Keeping Up with the Pearsons

A Family Portrait

2012-02-05T20:20:00.000-08:00

Who needs a picture taken of their family when you have a 3 year old's version?

Jax drew us this weekend. I love it!

I love that he is learning to draw people. He even drew Lucy with 4 legs!

I'd love to frame his work of art, but he drew it on his magna doodle.

"That's you, Mama."

"This is me."

"This is Daddy, he's bigger than you."

"That's Reesey."

So proud

Jaxon says I look like a mushroom. Brian says I look like something inappropriate. You be the judge...

Independence

2012-01-30T10:33:00.000-08:00

Jaxon is spreading his wings. He is taking risks and asserting his independence. The latest is in his clothes. Ms. Courtney taught him how to put on his socks & shoes and he couldn't be prouder. This confidence transferred to dressing himself. He mostly changes into pajamas on a whim. This weekend, he spread his wings and dressed himself from head to toe. He picked out his shirt, his pants & shoes. Oh dear.

He walked out of his room so very proud of himself. He came running out with the biggest grin and declared, "I got dressed AND brushed my teeth!" I, too, was proud of him. Then I looked at his shoes. I said, "Great job, Bud, but how about you wear your tennis shoes?" Brian quickly interjected by giving me THE LOOK and saying, "You're fine. No need to change." Then quietly said to me, "He's excited, don't burst his bubble. Who cares what he wears. He's a little boy." So I put aside my vanity and walked out the door with him. Wishing he could wear a sign that said, "I'm 3 & I dressed myself"

He was so proud of this outfit that he wore it again on Sunday. Did I mention he wore the jersey to school on Friday? Yup. Three days in a row. I was able to sneak it into the washing machine once this weekend.

2 Month Check Up

2012-01-29T20:39:00.000-08:00

Last week Reese had her 2 month check up. That is code for shots, lots of them. My poor little Peesey.

I remember when Jaxon got his first shots I laughed. Not to because I'm mean, but because the look on his face when they poked him was hysterical. When Reesey got her shots, I got teary eyed. My poor baby girl just looked sad & pathetic. I've said this before, but I feel more like a first time mom with Reese than I ever did with Jaxon. Must have been the NICU stint. I guess I feel she's more fragile.

Poor little legs.

I had a few concerns at this appointment. Reese's reflux was getting worse and worse. I knew it was going to, but the amount of spit up coming out of this baby's mouth was insane. Brian describes it as something out of The Exorcist. He's not joking. Plus her fussiness was out of control. She would cry for hours at a time. It was exhausting.

Dr. Goldberg said the fussiness is probably due to the fact that she is allergic to cow's milk. He switched her formula to soy. She seems to be getting better, actually. Except now she screams when she tries to poop.

For the reflux, he prescribed Zantac twice a day. The spit up has toned down considerably! Good thing, cause I was getting tired of changing my clothes and her clothes 5 times a day!

Now to get the poop thing under control. Let's hope the Karo syrup he suggested works.

Really sad about tummy time

Her stats are:

Weight - 8 lbs. 8 oz - 5th percentile

Length - 20 1/2 inches - 35th percentile

Head Circumference - 37 cm - 12th percentile

These percentiles are for a"normal" 2 month old. The nurse didn't give me her adjusted age percentiles & I couldn't figure out the chart I found online.

I got this idea from a teacher friend.

I am absolutely in love with her profile and lips.

Reese has been on the new formula & Zantac for over a week now & things have not gotten better. She cries inconsolably for what seems like all day long. You can just tell she doesn't feel well. It breaks my heart to see her in such pain. During the day & evening she sleeps the best while being held stomach to stomach. Thankfully she calms down after her 10:00 pm feeding.

Brian is calling the doctor tomorrow so hopefully we can come up with a more successful plan.

"Newborn" Pictures

2012-01-18T21:11:00.000-08:00

A few months ago we had family pictures taken by our friend Joel Chen. We loved them so much we asked him to do Reese's "newborn" pictures. She was a little over 7 weeks and these pictures were actually taken on her due date!

The three of us are completely, head-over-heels in love with this beautiful, little girl (even if she did pee on each of us during this photo shoot!).

Christmas 2011

2012-01-06T20:44:00.000-08:00

So, I'm thinking I should do a post about Christmas so that when I read my blog book (right now, non-existent, but it will get printed!) 30 years from now I will know that Christmas in 2011 was celebrated.

Just like Thanksgiving, it was a "weird" holiday. I don't feel like I got ready for it like in years past. There were so many things I wanted to do with Jaxon to get into the feeling of the Season. But, with a baby in the NICU, uncertain if she would be home by Christmas, and trying to wrap my brain around how Christmas day would flow if she was in the hospital I just wasn't feeling it. Looking back, we did do Christmas things... picked out a tree, went to Winterhaven, made one ornament, bought Christmas jammies, visited Santa. I still feel like I jipped poor Jaxon. No gingerbread house, no cookie baking, no Christmas crafts, no Christmas party. Sigh. Oh well. There's always next year... with TWO kids!

Even though I didn't do all of the wonderful things I wanted to do, I did have the best Christmas! Reese was home with us. There is nothing more I could have asked for.

Christmas Eve day came and Santa STILL had not wrapped any gifts. My dad took Jaxon to the base to see the airplanes while we wrapped presents at home.

Santa's Elf. She was a great wrapping assistant.

Does he not look so handsome in his sweater? Christmas was almost canceled because of it.

Trying to get a good picture

Take 2

Take 3

Take 4

Take 5

Maybe Reese will cooperate

Oh, maybe she won't cooperate

Please, no more pictures!

This dress makes my heart go pitter patter

Oh and the headband!

Love

Love even more!

My family together! Never mind Reesey's floppy head

Leaving the reindeer some food

Looking for Santa & his sleigh

Don't forget the cookies for Santa

Yes, we only left 2 cookies & a little milk... we were looking out for Santa's waistline

I just LOVE Christmas jammies! My mom got Jaxon Spiderman slippers to go along with the jammies and let me tell you, was he ever excited! He literally did laps around the house after opening them. You see, he's going through a pajama, comfy clothes phase. He could not have been happier to get pjs AND slippers!

Pretend there is a video of Jaxon waking up on Christmas morning (with his slippers on, yes, he slept with them!) so excited to see if Santa came to his house. Well, I'm not sure what happened but the video has disappeared. I am so very sad. It was the best video of Jaxon!

Not impressed

Again, let's pretend there is a video of Jaxon discovering his bike. :(

A rare awake moment for the Peesey

Hodge Podge Post

2012-01-05T16:27:00.000-08:00

Today was Reese's weight gain check. Reese is up to 7 lbs even! Boy, she is putting on the weight! Girl gained 1 lb in two weeks! Dr. Goldberg is very pleased with this.

I asked him about this "adjusted age" business I was so very confused about. Here's the low down.

Basically her adjusted age is 8 weeks behind her "real" age. This is based on a full term baby which is 40 weeks. Right now Reese is Negative 1 week old. Is that not the craziest thing?

They do an adjusted age for development and weight comparisons. Developmentally Reese will be 2 months behind a "normal" baby for the first 1 or 2 years of life. That means that if a full term baby is expected to crawl by 6 months, Reese won't be expected to crawl until she is 8 months "real" age.

My only problem with this is the sleeping-through-the-night thing. If a normal baby should sleep through the night at let's say 3 months, does this mean she won't sleep until 5 months! Oh my. That's not until April. Super. I have confidence she will be an over achiever. I mean look at the weight she's put on!

Another problem, I know that when people ask me how old she is I will have to say, "Oh she's 2 months. but really she's 1 week because she was 2 months early." Why must I feel the need to over explain things?

Some pictures from the week...

How we rung in 2012. Wouldn't change a thing.

Happy New Year!

So tiny.

Reese's First Doll. Can't wait to find out what she names her.

Ready for her weigh in! I'm soooo looking forward to dressing her up!

***********

For my own record keeping purposes:

Sleep - ALL the time! Reese is only awake about 2 hours a day.

Eat - Reese eats 3-4 oz at a feeding. She is on Enfamil's Enfacare for Premature Babies. She eats every 3-4 hours. Yes, even at night. Yawn.

Temperment - Reese is a very sweet girl. She only cries when she is hungry or when she is trying to settle herself into sleep after being awake for an hour or so.

Likes/Dislikes - Reese loves a bath. She hates being undressed, but once she's in the tub she calms down. She loves having her hair washed.

Reese DISLIKES being dressed and changed. This is another time when she cries.

Nicknames - Peesey (Me), Peanut (Brian), Reesey (everyone)

Clothes size - Newborn

Language - She grunts. All. The. Time.

Physical - Reese holds her head for a few seconds when I hold her over my shoulder. She can also move her head from one side to the other while on her belly.

*****************

Since I did Reese, I should do Jaxon.

Right now Jaxon is on this pajama kick. Brian calls him Hugh Heffner. He will literally get up, change into a new pair of pj's for a few hours then get "hot" and change into another pair. Funny stuff.

He is still into animals. Big time. Grammy Sue got him a subscription to National Geographic Kids. He LOVES it! We have read it from cover to cover about 20 times.

