  He took some time to be silly with Aiden.

Sunday we got all bundled up and went for a walk.  It wasn’t especially cold but it was windy.  Little Lucas was snug as a bug in a rug in his car seat (meaning he could not see anything and there was no way the wind could get in to affect him) and he ended up falling asleep during the ride.

Lastly, Lucas was smiling a bit in his sleep on Sunday so we took the opportunity to try and snap a few smiling photos.  The top is a partial smile.  The bottom photo we took because we thought it was a humorous expression and felt it necessary to catch on film.

And I am home from the hospital.  I had forgotten how very little sleep you get at the hospital.  Why don’t all of those nurses, doctors, and lab people come in at the same time, which ought to be when you are up to nurse, rather then when you have just finally fallen asleep.  Anyway we will get back to all of that in a little bit.

Monday and Tuesday were, on the whole, rather uneventful.  In fact, I can’t really remember them at all except perhaps that there was the need to finish last minute preparations for Lucas to arrive.  Wednesday went pretty well but around 5:00 in the afternoon I thought that maybe I was leaking amniotic fluid.  I put on a pad and when Brandon got home from work we went up to St. Mark’s to be tested.  The results came back that there was no amniotic fluid but I was dialated to a 4, at a -1 station, and still 75% effaced.  The nurse said that she would be surprised if I made it all the way to my induction date of Saturday.

Thursday night I slept poorly, waking every 2 hours and finally at 4:30 I got up to time contractions.  From 4:40 to 6:00 they were every 5 mins. so I called L & D at St. Mark’s and made plans to go in when Aiden woke up.  Unfortunately after that they died off and because I was emotional Brandon had to  make the hard decision of leaving me to go into work.  After waking at 4:30 and then adding the disappointment of not really being in labor I just did not know how I would get through an 11 hour day without Brandon.  Thankfully my mom came over and we decided to go to the mall and see if I could get contractions started by walking around.  While we were at the mall Aiden saw the Easter Bunny (whom he actually liked and shook his hand and hugged), got some chocolate at See’s (I asked Aiden if he wanted chocolate before we got out of the car and from the time we got out until we got the chocolate he kept saying, “I need the chocolate.”), and ate lunch in the food court.  Aiden liked being out and about and while walking did nothing, being able to get out and be distracted really lifted my spirits.  We all kept praying that my water would break but it never did.  Incidentally, Thursday night was the best I had slept in a few weeks and I knew the last really awesome night of sleep I would have for awhile.

Friday I came to terms with the fact that I likely was going to be induced and we got out and ran errands and we had a good day.  I wasn’t overly cautious because I still hoped that nature would kick in on it’s own but I didn’t go and do anything crazy either.  We picked up some gardening stuff (seeds, seedling dirt, fencing, a topsy turvey for tomatoes, and the little seed starter containers), went to eat at Chili’s, picked up our family photos from Target and in the evening after we made chicken rolls we went swimming at Holiday Lions Fitness and Rec.  That was awesome because we got there at 5:00ish and because the pool was closing in a mere 60-90 mins. They let us in free (saving us $12.00).  It was a great pool.  Aiden loved the water play area and spent most of the time pulling on the levers, which in turn made the water go on and off.  It was also an emotional day because I knew that it was my last time rocking  Aiden to sleep for nap and bed and hanging out with Aiden without having to worry about another’s needs as well.  Change and the unknown has always been really hard for me.

Saturday was THE big day.  I did not sleep well at all Friday partly because I was nervous and partly because I had the Abby’s flying fairy school song from Sesame Street stuck in my head.  It is a bouncy song, not exactly conducive to relaxing and calming.  I woke up at 4:30 again and was unable to get back to sleep.  I called the hospital at 6:00 a.m. and they asked us to be there at 7:00 to check in.  My mom arrived shortly after that so that Aiden wasn’t home alone (and to deliver him to my aunt when he woke up) and away we went.  We were all settled in very quickly and then we waited, and waited.  From what I surmised there were no direct orders about how to proceed from the doc.  As such pitocin wasn’t started until 9:00.  We then waited around for the doc. to come and break my water which happened at about 10:45.  It is important to note that when I arrived at the hospital I was still 4 cm. 75% effaced and a -1 station.  Things seemed to be progressing very slowly.  I did ok handling contractions ( I was only really feeling every third one or so and could “walk it off” until I got to transition stage and then the contractions got almost immediately worse.  I asked for some fentanyl to take the edge off.  It never really did but Brandon said that perhaps the contractions got a lot more painful at that point and took off some of the extra pain.  I did not like the fentanyl.  It made me feel fuzzy/loopy and I just wanted to go to sleep.  When I hit the intense phase of labor, I knew it was too late for an epidural and despite my intense fear of a c-section I found myself very nearly asking for one.  (That ought to accurately express just how much pain I was in.)  I got to the point where I was finally at like a 9/9.5 cm. but there was just a little rim of cervix in the way.  It was at this point that I started to feel an urge to push (I thought but couldn’t really tell because of the pain) and I also just wanted to crawl out of my skin.  Pushing did seem to ease the contraction pain though so push I did, until Lucas started crowning and the nurse started yelling (I think) “Small little pushes, not so fast.” and then I lost my groove, I was in pain and I just started saying, just get him out.  The doc. mentioned that if he did an episiotomy he would come right out and I said do it then, but the nurse piped up with something about me being sure and you can do it on your own.  I don’t even think I was really pushing anymore at this point.  I said again, “Just give me the episiotomy and get him out.”  Thankfully the doc did what I asked, (He later said I would have torn at that point anyway) told me I could stop pushing (I don’t even know if I was anymore anyway) and eased Lucas out (the shoulders were a bit intense again for just a moment).  They then put Lucas on my toweled chest and roughed him up there.  I immediately asked for my cookie (LOL, inside joke from last time) and we got around to ordering some Subway for my mom to pick up for us.

