What?!

Okay, so we are a little behind on watching the first Survivor ... thank goodness for ReplayTVs ... but a gay Mormon flight attendant?!

Our weekend

Our weekend was busy but great! Miss PattyCake visited our church for TWO concerts on Saturday. We originally booked her for one, but the response was so overwhelming that we scheduled a second concert, and both were filled to near capacity! For those of you who don't know Miss PattyCake, you may recognize her as Jean Thomason, who formerly sang/performed at Women of Faith events. She has been Miss PattyCake for twelve years now, and ministers to preschoolers and their families through song and motion. All the kids love her! I highly recommend you visit her website, get her DVDs (a new one comes out October 30), and even invite her to perform at your church. She's great!


We had a bit of a cold snap roll through. Saturday was cool (high 60s) but comfortable. It was only 38 degrees when I woke up this morning!! We had to dig out some of Katrina's new fall clothes for church. She pretty much picked out this outfit by herself at the store one day. I held up one skirt and she said, "No!" and pointed to this one instead. Then she grabbed the off-white shirt from a stack. Maybe we have a future fashion designer on our hands?


This last picture goes way back to July. I found it on the camera when I was looking at the pictures from this weekend. We visited Illinois in July, and this is Katrina wandering through my mom's bean field. We're heading back to IL in late October ... maybe she'll get to (safely) ride in a combine then!

9 months

From Readers' Digest (http://www.rd.com)

After the birth of my son, a woman from the records department stopped by my hospital room to get information for his birth certificate. "Father's date of birth?" she asked. When I told her, she said, "Do you realize that his birthday is exactly nine months before your son's birth?"

"No, I hadn't thought about it," I responded, "but now that you mention it, I have a daughter who turned two a couple days before the same date."

After she finished taking down all the data, she patted my hand and said, "Maybe you should start buying your husband a tie for his birthday."

-- M.K. Pigott

Weight-obsessed

We are still obsessing about Katrina's growth patterns. She has an appointment at Johns Hopkins later this month as a 'second opinion' with a gastroenterologist. They (hopefully) won't rerun the tests but will look at the results and see if there is anything the doctors at Georgetown missed. I'm thinking about it now because I was over a friend's house this morning; their youngest daughter is a few months younger than Katrina and wears a size 6 diaper. (Size 6 is for kids who weigh more than 35 lbs.) In contrast, Katrina wears a size 4 diaper and they are huge on her ... I go back and forth with the idea of putting her in a smaller size. I know it's all relative, but our friends are average-to-tall in height, and both are athletic and slender. I am average height and Ryan is tall, and we both gain weight easily. So how do we have the skinny kid whose pants fall down all the time?? Our newest niece weighs just about half what Katrina does ... and she is seven weeks old. I'm sure Baby Bethany will pass Katrina in weight in her first year.

Another one bites the dust.

After a grueling two weeks, another proposal is out the door. I have just a few hours to work tomorrow, then will be done for the week. What should I do with my 'free' Thursday and Friday? I'm thinking a good book one day and maybe some house cleaning the other day. I'm definitely experiencing signs of nesting - already! Sunday I had to clean the carport. I was obsessed. I even made Ryan mop part of it, and it's a concrete floor! Last night I disinfected my friend Laura's kitchen counters, and today I scrubbed the coffee maker at work.

This morning Katrina said, "I love you, too" when I told her I love her! Of course, it sounded more like "I luh ooo, too" but I knew what she meant. Being a parent has really changed me and enlightened me to how God feels about each of us. We delight in our little girl day after day, from new words to the way she mimics her daddy to even the crazy book she chooses to read before bed each night. We find joy in the simplest things with her, and it amazes me that God our Father delights in me, even more than I delight in our daughter.

Prayer request: A friend from church found out her brother-in-law (her sister's husband) was shot and killed in their home in Venezuela during a robbery attempt. The friend's nieces have been visiting her for a few weeks, so now Marycruz (our friend) has the heartbreaking task of telling her nieces their father was killed, as well as getting them back home to Venezuela as soon as possible. The girls (Marycruz's nieces) are 14 and 5. Please pray!

Stet

It's good to learn something new.

Stet

Second birthday, and other momentous occassions.

Hmm. "Momentous" looks funny.

Anyway, today, August 27, is my 'second birthday.' I became a Christian on this date thirteen (13) years ago today. I remember the date, not only because it is so special, but because it falls exactly seven days after my 'real' birthday. That's right, I turned 28 last Monday, and today I 'turned' 13. God is good, for sure. I am so blessed beyond belief. We just celebrated our fifth anniversary, and Ryan had a birthday, too. Here is what a week in August looks like for us:

August 17 - our anniversary
August 20 - my birthday
August 24 - Ryan's birthday (he's 31 now! SO OLD!!)