Jaxon can find a few states on the map: Arizona, New Mexico, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, Utah & New Mexico. Random I know.

Jaxon is learning the sounds of letters and beginning sounds in words. He can also tell if 2 words rhyme or not.

He can count backwards from 5.

His best friends at school are Jakey and Hunter... identical twins who (whom?) he can not tell apart. When he talks about one of them he says, "Jakey OR Hunter" Too funny.

**********************

I'll leave you with a few cute Jaxon quotes.

I asked him to open the door for me since I had my hands full. He says, "It's nice to hold open doors for womans. I will always hold the door open for womans." {Rolling with laughter!}

On the way home from school, Jaxon asked me if he could have a treat. I told him no since he didn't finish his lunch. When we got home he tells me, "Mom, you broke my heart. When you told me I couldn't have a treat it made me heart broken. Heart broken is when you hurt my feelings. You broke my heart." Are you kidding me? Where does he get this?

My Sweet Jaxon

2012-01-04T19:43:00.000-08:00

I am so proud of my Jaxon. He has surprised me so much these past 2 weeks! I will admit, that Brian & I were worried about bringing Reese home and how Jaxon would react to his baby sister. You hear stories about older siblings acting out, ignoring the new baby, or having ill feelings toward their baby.

Well, Jax has done none of those things. He has been THE best big brother I could have asked for. He loves Reese to pieces and is very protective of her.

Every morning, the first thing he asks is, "Where's Reesey? Let's go see her." Whenever she cries he runs over to her to make sure she's ok. He will sing to her to calm her down or just to entertain her. He helps me change her diaper & feed her.

Every night, he asks her to come to his room and listen to the bedtime story. He always kisses her goodnight and says, "Good night Reesey. I love you."

He loves to touch her little toes and give them soft kisses. He will even sing "This Little Piggy".

I could not be prouder of him.

Holding her pacifier in place

Loving each other on Christmas Eve

Checking in on her & singing Rock-a-Bye Baby

Hanging out before bedtime

"Hi Big Brother"

Love my Bubba & Peesey to the moon and back!

5 Week Stats

2011-12-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

Thursday was Reese's first pediatrician's appointment. As I was driving her there I was wondering if she missed the doctor. She did get seen by one several times a day for the first month of her life.

We started the day with her first at home bath. Yeah. Not a fan. At first.

She's not a fan of being strapped in a car seat either. Thankfully she did well once we were on the road.

I pride myself on not being a nervous, worrying mom, but I was nervous driving her though... I guess a month in the NICU will do that to even the most go-with-the-flow person. (Remember that being in a car seat is the most stressful thing a baby can do). Thank goodness she's loud, it gave me peace of mind knowing she was still breathing.

"Ok. I can do this."

Anyway, she did well. Dr. Goldberg said she was absolutely perfect (I didn't need a doctor to tell me that!) She weighs 6 lbs 0 oz and is 19 3/4 inches long! I don't think she actually grew 3 inches in a month though. That seems like an awful lot to me, but what do I know?

Look at the chunky belly!

6 pounds on the dot.

So I am totally confused about her age. She is technically 5 weeks, but when the nurse gave me her stats and info sheet she wrote she was 2 weeks. Is that because she's a preemie and she would be 2 weeks had she gone full term (36 weeks)? Right now she is 38 weeks gestational age. Maybe someone can clear this up (Ami... you have first hand preemie experience). Ok, back to the topic at hand... her percentiles.

Compared to a normal 2 week old baby (see my confusion)...

Weight - 6 lbs 0 oz - 1st percentile

Height - 19 3/4 in - 5th percentile

Head - 35 cm - 6th percentile

On the preemie chart...

Weight - 50th percentile

Height - 90th percentile

Head - 90th percentile

Yup, I make tall, big headed children. Jaxon had the same exact stats.

We go back next week for another weight check. Gotta make sure our Peesey is growing!

We ended our day with a relaxing night in front of the Christmas tree.

Bye Bye NICU

2011-12-27T07:40:00.000-08:00

After 31 days, on December 20, we said good-bye to TMC's NICU.

We started the day like all other 31 days. Brian & I planned who was going to visit Reese when and where Jaxon would go. On this day, we had to pick up Brian's car from the dealership so we decided to leave Jaxon with my mom, get Brian's car, leave my car for an oil change, visit Reese together then go our separate ways. Brian had a work meeting & I had to do a bit of Christmas shopping.

Now, the past few days we had been readyng ourselves for the fact that Reese would not be home for Christmas. If you remember, she had to be episode free for 3-5 days. For the past few days she'd been having 1-2 episodes a day. It was pretty heartbreaking. Especially since they seemed pretty insignificant. Her heart rate has to be between 80 and 200. Well, she would drop down to 70, 76, 78 and it would count against her. So frustrating! Needless to say, we didn't think she'd be meeting our Christmas deadline.
Tuesday morning, Brian & I walk into the NICU and run into one of the neonatologists, Dr. Riddix. When he sees us he says, "I have your baby today and I was on my way to see her. What do you think about taking her home today?" WHAT! Are you serious?" "Like a heart attack." he said. I cried. I didn't in a million years think I would hear those words ever, much less that day. We were both wondering about the episodes and Dr. Riddix explained that Reese was such a healthy baby there was no reason for her to be in the NICU anymore. He said that if you were to put a monitor on every baby in the regular nursery, they too would register episodes. Apparently it is fairly normal in newborn babies.
We were reeling. All she had to do was pass the car seat test. Thank goodness things happened the way they did that day, because the car seat was in Brian's car and guess whose car we were in? Finally, things were working out for us. I think Brian sprinted to the parking lot for the car seat!
We fed her before the test so that she'd have a nice full belly, which the nurse said would help her cause.

Last pictures in the family room

She is clearly bursting with excitement

She may be blase, but I sure am happy!

Now time for the test... Would she pass?

In order to pass the test, she must be strapped into her seat for an hour without having any episodes. Apparently, riding in a car seat in one of the most stressful things a baby can do.

All hooked up ready to ace this thing!

We left to to do her thing and made arrangements for coming back to get her. I had to get my car, go home to get a cute outfit for her to come home in, have my mom take Jaxon to Ami's house and drop me off at the hospital where I would meet Brian.

Our backstage pass to the NICU. Soon to be cut off. Well, I've kept mine.

Back at the hospital the nurse, Cynthia, gave us a "teaching" on what to do with her when he got her home... bathing, sleeping, and the all important DO NOT TAKE HER OUT OF THE HOUSE! Yeah. It's RSV season and she's a preemie which means she can't go anywhere for awhile and visitors are very limited. One of the nurses even said I should consider not going back to work until RSV season is over! That's not until April!

After all this it was time for another feeding. Off to the family room for the very last time we went!

In her go home outfit There were quite a few options, but all were too big for her.

Add caption

Strapping her in. Can't believe this is happening!

As we walk out, all of the nurses came to say good bye. And yes. I cried. Funny how much I wanted to go home, but I knew I would miss these ladies that took such good care of my baby for 31 days. I would also miss the other babies and cheering them on. I was supposed to take pictures of her nurses, but I forgot. Plus, there was a mom whose baby was born the same day as Reesey and her baby wasn't going home soon and I just didn't want to make a big fuss in front of her. I know how heart breaking it is to see a baby go home while you have no idea when you will be. Rosanna, Margie, Leslie, Donna... we will miss you! Thank you so much for loving our girl and helping her grow enough to go home.

FINALLY going home!

He's sooo happy to see his baby sister in the car!

My attempt at getting a picture of my kids (can't get over that. Kids. Plural)

That blob in the middle is Lucy trying to figure what what all the fuss is about.

Attempt #2

Snug as a bug in her own house. Doesn't she look happy?

We accumulated a lot of stuff in a month

As I'm trying to make dinner on our first night home, Jaxon decides he wants to make Reindeer food for Santa's reindeer. I could sense he was starting to feel a little displaced so I gave in. It wasn't as "special" as I wanted it to be, but he was happy.

I have to say that Jaxon has been an amazing brother to Reese! He checks on her constantly, sings to her if she starts to fuss, shows her toys, tells her stories. He's been great with her. He always wants to include her in everything he does.

Jaxon wanted Reese to listen to a bedtime story too.

While the 3 of us were cuddling on his bed he says to me, "Mama, let's give her back to the people she really belongs to. They miss her and it's sad to miss your baby." So much for brotherly love.

He has also told me he is "NOT impressed with Reese & her crying."

But my absolute favorite Jaxon quote about Reese to date? He likes to watch me change her diaper and one day he says, "Mom. Where's her vagina? Why does she have one long butt?" OH.My.Goodness. Can he be any funnier?

Daddy catches up on emails and cuddling

Loving me some Reesey Peesey.

All is finally right in the Pearson world. It's been a rough 2011 for many reasons, but having Reese home and healthy made it all worthwhile.

Christmas Weekend

2011-12-12T15:14:00.000-08:00

The Pearsons are getting ready for Christmas!

