Heading Home

Well, our two weeks in MI have come to a close... We've had a nice vacation, but they always seem to end the same way. Wish we could visit more often so our time isn't so stretched between two families and lots of friends. Many of those we'd hoped to see and even a date night didn't happen and I'm sad about that.

We had a little sick boy this last week after his sunburn and then we dealt with teething and then a messed up schedule!! Oh, for my family to see my son when he isn't sick, would be a blessing right about now... (the last two vacations, Finn's gotten sick and is just unbearable sometimes) But we get to see each other in just a few short weeks. 15 short weeks to be exact!! When the baby is born. That will be nice!

Be praying for us as we travel home tomorrow. Traveling with a toddler is always unpredictable, especially with a layover :) But we look forward to being home and getting back to our routines.

Also, please be praying for our meeting with the Fetal Medicine doctors on Wednesday morning. They will be preforming an echo on our Sweet Pea's heart to make sure all is well. I was a bit alarmed when they wanted to see us so quickly and immediately. But I just keep reassuring myself that it is better to be safe than sorry and that if an abnormality is found, they have a greater ability to cure it before the baby is born and be prepared for when she arrives.

Also, I will be having my glucose test on Wednesday afternoon. Shouldn't be too exciting, except for the fact that I almost passed out when I was pregnant with Finn, so hopefully all will go well!!

I'll keep you posted on how all goes on Wednesday as it will find to be a big day for us!!

A few new photo favorites

Everyone loves a photo post. So here's a few for you...

Here is one from yesterday's pool trip. Finnegan LOVED being in the pool and loved swimming. He's actually getting the hang of it and just loved playing with mommy and daddy.


Here is Finn with his Grandma Morgan. He was pretty tired today, and enjoyed some music and rocking with Grandma!

Here he's getting some songs and lovin' from Aunt Beth and Izzie. He had just woken up from his nap, and she was comforting him!


Here is Ken and his folks at his "grad" party tonight. Just cake and some other treats for my hubby who's graduated from his second Master's degree.



Here's a photo that's not one of my favorites... During our day at the pool, Finnegan developed a pretty bad sunburn, regardless of two applications of sunscreen. He's mainly burned on his arms and a little bit on his face. He's had some rough nights, but is eating and drinking well... but just has fevers at night and real warm skin. Please be praying for him. I just feel so bad that he's so burned and there's not much that we can do to help him... except cool baths, cool washcloths and aloe. '

Photos from MI

Here are a few photos from our first few weeks in Michigan with our family!!



Aunt Beth playing with the kids on the floor. Lots of laughing!!


Finn and Izzie sitting with Mana


More playing with Aunt Beth on the floor.

With Daddy at Custard Corner (an old hang out for Daddy)

Playing trains with Uncle Steve.

Michigan Adventures

No, we didn't treat ourselves to that unknown amusement park called "Michigan Adventures". Is that place even open still??

We've been having a good time so far here on our vacation. As I said before, the first days are always rough in a new time zone, especially for the little ones. Finnegan was finally on schedule by Saturday, and did well. On Friday night, we had a HUGE thunderstorm, part of the ones that sparked tornados and floods across the midwest. I hate weather like that, especially out here. Since living in WA, we don't have that kind of weather very often, you forget what it's like to experience it. But we did well. Finnegan was pretty afraid after waking up to the light show that was taking place outside. But after a bit of calming, he did ok.

Saturday was a family reunion at my mom's house. Many of the family members hadn't seen each other in 10 years at least, so it was nice to have them all in the same place. But the day was a scrocher. It was so hot... the temp was in the 80's and the humidity was so high, that the heat index was in the 100's. Oh, not fun for a pregnant girl with compression socks!! Not comfortable with the socks on, as they're hot and sticky and make you itch. And not comfortable or safe with them off... make you swell and become sore!! Crazy! It was still 75 degrees at 11pm last night.

This week doesn't promise for any cooler weather. And we always seem to come to MI when it is pretty warm. But hey, I suppose that's how it goes!!

