NICU stay + emery's birthday weekend.

this has been quite the blogging hiatus! for those that don't know me personally, our little peanut, that was due May 17th, decided to come April 4th!

{emery's first time meeting cooper!}

FEB 22nd - i went to the ER {at 28 weeks} with a sharp and increasing pain in my side that had been happening for 3 days. I thought the dr's were going to laugh at me and send me home, but apparently i was having the pain with contractions i couldn't feel. i was in the hospital for 5 days - we stayed longer than we needed to because of a snow storm. 

i came home on bed rest and our amazing church and family took great care of us for 5 weeks.

MAR 25th - my water broke at 32 weeks and 3 days. after chilling in my luxurious hospital room for almost 2 weeks, cooper decided to finally make his appearance {the day before they planned to induce me}.

{easter sunday!}

APRIL 4th - he's here! 4 lbs 3 oz of pure sweetness.

{photo therapy
for a few days}

he never needed any oxygen, they took out his IV after 2 days, and he nursed like a champ after a week or so.

however, the stinker decided to hava bad apnea the day before we were supposed to get discharged. for those that don't know, each time they have one, you can't leave the NICU for 5-7 days.

after 3 attempts to go home, cooper finally decided he was ready after 5 weeks in the NICU. we decided to come home on an apnea monitor, which is bitter sweet. i love the security of knowing when he needs help, but man oh man, i'll be glad when i don't have to lug the thing around everywhere and make sure i'm near an outlet to plug it in while i hold him. 

{explaining the monitor to emery}

and, not gonna lie, i do not miss having to drive 15 minutes, ride an elevator, sign in to the NICU, and scrub my hands for 3 minutes every time i want to feed my baby!

my math oriented husband just realized last night that either cooper or I have been in the hospital a total of 54 days. and praise the Lord for insurance, these bills are unbelievable!

+  +  +  +  +

the day we got home we had a super small ice cream birthday party for emery with some left over decor from her party last year! she was just as giddy about her party as she was for cooper to be home :-)

emery and andrew are ice cream addicts. my parents got me an ice cream
maker for christmas and i'm so excited to be making
healthier dessert for my sweet tooth family!

emery and cooper picked out presents for each other {;-)} ahead of time and exchanged them on sunday.

cooper got emery a stroller for her baby dolls!

and emery got cooper a toy for his car seat and an elephant rattle!

monday was her actual birthday - since we'd been dying for months to have some fun family outings, we decided to brave Deanna Rose Farmstead and were thankful both kiddos did great! emery was most excited about the chickens, because she was hoping to see baby chicks, but sadly there weren't any :-/

we let her push her baby doll around the farmstead
and she loved it! cooper knew just what she wanted ;-)

i was super impressed that she wasn't scared!

we're loving being under the same roof! emery smothers cooper with hugs and kisses, constantly asking "hold you? hold you?" can't wait for them to play and interact together as he gets older! 

hoping to get back into a routine with blogging! now you know why i've been MIA

love and 4 pound babies, 
amber

the latest news...

baby #2 is on the way :-) 

due may 17th!

i'm sooo excited - i can't imagine having 2 little loves to take care of everyday! being pregnant is quite the mix of emotions though - we've had baby fever for months and couldn't be more excited but, on the flip side, with emery i had the most awful pregnancy i could have imagined. if it's as bad as last time, i'm going to miss out on the next 3 months of emery's life, pretty much completely.

with emery, i started feeling sick right at week 4 but didn't actually get sick until 6 1/2 weeks. with this one, i started feeling sick at week 3 and got sick for the first time at week 4. not looking good.

one thing that gives me hope is the fact that our life style has changed so much since emery was born. with emery, i used everything the doctor could provide for me {meds, a trip to the ER for dehydration, vitamins, etc} to eliminate my sickness, just short of bringing a nurse into our home to keep me on an IV drip. {they really did offer. i didn't even know you could do that.}

this time around, as soon as i found out i was pregnant, i dove into natural pregnancy websites and blog posts to read all i could about relieving morning sickness. {just for the record, i hate calling it morning sickness. i have all-freaking-day sickness. morning sickness sounds like the clouds have parted, angels are signing, and a glorious gift has been bestowed upon me in the form of a promise that i will only get sick in the mornings. that sounds like a dream. when i say morning sickness, i feel like i'm lying and tell you i've been given that special gift. i haven't.}

this blog post is to track:

• what i'm reading
• things i'm trying
• what worked and didn't work

i plan to update this with more info and keep it as a personal journal for future reference. if anyone else is looking for info on natural pregnancy, check out Modern Alternative Pregnancy. this link is what i've been pouring over for the last few days. 

so far i've already:

• made some infused water {she said to do lemon water, but i also added ginger slices and crushed up fennel in a tea steeper.} last time i couldn't handle the intensity of the ginger candies, so i'm hoping a little ginger in my water will be enough to ease the feeling.
• eaten straight fennel . i remembered her mentioning fennel was good for you, so yesterday while i was doubled over in the kitchen with my eyes closed, trying to think happy thoughts, i remembered her praise of fennel. i pulled it out off the spice drawer and ate a small handful. within a few minutes, i was good to go. {i think this will only help for mild nausea. when it gets too bad, things like this don't help me.}
• increased my protein. 