For the first time in 5 years I was allowed to get a real Christmas tree! Yes, you read correctly, I was allowed. You see, Brian boycotted buying a real tree because we were never home for Christmas. We always came to Tucson for the 2 week Christmas break and he saw no reason to spend money on a live tree. Every year I would ask for a tree and every year he would say, "If we ever move back to Tucson I'll buy you a real tree." Thankfully he kept his word! There would have been hell to pay if he told me no. Well, it did help that his friend Duhon threw out our fake tree when he helped us move into our new house. Duhon, works at a Christmas tree lot and won't allow friends to say the "F" word, much less own one.

We headed to Duhon's lot on Friday night and picked out our tree. It's beautiful and the house smells great. Which reminds me, I better water it, it's been a few days. Oops. I've never been accused of having a green thumb.

Looking for the perfect tree

Jax was really into decorating the tree.

He took it upon himself to get the step stool.

He was so proud of himself!

Saturday morning we headed to the mall to visit Santa. Jaxon was looking forward to telling Santa what he wanted. He had it all planned. He was going to tell Santa he wanted a Batman with a black cape and a Bat Mobile. Yes, he's very specific. When we got there he was able to make a Christmas wish. His wish? For Reesey to come home for Christmas. :)

When it came time, Jaxon sat on Santa's lap like a champ! No crying, screaming or hesitation. He went right over, climbed on his lap and told Santa what he wanted. He is getting to be so big. Sniff. Sniff.

Reese knew it was a Christmas Weekend so she wore her Christmas jammies!

Sunday night we took a little trip to Winterhaven. Winterhaven is a neighborhood here in town that hosts a festival of lights. Many of the houses in the neighborhood decorate their houses with holiday displays. We have never taken Jaxon and thought this was a perfect year to do so. The weather was perfect for a stroll in the midtown neighborhood. We had a little hot chocolate and enjoyed the beautiful lights.

Jaxon's favorite display was the very first house we saw.

The Christmas Polar Bear

Not sure which animal is behind him.

Christmas Rhino and Christmas Giraffe

The hot chocolate had a bit too much chocolate I think. Jax was WIRED!

This house was clever! The 12 days of Christmas. My favorite was "8 Maids A Milkin'" Ami, Nicole & Mary... this made me think of you guys :)

Where's Waldo? this made me chuckle.

This house doesn't look like much, but it was my favorite. They had a water & light show set to music! Think the Bellagio in Vegas. It's amazing what people can do! I have a video, but am not sure how to upload it with my Mac.

Watching the water show

Horse drawn wagons were in full force on Sunday

It certainly was a busy weekend... taking turns going to the hospital and staying with Jaxon, trying to make things normal for him and not wanting him to feel as if he's been abandoned for his baby sister. Needless to say, we are ready to be a family of four, under one roof. We are ready to stay home for days at a time with nowhere to go. We are NOT ready for sleepless night, however!

A Reese update....

She is holding her own body temperature. YAY!

She is gainly weight steadily. She weighs 5 lbs 8 oz! Whoot Whoot!

Her formula intake is up to 60 cc's (2 oz) She has to drink 30 cc's in order to be considered a "successful" bottle feeding.

She has not be gavaged (tube fed) in the last 2 days. Yipee!

She is now on her own feeding schedule instead of a set schedule. She will now dictate when she eats. Which they say is a step closer to being home.

She still has about 3 episodes (low heart rate & forgetting to breath) a day. As of 2:30 pm today, she hadn't had an episode since last night.

She is wearing some newborn onesies and some of her preemie onesies are too small.

Today was a good day in the NICU world. I'm hoping things keep looking up and we can all be home again.

She is seriously the sweetest baby

Notice the tape residue from her pulse ox monitor

Those 3 leads (wires) monitor her heart rate.

My Babies

2011-12-03T15:05:00.001-08:00

My babies met today! Oh my heart was so very happy! Jaxon was just beaming when he saw her. He watched Brian change her diaper & take her temperature. Then we were able to go to the family room to feed her and spend some quality family time.
Jaxon was so eager to feed her & hold her. He just wanted to help and get to know his sister. He inspected her tiny little toes and her tiny little hands. He kissed her, smelled her, hugged her, held her, fed her and sang to her. I cannot wait for Reese to come home so that they can bond.

He wanted her to wear her hat

Going in for a kiss

Love these two!

When we left the hospital Jaxon started to say, "I don't want to leave Reesey in the hospital." We thought he was just saying that. Once in the car he started crying. Real, heartfelt tears. Sobbing really. "I don't want to leave Reesey here. I want her to come home. I miss Reesey. I'm sad without Reesey." He made me cry too! It just broke my heart to see him so sad over leaving his baby sister.

Soon enough Reese will be home and sooner than I'd like, Jaxon and Reese will be fighting like siblings do. For now I will bask in his love for his sister.

10 Days in the NICU

2011-11-29T15:16:00.001-08:00

It's been 10 days since was born. 10 days in the NICU. I feel like an old pro at it now! I was so uncertain on how to act, who to look at, how to speak, what questions to ask. Now, it feels like old hat. It's taken about 10 days for me not to want to cry each time I see Reese in her isolette. It's hard to wrap your brain around the fact that your baby will be in the NICU for an uncertain amount of time. Today, I feel okay with it. Ask me tomorrow though, cause it may be a different story!

I do think that when a parent checks into the NICU they should give you a glossary to take home to study. There are so many terms the nurses use and it's hard to keep up. I think I finally have them straight. After having them explained to me 100 times. I'm sure there are many other terms, but thankfully we aren't familiar with those. Let me give you a little vocabulary lesson!

A Brady - when the baby's heart rate slows down

Apnea - when a baby stops breathing for a short period of time

Episodes, spells, events - when a baby has a Brady or apnea

Gavage - a feeding tube (picture a cooked spaghetti noodle) inserted into a baby's throat that goes directly to the stomach

cc's - amount of milk a baby drinks. 35 cc's = 1 oz (I think)

Those are the terms we hear on a daily basis.

Now that you are up to speed on the terminology, let me give you an update on Reese after 10 days in the NICU.

* She has surpassed her birth weight (3 lbs 14 oz)! She's up to 4 lbs 1 oz.

* Her milk volume has increased to 35 cc's (1 oz). This will be her max for awhile (I think).

*She bottle feeds about 2-3 feedings a day. Usually when Brian & I are there.

* She will drink about 20 cc's from a bottle. She needs to do 35 consistently before she goes home.

My personal best with her is 21 cc's. Brian is 23! I'm going to pass him one day!

* The other feedings she is gavaged. If she drinks less than half of her bottle she gets gavaged.

* She has apnea & Brady episodes a few times a day. Her episodes usually last 2-3 seconds and she comes out of it on her own. This means the nurses do not have to interfere in any way. That's good news.

* Reese has to be episode free for 3 straight days before going home.

* She is still unable to keep her own body temperature outside of the isolette. Her isolette is kept at a comfy 84 degrees. She does get very cold when out of her isolette for 20-30 minutes. She has to be in an open crib for several days before going home.

I think that's it. The neonatologist (preemie doctor) told us yesterday that Reese is considered a "feeder and a grower". That is her only job in the NICU. I like to think it is the highest status you can have in the NICU. She also told us the doctors are not concerned about her at all. Reese is doing everything she should be doing for being at 32 weeker. All of the behaviors she is exhibiting are typical of a 32 week gestational age baby. This is all good news and puts us at ease. It does seem like she has a long way to go, but the doctor said that once her brain develops one area everything else will come into place very quickly. Doctor said Reese MIGHT come home mid-December. Here's hoping.

The best part of my day

Let's not forget this handsome boy!

Jaxon is handling his sister being the NICU very well. Last week was rough on him. He was whiny and ornery, but what can you expect? This week we are more in the groove of things and he's doing better. Whenever one of us gets back from the hospital he asks, "How's Reesey? Is she doing great?" Usually that is followed up with one of these questions, "'Did she drink all of her milk? Did she poop? Did she cry a lot? Did she ask about me?"

Today he says, "Mom, I'm going to call Reesey a crybaby because she is a baby who cries. Babies cry a lot you know."

Reese's Debut Part 2

2011-11-26T20:53:00.001-08:00

So I left you at Friday night. I forgot to mention that we had a scheduled ultrasound Friday afternoon to check Reese... make sure she was growing, had enough amniotic fluid and to check my cervical length. Well, we got an ultrasound, but not a nice one like I wanted. It was a quick, "Let's make sure this baby is in the right position" kind of ultrasound. It also didn't help that while the ultrasound tech came in, 4 nurses were trying to find a good vein to draw blood from. Yeah. That was quite the ordeal. A vein was not found after MULTIPLE pokes & prods. That's why I ended up with the pic line.

Anyway, back to the ultrasound. Reese was head down, but face up. When I asked if that made a difference in delivery she said that it would just be a little more difficult. Super. But, there was still time for her to turn over, since the goal was to keep her in another week. The tech also estimated her to weigh 4 lbs. 1 oz, give or take a few ounces. Which actually, was a good size for a 32 weeker.