Here are a few things I should also mention…my nurse and I had a personality clash, by the time I realized this I would have felt insanely bad for sending for a new one.  She had a very hands on approach and yet didn’t coach very well.  She also hovered.  When I got to where I was feeling the pain all I wanted was for everyone to clear out of the room so that I could try and and cope with my mom and hubby by my side.  In fact at one point the charge nurse came in, she gave me a few ideas with how to try and cope with the pain and also got me a wet wash cloth.  I felt that I had gotten more help from her in 5 mins. then I’d had from my nurse all day and she did it all without invading my privacy or personal space.  My nurse asked if I wanted her to rub my legs, feet, or back and I told her no but she ended up rubbing my leg once or twice anyway.  She also was just hovering and kept asking if I needed anything and I finally said, “We will let you know if we need anything.”  She left then but was back soon after just watching me while I tried to cope with my pain.  Afterwards, she asked if I wanted a shower (which I declined) and then when I went in to go to the bathroom two other nurses were hovering and I shooed them away and then she came into the room (not the bathroom) and just as I was finally relaxing enough to go she yelled, “Is everything ok in there?”  GOOD GRIEF!  I decided not to even bother trying anymore at that time and then she came in to help clean me up without even asking.  Hello, I declined my shower, when I was ready to get a bit cleaned up I would have either asked for help OR had someone tell my husband how to do it.  I was then rushed out of my labor and delivery room and upstairs to the surprise of my mom and Brandon.  I would have liked to have overseen some of the picking up of the room and even had a moment to look around myself (from the bed or wheelchair) to make sure we had gotten everything.

Ok, just a couple of things.  It was my intent to labor without pain meds.  I fully planned to spend a big chunk of my laboring in the jacuzzi tub that is in some of the rooms.  I did not know however that when you are on pitocin the baby MUST be monitored during the ENTIRETY or labor and delivery.  That would have been good to know.  Had I known I may have made a different decision.  I also should have done more research on how to cope.  I was relying solely on the lamaze I had learned as well as the positions for coping that were in my birthing book.  I should have looked for a doula or birth coach, learned some hypnobirthing techniques, and gone without the fentanyl because at that point I had to stay in the bed.

Once Lucas was born I fully felt like I had failed miserably in what I thought was going to be a quick, fairly easy to cope with the pain, kind of labor.  Despite my feeling like a failure, the nurses, my mom, and my husband all told me how wonderful I did and that I had indeed achieved my goal and was a success.  They told me that I has done amazing (to which I was thinking how is giving up and asking for the episiotomy amazing? How was wanting to crawl out of my skin amazing?).  Anyway, the whole thing was just very traumatic and I am still trying to wrap my mind around things.  It wasn’t until today when I learned that pitocin contractions are generally by far more painful then regular that I realized maybe I had done something worthy of the praise I received.  At this point I do not know what will happen next time around.  As much as I despised the ol’ catheter the first time around I was certainly much calmer and able to read the need to push more accurately and push more effectively.  I know for sure that if I ever opt to induce again then an epidural will go hand in hand with it.  I do still hope to go try going into labor on my own at some point.  I have just been too nervous too because I would get to measuring big and the possibility of c-section with each additional ounce the baby put on would grow.  We will see what I feel like when the time comes but for now, I am not even going to think about it because if I do then I would tell you we aren’t even going to start trying again until sometime in the next millenia.  ;p  I know one thing is for sure, I do intend on having the next labor and delivery be more the beautiful experience that I feel it should be (more like my first and less like my second, with as little medication as possible) and between now and that unforeseen date I plan to do a LOT of research.  Well, Aiden is awake and the baby needs to eat again soon so without further ado, my 2nd born Lucas Alexander Wilhelmsen (pictured below with various family members).  Thank you to EVERYONE who kept Aiden company and entertained while Brandon and I were “out of commission”.