Today, is Father's Day, and it has been almost 5 years since I actually celebrated with my dad... And where am I right now??? Sitting at my in-laws house, while my child takes a nap and the family is out to a resturant for dinner. Not so fun! But perhaps I'll spend some time with Dad later tonight. It was precious to see my dad sing in church this morning with some other men. Brought tears to my eyes... ok, so I cried, but it was nice to see him there!!

Anywho - I hope you men have a wonderful Father's Day. What a precious day to enjoy your children and for you women to honor your men (although we should be doing this every day) :) But be sure to celebrate with them, even if it means making a phone call or even try skype... that's fun!! :)

Home Again

Well, we've made it back home to our family's home. After a four hour red-eye plane ride, we made it and have survived the first day back in the midwest!

Finn did pretty well on the airplane. It was hard to get him to not kick the chair in front of him, but he did finally fall asleep and slept for about 2 hours. He then woke up, crying (in the middle of the night, mind you) and cried for about 10 minutes... but on the airplane, it was like an eternity, especially because EVERYONE was trying to sleep!!

The first day in the new time zone is always rough for us. We slept about 2 hours on the plane, and then had a 4 hour nap. Finn ended up taking 2 naps, and now, continues to sleep this morning. Hopefully He'll be back on schedule for the day.

We visited my family and Ken's parents. It was great to see everyone. We went to an old "hang out" of Ken's for ice cream with his parents, and that was pretty fun. I got a photo of Finn and daddy at the ice cream parlor for old times sake! While we were enjoying ice cream, I even ran into a guy that I went to HS with... Kind of weird. But a nice reminder of being home.

Hope all is well at home, back in the Northwest. :)

Baby's Heart

Well, today, I had a third ultrasound of our sweet pea. During our second (about 20 weeks), we were told that she was sitting in a weird position and the tech couldn't get a good picture of her heart. The tech asked us to come back in a few weeks to recheck it and get the one photo. Well, I returned today to find that my sweet pea is still a girl (yippee) and that she is sitting in the SAME spot she was last time, even has her arm up by her face as she did before too!

Unfortunately, because of the age of the machine and the fact that it didn't have as many features as some newer machines, the tech didn't feel comfortable telling us that everything was fine, as she couldn't get the photos that she needed. She told me that she was recommending that we see a special OB ultrasound tech at a special office. Once our doctor orders the visit, we will be off for another ultrasound. This visit will be to zone in on her heart and make sure that it is in fact working properly and that she doesn't have any problems with it. The tech said that many of the errors that ultrasound techs make are with heart abnormalities and she didn't just want to shrug it off as the baby was ok, without knowing for sure... She also noted that many of the abnormalities could be fixed and monitored if there was a problem seen. But the tech couldn't in good faith tell me that all was ok, without seeing the parts she was looking for.

So, if that makes any sense, you'll understand that once our doctor orders us to visit the new OB ultrasound office, we'll be off for another internal look at our sweet pea and hopefully will see that all is well.

Here are some photos of the baby that were taken today... Kind of crazy how she's sitting in almost the SAME exact position as she was last time!!



Same photo as before - just details being pointed out :)

All in a Husband's Day of Work!

We'd decided a few weeks ago to have our house repainted, since it's been about 8 years since it was built and hasn't been painted since then. We had a company come out and give us an estimate, and we agreed on a price (with a discount) and a date for pressure washing and actual painting to be completed. About 2 weeks ago, the company came and pressure washed the house. The gentlemen spent the better of 4 hours dousing our house with water, both first and second floors. He reported back that all was well and we will have the work completed (the actual painting) done in 2 weeks.

Within the past two weeks, Ken and I have noticed that our outside electrical wasn't working, including the outlets that our landscaping lights and sprinkler system was plugged into. At first it was no big deal, we'd just work around it and figure it out later. This past weekend, we realized that the electrical problem was extended to all the outdoor electrical as well as the electrical within our garage - meaning all the outlets in our garage didn't work... including the one for our compresser and the one I hook the vacuum up to when cleaning the car - which I happened to do this weekend and was very proud of myself for completing - but I digress.