Friday night I was took an Ambien, at the insistence of the nurses and Brian. I hadn't slept since Wednesday night and was exhausted. I thought I would sleep just fine, but when I started thinking about all that I had going on (catheter, compression socks to prevent blood clots, pic line, IV, staying on my side, nurses coming in every 30 minutes to check vitals) I knew I wouldn't sleep. So I took the Ambien.

I was woken up at around 6:00 am by the nurse to give me my Thyroid medication. I was still dozing when I felt a contraction. Pretty strong and intense. 10 minutes later, another contraction. 10 minutes after that a 3rd contraction. My nurse told me I should only have 3 mild contractions an HOUR. I mentioned it the nurse when she came in. She checked the contraction machine and said, "Oh yeah. They're pretty strong huh? Let's go ahead and check you." "Checking" was something the nurses and doctors didn't want to do because they didn't want to risk infection or "activate" labor. By the time the nurse came back 15 minutes later, I must have had at least 3 more contractions.

She did her check. "3 cm dialated and 100% effaced. This is going to go quick." It was 6:30 am. Brian immediately says, "She wants the epidural." Yup. I wanted the epidural ASAP! Nurse went out to get things moving along. While she was gone, I had Brian bring me my makeup & toiletry bag. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, put on my face. Girl has to look good when meeting her new daughter.

Fresh face! Last few minutes of being pregnant and a family of 3.

The next hour and a half was a blur. I can hardly remember what happened. I got the epidural, which didn't hurt as much as I remember Jaxon's hurting. The doctor came in checked me again. I was 8 cm dialated at this point. Brian says that I could have started pushing sooner, but the doctor was waiting for the neonatologist and NICU nurses to come in. Once they arrived it was show time. Brian says I pushed for less than 5 minutes and Reese was here! Seriously, so fast. The girl was ready to meet her Mama & Daddy. Unlike with Jaxon, they actually put Reese on me right away. I didn't see Jaxon for at least half an hour after he was born. The one clear thing I remember was that when the doctor asked who wanted to cut the chord, Brian jumped at the chance. "I'll do it!" There wasn't a second of hesitation.

First glimpse of my little girl

Getting cleaned up

Neonatologist, Dr. Richards, showing off Reese

They whisked Reese away to the NICU to check her out. Brian went with them. He came back some time later to let me know she weighed 3 lbs 15 oz and was 16 1/2 inches. She was a tiny little thing. She also did not have to go on oxygen :) YAY!

I think it was a few hours later that I got to go to the NICU to see her. Oh. She was the tiniest little thing I had ever seen!

First time to hold this precious little thing

So sweet

Her feet are long!

Meeting Lola

The hat was made by my Aunt Wanda

This is my favorite

Meeting Grammy Sue

Meeting Auntie Ami

Auntie Ami made her a sign!

Meeting Auntie Mary

What a nice friend

When the 3 of us got back to my room, a Reese Witherspoon movie was on TV!

I think those were the most exhausting days of my life. I stayed in the hospital until Monday. I was dying to leave. I just wanted to get home to Jaxon, my own bed and my own shower. I was so anxious to leave the hospital that once again I got jipped of the wheelchair ride to the car! Man Alive! I walked my happy little butt out of the hospital for a 2nd time. Maybe they'll wheel me out when Reese is set free?

So many people asked me if I was ok leaving Reese. I told them I was. No problem. She was in great hands. Well, I'm clearly a late reactioner. (The same thing happened when we got engaged, I didn't cry till 2 days later) Leaving Reese hit me like a ton of bricks Monday night. Poor Brian he didn't know what happened! One minute I was fine the next minute I was crying. I was on the brink of tears for the next few days. I wanted to cry every time I saw her in her incubator. Now I'm just happy to see her and I can't get to her fast enough each time.

This little girl has stolen my heart.

Pictures of Thanksgivings Past

2011-11-24T22:00:00.000-08:00

A quick trip down memory lane...

Thanksgiving 2008

A small dinner in ABQ with my little pilgrim and Grammy Sue

Thanksgiving 2009

Back in Tucson with the Rios & Pearson Families (I believe our good friends the Lopez' were there as well, but I can't find the pictures)

OMG! That little mouth!

Daddy, Jaxon & Uncle Mike

The Grandparents

Thanksgiving 2010

This year my Grandmother and Aunt joined us from Puerto Rico, along with Grammy Sue & the Lopez Family

Abu & Abuela

The Rios Family

Titi Wanda

Thanksgiving 2011

My parents and Uncle from Puerto Rico.

This year is so very different. No big dinner. My mom made a small turkey, some stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin cheesecake. Brian & I will eat in between feedings at the hospital. There was no hanging out picking at food throughout the day, no smell of turkey all day long.

Our little Reesey was still supposed to be cookin' like a good little turkey, but she decided she'd rather meet us early. So instead of having a full house, our tiniest member was absent.

It makes me so sad she's not with us and that she hasn't even met her big brother yet, but I do feel blessed that she is as healthy as she is and in the best possible care. I'm also thankful to have such great parents who have dropped everything for us. I honestly don't know what we would have done did they not live 2 minutes away.

It is so weird to have to have 2 sets of family pictures.

Tio Keke & Jaxon

What was Jaxon thankful for this year? "Reesey" Melted my heart! He hasn't even met his baby sister yet and he's thankful she's here. <3

Happy Thanksgiving to my blog friends!

Count your blessings... you have many.

Reese's Debut Part 1

2011-11-20T17:28:00.001-08:00

It's Monday night. It has been the craziest 4 days of my life I think. Well, I had a crazy 3days 3 1/2 years ago.

Let's take a little trip back in time..

Wednesday EARLY morning, Brian headed to ABQ for work. We said a groggy goodbye, see ya tomorrow night and off he went. That day I started to make plans for Thursday... 32 week appointment at 11:30 am, then to Target to get a birthday present for a friend's daughter's party & some Reese shopping, a quick mani/pedi and eyebrow wax and finally get Jax from school so I could go home to work on Reese's room. Oh, I was also going to do a quick blog update on Reese's progress.

After the shower I was on a mission to get everything ready for our little girl. I promised myself I would do something each day to get ready. I started with her laundry and organizing her closet and dresser. One funny thing looking back, I opened a jammie set and one of the jammies said, "Born in 2011."I thought, "Oh, it's too bad Brinley isn't wearing newborn clothes anymore or I'd pass this along to her. Reese won't need it." Hmmm. Foreshadowing maybe?

Thursday came and started off well. Jax & I got to school "on time" and we each went about our day. I left for my appointment and everything went well there. Well, the doctor did run about an hour late since she had a complication with another patient, but everything was perfect on my end. Reese's heart beat was in the 140s, my belly measured 32 cm and I had only gained a pound in 2 weeks. Things looked good!

Oh yeah. I took a quick belly picture before we went to school Thursday morning.

Since the doctor was late I had to make the executive decision to run quickly to Target, forgo my mani/pedi and pick Jaxon up by 2. I did Target in about 30 minutes! Go me! The funny thing to me is that I passed the baby section and saw some Christmas outfits and thought, "I wonder if I should get Reese a Christmas outfit, just in case? Nah. She won't be here by then, but I have time to change my mind." Famous last thoughts.

I got to school just in time to chat with Ami & Charlotte for a bit before I got Jaxon. I updated them on Reese's progress... everything looked good. I believe Ami may have said, "Oh good. Please wait until Mary comes back before you have a baby." "Oh don't worry. She's not coming anytime soon." Again, famous last words.

I got Jaxon home and in bed for a nap by 2:15 pm. At 2:30 pm I felt a little leakage. Hmmm. Interesting. No big deal. These things happen when you are pregnant. I cleaned up, went along with the afternoon. At around 3:00 I felt some more leakage. Hmmm. Should I call someone? Nope. Not going to alarm anyone. It's nothing! At this point Brian called to check in from ABQ. I mentioned it to him. He urged me to call the doctor. I said no. Everything was fine.We hung up.
3:15 another moment of leakage which I could not ignore. This was starting to feel very familiar. I called the doctor. She called right back and said, "Go to triage. You water may be broken" Uh oh.

Brian is gone. My mom wasn't home yet. Ami was at school. Jaxon was sleeping. What to do? Drive myself? Leave Jaxon alone? Take him with me? I called my mom, she was close to home and my dad was home. She would drive me and Dad would stay with Jaxon. Brian was on his way to the airport and would be in Tucson by 7:30 pm.

Yes, I was slightly panicked, but keeping it together, cause really? What else could I do? They got me to triage right away and right away the nurse is like, "Oh yeah. Your water is broken. You have to go to Labor and Delivery."She may or may not have jumped back and squealed a bit when she checked me. I believe her exact words to other nurses were, "I have a 32 weeker rupture! Get her L & D right away." I actually thought it was quite funny. The sight of a nurse taken off guard like that.

I got whisked away to L & D. And I'm not exactly sure what happened next. I do know they set up an IV, started antitbiotics, gave me magnesium to prevent contractions and gave me a shot of steroids to help mature Reese's lungs quickly. The first plan was to keep me pregnant until Saturday at 7:00 pm when I would have had 2 doses of steroids. The next plan was to keep me in on STRICT hospital bedrest until Reese was 34 weeks gestational age. Which was the Monday after Thanksgiving. And by STRICT bedrest I mean, lying on my side until the baby came.