Well, I guess that I had better warn everyone that this will likely be a long post (if I can remember all that I have had on my mind).  Last week (I can’t remember if it was Sunday or Monday) a friend that we met at the University Village brought by some hand me downs for Aiden.  As you can tell from the pictures his favorite two items were a floppy brimmed hat and some rain boots.  He wore the rain boots around most of the afternoon.

Wednesday was Brandon’s birthday.  We met up with an assortment of friends and family at Red Robin for some good eats and yummy caramel fudge brownies for dessert (Brandon’s “cake”).  It was really wonderful for everyone who was able, to come out and support Brandon as he turned 30.

On Thursday Aiden decided to play with his toy buckets and lids.  He even put a bucket on his head and then head butted me in the leg.  A little bit later I found him playing peek a boo with the lids.  Such a silly boy.  We have also taken every chance we can to go out when the weather is good so I have included a couple of pictures of Aiden outside.  I also had a visit to the Obgyn on Thursday.  I was only measuring 39 cm. still (only a half week ahead) and was dialated to a 2 and 75% effaced.  We have arranged to be induced on April 3rd.  But I have to admit I hope that he comes on his own before then.  I had Aiden at 39 weeks and so anything beyond that will be uncharted territory (not to mention increasingly uncomfortable).

On Friday I let Aiden take a hold of the camera and helped him to push down the button so that he could take a photo or two.  Here is one of his photos.  Friday was a busy day.  In the morning Brandon took the car to have the brakes adjusted and then to be re-tested for safety.  Thankfully it passed but it was also brought to our attention that the front two tires needed to be replaced because the tread on the inside of them was nearly to the second tread (or something like that) LOVELY…  After all of the car stuff Brandon came home and the two of us dropped Aiden off at my grandma’s to be tended.  We then enjoyed doing some initiatory.  I finished a good 20 mins. before Brandon and I was feeling so off and uncomfortable that I was trying not to cry.  In the evening we were going to go swimming but decided to get the groceries that we would need to get us through a week after Lucas is born instead.

Saturday morning the Easter Bunny dropped by.  We had to make special arrangements for him to come a week early since I will be in the hospital on Easter.  The Easter Bunny brought two neck ties, two pairs of flip flops, chalk, egg shaped M & M’s, Tootsie Rolls, and a tool apron for Aiden to wear when he plays with his tools.  Aiden seemed pleased with his loot, after all it isn’t hard to please a toddler and honestly, he got the most excited about the flip flops.  😉  In the evening Brandon had plans to night ski with my cousin so I made plans for Aiden and I to hang out with my dad.  Before Brandon could ski though, he had to take our car to get the tires replaced.  Oi, cars are expensive.

Aiden and I went out to pick up my dad about 4:45 and then we all went to Discovery Gateway.  Aiden wasn’t sure what to think at first because there were so many choices but he ended up having a lot of fun.  We ended up eating dinner at the food court because we were at the children’s museum for so long.  Luckily our food was yummy and Aiden ate his corn dog right up!  Thanks for keeping us company on Saturday dad!

Sunday we went to church.  It will be the last time that I get to go for awhile because I will want to try and keep Lucas away from any extra germs so it was nice to go this one last time.  (Especially since we have been sick the last two Sundays.)  My mom came to visit as usual and at one point Aiden said, “Aiden is going to sing.”  So I said, “Ok go ahead.”  but instead of singing he proceeds to walk over and start licking the arm of the futon.  Needless to say my mom, Brandon, and I were all a bit confused but burst out laughing.  Sometimes you can’t help but wonder what goes on in your child’s mind.

Ok, let’s see if I can remember the other things that I wanted to mention.  First, is employment.  I think that in the past Brandon and I haven’t explained ourselves very well and this has led to some confusion.  As you all know his current job is temporary and will end beginning of August.  We have been looking for something to replace it when it ends but as of yet have had no results.  Here is where the confusion has come in the past…we are not looking for simply a job to pass the time.  Ever since Brandon graduated we have been in search of a career for Brandon.  A career that pays well, that is in Brandon’s field of study or graphic design (we have actually been praying for one in graphic design), that has good benefits, and that will be something that Brandon can enjoy.  That is part of why it was taking so long to find a job in the first place.  We kept vascillating back and forth between finding a career and simply finding a mediocre job that would pay the bills.  We prayed continually to know what to do and that combined with the knowledge that we had at the time is how we ended up with subbing and the census job.  As for the future, if we get to August and have no career lined up then we will go back to subbing as our back up plan until the right career comes along.  Things will be tight but it will pay the bills.  During August, if Brandon is not working he plans to make big strides writing the chapters of his book and between now and then he is working on making himself known through blogging and finishing up his outline so that he can search for a publisher.  I may even try my hand at making money blogging myself (if I can think of something that others would find worth reading).

