Hospital Photo Shoot

So I know you're all waiting on the big story and hospital pics...  But some little guy is keeping me quite busy.  He eats all day (and night) long.  So here's a little sneak peek at what little man Carter looked like in the hospital.  :)

Our Last Week as a Family of Three

Last week, my final week of work, I totally struggled.  I was past the stress (although I did want to be sure I left everything in order for my long term sub) and ecstatic everyone seemed to finally be well in our family, but I was exhausted (sleep was a thing of the past between tinkle breaks on the hour and contractions all night most nights), I hurt from being on my feet all day, we had a few special events (translation...wild kids and several days off of our normal schedule), and as the week went on, I was swelling more each day.  I just wanted to meet this little guy, but at the same time I did hope he stayed in there as long as he needed.  Reid kept asking when baby brother was coming out (even though we had a countdown going) and I'd say, "Next Monday, or whenever God is ready for him to!" He was ready, too!!  The week got the best of me, so I finally decided to take Friday off so Reid and I could have a nice day to ourselves.  I was so glad, too, because my legs felt like tree trunks pretty much as soon as I rolled out of bed that morning.  We enjoyed watching Planes, reading books, looking at part of Reid's baby book, eating at Sonic (Reid's request), and a much needed carwash.  It was even warm enough to play at the park for a little while that afternoon.  Reid didn't seem to mind that all I could do was sit there--he still had fun.  At the carwash:

On Saturday, we went on a wild goose hunt for a Planes plane, Rochelle.  Unless you want to pay $40 on Amazon, the only place she is advertised is Toys 'R Us or Target.  We went to several, but no luck.  Lunch was in order (and I still couldn't have the good sushi/sashimi), so we opted for a meal similar to this one, minus the laksa.  With everyone planning on coming in Monday and my doctor performing the c-section, I opted out of the spicy laksa...just in case it sent me into labor.  A little bit came with the prata-like bread anyways, and I had to have the Mee Goreng noodles.  Jason enjoyed the Hianese chicken rice and Reid surprised us by trying most of the dishes.  I was sad I didn't take a picture of my delicious, huge mango snow ice (similar to an ice kachang, which I fell in love with in Singapore and have never found in the States).  It was big enough for this pregnant lady and her husband...and Reid enjoyed a few bites of the ice cream part.  

It's been so hard for me to lean over the tub lately that Jason has taken over bath time.  We let Reid pick who reads bedtime books, but 99% of the time, it's Mommy.  Poor guy, though, because Mommy's belly takes up the whole chair!  Reid didn't seem to mind until the last week...when he literally didn't have any room.  "Mommy, I'm squished!"

 

Silly boy still doesn't like to take pictures, as you can see...

 

I also realized I never posted any pictures from the shower my class threw me a few weeks ago.  The kids were so excited--it was precious.  I was blown away by the generosity of them, too, and we got some really neat items and outfits.  There were presents, of course...

 A super cute outfit, complete with hat, sweater, and little corduroys.

This adorable little nap mat/tummy time mat is a super soft blue puppy dog.  I didn't realized until later that it has Carter's name monogrammed on it...his first "own" official item.

We also played games.  The kids were excited about estimating Mrs. French's belly size, then measuring to see how they did.  A couple of them actually got exactly the circumference!  A few were ridiculously big, and a sweet few made me super skinny.  We also got to play the "guess the baby food" game.  There were snickers, giggles, "eeew!"s, and fake gags as they passed the jars around.  You could totally tell who had a baby brother/sister at home, though, because they guessed many of them correctly.  It was a fun time with my class and I think they enjoyed it even more than I did.  I was excited to share this special time with them, yet felt a wee bit guilty that I'd be gone for nine weeks (which figures...this is the best class I've had in about seven years!).  But my long term sub is fabulous, has good experience, and is very sweet, so I am not worried :)

Sick, Sick, Sicker...