Brian came to the hospital straight from the airport at around 8:30 pm. At this point I think I called Jaxon to tell him what was going one. Poor kid. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. He woke up with my dad at home not knowing where his Mama was. Thankfully he had a blast with Abu and my uncle from Puerto Rico was also here so they kept him entertained. He was quite excited when I told him Reese may be coming soon. Not so excited when I told him I wouldn't be home and neither would she right away.

Things happened so fast I couldn't even think straight. The magnesium made me feel like crap all day Friday. I had double vision, could hardly keep my eyes open, my veins were so uncooperative I had to have a pic line put line just so they could check my blood.

So sad with my pic line

Ouch!

My BFFs came to visit and lift my spirits.

Monitoring Reese

I had contractions on and off, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Jaxon came to see me, which was fun. He seemed to handle my hospital bed, IVs and monitors pretty well. He of course had a lot of questions, but nothing I couldn't handle. He was so sweet standing at my bedside stroking my hair. Made me so sad to think I may not see him for days on end. Thank goodness for my parents who took excellent care of him!

After things calmed down Friday night, Brian & I talked about what we wanted to happen. Stay uncomfortable and on bedrest for Reese, or have her born 7 1/2 weeks early? Brian & I felt like Reese would cook at least through the weekend. She needed as much time as possible, even if it meant I would be miserable for days on end.

That was Thursday & Friday. Stay tuned for Saturday!

Family Pictures!

2011-11-16T13:18:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to have some family pictures done. Jaxon's best friends at school are Jakey and Hunter (twins). Their dad is building his photography portfolio and so graciously asked us if we would like to have him take our pictures. Well, who am I to say no to FREE professional quality pictures?

The pictures turned out beautiful! We are so excited! I printed some right away and they are already framed and hanging on our walls.

Here are most of them. I'm not posting all because I am still trying to decide which will make THE CHRISTMAS CARD!

For those of you who are wondering, yes, I will do family pictures once Reese is born. We will most likely do some newborn pictures with her. I wanted to have some good pictures of just the 3 of us for now since we haven't done quality family pictures since Jaxon was 6 months!

LOVE these boys!

On a side note... Jaxon was squeezing the crap out of our necks!

Love my boys, but can't wait to have a little girl to go shopping with

Such a handsome boy

Jaxon HAD to ride the train!

Hopefully not a look into his future :)

Showering Reese

2011-11-15T13:51:00.001-08:00

This weekend my friends came to my parent's house to shower Reese with love and gifts! We had a great time chatting, eating, playing games and laughing.

I owe my mom a HUMONGOUS thank you for all of the hard work she put into making this shower perfect. She really went the extra mile.

Thank you to Ami for all of the "extras" and for running the show! Thanks to Mary for all of the great pictures & the games. Much thanks to Nicole for making the cutest cupcakes!

This shower wouldn't have been possible without all of you!

Centerpieces

Decorations made by my paternal grandmother for Reese.
We had another one, but no picture.

Diaper cake made by our long time family friend Evelia.

Favors. Reese's Pieces for Reese Isabella.

Beautiful cupcakes made by Nicole

Make a headband for Baby Reese

Could CP get any more creative? Love it!

Debi with her two precious granddaughters, Hunter & Brinley

Kelly and the Wright girls, Jen, Madison & Bailey

Jaymee getting some Brinely cuddle time

Leigh, Hunter, Debi & Heather

Casey, Nicole, Dawn & Kelly

Diana, Kate & Sue

Paloma, Mom, Izzy & Madison

Dawn, Nicole, Ami

One of many totally adorable outfits

Reese & Jackson... Jackson is due about 6 weeks before Reesey

The Little Helpers: Bailey, Hunter & Madison

Great friends... Nicole, Ami & Mary

Lola & Grammy Sue

Big Boy Bed Success!

2011-11-13T16:17:00.001-08:00

I almost don't want to say it out loud, much less put it out into cyberspace, but Jaxon's transition to the big boy bed has been 100% successful! He is honestly such a good kid when it comes to sleep. He hasn't gotten out of bed once, cried because he's been scared, or dabbled in any other shenanigans (that I know of). We have found the lights on in his room a few times and a few extra toys & books in his bed, but that's it. Brian & I couldn't be more excited about it! Clearly Jaxon was ready for this transition and I am happy we didn't rush it... even if he was 3 1/2 when we finally made the jump.

We were worried about the first nap time especially, but that went smoothly too. Although, we didn't have the rails up yet and he did fall out of bed within the first 45 minutes. He didn't even wake up though! I went in because he was crying and saw him crawling back into bed half asleep!

We have yet to finish decorating the room, but it's coming along. There will hopefully be pictures of a finished room next week.

First night... fast asleep

He DID NOT want his picture taken the second night.

Glad we have those rails! Thanks Lola!

Jasper was a huge help in the transition!

Jaxon & Jasper

2011-11-07T20:34:00.000-08:00

Our weekend visitor was a complete gentleman and I believe we provided him with wonderful hospitality! Jasper captured our hearts and if Ms. Courtney ever needs a guinea pigsitter again, I hope she calls us!

Jaxon was beyond thrilled to have him over for a sleepover. Timing for him to come over could not have been better. Jaxon transitioned into his big boy room this weekend and I believe having Jasper "watch" over him was perfect. Jaxon was very attentive to Jasper and his needs. He fed him loads of fruits and vegetables, sat in his chair with him, kept Lucy away from Jasper and had us tote Jasper all over the house.

We had to take Jasper to Lola & Abu's house to show him off. Izzy was frantic! Little did she realize that Jasper is bigger than she is!

So happy to have him on his lap!

Feeding Jasper grapes. That pig can eat!

Lucy didn't notice Jasper until Saturday afternoon! And then she was scared of him!

Not so sure about this new smell in our house.

Playing cars with Jasper

Jasper spent A LOT of time outside of his cage. Sorry Ms. Courtney, if we spoiled him. He is such a friendly, social, cute little thing that we couldn't resist.

On the way to school this morning the conversation was had:

Jaxon, "Can we go to Petco after school?"

Me, "Why do we need to go to Petco?"

Jax, "To buy something."

Me, "What do you want to buy at Petco."

Jax, "UMMM. How about a guinea pig, maybe. That is a good idea!"

Me, "No. We are not buying a guinea pig."

Jax, "Well, maybe ONE day we can. That would be fun."

Me, "We could buy a fish, but not a guinea pig."

I'm sure we will have a guinea pig by the end of the week! No, we won't. A baby is enough!

Halloween?

2011-11-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

Was it really just Halloween? I feel like I almost passed us by. We did not do any of the fun fall activities I would have liked or that we did last year, but, what are you going to do? Life happened. And it didn't have Halloween in its plans.

We did go to a "pumpkin patch". Well, a place where they sell pumpkins anyway. Picked two pumpkins and carved them the day before Halloween.

Scary Skeleton

Batman & Scarecrow

They even had a petting zoo!

My sweet family

Ta Da! Pumpkins!

Did I mention that Jaxon had his face painted at his preschool's Fall Festival? Yeah. that was a BIG deal! He had NEVER wanted to have his face painted. Ever. The Fall Festival was 2 days. The first day he wanted nothing to do with it, not even on his hand. He would rather watch and encourage other kids to paint their faces. I went to pick him up Friday afternoon and Ms. Courtney was waiting for me at the door bursting with excitement.

Go big or go home is what we say. Why do a small check painting? How 'bout the entire face!

Batman poses...

Even Batman needs his beauty sleep

So that was Friday night, Sunday night we carved them. And by we I mean Brian & me. Jaxon was a little weiny. He takes after his grandma, Lola, who does not like to get her hands dirty.

Checking out the pumpkin guts

Brian made him stick his hand inside the pumpkin

As you can see, he was not impressed

Actually he was down right disgusted by it.

He did take a turn at carving it

2 pumpkins... a goofy one & a ghostly one

On Halloween itself, Jaxon dressed as a shark... a Big Great White Shark to be exact. We went trick-or-treating with our friends the Kershners who live the next street over. Thank goodness we went with their kids, because had it not been for them it would have felt like any other Monday night walking down the street in a shark costume.

I remember when I was a kid, the streets would be packed with costumed kids. Now-a-days, not so much. We walked and walked before we saw any other kids. Plus, every other house had its lights out. Where was everyone's Halloween spirit?

My big shark and my little pumpkin.

The Kershner Girls... Alexa, Kara & Jenna

It took like 4 pictures to get the next picture

That pumpkin looks bigger when I sit down

He had to show us each piece of candy he got before putting it in his pumpkin.

Not wanting to get left behind

Heading home

I must say, if you are 29 weeks pregnant and have not worked out much through out said pregnancy, I do not recommend trick-or-treating. The one plus mile we walked was not kind to my feet, back or hands. I felt the pain of swelling of each step taken. But, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Watching Jaxon ring doorbells and saying, "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" was worth every aching body part. I am also mighty impressed that Brian nor I had to walk to the houses with Jaxon. He had no problem going up with the girls and waiting for his candy

Company

2011-11-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

We have a weekend visitor....