I had an ultrasound today (more on that later) and the lady performing the scan was telling me about a recent trip her family took to Western Maryland. I asked her if she was familiar with Swallow Falls state park, and she was. I always take any opportunity I can to brag ... not about Ryan, but about God, and how He healed Ryan from near death. I briefly told the woman about Ryan's fall three years ago, and how it was a miracle that he even lived, and also how he was expected to be on life support for at least three weeks but was breathing on his own and semi-conscious less than 24 hours after the accident. It was a horrible experience, for sure, but we can see God's hand in so many ways. So we definitely celebrate birthdays around here, and the fact that my crazy husband is even around. :)

I finally cleaned our bedroom. I am such a slob. Ask Marte. And April and Crystal. They all came over in high school to help me clean my room. And Sidra lived with me in college (bless her heart). I'm setting mini-goals along the way. Like, tonight I want to go through the clothes remaining in my dresser (that I never wear) and set them aside for donation. And if I/we can keep the room picked up for at least a set amount of time, I'm thinking paint and a new rug are in store for us. I forgot to take any 'before' pictures (they would have been too scary, anyway), but maybe I'll post some 'after' pictures.

Katrina is growing up so fast! I'm not sure why this is such a big deal to me, but she started calling us "Mommy" and "Daddy" this weekend (instead of "Mama" and "Dada"). She hasn't made the complete switch - she does still call us Mama and Dada interchanged with Mommy and Daddy - but it just seems so grownup for her to say Mommy instead of Mama. And I like being Mama! (Of course, she asked, "Where Ryan?" tonight when she heard me call out his name to bring me something. Oops.)

We're working with her on shapes now. She knows all 26 uppercase letters, a handful of letter sounds, can count to and recognize 1 - 10, and knows a heart, star and oval. We're working on the basic shapes like square and circle (she calls a circle 'round') and rectangle. Not sure how she knows the obscure shapes first, but hey, that's our kid for you. I've also started pointing out lowercase letters to her, and she knows the lowercase 'e' but that's all so far. Katrina is also really into emotions - she can quickly identify an emotion portrayed by a person or animal's expression in a picture, even the first time she sees it. She has a 96-cent placemat from Wal-Mart with Sesame Street characters on it, and the first time she looked at it, in the store, she noticed that Elmo looks like he's tripping over a stick. Right away Katrina said, "Mama, Elmo hurt. Elmo hurt!" I didn't even see it until she pointed it out to me!

(And she is not an alien child from Village of the D*mned, thank you very much MARTE and SARA!)

And finally, my ultrasound. The blood clots are GONE and the amniotic fluid is clear - no blood cell debris!! It's as if the clots never existed. God is so good. We have been praying and praying that these clots would simply disappear and I would be healed, and He answered! This little girl is very calm, not nearly the kicker that her big sister was. She has predictable active times: right after lunch, and in the evening between 10 and 10:30, when I'm trying to fall asleep. She is growing along her curve, and is slightly bigger (1 lb, 5 oz) than Katrina was at this stage of development. Any suggestions for a name? We can't call her 'This Baby' forever.

No Bug Spray

We've been having a rough bedtime with Katrina for just about a month now ... since we got back from vacation. Both our babysitter and a coworker encouraged us that the phase lasts about a month and will pass, but we were giving up hope of getting to bed peacefully (read: without vomit). Lately Katrina has been obsessed with bugs. Sometimes she points them out, but she usually shrieks "A BOG!!!!!!" (yes, b-o-g is how she says it) and freaks out. The last few times I've asked her what she is scared of, she says, "bog."

Last weekend Grandma Herbert (Gail, Ryan's mom) said that Ryan had a similar bedtime issue when he was a little bit older. He finally told his Grandma Lyons that he was scared of a lion under his bed and needed a gun to shoot it. Grandma Lyons got him a toy gun and sure enough, he slept well after that. We figured a gun would be overkill (pardon the pun), but we did decide to make a bottle of "No Bug Spray." Ryan found a picture of a bug with the line through it, and I taped it to an empty spray bottle. We showed it to Katrina before bed tonight and made a big deal of spraying her bed and under and all around her room. We also showed her how she could spray if she got scared.

Sure enough, it worked! It's only the first night, so I'm not saying it's permanent, but I prayed with her and kissed her goodnight, and she laid down without a peep. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

I am heading to bed. I've been sleep-deprived for the last month.