I mentioned the outlet issue to our project manager for the house and he said that he'd never heard of this happening before within his business, but other business had had the problem. He told me that the would work with us to fix the problem if we could have someone look at it. I called a friend of ours (after bugging other friends for his number) to come and look at it. This guy has yet to call me back - but anyway, we are 3 days from vacation and are still having this problem. I didn't want to pay the house painters - who are coming Tuesday and Wednesday to paint - and we leave for vacation on wednesday - if I didn't have closure for the electrical problem and its cause (was it water damage or what?). As the day ticked away today, I didn't worry about it too much, until I went to put our clothes in the dryer... The dryer didn't work!! WHAT??? WHAT was I going to do?? 2 days before vacation and I have no dryer!! And a mess with the electrical. Boy, was I getting frustrated!!

Then I remembered a discussion I'd had with Ken about rodent droppings that we'd seen outside. Could rodents have caused this? Did we have an infestation? Oh, not 2 days before vacation!! We'd never get someone out here to estimate and fix it!!

Luckily, my darling husband came home early, and was home by 3pm to investigate and fix (if he could) the problems. I was sure by this point that it was rodents and we had a bigger problem on our hands. After several calls to my electrician friend and one to a pest control place, Ken began working. After about 2 hours of trying this and trying that, and getting down under the crawlspace of the house, he solved one problem... the electrical needed to be reset - and because of the shelving units and storage system in the garage, we'd overlooked the particular outlet with the reset button on it. Oops!! At least we had electrical and I didn't have to worry about the painting people and an open issue with them and their work (well, not yet, at least - we'll see how the painting goes tomorrow!) :)

Now, after another 3 hours of tearing the dryer apart and two trips to Lowe's, my super smart and fabulous husband found that the circuit had been blown, and was only putting out 80 volts to the dryer, rather than 240 volts as it was suppose to do for the dryer. YIPPEE!! Now, I can do laundry before our trip, and hopefully leave happily without any worries... That is, until we return and find something has broken while we were gone... but HOPEFULLY that doesn't happen!!

So, all in a day's work for the hubby... dealing with a frustrated and angry wife (as the power was going out and I was losing work on the computer - on top of the whole mess), while fixing the things of a home... Luckily these things happened AFTER he graduated, or we'd still have stinky clothes and no external electricity!! :)

Go Red Wings!

Here's a quick photo of Finn in a new shirt that Mana sent. It says "Doodle Bug" on the front. He's a cutie!!




Here is a short video of Finnegan before Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. We're rooting for the Red Wings and we hope they win!!

Daddy, We're Proud of You

Today, in honor of Daddy's presentation of his Master's Project, Finnegan and I did a little project. We took our first try at finger painting. We got the paper all set up on the counter and stripped Finn down to his diaper and let him go at it. He wasn't really sure what to do at first. He didn't really understand that the purpose was to be messy... But then he got the hang of it!! Here are some photos.




Now, he's getting the hang of it!
Oops! Had an itch on his cheek!! Good thing this stuff is nontoxic!!
All done with our project and two other pictures. He had a good time!! Time for a bath!!
Here's the finished product!
Here's mommy's sign that she put up. Daddy's gonna kill me, but I thought it was a great idea!



And, although all three of these photos look identical, I couldn't decide which one I liked best, so I thought I'd show you all of them!!

A few clips of my sweet boy

Here's a video of Finnegan... He's being rather silly in the video. He loves the water table and playing with his toys outside. The phrase that he says in the beginning of the video "D D D D Down" is his new phrase that makes himself laugh. Then he says "I Siddy" (Silly) :) Hope you enjoy his cute little personality!!