Jasper the Guinea Pig is on a field trip to our house from Cottonwood Preschool! You can only imagine Jaxon's excitement! I'm sure there will be a plethora of pictures of Jasper & Jaxon's adventure together.

Some Randomness

2011-10-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

Has it really been almost a month since I updated this blog? Oh dear.

This week I have been in a fog. Seriously, I'm not sure if it's the pregnancy or everything else that has not gone the way it should have this week. Literally... nothing went as planned. We did have a some much-awaited, long-time coming WONDERFUL news about Brian's job, but that's it (and it's really all we need).

I digress....

Just to update, I thought I would post some random pictures from our 3 week Fall break

Sometime over break we ended up with THREE Papis. Oh my. From Left to Right... Papi (the original most loved), Brother, and introducing Bobby. It all started at Home Goods when Jaxon decided that Reese needed her own pink Papi. Which we (my mom & I) bought 2 so we would have a back up (learn from your mistakes right?). Then Jax decided he needed ANOTHER Papi.

Ready for bed.

Jaxon visited the dentist for the first time. He was exceptionally behaved! I was so proud of him!

Such a big boy, ready for his teeth cleaning!

Vickie, showing him the tools. Of course, Papi is there to comfort him.

We celebrated Brian's 35th birthday! Holy cow he's closer to 40 each and every day!

Yes, Jaxon is in his pajamas.

Yes, I let him have ice cream cake for breakfast.

If you have never had ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery, I HIGHLY advise you to run out RIGHT NOW to get one! They are so unbelievably delicious. And that's not even the pregnancy talking.

Oregano's for his birthday dinner.

We had a nice evening out with Grammy Sue

We enjoyed an evening of Toy Story on Ice with the Bunchkins.

Jaxon enjoyed Mickey the best

Ok, Buzz? A little (or a lot) creepy. First it really bothered me that he was so little.

Barbie was my favorite. Or maybe it was when she danced to Aqua's "Barbie Girl" and Jaxon knew the words. Oops.

Sleepy tired boy, up past his bedtime. He was OUT within 3 minutes.

I had to take the oh-so-fun and tasty Glucose test. Gotta love that orange sugary drink. Thankfully I passed and didn't have to be tortured with the 3 hour test.

And on the last day of break I registered. Jaxon & my mom came to help. Jaxon had a blast "choosing" things for Reese. Conveniently it was all things he liked.

But how adorable are these shoes he wanted to buy her? Such a good big brother.

Reese is growing! She'll be 30 weeks in 2 days. Makes me nervous since Jaxon was born at 34. Gulp. I am not ready for her to come in 4 weeks!

She is now a moving machine! I can feel little feet or hands or elbows or knees all the time. I absolutely love it. She does get shy when she has an audience though. Right now music excites her and any mention of Target. She is my daughter after all :)

"Camping" Part 2

2011-10-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

As Brian has said often in the past year, "If it weren't bad luck, we'd have no luck at all." Sure enough, bad luck struck the Pearson family again. This summer the weather in San Diego was too wet and cold to go to the beach, well it was the same this week in Greer. Too wet and cold to go fishing, hiking, exploring the woods or even sitting on the porch with a good book and cup of hot chocolate while Jaxon played.

We were so bummed. All Brian and Jaxon wanted to do was go fishing, but the minute we would get out of the car at the lake or river it would rain... or snow. Yes, snow. To make matters worse, the locals kept saying, "This is unheard of for this time of year. It has been so nice and sunny the last few weeks and next week is supposed to be beautiful." Leave it to us to pick the 3 worst weather days of the season!

But, we made the most of it. We spent quality time in the cabin with a nice, roaring fire playing Go Fish, cars, Chutes & Ladders and making 'smores. We visited the next town over, Springerville, we checked out the damage the Wallow (?) Fire did this summer and we visited the resting place of Brian's dad, Joe. Boy, that was interesting. Brian, trying his best to always be honest with Jaxon and speaking to him like an adult, tells Jax that we are going to see Grandpa Joe. Oh my! "Grandpa Joe? I thought he was in Heaven with God? Where is he? I don't see him! What's ashes? I don't see ashes. Where's Grandpa Joe?" Yup, on and on. Maybe talking to him about Grandpa Joe's final resting place wasn't the best idea we'd had.

All in all, it was very relaxing and time well spent with the family. This will definitely become another Pearson family vacation tradition. Maybe in June.

BRRR!

Exploring the tiny town of Springerville. Can we say windy?

Our new friend, Quincy the cow. He was so friendly!

Honestly, the wind!

The sky is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

Oh to be 3 and find pure joy in sitting on a broken down tractor!

We always find somewhere to shop. This time it was the Family Dollar

He chose cars.

So we stopped at Paradise Pizza for lunch. Yeah. It was interesting. The place was like a ghost town. NOT A SINGLE SOUL in the place except one employee. Brian orders and the guy asks him, "Name please?" No joke, Brian literally looks around the place as if it say, "Uh, there's no one else here but us Dude." It was all I could do not to bust a gut laughing. Hilarious! I think it was my favorite part of the entire trip!

The decor was classy!

Not a soul!

I think they forgot this corner was visible. It was more of a storage area.

Never judge a book by its cover... the pizza was AWESOME!

The understatement of the year.

What you can't see is the snow falling.

Hoping to see a deer or bear. No luck

Whoa! There's Reese!

Random shack in front of our cabin. A storage shed perhaps?

Love my family! Can't wait to add a little girl to the mix.

Ominous sky. Snow falling heavier now.

One of the cabins destroyed by the fire

And another

And another.

This one seemed perfectly in tact next to the rubble you see above. Amazing.

BRR. BRR.

Dreary. Wet. Cold.

Next vacay... family of FOUR!!! YIKES

"Camping!"

2011-10-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

We have returned from our camping adventure! Before I share the pictures & videos, I must put it out there.... I WAS NOT ONLINE during our vacation. We had no WiFi or cell phone service in the cabin. Yes, I was on FB the day we left, but it was on my phone minutes before we lost service. And yes, I posted a blog, but it was a scheduled post I did the night before we left. Seriously, people! I did rough it! :)

Ok, now that I've gotten that off my chest... onto the pictures!

Ready to go!

Stopping on the Salt River Canyon. I stayed safely in the car while Brian risked his life. Yes, I was not a fan of this part of our trip.

We had to stop for a poop break.

I love that while he's doing his business he is picking up pinecones & sticks!

We made it!

Our cabin. So cute.

Ready for some fishing!

It just warms my heart to see these 2 together. Especially because Brian has such fond memories of fishing in Greer with his dad. It is great that he wants to pass this tradition down to Jaxon.

I took a few short videos of our fishing expedition with the intention of putting them all together into a longer movie, but with the new iMac I'm not sure how to do it.

They caught a fish!

Jaxon was not necessarily a fan. He didn't want to hurt the fish.

Giving Reesey a little hug & kiss.

He slept in a BIG BIG boy bed! Good practice for when his finally comes in.

That's Day 1! So far so good. I just have to say, I was thoroughly impressed with Greer. It is absolutely beautiful up there.

We're Going Camping!

2011-10-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well, ok, the Pearson version of camping. As Brian says, "the way camping was meant to be".... In a cabin, with a kitchen, bathroom & wood fireplace. We call it camping because it's in the woods. I will be roughing it... I didn't pack any jewelry, dresses or cute shoes.

We are excited to fish, "hike" and explore the little town of Greer. It will be our last vacation as a family of 3. Sad and exciting all at the same time.

Stay tuned for our camping adventure!

New Big Boy Room!

2011-10-04T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well... Almost. We (and by we, I really mean Brian) spent the entire weekend working on Jaxon's new Big Boy Room. We are moving Jaxon out of his current room and into the spare room. Jaxon's current room is next to ours and will therefore become Reese's room. She'll need us more in the middle of the night than Jaxon does and really, we don't want to walk the length of the house to get to her at 3 am.

Since I'm on break, my goal was (is) to move Jaxon out and Reese in. We got the "Order Shipped" email from Overstock.com which meant Jaxon's Big Boy Bed was on its way! Yipee! We put the pedal to the metal and got working on his room.

I took a "real" before picture, but I'm not sure what happened. I must have not downloaded it to the computer before I deleted it from the camera. So just pretend that all of this crap was in his new room, except the mattress, bed and dresser were in the middle of the room, unassembled.

Prepping the newly empty room

How fun is this laser level thingy?

Using the laser level line to mark where the chair rail will go.

Even I had a prep job!

Freshly painted blue wall. So calming

Jaxon using his scope to check out his new room!

Look at that straight chair rail!

The finished product on Sunday afternoon!