Here's the picture we used for our "No Bug Spray" bottle:

Our newest niece

Bethany Elise Yanchick arrived yesterday (Saturday, July 28th) at 7:37 a.m. She weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces, is 22 inches long, and is GORGEOUS! Laura and David are doing well. :)

What the?!

I just read this - http://wgts.org/wordpress/?p=264

I hope they don't change the style and message of WGTS.

:(

It's a ....

GIRL!

Level II ultrasound was today. The baby's heart looks good (that was the reason for the visit to the perinatologist - my sister has a mitral valve prolapse); the baby was a little uncooperative, though, and they were only able to fully see the right side of her heart. I have to go back in two weeks for another ultrasound, and they'll search again with hopes of cooperation so they can see the left side of the heart.

The placenta looks great ... it is neither low nor pulling away. It turns out the bleeding is from a moderately-sized subchorionic hematoma - a blood clot. The size and place of the clot introduces a risk of fetal death if it grows and pushes the placenta out of place, hence why I have to return in two weeks (to see if the clot is changing size). Until then, I am on 'mild rest,' meaning no marathons or bicycle races. I told the perinatologist he didn't have to worry about that. :) I can still work, but am encouraged to rest often and avoid any strenuous exercise or heavy lifting, as that could dislodge the clot or cause more bleeding.

I'm still at work. We have a task order response due tomorrow. Today was one of those swamped days. I told a coworker, if anyone else asked me to do one more thing, I would either cry or scream. Or both. Now the office is nice and quiet, and the end of this crazy task order is so close.

Signs of an early reader?

Katrina, Ryan and I were playing a game this evening where Mommy or Daddy would write down a letter on her Magna Doodle thing and Katrina would name the letter. We knew that she knows the letters R, B, and I, but thought that was the extent of her letter recognition. Boy, were we wrong! Katrina recognizes and names SEVENTEEN (17!) letters of the alphabet - and she is just 26 months old!

The letters she knows (unrecognized ones in parentheses): A, B, C, (D), E, F, (G), H, I, (J), (K), (L), M, (N), O, (P), (Q), R, S, T, U, (V), W, X, Y, Z

We couldn't believe it! When I taught preschool, we quizzed the four year olds at the mid-year point, and a few of the students recognized four or five letters. By the end of the year (when they turned five), all students recognized at least one letter, and the average number of letters recognized was ten. Katrina has already surpassed that for sure!

The Tale of Two Tired Parents

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there were two parents. Two tired parents. Their daughter, who recently turned two, had even more recently decided that she didn't need to sleep at night. She fought sleep; oh, what a fighter she was. She could shriek and cry like the best of them. She also learned to throw up on command, much to her parents' dismay ... and disgust. She hadn't always been this way. In fact, her mommy was recently telling a friend how easygoing this little girl was, and how blessed mommy and daddy felt.

Mommy and Daddy shouldn't have looked a gift horse in the mouth.

One sunny summer weekend, this little girl decided not only did she not need to sleep at night, but she didn't need to take naps anymore, either. And she decided she could start waking up at that crazy hour in the morning where it's too early to get up, but too late to go back to sleep. This made the little girl pretty cranky, even though she did it to herself. She was unfriendly at church and cried during Sunday School; during Children's Church she would only let her daddy hold her.

But! Mommy and Daddy felt hopeful when the little girl fell asleep in the car on the way home from church. Daddy oh so carefully unbuckled the little girl from her seat and carried her in the house, then gently set her on her waiting bed. You see, even her bed missed the little girl who used to sleep so well. (Her pretty bedroom rug did not miss her, though - it was tired of being puked on every night.) The hope was short lived. The little girl woke up with a start and a loud "NO!"

Mommy and Daddy tried everything they knew to do. They played a cd of lullabies, then a new cd when that one maybe the little girl cry harder. They read stories and got a snack and stretched out on a blanket on the floor with the little girl. Nothing would work, though, and eventually, the mommy and daddy fell fast asleep on the floor while the little girl played and read books to herself.


(Daddy asleep on Katrina's floor, two hours later.)

Second Trimester Bedrest

Meh. I visited the OB midwife yesterday for some bleeding issues, and she wants to put me on bedrest, at least until my ultrasound on Tuesday but maybe until at least the end of next week. She thinks perhaps the placenta is low-lying or even separating from the uterine wall, but she can't confirm it without an ultrasound. Since I already have one schedule for early next week, and I'm young and without previous complications, she was fine with waiting until then.

