Jump Start

Time to jump start this blog. It has been a long time coming. Life has been incredibly busy and I will try to give a very brief summery.

1. In February we found out that our boy had a heart defect called Ebstein's Anomally. To boot, he also had another heart defect called pulmonary stenosis. I was sent to a high risk OB. High risk OB here in town told us that we couldn't deliver in town because the hospital cant handle pediatric cardiac surgery. I was referred to St. Louis, Mo.

2. Before my first appointment in St Louis, I went into preterm labor at 34 weeks along. I was drugged up here at the local hospital and sent to St Louis where labor stopped. I remained in St Louis for the baby's safety and had contractions on and off for two weeks

3. sure enough, at my 36 week appointment I go into labor. Called jim who was in champaign,.....no answer. Calll again and again and again...no answer. Once admitted I called our friend who went over and woke up Jim. Landon was born via c-section at 2:25 pm (i went in for an 11 am appointment) weighing in (nearly 4 weeks early) at 7 lbs 15 oz (yes, one OUNCE shy of 8 lbs) and 19.25 inches long (yes the 0.25 inches is that important to me). Jim didn't make it on time. My mom was the lucky one by my side. Horrible recovery this time.

4. Landon was rushed off to Childrens Hospital (connected to the hospital that I was in ) and placed in the NICU. After 24 hours he wasn moved to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). On day 5, he had a balloon catheder of his pulmonary valve. All was good.

5. 6 weeks later, the valve had shut back up. Repeated balloon catheder this past week and it failed.

6. Open heart surgery is scheduled for the end of the month.

So as you can see, very busy.

Kaitlyn absolutely loves her baby brother and is very protective of him. She is also building more and more of a vocabulary everyday. She never stops talking and is now using complete sentences. However breaking her of the paci is completely a different issue. She is active in her gymnastics class at the little gym. She also enjoys play dough, coloring, and watching any Disney Princess movie out there. She is also a fan of the movie Bolt. She likes having her nails painted. We also also dabbing into potty training but that isn't really going anywhere right now.

So that is for now. Like I said, I am hoping to jump start this blog and start adding pictures as we go along. I am sorry it took so long for me to do this.

Way Too Long (but with good reason)

So it has been way too long since an update has been made. It is entirely my fault since I am the one "in charge" of the site. I had great intentions when I started but they dwindled a bit. So the BIG news is that we are expecting again. Yep, we are knocked up. Well, I am knocked up and quite far into the pregnancy at that. 5 months along to be exact. We did find out that it was a boy and now we feel complete with our daughter and soon to be welcoming a son. I do have to say that this pregnancy is so different than the first time. There was definietely more morning sickness, unfortunately. While Kaitlyn always was way up and playing in my ribs, this boy is the opposite. The good news is that I haven't gotten really huge like I thought I would. I hear the 2nd pregnancy you get a lot bigger than the first. Don't get me wrong, I am bigger at 5 months with this one than I was with Kaitlyn but still not huge to the point where I look "definitely pregnant." well here he is, cute huh?

Our due date is April 23rd (4 days before Kaitlyn's 2nd birthday). We have decided on a repeat c-section so "the day" will probably be a week or two before then. Unless this one also takes us by suprised like Kait. Jim is holding off his tatoo (dedicated to his children) to see what month this one is born in. The tentative name is Landon James. One of the only names we could both agree on. I hope we stick with it, I hate picking names out.

Kaitlyn is doing so well. She is out of daycare since Jim has moved to the night shift. I hope it doesn't bother her too much. However, I can see a BIG different in the relationship between her and her daddy. Dont' get me wrong, she loves her daddy and always has. But with me around, it was hard. Now she gets a lot of just "kaitlyn and daddy" time and it is great. She is a regular parrot and likes to repeat everything. She gets into everything and loves to scream. So I guess she is a normal toddler. Keeping clothes on her can be difficult. If it were up to her, she would run around naked all the time. Speaking of her highness, here she is. This is about the only decent picture I could get of her while trying to get Christmas pictures taken. She just doesn't sit still...again...definitely a toddler.

School is the same for me. Nothing new to report. Like mentioned earlier, Jim moved to the night shift. He works three nights a week (7pm - 7 am). It is still rather new and he is getting used to it still. However, it does save us in childcare costs and he gets a lot more time with his little girl. Not to mention, he doesn't work 4 days of the week :) That is all for now..i will try to keep up

Really, I'm going to try harder

I am going to try harder to keep up with this blog. Then I can actually tell more people about it without feeling bad about not updating it every so often. So a lot of things have come and gone since the last post. We went camping Labor Day weekend. It was nice and sunny and we all had a blast. My dad set up a hay ride for the little kids and Kaitlyn just grinned the entire way through it.

Kaitlyn is now has a large vocabulary and it grow everyday. Her new activity is to go into my tuppeware drawer and bring me every last lid in there...and believe me, there are quite a few lids in there! She is also really enjoying playing outside and going with us when we take the dogs out to go potty. She loves shoes but doesn't want to put them on. Instead she wants to carry them around and remind you that they are called "SHOOOOOOOES."

We have offically announced that we are expecting baby #2 sometime in late April/early May. We aren't sure yet but the sonogram today will give us a better idea when this little one is coming. Though many friends have "blessed" us with multiples....not funny....

We are very excited to be adding on to our family. We are pretty sure this will be the last one. So far, this pregnancy isn't as easy as it was with Kaitlyn. I haven pretty sick and exhausted about 99% of the time. I am really looking forward to that going away....it does go away, right?