No pictures this time.  No time!!  We've been in sheer survival mode.  Thank goodness I got over bronchitis...because Jason's flu hung around a lot longer than any of us anticipated!  He ended up running 102.5 that Thursday evening, then he'd have a low grade fever each evening.  He also developed a cough.  Normally, I'd have been okay with being around him having the low grade fever, but since I have pretty low immunity due to the new little life in my belly, I wasn't taking any chances.  So we only saw Daddy from afar for over an entire week.  I do NOT see how single working parents do it, especially with more than one kid.  Reid was actually really good about Daddy being in the house and not getting to see him.  I tried to explain it was so Daddy didn't get us sick and so we didn't give him any more germs.  He would rather not see Daddy than wear the masks I'd gotten us (even with me drawing mustaches on them :)  One day, Jason came downstairs with his mask to get dinner to take back upstairs and eat in his room...Reid promptly said, "I told Daddy to go upstairs.  He needs to go back to his room!"  Poor Daddy.  Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled when Monday was a normal day...Jason went to work and was able to be around us and help out that evening.  Reid's bath time is pretty awful for me because it hurts so bad to lean over, but especially for the tub.  Jason had pretty much taken that over for me, especially when he realized there'd be no way for me to do bath time after the c-section.

Tuesday was a normal day, too, until a rude awakening at about midnight.  We were all tired and had gone to bed early, but Reid began screaming bloody murder.  Upon entering his room, he was vomiting all over his bed.  Just great.  I stripped him and swept him to the bathtub while Jason took all the nasty bedding downstairs to rinse it before chunking it into the washing machine.  This scene repeated three more times, albeit it was pretty much just bile coming out of my poor little guy.  Reid hates throwing up more than anyone I know (even me!), and I think he's only had one vomiting illness episode in his little life so far.  I pretty much didn't get back to sleep until 4am...when I was pretty sure I wouldn't be awakened once again.  But teachers don't have the luxury of simply calling in sick.  We have to figure out someone to come teach our class, a way to get lesson plans to school (not an easy feat when kinder plans must be minute by minute!), and convey that message to both our team and administrators.  I will usually notify my parent list, too, just so they know why little Johnny didn't have the note taken out of his binder or anything written about the day (even though I instructed the sub what to do).  You end up paying for it for several days afterward, attempting to catch up on whatever the clueless sub didn't do or re-establishing classroom rules and procedures.  I couldn't get a hold of my long term sub--she would have been fantastic and I could've just emailed her general stuff since she knows how my classroom runs.  I also couldn't find her in the sub system, so I figured it's because she recently got married and has been slowly changing her name on everything.  So I tried entering several more of our usual, great subs into the system...but they were unavailable.  I cringed as the system began calling random people, for this was a day where we had to flip our entire schedule for a group of visiting administrators to be able to see math and science/social studies being taught at certain times.  (Yeah...because THAT's real authentic)  Sure enough, my sub ended up being awful.  But I didn't care at that point.  I just wanted Reid to feel better.  He was quiet, snuggly, and kind of pitiful in the morning.  We watched Planes (twice!) and he was able to keep down crackers and little sips of lemonade and water spread out through the morning.  He wanted a bagel ("with cream cheese!" um, no!) and kept that down, so I thought we were on the right track.  He took a wonderful nap, which actually allowed me to do a lot of nesting around the house to prepare for the baby.  When he woke up, though, he was a little bit "punk" again and didn't want to eat or drink.  As soon as Jason got home, I ran up to school before my badge wouldn't let me in the building and left plans.  Thankfully, my long term sub could come in for the next day.  I am down to about 16 days of leave (contrary to popular belief, teachers get ZERO paid maternity leave...you are just able to take up to 12 weeks off due to FMLA, so we must save up our sick and personal days over the years to prepare for babies.  But when you already have a kid and you work in a germ factory, many of those days are spent for your illness and/or your child's.) and obviously trying to conserve them, so I opted for a 1/2 day of leave, thinking I could have my sub stay all day if Reid ended up being sick again.  In the meantime, Jason's cough was getting worse, so as soon as I got home from school, he went to Urgent Care.  The doctor even seemed a bit surprised...pneumonia, a complication of the flu.  Fortunately, Jason hasn't felt just horrible, but he sounds pretty rotten and the coughing had gotten to be a problem--he had to leave his meetings a few times on Thursday due to the cough.  The doctor gave him something to quiet the cough and a nice, strong antibiotic.