I did feel pretty crappy yesterday, but I feel SO much better today. I took it easy last night (Ryan heated up leftovers for dinner, helped get Katrina ready for bed, etc.) and slept well, too.

I'm at work today, so I'm obviously disregarding the doctor's orders. If they do find something on Tuesday, I'll consider working from home for a few days, but it's just too crazy right now to drop everything.

Not so fun way to spend fun money.

For a couple of months now, Ryan and I have been tracking 'fun money.' Each day we pack a lunch (rather than eat fast food or go to the Orbiteria), we 'earn' $5. The same goes for each time we work out at the Y. We track our fun money balance at Joe's Goals, and the money is to use how we see fit. (We have separate fun money accounts.)

I usually spend mine right away, on books, music, library fines, etc. Ryan has been saving his for a big purchase like a PS3 or other video game related items. Well, while we were in Illinois, Ryan got a letter informing him that he had spent $75 of his hard-earned fun money ... he ran a red light here in Frederick at an intersection that is camera-monitored. This is actually his second offense in a year, but thankfully the city doesn't keep track of that, so it doesn't count against his driving record. But it's still a less than fun way to spend fun money.

(This reminds me. I have an overdue library book. Eek!)

Our trip to Illinois was fairly uneventful. We has some miscommunications with Ryan's family about when we would arrive, etc., but it all turned out fine in the end. Katrina has a whole slew of new words, including:

- Boppy/Popeye (Bobby)
- Nawna (both Shawna and my sister Leea)
- Monkey (my mom! I have no idea why she calls my mom "Monkey" - we refer to her as Grammy)
- water
- fench fye (french fry)

... and my favorite: happy. She started saying, "I happy!" while we were in Illinois. Not sure if she really understands the concept, but she sure says it a lot. She will walk around the house saying, "I happy, Mama! Happy, Mama?" and she told me tonight "Rabbit happy!" meaning the rabbit on her pajama top was happy.

It's hard to believe she's two. It's even harder to believe she'll be a big sister in a few months. I have an ultrasound on Tuesday (yay!) but I do need to call the OB in the morning as I've had some spotting (sorry if TMI). Hopefully they will say, "Take it easy until Tuesday then come see us after your ultrasound" since the OB and the Fetal Medicine specialist are now right next door to each other in the same building. It's busy at work the rest of this week and next week through Wednesday, and it will be hard for me to get away from the office.

I have some decisions to make regarding work and what to do after the new baby arrives. I was honest to Kurt/Hal/Gordon when I told them I was pregnant, that I wasn't sure I would be returning full time after the baby is born. They all have been very supportive (is there such a thing as TOO supportive? sometimes it's annoying how they coddle me!), and encouraging me to do what is best for our family ... while trying to entice me to return to work. :) On top of that, our pastor has semi-officially offered me a job at the church. That job seems perfect, but I am managing to talk myself out of it.

Pretty much I'm terrible at making decisions, so pray for me. :)

When it rains, it pours.

Well, not literally. It's not raining now, although it's supposed to any moment. We need the rain.

Anyway.

This has been a week. Getting into work early because our office manager is out on vacation. VBS right after work every night. Not getting home until 10. House cleaning for guests. Laundry and packing for vacation. Fast food for dinner every night. Mom in the hospital. Cat got outside and was lost for several hours. Found out another set of friends' marriage is ending. Huge cold sore due to stress. Too big for regular clothes, too small for maternity clothes. Sciatic nerve already acting up, and still have 24 weeks to go. Last minute scramble to finish final exam for Pauline Epistles class. Need to make decision about work. Not enough teachers to fill schedule at church.

I'm exhausted, if you couldn't tell. Physically and emotionally. I described it this way to a friend: some people don't save their money, and so when a small-ish disaster strikes (need new brakes, fridge dies, etc.), they scramble to pay for it to make ends meet. I have overspent my strength this last week or so, and I am so exhausted and stretched that one more thing will make me crack.

Don't ask about the lipstick in the dryer. It's enough to make me cry.

*sigh*

Okay, so I'm going to go to bed, get a good night's rest (Ryan is staying up to wait for our house guests to arrive - I probably won't see them at all), and start over tomorrow. Tomorrow night is the last night of VBS, then we leave early Saturday morning to drive to Illinois for a week. I'm looking forward to time away to think and pray. My mom took a turn for the worse this past week and was admitted to the hospital for blood transfusions - she had severe anemia. She's home now, but it was enough to get me thinking about my/our role in what is getting to be the end of her life. Neither of my sisters are financially stable to care for the farm, pay for the funeral, etc. Er, not that I'm trying to kill off my mom or anything! She's only 60 and could have many, many more years ahead of her, although it's unlikely. I'm also trying to seek God's will for what to do about work. Do I stay at home when the baby arrives? Work part time? full time? contract hours? Helllllllllllllllllllpppppppp.