Sinus Pressure and Smoothies

So I thought I've been dealing with some allergies, but it seems that its turned into a bit of a sinus infection or something. My sinuses are like glue. I can't bend over without my head throbbing, and I suppose I should be thankful that I can't sleep because my head just whirls when I lay down. So today a friend of mine suggested that I get a Neti Pot. If you've never used one, it's like a little tea kettle that you put to your nose (and have it filled with saline) and tilt your head to one direction and the saline helps to clean out your nose and sinuses. You know it's working when the saline comes out the other side of your nose. Ok, so it sounds kind of gross, but for a preggo who can't take much of anything, I'll try anything that's non-medicated for the sake of my brain.

So today I tried one. It wasn't the most exciting experience that I've had. It gave me that feeling that you get when your swimming and you get water up your nose, but it doesn't go down your throat. After a few tries, I got it to work. I currently still have a headache, but hopefully it will go away in a while.

On our way back from picking up the neti pot, I told Finnegan we'd stop and get a smoothie. So we stopped at Jamba Juice for a Strawberry Nirvana Smoothie with a Daily Vitamin Boost. As the clerk was giving me mine, I asked for a smaller cup I may pour some into for Finn. He gave me a cute little cup, and asked if I wanted the rest that was in the blender. Sweet!! He gets his own and I don't have to share!! :) We sat in the shop and drank some smoothie before getting back into the warm car, and Finnegan took one drink and said "MMM!!! Smoodie!" (Smoothie in toddler speak) It was the cutest thing! He continued to repeat the phrase all the way to the car!! Super fun to explore and enjoy these small things with our sweet boy!

** Well, it was cute while it lasted... I just looked over and he's poked a whole in the side of the Styrofoam cup and there is smoothie all over the couch and him. It was cute while it lasted!! :)

I can't sleep

Who knew that being pregnant would leave you with insomnia?? Really? I've had a full day and a short 30 minute nap... well, a rest, on the couch during the hockey game, and now it is nearing 3am and I still haven't slept yet. What's causing this? Silly hormones, I'd imagine. Although I did have an Iced Tea from McD's today, but that was over 12 hours ago!!

So what does one do while up at this hour? Surf the net, write blogs, shop... plenty of things. Luckily Ken is going into work late tomorrow and perhaps I can sleep in, once I get to sleep :)

Let's see... What's some other news I can update you on...

• I'm feeling pretty good for being pregnant. The heat in WA has gotten pretty high this week, mid 80's, which is warm. Especially with the compression socks I have to wear. With this pregnancy, I tend to wear skirts a lot more, because they are just so much more comfortable.
  
• I've been sick for the last week, and so my family has been too. I was convinced last week that it was just allergies, but our sneezing, sore throats and clear runny noses are no longer clear and have hung around for more than a couple of days. Hopefully we'll all be feeling better soon.
  
• I've been playing outside with Finn a lot, especially with the water table. I change his clothes at least once a day, perhaps twice, if we go outside, and it's warm. He loves to splash and spill the water everywhere. Very fun!! I'll post more photos later.
  
• The name game has begun. Ken and I are going over and over names for Sweet Pea, as we call Baby #2. We are finding it much more difficult to find the range of names that we found when we were picking Finnegan's name. And although we'd decided that I'd pick this baby's name, it is definitely not turning out that way. But my only concern now is that we find something that we can agree on. I've reserved a book at the library of 140,000 baby names. So hopefully we'll find something.
  
• Finnegan is such the talker these days. He's already begun to put 3 and 4 words together to make sentences. He's learned all his letters and numbers through 15. Although tonight, he counted almost to 20. I was impressed!!
  
• I watched "I'm a celebrity, Get me out of here" on Monday and got dumber. We won't watch it again, although I want to support NBC, I just can't bear it again!
  
• I'm a fan of the new show about Tori Spelling and her family on Oxygen. I love seeing that she's a real person and a real mom... well, sort of. Although her kids have a nanny (because she works like 5 different jobs), her kitchen is still a mess and she juggles it all. It's a bit of release for me.
  
• Ken has less than 2 weeks left on his master's program. I can't wait for him to be done. And although he won't let me throw him a cake party to celebrate his accomplishment here in WA with our friends, so we'll plan something in Michigan with our families instead.

So, I suppose that's about it... Kind of rambling, but hey, that's what you get at 3am! :)