He woke up all smiles, wanting breakfast, and went potty all by himself.  So I went ahead and took him to Holli's and let him go to his school so he wouldn't miss his Valentine's party.  He was his normal self at both places and begged for his normal dinner favorites that night.  I gave in and let him have one spinach nugget because I was pretty sure he was sick of carbs and applesauce.  Sure enough, at 10:30, just after Jason and I had gotten to sleep, Reid began screaming and he vomited once again.  Just my (lack of!) luck.  Since Jason had pneumonia anyways and needed rest, he found a way to stay home on Friday and allow me to go for the Valentine's party day...which I would never, ever wish on any sub!!  Between a different schedule, hyped up kids, Valentine's festivities, and a rude parent note (I swear that nearly sent me into labor in itself!!), I was done!!  Awful day.  Jason took Reid to the doctor and he (thankfully!) tested negative for strep, which has been manifesting itself as a stomach bug at my school lately), and the pediatrician didn't think there was any way it was the flu since he hasn't run any fever.  We've only been letting him have small, bland meals since then and the doc gave him a prescription for an anti-nausea/vomiting medication.  Apparently a lot of folks have a similar virus because we had to go to three pharmacies yesterday to fill it!  We are hopeful that they are both feeling better soon and that baby Carter and I manage to stay well.  I don't want to be in the O.R. by myself!!

I am soooo ready to meet this little guy.  I would be completely okay for him to come ANYtime.  I'm sick of the stress of school, and quite honestly I am so exhausted and hurt so badly most of the day and night that I'm not really "me" anyway.  My sub would be much better at this point!!  She's wonderful!  The rib pain/back pain is pretty unbearable, but there's nothing I can do.  I think this is going to be a l-o-n-g kid...and the doctor I saw on Tuesday estimated that he was already 7.5 lbs then!  Please pray for us all to hang in there.  Reid asks me first thing every morning, "How long until baby brother comes out?!" so I think he's ready, too.  Thankfully, tomorrow is a staff development day, meaning I can sit, which is still not remotely comfortable, but I can kind of mentally check out and hopefully be fine, lol, rather than having to be "on" every second of the day...plus I can take a tinkle break whenever I need to!!  I am thankful Carter will be evicted one week from tomorrow--a definite date has been nice to have this time.  But if he decides to come earlier, I am totally fine with that, especially given how big he is already supposed to be and he's officially full term.  I'm thankful we had a relatively normal weekend as a family of three, were all able to go to church this morning, and that we finally have nice weather.  Maybe that will kill some of these nasty germs! 

9 Months...and Miserable

Don't get me wrong...I'm beyond thankful for this little guy, but wow.  What a change a couple of weeks can make!!  I went from feeling good (big, but good) to being pretty darn miserable every day.  I battled a cold/allergies/virus/? for a week and a half and finally gave in.  When I headed to the doctor, sure enough, I had the "beginnings of bronchitis."  Oh, joy.  It took pretty much the entire round of augmentin before I felt human again.  I've had intermittent rib pain for awhile, but beginning last Thursday the pain has been unbearable.  Of course, Wednesday I'd been to the doctor for my regular weekly checkup...then Thursday the severe pain hit.  I have one localized spot on my right ribs, toward the middle, and one localized spot in the middle back just to the right of my spine.  The only way I could describe the pain would be like a migraine in those two spots...white hot lightening.  I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting, but much to my surprise, the doctor diagnosed me with severe muscle spasms and prescribed a muscle relaxer.  It has helped some, but pretty much every single day I am in pretty bad pain.  Sitting, standing, doesn't matter.  I've tried prenatal yoga, stretching, certain positions...  And even nighttime doesn't bring much relief these days.  I sleep for a couple of hours and then wake up in bad pain.  Roll over, repeat...all night long.  I shudder to think what I'd have felt like if we didn't get our new mattress! 