Lastly, is just a thought that I had the other day.  I have been concerned about the country and the world and its impending end.  I have worried about how bad it could get and have hoped that Brandon and I would have the means necessary to survive as things crumble around us (things such as savings, food storage, and means to kill our food (please no) if necessary).  In my mind it has always been that we would only have ourselves to rely on when the end was nigh.  Then I heard something the other day that made me realize that I was wrong.  Not only do we have each other (my little immediate family) but I also have my extended family to lean on and my religion.  The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints already has many programs in place to help deal with calamities and catastrophes.  As I am sure other religions do as well.  On top of all of that when it comes to a force for good and a force for evil I believe that I will not only have my religious family but that all religions will band together against the power of the destroyer (a.k.a. Satan).  There is strength in religion and there is safety in numbers.  So may I encourage all of you who are not currently active in a religion to search one out, the best one for you and your family, the one that you feel is the most right for you and embrace it whole heartedly by attending church and as many of the extracurricular functions as you can as well.  As a mother I just can not imagine trying to raise children in the increasingly ugly world without the church to help guide my way and providing extra support in my efforts.  If you have any questions about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints you can ask me or you can go to http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/ for more information.  In your search for a religion may I ask for you to consider them all equally, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Good luck!

It has been a long week.  As you know Aiden was diagnosed with type A influenza last Saturday and was put on Tamiflu to treat it.  I did not see any improvement and in fact on Wednesday Aiden woke up at 8:30 and then slept from 10:00 until 3:00 and again for a little bit in the evening.  It was the last day of the Tamiflu and we were supposed to have seen improvement by then.  He also still had a low fever (around 101 with fever reducing meds.) and had since Saturday.  Thursday he finally seemed to be more himself and had a fever of about 99 (without ibruprofin or tylenol).  He has also, once a day since Tuesday, had a coughing fit that has resulted in him spitting up.  Friday we took him to the pediatrician again to have her listen for pnuemonia and thankfully Aiden’s lungs were clear.  Unfortunately, she checked both of his ears and they are both infected.  So now we are back to meds. again only this time for his ears.  As of today aside from random bouts of coughing (which did not seem to concern the pediatrician when we mentioned it at his appt.) Aiden is back to his regular self.

As for me I started to feel sick Wednesday, sore throat, coughing, mucus, aching, feeling overall miserable.  So of course on Thursday when Aiden was starting to feel better, I was feeling worse.  Luckily I am finally starting to feel a little better today and have been trying to take it really easy while Brandon is around to run interference so that I will have some sort of level of health back for tomorrow.

Ok so this week, Brandon started working his “regular” shift at work, Monday-Thursday 8-7.  By “regular” I mean that in a month or so it will change because the center will stop taking incoming calls and start to make outgoing ones.  This will also mean that the center will open an hour later and everyone’s shift will change.  Anyway so by 10:00 on Monday I had already decided that this was not working for me at all.  We will somehow make it through this next 4 weeks and then (unless Brandon works like a 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. shift) we will never be working anything but 5 eight hour days a week shifts again.  Why was I done with it by 10:00 a.m. on the first day?  Because it was at that point that I realized Brandon would not be home for another 9 hours.  I had no car, Aiden was not feeling well and was, consequently ornery, he wasn’t taking his medicine (in fact he was spitting it out), I was/am exhausted being just days away from my due date, and I honestly had no idea how I was going to entertain Aiden all by myself for 9 more hours (7 if your subtract nap time).  Needless to say I have already been overwhelmed about everything that needs to be done in the next couple of weeks as well as having a new baby very soon to transition into the family and that pretty much did me in.  Thankfully Aiden and I survived it and have now enjoyed a few days of Brandon’s company.

Because of illness most of the plans for the week were canceled.  Aiden was supposed to go to the dentist this week and he and I were going to go to free day at Discovery Gateway for a mommy/son date on Wednesday but couldn’t.  We just stayed at home most of the week and watched a lot of t.v.

Thursday I had another appt. with my ob.  I don’t really have anything new to report.  The baby is healthy, he moved around a lot during the appt. and I am measuring 39 weeks.  In the evening my dad too Aiden and I to my grandpa’s 79th birthday party.  Brandon joined us after work and it ended up being fun but I was so worn out and not feeling well that I couldn’t fully enjoy it.