The room was ready just in time for the furniture delivery on Monday!
The furniture came... and went. I was not home when they delivered it, but according to Brian it looked like crap. He said each piece had a ding, scratch or hole in it. So he sent it back. :(
Thankfully Jaxon was napping when this happened, he never saw the furniture. Brian told him what happened and he handled it fairly well (for a three year old). He is very sad not to be living in his new Big Boy Room, but what are you going to do?
We are all so disappointed. We are back to square one... looking for a bedroom set. Well, maybe square two since the room is clear and waiting new furniture!
Just pretend all of these accessories are in his room..

The quilt that will go on his new bed. The theme for his room will be airplanes, not sports.

Jaxon will have his own bathroom. We spent some time at Target picking out bathroom decor. Jaxon chose the elephants.

I got Reese's letters ready, thinking I would start her room this week.

PS I switched the interface on my blog (whatever that means) and now I have no idea why there is a huge white box around a group of pictures and not others. I am digging the new font!

Jaxon-isms

2011-10-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

Oh you gotta love the "Jaxon-isms". I do anyway. The things that come out of a 3-year-old's mouth are hysterical!

Today we went to JoAnn Fabrics and as we are walking into the store, hand in hand, I say, "Jaxon I love our dates. This is going to be a good one, I can tell."
"Yeah, Mom, but the zoo date was WAY better."

After our trip to JoAnn, we were headed to a playdate and I say, "Thanks for being so good at JoAnn's. I really enjoyed our date."
"Your welcome, Mama. I couldn't have done it without you!"

*******

Brian, Jaxon & I went out to lunch the other day (seriously, how great is it to be on break???) and of course Jaxon is non-stop questions. I mean it's a little excessive. So I say, "Jax, why do you ask so many questions."
He sighs and says, "UGH! I'm sooo tired of you asking me that! I just do okaaaay."

Ok. Got it.

*******

In the car after lunch, out of the blue Jaxon asks us, "What's blood pressure?"

HUH? Really? I know he knows this phrase because the nurse checks my blood pressure each week when she gives me my shot and I tell him what she's doing. But for him to ask me what it is? I'VE never even asked what blood pressure is, much less understand it. Guess my preschooler is much smarter than his college educated Mama.

I threw that one to his dad, who is much smarter in the medical department than I.

*******

The other day we were at home and Jaxon tells his dad, "Daddy, you say a lot of bad words."
Brian sighs, "You don't even know the half of it."

*******

Last weekend we took Jaxon to see the Lion King in the theaters. For hours after the movie Jaxon asked us questions about it. "What was the baby's name? Who was his dad? Why was Scar mean? What happened to Mufasa? Why was the savanna on fire? What was Simba's baby's name?"

Honestly, the questions are too much.

I was explaining that Simba & Nahla fell in love, got married and had a baby. Whose name I did not know.

"Will I get married, Mama?"

"Yup. One day you'll fall in love and marry someone."

"I'm going to marry you, Mama."

"No, you can't marry me. I'm your Mom."

"But I LOVE you!"

Heart melting.

Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo

2011-09-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

We're on Fall break for the next 3 weeks! Well, 2 now) and we are taking advantage and going on "Mama & Jaxon" Dates again. So this week...we went to the zoo! Again. I swear it is one of Jaxon's favorite places. He never seems to tire of it. This time he seriously acted as if he had never been to a zoo before. It was a bit hilarious.
The beauty of being on break is that we can get out and do things again. The other beauty of break (and living in Tucson and working with your best friends) is that all of our friends are also on fall break so we can just pick up and go. Which is what happened on Tuesday. Jaxon woke up and wanted to go to the zoo and I thought I would go on a limb and ask our favorite triplets to join us. Luckily they were free and Ami is a go-with-the-flow mom so we all packed up and headed to the zoo.

I seriously think that Ami & I must be in sync... we dressed our kids in green shirts and khaki shorts! This is the 2nd or 3rd time we have gotten together and they look more like quads than triplets and a friend.

Love back pictures

3 toddlers and a preschooler riding the bronze elephant

Best Friends all in green

Why don't kids look at the camera when you ask them?

Jaxon fed the giraffe!

Posing with Denver the giraffe

Touching a python in the learning center

The kids were convinced there was a rabbit in the cage.

Everything was going well. The kids were listening, behaving well and then...

We stopped to feed the ducks! Wow! That was an experience. 4 kids. Water. Unpredictable ducks & birds. Oh and hungry mosquitoes who liked nice, clean Ami & Anabelle ankles.

Between the 2 of us we had over a dollar in quarters. This kept the kids quite busy for awhile. At this point we were waiting for Mary to meet us with Brinley. After the pigeon poop missed us by mere centimeters, it seemed like we were waiting an eternity.

Oh. This was the highlight. The water spitting frog.

I want to give mad props to Mary. Her first public playdate was a success! Brinley was the sweetest little girl and Mary handled the chaos like a mom veteran! I guess spending the last 2 1/2 years with triplets has given her a huge advantage. :)

I can only hope that Reese is as good a baby as her future BFF.

Keep checking Ami's blog. I'm SURE she will post more pictures of our adventure at the zoo.

Reese Isabella -25 weeks

2011-09-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had the pleasure of seeing our little Reese Isabella. My OB wanted me to have an ultrasound to measure the baby and my cervical length in order to keep a pre-term labor at bay. Everything looked good with our girl. She was a wiggly little thing and quite stubborn. The tech wanted her to move her hands away from her face so she could see her fingers, but to no avail. Reese wouldn't move them for anything! The coolest thing was feeling her move and actually SEEING a foot or leg move.

Jaxon & my mom joined us for the sneak peak. Jaxon was excited to see his baby sister, until we got in the room. Turns out he was more interested in the jelly the tech used on my stomach than on actually watching his sister. He did see her open and close her mouth and was impressed by this.

Here she is looking away from us. Her legs are curled up on the left side of the picture and I think the whiter oval thing on the right MAY be an ear. Or she could be looking directly at us and the whiter oval thing could be her nose. Who knows? (I feel like Rachel from Friends)

A close up of her head. Looks like she's going to have a cute little nose. One of her hands is in a fist right under her chin. Yup, this is her being stubborn already... God help me!

This one is is just weird to me. It's her lips and nostrils. It does seem like she will have cute pouty lips like Jaxon. How I love that little mouth. Her arms are once again right by her face.

My absolute favorite! She is looking straight at us. Her face already looks perfect to me.

Notice her lips? don't they look pouty? So flippin' cute!

Reese currently weighs 1 lb 9 oz and is measuring perfectly for her gestational age. My cervix is"nice and long" according to the tech. Not sure what this means exactly, but it sounded like good news.

I saw my OB last week and that appointment went well also. I now have to see her twice a month until I am 36 weeks (I think... there's that listening thing I'm no good at). I have gained a mere 6 1/2 pounds. I was quite shocked, I was certain my weight gain this last month would have been in the double digits with as much as I've been eating, but nope, just 4 lbs in as many weeks. 6 1/2 lbs isn't too shabby for 6 months! I may be wearing my pre-pregancy clothes sooner than I thought (knock on wood).

I have the lovely glucose test next week... really looking forward to that tasty beverage!

25 weeks and a proud (& silly) big brother

Apple Annie's Orchard

2011-09-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

Jaxon went on his first-ever school field trip this week! He was so very excited! Like I said the other day, I was unable to go with him, but Brian stepped up to the challenge!

The original plan was for Brian & Jaxon to follow the bus to the orchard. As we got closer to the field trip, Brian wanted to just meet the class at Apple Annie's. Being the teacher that I am, I was not liking this idea. Do you have any idea how stressful that is as a teacher to have a parent and child MEET you there? Ugh. I also know how exciting it is for the kids the morning of the field trip. There is just this cool excitement that goes on. I didn't want Jaxon to miss out on the atmosphere. Then the day before I asked Jaxon if he'd like to ride the bus. Of course he said yes! Oh this made me nervous too, putting my BABY on a BIG bus without one of his parents? Then Brian said he would just leave from our house to the orchard. He didn't even want to follow the bus! Oh dear. I made him promise to text me the minute he saw Jaxon. Yeah, he thought and told me I was neurotic, but this is my little boy we're talking about!

Well, I had no choice but to put my big girl chonies on and give Jaxon some freedom. We went over and over it... You are going on a BIG bus WITHOUT Mama or Daddy. You must sit on your bottom and listen to your teachers. "Yes Mommy, I will brave." He kept telling me.

I dropped him off in his classroom, gave him a few extra hugs & kisses and tried not to show Jax how anxious I was. I'm not going to lie, I got back to my classroom and shed a tear or two. Blame it on the pregnancy hormones right?

Maggie, my parapro, was so sweet. She kept telling me she'd take over the class if I wanted to walk him to the bus. That would be worse I thought for Jaxon. Once he saw me I thought he'd cry when I didn't get on the bus with him. I mean, I can't be on playground while he's out there without stopping by to give him a hug and standing near him for awhile.

So I was a wreck until Brian called and left me this message... "We made it to the orchard. I am holding Jaxon's hand and we are headed to pick apples?" Whew. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank God I charged the camera battery and gave Brian explicit directions to take LOTS of pictures! Well, he didn't do too bad.