Most days, I don't feel as big as I did with Reid, but I have gained every bit as much weight with this little guy.  I have worked out the entire pregnancy (until the bronchitis) and only had a handful of days where I was ravenously hungry, unlike with Reid.  I remember eating a normal lunch, running to McDonald's for an after school snack of French fries, which turned into an entire Happy Meal, then eating a full dinner!  None of that this go 'round.  Thankfully, I have been able to eat very healthily.  For a couple of weeks last month, I even craved Fuji apples for the crunch and sweetness.  But of course, that chocolate craving still stands.  It's usually sometime in the afternoon and I just HAVE to have chocolate ;)  And lately, I've totally been craving the Sweetheart Chocolate Cherry Shake from Sonic.  I had one last year and it was absolutely fantastic, so I've been all pumped about waiting for it to come out since it's a seasonal thing.  But just my luck, they're not offering it (or anything remotely like it) this year.  I might just boycott Sonic :(  Jason found me some chocolate covered cherry Blue Bell, and it's delicious, but it's still not satisfying the craving.  Darn Sonic.

Little Mr. Carter is growing like crazy.  My doctor measured him at 5.5 lbs...and that was two weeks ago!!  So if he's really gaining a pound a week, like they say, then this will be one huge kid by 2/24.  I took video on my phone (but Blogger doesn't ever like videos from my phone, so I'm attempting to upload it as a picture this time)--he had a couple of weeks last month where he was dancing around in there and cracking us up.  As of last week, it's getting a bit crowded in there and I'll just see an arm or leg move across.  I actually had to stop reading to my class one day because he was taking my breath away.  They got to see some REAL big movement as my entire belly shifted from one side to the next.  Needless to say, I'm pretty sure they didn't get much out of the Science lesson that day!

Reid surprised us because he doesn't really say much about baby brother.  But he had two bad days in a row at preschool (went to the director's office the second day!!) and his teacher alluded to the fact that he senses the upcoming change.  Come to find out, he talks about baby Carter quite a bit!  We hadn't done too much in the prepping department, until I had a major "nesting" phase a few weeks ago and HAD to get everything out and ready.  It also happened to be right after Reid had gotten in trouble at school, so I was quite worried (I'd tried to keep most everything as normal as possible so as to not upset him).  But he was very intrigued and wanted to play with all the baby toys himself, lol.

In other prep work, I signed us up for a "big sibings" class at the hospital where I'll deliver.  We weren't exactly sure how he'd do, and then we weren't sure we'd go because he ended up with bronchitis, too.  And then I realized it was on Super Bowl Sunday.  I'd signed us up for the 4-5:30 class since the other one was during nap time (and of course, he didn't nap that day) but then we weren't sure it'd really happen because we had sleet and ice.  But we made it there, made a little craft, learned some things, and Reid was just in a funk.  Finally, in his own jumbled little way, it came out that I think he thought he'd get to meet Carter on that trip to the hospital.  Poor guy.  And just the other day, he was asking me, "How many days?" repeatedly.  I had no idea what he was talking about, so he got frustrated...and I got frustrated.  But finally it came out that he was wanting to know how many days it would be until baby brother came out of my belly.  So cute!  So we've started a countdown to D-day (delivery day) since he enjoyed the countdown to Christmas so much.  His two favorite books he picks at bedtime right now are both about being a big brother.  I hope he'll make a great one!  He already loves his baby brother a ton, so that's a great start.

I did make it past one of my panic points...being sure I made it until my long term substitute could shadow me at school on Monday and Tuesday.  I really like her and she asked great questions, so I'm hoping it'll be a good fit for our little team (and we're already missing one because my team leader has been on maternity leave for three weeks now, too!) and my class.  It's weird to prepare soooo much stuff for a sub, but my students are kind of like "my" kids, too, and I want them to have a great experience in my absence.

So our lives have been a little crazy lately...which would explain why I didn't even realize it'd been a month since my last post.  And speaking of crazy, this crazy Texas weather is about to do me in.  We've had one BIG ice storm, a small one, and then today it snowed!!  In between, there have been nice days where it was warm enough to wear short sleeves.  No wonder we're all sick!