Friday we took Aiden to his dr. appt. (as I mentioned above) and in the evening Brandon took the car to be tested.  It passed emissions but needs windshield wipers and the break bolts loosened so that it can pass safety.  I had hoped that it would just pass so that I didn’t have to worry about anything else.  Oh well.

Saturday Brandon and I went to see Desert Star.  It was a nice date and my aunt so kindly watched Aiden for us.  In the afternoon we went and got our family pictures taken.  Holy cow Aiden would NOT cooperate and was kind of ornery.  We did manage to get some likeable ones and hopefully we will remember to pick them up before Lucas is born.  After we got our pictures taken we went to Shivers because they were having a 50th anniversary celebration and fries, burgers, and drinks were all fifty cents.  Aiden enjoyed himself because there was a train that had little tables and chairs in it and he got to eat in the train.  He kept saying, “I’m eatin’ in the train.” and was just very content.

Today we have just been taking it easy so that we did not go to church and spread germs around.  Thankfully Aiden and I are on the mend and nearly well because next Sunday will likely be the last chance for me to go before Lucas is born.  As for our veggie of the week, it was broccoli and because I wasn’t feeling and didn’t cook a whole lot, well, we only ended up having it in our pasta salad.  We will try our other broccoli recipes next week though.

Lastly just a few little sillies…apparently earlier in the week Aiden went up to Brandon and said, “Daddy’s a nostril.”  LOL.  I think I had him say that once and now he did it on his own.  We also took a moment this week to introduce Aiden to the actual song “Bad to the Bone.”  So that he would know what it sounds like singer and all.  While Brandon and I were singing it at the top of our lungs Aiden was rocking out in his chair.  Which brings me to today…I started singing, “Dun, dun dun dun, dun, dun.” (the rhythm of Bad to the Bone) and Aiden said, “Mommy’s Bad to the Bone-ing.”  It made me smile.  Then a little bit later Brandon and I were in the kitchen and Brandon may or may not have done anything to prompt this but Aiden said, “Daddy’s grumpy.”  I can assure Brandon was not grumpy.  It just made me laugh though.  Aiden is a silly, clever little boy.

Well, have a good week.  We’ll keep everyone posted if Lucas decides to make his entrance this week (doubt it) and also in case you didn’t know Brandon’s birthday is Wednesday, I repeat WEDNESDAY, so you know, call him and wish him a happy one…his wife would appreciate it.  🙂

This evening as I was rocking Aiden before bed he started rubbing my tummy and saying excitedly, “Hi Lucas” over and over and over.  Then he said, “Aiden silly Lucas.” and then I asked him if it will be good to have a brother and he told me yes.

Does anyone else wish mother nature would make up her mind?  The warm weather is nice but it seems a cruel trick to keep throwing snow days into the mix.  I am glad at least that the snow melts quickly because it is so warm.  This past week went pretty well.  We will be pretty busy from now until Lucas is born.  On Monday I heard about playgroup from our upstairs neighbor and she and I went with our kids in tow.  I tried to get to know some of the other moms a little bit but there were so many moms and so many kids that it was hard to really talk to anyone.  Aiden enjoyed running around outside and getting to know the other kids.   The other momentous thing about Monday is that Brandon started training at Vangent for the census job.

Tuesday evening I turned Aiden over to his dad for a few hours while I went to the Relief Society Birthday party.  The food was good and my friend and I reminisced a bit about our childhood.  Wednesday wasn’t too momentous.  We did take Brandon’s bike to get it fixed because he will be riding it to work twice this week so that I can use it.  One for a dentist appointment the other for a mommy and Aiden date (depending on how he feels/sounds).  It was a bit costly to repair but having a second means of transportation will be good.  Another thing I did early in the week (I don’t know what day) is that I made strawberry truffles from scratch (see photos below).  They were quite tasty, the strawberry flavor wasn’t very strong but there was a hint of strawberry and I really liked the texture of them.

Thursday was my 36 1/2 week ob appt.  Everything still looks good, we are a go for inducing on the 2nd of April (provided my cervix goes from being 1 1/2 cm. and 50% effaced (which is what it is now) to 2 1/2-3 cm. and 75-80% effaced, the doctor said he is confident that I will have no problem), and want to thank everyone ahead of time for being so willing to help us out with Aiden while I am in the hospital (and thank you to my mom for watching Aiden during my dr. visits).  Thursday evening we took Aiden swimming at a local middle school.  He is a little fish and loves the water but doesn’t understand when it is too deep for him and wants so badly to be independent in the pool.