1. we picked up sprouted bread and bagels from whole foods last night, along with some organic valley grass-fed cream cheese. it made the perfect breakfast this morning. sprouted grains are also high in vitamin B {i was taking vitamin B supplements with my last pregnancy because it reduces nausea. i'm hoping my diet will eliminate the need for pills this time around.} 
2. as i'm typing this, i'm finishing up an amazing bowl of lentil soup from my aunt. 
3. i also got some raw pepitas {shelled pumpkin seeds} from whole foods and plan to cook them in mild spices later today to have on hand to munch. Andrew scouted out the nuts in the whole food bins and said pepitas and peanuts had the highest protien content.

• worn sea sickness bands. these only help me in the first few weeks, but i'll take what i can get.
• sipped pregnancy tea. there's a link to a homemade liquid vitamin recipe below that i plan to make this week, but in the mean time, Yogi pregnancy tea contains a lot of the same herbs.

in the coming days and weeks, i also plan to:

• make homemade chicken broth to sip when i can't eat anything else.
• make this homemade liquid multivitamin. read her post for the benefits of making your own vs taking a pill. only downer is that it has to steep for 6 weeks.
• regularly visit the chiropractor. i didn't start going to a chiropractor until after emery was born. i had no idea that simple adjustments can help relieve nausea. i hope this helps!
• get acupuncture. i hate hate hate needles. but i love my daughter more. if getting acupuncture means that i'll be well enough to have quality time with emery, then sign me up.

you could probably assume this, but if i'm as sick as last time, the blog is going to be pitiful for awhile. there might be a post here and there if i'm able to do things worth blogging about, but for the most part, i'll probably be in the bathroom on my knees. {or making the most of the little moments i can get with emery without loosing my lunch}

anyone else have any natural "morning" sickness remedies?? i'll take any advice i can get! i'll try to keep you posted on how the natural remedies work {or don't work} for me.

love and running to the bathroom,
amber.

fun things friday {toddler activities}.

ok, in attempt to keep myself in a routine of documenting fun times with emery, i want to start making fridays a recap of the fun things we did that week. we'll see how long it lasts/how consistent i am ;-)

creative idea #26: water play.
idea sparked by: my teaching days at the preschool.

tools:

• bucket
• water proof toys {we chose measuring cups and spoons, whisk, wooden spoon, and cookie cutters}
• water
• towel {i should have laid one under the bucket, it was a little slippery for her tiny feet!}

will someone put a pony tail in this kid's hair? where is her mother? sheesh.

creative idea #27:sensory bottles.

idea sparked by:pink pistachio

tools:

• empty bottles
• small objects {we chose beads, pom poms, glitter, and googlie eyes}
• water and/or oil
• hot glue gun

i did oil in the bottle on the left because the
beads are heavier - i wanted them in something they
could float in a little more. the pom poms
on the right dyed the water pink, but it would be
fun to do food coloring too!

{emery just learned how to screw caps
off and on, so just in case, i hot glued
them on.} 

    

love and creativity,
amber.

painting with baby + postcard puzzle.

today emery and i wanted to make a present to send in the mail. there are only so many ways an 11 month old can get crafty. we combined 2 ideas and made a fun postcard puzzle for far away family!

creative idea #8: painting with baby + postcard puzzle
ideas sparked by: www.momtastic.com & www.ohhappyday.com



Tools: 

• poster board {we cut ours in half}
• 1 ziplock bag {we used gallon size}
• paint
• blue tape
• scissors
• ruler

Directions:

• squirt paint randomly on poster board
• cut the zipper and 2 sides off ziplock bag so that when you open it it's one long sheet {i cut mine into two for this and wish i hadn't. emery found it fast and wanted to open it}
• tape bag over paint with blue tape
• let baby go to town! i showed emery how to pat it, she crawled on it, walked on it, etc. After she was done we peeled off the tape and added some painted baby foot prints to fill in the empty spots.

• Let dry
• You can stop here, obviously, but we kept going. I filled in some fun doodles so that it could be a puzzle. Then i cut the poster board in half and then cut each half into 4 postcard sized pieces.
• I flipped them all over and wrote a small message that started at the bottom of the first postcard and went all the way down to the last postcard {it was only one line on each card. when the puzzle is put together, they'll be able to read the message}

can't wait for them to get their mail!

what other activities are good for babies? i'm always looking for ideas...

love and artwork,
amber.