I was more than a little disappointed on Monday when my doctor checked me and informed me I'm not dilated a bit.  Really?!  Crazy pain and what I thought were contractions over the weekend apparently did not affect anything.  But then Tuesday rolled around and I got a phone call from Jason, "I have the flu."  WHAT?!!!!!  Yup.  Quite suddenly, I was thankful to not have any signs of labor.  I sure don't want to be the only French in the O.R. when Carter is being delivered!  So long story short, he's been banished to the guest room ever since.  I've been working full time, then being Mommy full time once we're home (I don't want Reid to get the flu, either!).  Jason feels terrible about not helping (like he can help that...and if he needs to worry about anything, it's feeling better!) and it's been kind of lonely for us.  I bought masks at Walgreens when I went to get my preventative Tamiflu the ob-gyn had called in for me, but Reid won't wear one (even with the mustache I drew for him) so he's only seen Daddy from afar since Sunday.  Let's just say I'm the Lysol queen and I am completely exhausted.  I think his fever broke last night, so we are ALL looking forward to a (hopefully!) normal weekend.  Please pray for our well being as D-day approaches.  Can't wait to meet this little guy, who will officially be "full term" (37 weeks) tomorrow, by my count anyway.  I hope he will be a calmer, quieter baby.  But if he's not, then we know what to do since Reid was so high strung and colicky. 

8 Months

Alright, so I've been eight weeks for two weeks...but it took a week to remember to take the pic, and another week to upload it. Synopsis of eight months?  I feel BIG.  Carter is very active and it's been increasingly harder to find a comfortable position (translation:  baby feels like he's grinding on my bladder all the time!!).  I am now craving fruit, specifically Fuji apples pretty much every night.  Strawberries and pineapple have been very yummy, too.  The cravings are so funny...with Reid, I had to have sour stuff (the entire second trimester, if I remember correctly) and scarfed all the pickles and grapefruit I could.  This time, it's varied and a lot of it has been a textural thing.  Dark chocolate cherry granola bars have been a fave throughout. 

 I've cut down aerobics to once a week now, thanks to my gym changing basically the only three classes I could attend.  PiYo (pilates/yoga) is not meant for a big bellied pregnant girl, but I did try out one class.  No thanks.  And I'm not attempting to try Insanity (lots of jumping!) for at least a few more months.  So the only one I can do now is my regular, Saturday morning Zumba class.  I guess it's forced me to slow down a bit, which might be good at this point. 

I'm ready, yet not ready for Carter's arrival.  My team leader at school just went out on maternity leave this week (baby Jack is only about an hour old at this point!), so my team will be down to two regulars and two subs once I'm gone.  So I'm basically planning and running copies for everything for Science/Social Studies until May.  Eek!  My class is throwing me a baby shower next week, so I'm looking forward to that :)  The kids have been funny and asking me random questions.  Carter was moving so much (and hurting!) earlier this week that I had to stop the book I was reading a few times.  I finally explained that he was moving/kicking a lot, so the kids pretty much watched my belly, entranced, for the rest of the lesson.  On the home front, I need to dig out the crates of itty bitty baby stuff and nursing stuff.  Another eek! 

Seems as though everyone is getting sick around us (stomach bugs, flu, strep, allergies, you name it!), so we are praying that our little family stays well!!

Cousin Time

Aunt Lala, Ben, and Alex made the trek up to McKinney to see us just before New Year's.  It was so much fun to catch up and see them.  As soon as all the bags were inside, the first question was, "Can we open presents??"

Reid had memorized who a couple of the presents were going to (he even tried to "help Alex open" one of his...but that was before Alex had arrived!) and began to pass them out, but quickly got sidetracked when Ben gave him one for himself.

Ben was politely watching and I realized Reid had slipped up on the job!  We remedied that right quick ;)

 

I think everyone was quite happy with their new goodies and they began to play.  Surprisingly, Reid even took a nap, despite being thrilled with our new visitors.  

While Reid napped and Jason caught up on some work before returning after the holidays, Laura and I took Ben and Alex to Toys 'R Us to spend their new gift cards.  It was really fun to see what they picked out.  Alex went with Laura and picked two Mario Bros. dvds, and I took Ben to look at the cars.  He chose ever so carefully and selected one special car.  Then, they agreed to combine the rest of their cards to get this neat car parking garage with slides.  Alex and Reid enjoyed racing Goldfish down the slides later at snack time.