Friday Aiden woke up with a cough.  It was wet sounding in the morning but by evening sounded dry.  Of course by evening he had a fever of 103.00 so we gave him some ibuprofin and a blessing and put him to bed.  I worried about him all night but he was fever free by morning.  He was however still coughing so I took him to After Hours medical care.  They checked the routine things and also checked for strep throat and the flu.  Aiden did really well with the strep culture, he just gagged a little bit and that was that.  The flu culture didn’t go as well though.  They had to swab his nose and it hurt a lot and Aiden got really sad and it took him a little while to calm down.  I was proud of him though.  It could have been much more difficult for the nurse to get a swab.  Turns out that Aiden does indeed have influenza type a.  The doc said it could be either regular seasonal flu or H1N1.  Thankfully we caught it with 24-48 hours of his first symptoms so the doc gave us a prescription for tamiflu which will shorten the duration of the sickness.  Needless to say we spent the weekend in and none of us really had a lot of energy so we mostly took it easy.

Aiden has had bursts of energy when his fever breaks so during one of said bursts he enjoyed hiding in this cardboard box.  On Sunday we celebrated Pi day by eating berry tartlets and I grumbled periodically through out the day about how much I dislike daylight savings time.  Our veggie of the week was asparagus, we ended up not making the risotto that we had planned for Saturday evening but we did have a ham asparagus gratin earlier in the week that was pretty good.  To me asparagus kind of tastes like green beans.

Well, I guess I will end this blog by giving you my list of things I have learned during my 2nd pregnancy.

1.  Chasing after a toddler while pregnant is hard, but doable.

2.  EVERY SINGLE PREGNANCY is different regardless of the gender of the unborn baby.

3.  Heartburn medications cause water retention while pregnant and this leads to lots of swelling.

4.  Bowel discomfort and round ligament pain is normal early on in the pregnancy as well as in the last trimester.

5.  Being 1 1/2 cm. dialated and any percent effaced at 36 weeks means absolutely nothing.

I hope that everyone has a good week.  It seems like maybe the spring weather is finally here to stay.  I guess we will see, thanks for reading!

So, my preggo brain is just about spent.  It seems that the closer I get to Lucas arriving the less I can remember.  🙂  I am 36 weeks today and we are pretty much prepared for his arrival in the way of clothes, a place to sleep, and other supplies.  I am not however quite prepared for the major change that is about to take place in our little family.  I don’t think anyone ever can be though.  While I don’t remember a whole lot about details of the week I do know that we are trying to keep ourselves fed and taken care of as well as getting out of the house as often as possible because once the baby is born it will be a bit more difficult, it is also just good practice to keep a new baby home away from the public for the first few weeks.

So Wednesday Brandon ended up being home all day, mostly to recuperate his voice which he had nearly lost subbing the day before.  We ended up going to eat lunch and then over to the dollar movie to see Planet 51.  Aiden did really well for the first hour of the movie and then he was ready to go.  Thankfully the theater was nearly empty and Brandon and I were able to take turns distracting Aiden and taking him out into the hall.  We will likely take Aiden to the movies again soon, just not during peak hours.  😉

I also made cookies on Wednesday.  My mom dropped by and suggested that we stick some in his oven on a make shift cookie sheet and let him discover them.  He thought it was pretty neat to be “baking” some cookies and took them in and out of his oven several times before finally eating them.

Friday we had an evening out and enjoyed $1.00 meatball plates at Ikea.  It was an awesome deal, especially when paired with 4 slices of garlic bread for $1.00 as well.

Saturday we spent a good portion of the morning cleaning and “getting ready for sunday”.  In the evening we called my cousin Mike and his wife and invited them over to play board games.  Aiden and their daughter played together while we all visited and played one round of Would You Rather.  We enjoyed their company and it was nice to socialize with other adults a little bit.  Thanks for coming to visit!

Sunday was our usual.  Church, a visit from my ever wonderful mom, and then after dinner we went out to Ferguson family night.  We stopped at my dad’s briefly beforehand so that Brandon could pick up his ski’s and ski boots and got to visit a little while Aiden got into mischief.  😉

As for other news our veggie of the week this past week was leeks.  We had creamy potato leek soup, green egg and ham cups, and greek ditalini.  Here is what we learned, leeks are great.  In my opinion they are just a milder version of an onion.  The other thing we learned is that I do NOT like romano cheese.  Two of the recipes we had this week included this offending cheese and I just could not stomach it.  Aiden and Brandon on the other hand gobbled it right up and Brandon mentioned on several occasions that he was glad we were branching out and trying new cheeses.  Not only did we test out leeks and romano cheese this past week but we also had gruyere cheese on our ham and egg cups.  The gruyere was milder and in the ham and egg cups barely noticeable.  I will likely try gruyere again.