Counting to five

Here is how Katrina counts to five:

"One..." (holds up one finger)
"B..." (smiles)
"Five!" (holds up five fingers)

She's in the bathroom right now, sitting on the potty, and I'm in the other room. She insists she needs 'privacy' to go potty. Even though she doesn't give us privacy when we're going potty.

It's not Crohn's Disease!

Katrina's test results were great yesterday. The endoscopies showed no signs of inflammation or scarring, meaning she does not have Crohn's Disease. The gastroenterologist took some biopsies, just to be certain, and those results will be available in a few weeks.

The procedures themselves weren't so great. The first sedative they gave Katrina was called Propofol, and she had an allergic reaction to it. It contains a small amount of egg as an emulsifier, and even though the pediatric allergist swears Katrina's not allergic to eggs, she had a reaction. The doctor and nurses treated her for that (Benadryl, Albuterol, breathed for her for a bit), then switched her to Ketamine as a sedative to finish the procedure. All seemed to be well until she started having seizures. Apparently Ketamine can somewhat lower one's threshold for seizures. Katrina received two or three kinds of medicine for the seizures, and the seizures stopped after about twenty minutes.

We ended up staying at the hospital for six hours of observation. By the end of the evening yesterday Katrina was fine ... running around, playing, eating and drinking. She had a little bit of low muscle tone from one of the medicines used to stop the seizures, but she is MUCH better today. She gets a dose of Prednisone today, and we're under strict orders to keep Benadryl nearby in case she starts to have another reaction.

Next steps: head to the pediatrician tomorrow for a follow-up appointment, to make sure all the sedatives are out of her system and there are no complications; then back to the gastroenterologist in three weeks for the biopsy results and to create a forward action plan.

Today is going exceedingly well. God is good. :) Katrina took her first dose of medicine "okay" for Daddy this morning, then spent a few hours at the babysitter's house. Her second dose didn't go so well ... she threw that up. But then she took a dose of another kind fine, and is sound asleep. She only said "I hummy" TWICE since I've been home (five o'clock). I'm going to make a sandwich then it's off to bed, because we need to be up at five a.m. tomorrow to head to Georgetown. By this time tomorrow we'll know answers to why Katrina has been so sick!

The fun of it all.

Katrina has two procedures scheduled for Wednesday, so tomorrow morning starts a clear liquid only diet. How fun this will be to hear my toddler say, "I hummy! I hummy!" ("I'm hungry") over and over again, to which I can only respond, "Here, drink some apple juice/water/Gatorade/etc." She had to fast one morning last week for an upper GI, and that was miserable. I can only imagine (and dread) what tomorrow and Wednesday will be like. The pediatric GI will be performing the procedures himself, though, so we should know answers right away. Katrina has been hovering right around 24.4 - 24.5 pounds these last few weeks. We have to weigh her several times the next 24 - 48 hours, as she will also be taking magnesium citrate to induce .... cleansing of the bowels, and will likely drop weight quickly. *sigh*

My pregnancy is going well, all stress at work/church/home aside. I have very intense cravings for avocados. Specifically semi-ripe avocados sliced with lemon juice and salt. I eat just about one a day now. They are apparently a good source of magnesium. Still not showing much, which is fine by me. I'm surprised, though, as I've always heard and read that subsequent pregnancies show sooner. It's causing me to be quite vain about clothing, as I don't like my current clothes but I'm not ready to buy a ton of summer/fall maternity clothes.

Thursday is the last real night of my class. I've been taking Pauline Epistles, one of the courses I need for ordination. It's been a lot of hard work, and a lot of fun. Ryan has been wonderfully supportive through it all. He even made dinner from scratch one night AND gave Katrina a bath AND cleaned up afterward so I could study. The final is next week, but our "professor" (my senior pastor) is out of town, so he's e-mailing the final.

We're heading to Illinois the week of July 4th. VBS is the week before that, and so we're heading out Saturday morning the 30th. We're planning to spend two days and a night in Wisconsin Dells for 'vacation.' Of course, I won't be able to go on many of the water rides, being pregnant, so it's more of a chance to get together with extended family (the cousins are going, too) and hang out at a variety of amusement parks.

I'm really not a very interesting blog writer, am I? Maybe because the only time I find to sit down and write is late at night when the day is done ... and I'm exhausted. Or maybe I lead a very boring life. :)