Each time the boys are here, we suggest going to play at a park, which they like, but all three of the boys would rather hike.  So even though it was a mere 25 or 30 degrees outside, everyone wanted to hike!  It actually felt pretty nice because there wasn't much of a breeze (odd for Dallas) and the sun made it feel warmer than it actually was.

Back at home, the boys all had fun doing boy things... Cars, tickle fights, playing with the play kitchen, etc.

And what fun would a cousin visit be without the obligatory bath picture??  I'm pretty sure this might be the last one because they've all grown too long-legged to really fit into the tub together comfortably.  Guess baby Carter will miss out on these photo ops!

We loved seeing Laura and the boys and Reid loved playing with his cousins.  It was a fun, normal visit...and I'm already looking forward to Laura's next visit, but I have a feeling it'll be a little less 'normal' since it will be for baby Carter's arrival.  There's nothing like sister time for me, and cousin time for Reid!

Finally Christmas!

Reid has been soooo excited about Christmas this year.  It's been way more fun since he actually "gets" it!  We've been looking at our Peanuts countdown clock every day, eating a chocolate from his advent calendar after dinner each day, and talking nonstop about Santa bringing him Snot Rod.  Then we looked forward to Grammy and Grumpy coming to visit us...and the big day was nearly here.  I was actually a little nervous...did we put away Buddy, the elf, who we'd told Reid would fly back to Santa until next year?  Check.  Did we put out cookies for Santa?  Check.  Reid picked some special ones, including a huge sugar cookie.  Did we set up the train that Santa brings?  Check.  Did we remember the stocking?  Check.  I still had trouble sleeping, wondering if I'd done everything I should.  This Santa stuff is a big deal!  But how much fun is it to see how excited your own child gets?!  It's kind of like being a kid all over again :)

The next morning,  we adults had everything all ready.  Grumpy remembered to put Santa's cookie plate back down near the fireplace (I had been worried Dixie might help herself and leave us her own Christmas morning surprises, so we'd wrapped it up overnight).

 

Laughingly, someone didn't even wake up until close to eight, which is about an hour past when he's normally awake.  I was trying to decide if I should wake him or make breakfast when he awoke.  After a quick bathroom break, it was present time!  He still wanted help opening his presents, unlike most kids who love to rip the paper off immediately.  Oh, happy day!  First he opened the Santa gifts.  There was a remote controlled crane set... (a few of the pics are dark--I can take pictures during videoing, but I guess it doesn't flash)

A stocking full of goodies like candy, his own flashlight (so he'll quit stealing Daddy's), a top, a Cars Nerf gun, a flashing Mickey Mouse snow spinner, etc...

...an M&M machine...

 AND...could it be?!  Yes...it's Snot Rod!!

Oh, happy day!  The gang's all together, now.  Is this a happy face, or what??  And this kiddo cracks us up.  Later that same day, he said, "Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is over, now Christmas is over.  Next Christmas, I ask Santa for Flo!"  Flo is another Cars car, which he realized he didn't have as we were watching his new Planes movie.

"I want to open MORE presents!" And so he enjoyed opening gifts from everyone else, too.

 At first, he enjoyed passing out presents (or in this case, with a breakable one for Grammy, he assisted).  But then he just wanted to open all the ones that were his, as any kid on Christmas morning would.

I even let him open Baby Carter's present...the rubber duckies he'd picked out all by himself, and a cute little baby wash cloth.

Then it was on to the guys putting together the complicated crane set (why are kids' toys so darn complicated??) and the girls making monkey bread.

 Later that day, we all enjoyed watching Planes.  Reid helped himself to some of Grumpy's pork skins.  We still crack up because this is one of those things we thought he'd hate to eat, but he loves them!

After all that excitement, we needed to let this silly boy run off some energy.  When promised a trip to the park once he got dressed, he promptly stripped and proceeded to run around the house like a maniac.

 

 A picture just didn't do it justice, so I had to take video, too...

 It was wonderful to be able to stay here in Dallas and not travel (thanks, Mom and Dad!) because I would've been extremely uncomfortable in the car and the packing with presents and all would've been torture.  We had a fun, quiet, family Christmas and enjoyed each moment, thankful for the True meaning of CHRISTmas.