Ok, so in ending I have had something on my mind that I feel like mentioning as a way of putting minds at ease.  Since my marriage to Brandon various people have noted concerns to me on many things such as jobs, kids, my decision to be a stay at home mom, the places we have lived, the number of kids we want and our timing to have them, our desire to adopt, etc.  I appreciate everyone’s concern and their desires for the absolute best for our family.  That is what we want too.  I just want to let people know that we are not making important decisions off the cuff.  We pray about them, we seek out all of our options, we weigh them against our priorities as well as those things of spiritual and temporal importance, we do our best to make decisions as fully informed as possible, and on top of it all we make sure that the decision we are making is in the absolute best interest of our family.  Sometimes there are factors in our decision making that may not be visible from the outside but that may need to be weighed more heavily then the obvious facts.   Just trust that we involve the Lord in our decision making and trust 100% that he will not steer us wrong.  Also know that especially since Brandon graduated that we have been praying more fervently then ever before about the future such as what Brandon should do for his lifetime career and in what city/state, and finding a home for us that is in the best place possible to meet the needs of our family.  We are always doing the best we can with the resources that we have and I am sure that all of you are too.  Thanks for reading…

Well, hello again!  I love how there are more and more nice days in a row lately.  It allows Aiden to be out in the beautiful sunshine for longer time during the day and for more days during the week.  So this past week has gone fairly well.  Our veggie of the week was artichokes and the recipe we chose were artichoke bruschetta, artichoke cheese braid, and artichoke chicken.  The bruschetta would have been great except that I had a hard time stomaching the romano cheese (holy strong cheese Batman), the cheese braid was good except that next time I would leave out the pimientos, and the artichoke chicken was by far the best, it was very moist and creamy.  We definitely give artichokes two thumbs up with a few tweaks to the recipes we tried as well as trying hot artichoke dip in the future.

Here are a few pictures from last Monday.  Aiden decided he wanted to try on my gloves and cheese it up for the camera.  Later in the evening he got to enjoy his very first ice cream sandwich.

Wednesday was my 34 1/2 week ob appointment.  Everything is still going well and I was only measuring a week big at this appointment.  (Hooray!)  My next appt. is set for 36 1/2 weeks and then will be once a week after that.  As for if I have “dropped” or not I feel that Lucas has been low the whole time.  I have never once felt him up in my ribs and have been constantly feeling him on all my lower nerves and muscles.  If that is “dropped” then I have.  I also had a WIC appt. that evening.  Holy cow I can not believe how much more or less efficient varying WIC places are.  This is my third location and by far the SLOWEST.  OI.

Thursday we got our tax refund back and we were able to pay of Brandon’s largest student loan.  We just have a little less then $200 in student debt left and then we will be DEBT FREE!!!

Friday Brandon heard from Vangent.  He will train March 8-12 and will start working four ten hour days on March 15th.  During lunch I gave Aiden a slice of Fudge Lover’s Strawberry Truffle Cake.  I cut it into bite sized portions so that he would eat it more efficiently and next thing I hear is him saying, “I washin’ the hands.”  I turn around and see that he is rubbing his two hands together and as a result smearing chocolate cake all over his hands.  Kids!  ;p

Later in the evening we went to the safe kids fair.  Aiden really had a good time and enjoyed motorcycles, snow mobiles, helicopters, and the fire engine.

Saturday was a busy, busy day, in the morning we had to pick up the food co-op food and then Brandon and I went to the temple.  After that we came home, ate lunch, and then cleaned up the house.  During nap time we did a lot of cooking as well as taking time to finish cleaning.  When Aiden woke up we decided to go out to run a few errands and eat some dinner.  Every time we go near Lowe’s he wants to “drive the car” because they have car shopping carts.  Despite the busy day there was still some time for Aiden to make a funny face or two.  You will also see a few pictures below of the Winnie the Pooh character Rabbit.  Note the difference between the tattered and well loved one and the new one.  It is quite remarkable.  Well, I guess that is all.  Have a good week and thanks for reading…

Here are a few pictures from our family night on Valentine’s day that I didn’t add to the post last week…

So on President’s day I had the lucky opportunity to go and get another cavity filled.  Joy…

Wednesday Aiden was pulling on his ear, distraught, and didn’t nap well.  I ended up taking him to pediatrician during their night clinic hours.  Turns out that he did have an ear infection.  He was very cuddly in the evening and very sleepy as well.  We gave him ibuprofin, amoxicillin, and some numbing drops in his ear.  He slept soundly all night and was back to his normal mischievious self the next morning.  He is doing much better now and even seems to finally be recovering from his cold.

This week I finally finished our living room curtains.  I will try to remember to take photos this week to post.  We also tried out turnips as our vegetable of the week.  We had them pan roasted and we also had bacon clapshot.  The pan roasted were only so, so, neither one of us were very enthusiastic about them but the clapshot was yummy.  It was basically glorified mashed potatoes.