Jaxon's favorite thing was to choose an apple, chomp on it for awhile then throw it on the ground. His favorite apple by far were the Sour Apples. He said to me, "The sour apples were so good. I tried a Golden Delicious and it was yuck so I threw it on the ground. The sour ones were good!"
Despite my worrying the field trip was a success and everyone survived!

Oh The Guilt!

2011-09-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

I totally feel like a slacker mom. I have not taken as many pictures. I haven't done any field trips with Jaxon... not even to Target! UGH! It's this new work schedule. I still work part-time but every day. I usually leave school around noon, which is plenty of time to do fun things with Jaxon, but he falls asleep within 15 minutes in the car. So I'm tied to this nap schedule. Then we live SOOO FAR that doing something after nap is unheard of. So I feel this little guilt and then the other day Jaxon says, "Where are we going today? Are we going to do something fun?" Sorry, not today. "We NEVER do anything fun anymore! I don't want to go home!" So yeah. Thanks for reiterating my guilt.

To top it off, I miss Jaxon's first ever soccer practice because I had teacher parent conferences and I am missing his first ever school field trip because I have to teach. I could take the day off, but with a looming maternity leave i have no sick days to spare. Thankfully Brian will be able to go with him. I think it will be a great time for the 2 of them, but I still feel bad I will not be there.

To ease that guilt, I decided to take Jax to McDonald's (aka Old McDonald's) yesterday after school. This IS a treat for us! I think the one and only time I took him to McDonald's was 2 years ago... no joke. He did go once or twice with his babysitter in Rio Rancho, but that's it. I know. The kid is deprived. When I told him we were going to have smoothies & fries at McDonald's the first thing he says is, "Can we play?" Of course there wasn't a play structure at this McDonald's. So in his problem solving way he says, "Let's just drive to Rio Rancho. That Old MacDonald's has a playground. I'll be good for the long drive."

On another note... Jaxon started soccer! Yup, he is officially on a soccer team and I am officially a soccer mom. He looks so flippin' cute in his shin guards, knee high socks and cleats, but have I taken any pictures? Just one.

I wanted to take pictures of his first practice, but it was the day I had to work until 6:30 pm for Parent teacher conferences. Sigh. Brian said he was awesome. I went with him yesterday, but couldn't take pictures because parent participation is expected.

But can I brag? The kid is amazingly smart! The kids all lined up and Coach Kelly says, "What's the first rule of soccer?" Now, Jaxon is the youngest by 2 years. The rest of his teammates are 5. That being said... In a very small voice Jaxon says, "Don't use your hands." The other kids yell out... "Have fun! Run around! I don't know." I had Jaxon raise his hand, Coach Kelly called on him and he was able to tell her the first rule of soccer. Of course he was right. (see amazingly smart). Then she asked for the 2nd rule. Again, in a small voice, "Kick the ball with your feet." Yup. Again. Right. And the other kids... no clue.

That went on the rest of the practice. He always remembered what Coach Kelly had said last week. Not just that, but he followed directions, listened stayed with the group. I just couldn't be prouder. Even though he did take a rest about 30 minutes into the practice. Who could blame him really? It was hot and he's THREE!

Last night we were talking about Reese and I asked Jaxon what he thinks Reese looks like. this is what he said,

Brown hair, blue eyes and dark skin.

Time will tell.

Speaking of Reese. Jaxon and I saw my friend Mary's baby, Brinley, today. As we were leaving he says to me, "I can't wait to touch and see OUR baby."

Me too, Bud, me too.

Do you not just LOVE the happiness on his face? I cannot wait to see his smile when he meets his baby sister!

He read Brinley her first book :)

And lastly, our 24 week belly picture. Hard to believe this is the last week of my 2nd trimester! Where did the time go? I better get my butt in gear getting bedrooms ready!

Don't mind the pigtails... we were headed to soccer.

22 Weeks

2011-09-06T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well, we are more than half way there! It's crazy to think that we now have LESS time than I have actually been pregnant. Does that make sense? The first 20 weeks just FLEW by! It gives me a bit of anxiety to think of how fast this next 18 weeks will go... if we even have 18 weeks. Who knows if Reese is going to take after her big brother or cook a little bit longer?

We are sooo not ready for her arrival! Well, we are ready in the sense that we have a bassinet, crib and car seat so worst case we'll take those out of the garage the days she's born (well, I won't, but we'll find someone.) We still have to move Jaxon into his new room and I want to rearrange Reese's room (Jaxon soon-to-be-old room). I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with the idea of organizing TWO rooms. But, thankfully in 2 1/2 weeks I have a 3 three week break from school and guess what I will be doing?

Since we are more than half way, I thought I would do a little update on the pregnancy so far.

Actually, not much to report really. If it weren't for my growing mid-section and achy back I would forget I was pregnant. It truly has been another easy pregnancy. Thank goodness!

The last time I wrote about the pregnancy I had yet to gain weight, well people, those days are long gone! This baby likes to eat! Reese is always hungry! (That was a lot of exclamation marks) I am positive that I have gained at least 5 pounds since my last check up 2 weeks ago. Hey, when else in my life am I going to be ok with gaining 5 pounds in 2 weeks?

About 2 weeks ago someone asked me if the baby was moving a lot and honestly, no she wasn't. Compared to Jaxon, who I started to feel at 16 weeks, Reese barely moved. This person-who-shall-remain nameless, called her lazy. Reese was not going to put up with that! Literally the next day or so she made her presence known! I think she is going to be a party girl. She sleeps all day and starts to rouse around 8:00 pm until around 5:00 am. Super. As long as it is simply an in utero thing, I'm cool.

She is already a Daddy's girl. The first day I felt she was kicking strong enough for an "outsider" to feel her, I told Brian to bond with his girl. Jaxon would stop the minute Brian touched my stomach. Not Reese. She followed his hand. Each time he'd place his hand on her she would give him a little shout out. So sweet. She doesn't feel the same about her big brother or grandma though.

The progestrone shots are going well. Actually they don't hurt as much as I had thought. The first 3 weeks were rough, I'm not going to lie. The days following the shots were not fun. It was had to sit or lie down and sometimes it even hurt to put pressure on that leg. On the 4th week I started taking Juice Plus vitamins. Seriously, I think they are magical! Ever since I have been taking them, the after effects of the shot are totally bearable! Now, the shot itself hurts like h$#!. If you've never had a progestrone shot, you can literally feel the medicine seep into your muscle. It also doesn't help that Jaxon watches and says, "Does it hurt? Does that hurt, Mom? Does it hurt now? Do you want a lollipop?"

If you are interested in Juice Plus, check out Nicole's blog... she is my Juice Plus dealer :)

I only have 15 shots left! I can do it!

My latest belly pictures....

Notice the growth is one short week?

LOVE Jaxon kissing his baby sister.

For those of you that may have comments about how "large" I am, my belly measures the right amount for as far a long as I am. I measured 21 cm at 21 weeks, which is where I was with Jaxon.

That's all folks. :)

Labor Day

2011-09-05T15:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a nice Labor Day weekend around here! We went out to lunch, did a little shopping, had a couple different friends visit, got some ice cream and were lazy for an entire day! How great to have an extra day off. It definitely makes me miss my old work schedule... work 2-3 days a week have a 3 day weekend each week.

Brian & Ami were kind enough to stop on by Sunday evening for an impromptu playdate. Good times!

Ami had the BRILLIANT idea of cutting watermelon into shapes. Let me tell you, heart & star shape watermelon tastes SOOO much better than regular watermelon.

The kids admired the desert from our newly lowered back wall

Future husband and wife had a moment to themselves

SUPER ADORABLE!!

Oh how I hope they do get married... can you imagine how great the wedding slide show will be??

We roasted marshmallows.

Yes, I know this picture is crappy, but I didn't want it to look like we were roasting marshmallows in broad daylight.

We did a little painting

The kids played in Jaxon's bed. Seriously hilarious! I hope that Ami posts the history of kids in one crib.

We did make them get out, but I wondered if we had left them in there if they'd fallen asleep? Yeah. We didn't think so either.

And don't fear... we have chosen a BIG BOY bed for Jaxon and will order it by the end of this week!

Ready to Help!

2011-08-28T14:56:00.000-07:00

Jaxon is SOOO ready to be a BIG brother. Actually, he already says that he is. He asks me almost on a daily basis, "Mommy, what are we going to do with this baby?" The first time he asked was one of those days when I was actually thinking the same thing myself, "What are we going to do with TWO kids! How will we split our time?" So I said to him, "I really don't know Jaxon." He responds, "MOOOOM, we are going to give her a bottle, we'll change her diapers, we'll tickle her and we'll give her kisses." Talk about melting my heart and putting a mom at ease!

Honestly, I am seriously amazed with this child and the words that come out of his mouth! Now when he asks he doesn't even let me answer. He just rattles off things we'll do (more like he'll do)... teach her how to use the frog potty (he'll even help her sit up since she won't know how yet), teach her to talk, teach her to pedal a tricycle, feed her, hold her, read her books....

Needless to say, he's ready.

Ms. Courtney (one of Jaxon's teachers) sent me a picture of Jaxon playing at school.

Oh yeah... He's ready!