Friday evening after Aiden went to bed Brandon and I watched the movie Amelia.  When I was younger I was fascinated with her and the mystery of her disappearance is still quite intriguing.  We enjoyed the movie and I thought that it was well done.  It even led me to looking Amelia Earhart up on wikipedia to see what the latest speculations are on her disappearance.  It baffles me that she would have just disappeared with no trace.

Saturday I went to our stake women’s conference.  It was fabulous.  I learned a lot of useful things and it got me excited about food storage and food storage rotation.  I attended 4 classes, one about sprouts, one about beans, one about powdered milk, and one about canning meat.  Here is what I learned in brief summary:  Sprouting is easy, but I am not a fan of how sprouts taste.  Beans can be used as a fat (butter, shortening, oil) substitute in recipes and they taste equally as good but are even softer and more moist then if you had used butter.  Beans can also be used as flour if ground up dry.  I also learned that I really like split pea soup.  Yum.  I learned that powdered milk is amazing and that you should buy INSTANT non fat milk instead of REGULAR non fat milk.  Powdered milk can not only be used as a drink but by adding  just a few ingredients it can become sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and buttermilk.  You can turn powdered milk into yogurt, and from there it can become sour cream and cream cheese.  Not only can it become cream cheese but it is DELICIOUS, FAT FREE, cream cheese!  The speaker made two cheesecakes one with all store bought ingredients and one in which she had substituted all the dairy ingredients with powdered milk ingredients of the same.  They tasted the same!  I also had the cream cheese topped with homemade jam on a cracker.  It was so smooth and delicious.  I was amazed!  The canning class was cool.  I learned that you can can raw or cooked meats and that it isn’t that different then canning fruits or veggies.  It was a good learning day.

I have also been on this kick lately to just get things into place and into habit before Lucas is born.  The reason being that I know that if we can get into the habit of things before he is born then the craziness of a newborn will be less likely to disrupt it.  Here are some of what we have worked on…   We are getting more consistent with FHE, part of why is because we have set an alarm to go off every Sunday at 8:30 p.m. to remind us, the other reason is because we do it on Sunday when there are less outside distractions to cause us to forget.  I have also started to heed the primary song, “Saturday is a special day, it’s the day we get ready for Sunday…”  The last three Saturday’s (yesterday didn’t go as well as the ones before) we have taken an hour or two of our day to sweep, vacuum, mop, and to thoroughly clean the bathroom.  I think having a set day to do these less enjoyable chores and to have Brandon’s help, will help us to get us into a good habit of doing them.  It also helps to have two specific laundry days and a time of day to be finished by.  I have split my laundry load in half and do half one day and half another.  Getting it put away is still a struggle but at least I have set days to have them accomplished on.  Dishes are still a work in progress, we do 1-2 loads a day and I feel like there are always dishes on the counter.  We have also been doing pretty good at keeping the table clear and piles of papers from becoming clutter in the house.

Today was good, church went well, Aiden is doing superbly in nursery and always seems so aloof when I go to pick him up.  It’s like oh, hi mom, just a minute while I finish up.  LOL.  We had my dad over for a dinner of pork chalupas and bean fudge.  The bean fudge was tasty but the beans give it a strange texture.  The chalupa filling was SOOOOOOOO good.  Oh baby.  It is a recipe that we will definitely use again.  This morning when I was changing Aiden’s diaper he said, “Bite the baby Lucas toes.”  (We nibble on his all the time.)  I told him we have to be gentle and soft when we bite Lucas’s toes but it made me grin inside to think that I will take a little nibble of Lucas’s toes and then I can offer them to Aiden for a little nibble.  As we arrived at church Aiden said, “Mommy’s cute.”   To which I asked, “Mommy’s cute?”  Then he said, “Mommy’s handsome.”  So I asked, “Mommy’s handsome?” and then he said, “Daddy’s handsome.”  He did a very similar thing when we got home as well and this evening as my mom got ready to leave he ran his hand through her hair and said to her, “Hair’s cute.”  Then he told her, “Teeth’s cute.”  And then they stuck their tongue’s out at each other and my mom asked, “Is my tongue cute?”  To which Aiden replied, “Yes.”  It is fun to receive compliments from a two year old.  🙂

Lastly, I am down to 6 weeks before my due date, it has caused me to try and cherish these last few moments of one on one time with Aiden.  I try to hold him a little tighter, squeeze him a little longer, and to enjoy the quiet and silly moments that we have together.  I look forward to having another little one to hold and to the times when my two boys can play together, teach,  and entertain each other but I find myself mourning the loss of undivided, individual one on one time with my first born and for the smaller amounts of it that I will have with Lucas and all of my subsequent children.  I am also slightly nervous about going from one kid to two and how all of that transition will go.  I do know one thing though and that is that I will love both my boys with all of the love that a mother can have for her kids and I will do everything I can so that they know it.  😉  Thanks for reading….