This weekend we are headed back to St. Charles to visit family. My grandparents are celebrating their birthdays so we are gathering for that. Being the good wife that I am, bought football (St. Louis Rams) for Jim. Front section, 50 yard line. I hear they are good seats. He is really looking forward to it and I am glad I was able to finally give him something that he has wanted for a long time (besides myself and his daughter :) )

well that is about it for now.

It's been way too long

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since I have updated. I really do not have a great reason for it so accept my apology. One new thing is that we have a temporary foster pup. His name is Dakota and he is with us while he heals from hip surgery

Hmmm.what else is going on? I have found that I am fully funded so I will be graduating some time next year :) that is HUGE and I am sooo excited. I will be starting interviewing this Fall. Yes, companies do interivew that early. So that is pretty exciting. Jim is loving his job still. He is working hard and it shows.

Kaitlyn is a full blown walker now! She loves toddling along though she is still a bit unbalanced. I bought her some new shoes for the Fall so she is all set with her cute little outfits. She also received a mini 4 wheeler that she just LOVES! Unforunately, she loves to drive it around the apartment where there isn't much room. She also has yet to master how to turn it! Her vacobulary is exploding and you have to be careful what you say in front of her :o Her hair is now offically long enough for pigtails. Unfortunately, I accidently left my memory card at school so I couldn't take pics..but they will be coming soon. So here are some picture updates

Blueberries, Tornadoes, Oh My

This past weekend was rather busy for us. The Greer's (Jim's sister, her husband and their two kids) came up for a visit. They made it up around 7:30 PM (Kaitlyn was already in bed) and we sat down to a nice dinner of white chicken chili. I have no idea what we did but I know it included a trip to the movie store and Wii playing. At the end of the night we were in bed around 11:30 pm.

Saturday morning the alarm goes off at 5 am. yes, 5 AM. Why? you ask. Because there were blueberries to pick about an hour and a half away. So the plan was to get there when they open so we wouldn't be stuck in the heat. So we hit the road before 7 am and it already starts to rain. We figure that it eventually has to stop....but it doesn't. We get to the blueberry farm and I strap Kaitlyn to my back and we hit the fields. The blueberries were HUGE but boy did it rain. Kaitlyn did great and didn't complain. In fact, after she had the taste of a blueberry she couldn't turn back and was trying to pick them off the bush herself. After picking we drove 1.5 hours back home. We were back at the apt a total of 10 min we decide to go to the county fair. Kaitlyn rode a pony , went down a big slide and even road a small ride. It was a decent time. We came home, had dinner, and took the two oldest kids to the pool. Again we hit the sack around 11 ish.

Sunday came fast. We rose to blueberry waffle (thanks jim). The Greer's took off around 1 pm and I went into the lab to prep some things.

Monday comes and I get to lab. i was there a few hours before daycare calls..Kaitlyn is super fussy. I, being worried that I might have given her strep, picked her up and took her to the Dr. No strep, thank goodness. I make it back to lab around 4 pm and get home around 8pm. THe phone rings and it is rescue group we volunteer for. One of our dogs that was adopted out was found wondering the streets. The lady who found him refused to give him back to the group (the group always remains part owner). So I drive 45 miles away to get a police escort to get the dog. Long story short, the department was super busy so there was a wait. By the time we got to her house a tornado was coming and we had to turn around. We finally get to her house around 11:30 pm, got the dog, and made it home around 1 am. I had about 3 hours of sleep that night. So here are some pictures

St. Charles, The Zoo and other happenings

Last weekend we headed back to St. Charles with a couple of our friends and their little boy (age 2) to celebrate the 4th of July. We wanted to show them what "real" fireworks were like as St. Charles does give a pretty good display. All of us had the Friday (the 4th) off so we ventured home on Thursday night. We didn't get in too late but late enough that there was only time for a little visiting before we all headed to bed.

Friday morning we were up early (thanks to Kaitlyn) and prepared ourselves for the day. I have to be honest, I don't quite remember what we did in the morning. However, I do remember Kaitlyn took a 3 hour nap that morning followed by another 3 hours nap that afternoon. That put us at a friend's BBQ around 5 pm. We enjoyed a nice spread of food and some games. Around 8 pm we headed to the water front to walk around before the fireworks. It was completely packed. The flood waters created less room for spectators for land was at a premium. We found a nice spot though slightly behind a tree and by the time we settled in, found family members, it was time to start the fireworks show. Kaitlyn was so incredily tired since it was 1.5 hours past her bed time. She laid on my stomach and just watched with wide eyes as the explosions went off. Immediately after they stopped, she was out.

Saturday we woke early yet again (thanks Kait!). It was all right since we had a big day at the Zoo planned. We made it to the entrance around 9 am and started off. About 10 minutes into it, Jim's cousin (her husband and little boy) called to let us know they made it to the Zoo as well. It was nice to catch up with them. Funny this is, they live close to use when we are in Champaign but we see them more in St. Louis. Anyways, the Zoo was a big hit. Kait made it nearly the entire day there before she passed out at the Penguin house. The weather was perfect and our friend's little boy couldn't get over the monkies and turtle (or in his words "turles" ) on our way back to St. Charles, we stopped by the St. Louis Mills for some window shopping before we headed home for the evening. It was a nice night of card playing.

Sunday we woke and headed to my parents house to see them for a bit then back to the Wilson's side for a nice lunch before we headed back to Champaign....completely exhausted.

This past week was trying to catch up with life. Jim has been working full time and sneeking in some studying for his national certification test coming up in the early fall. Kaitlyn loves to say "purple" and play with her purple fruit loops. She can also say "blue" and has kinda said "green" once. She STILL isnt'walking but took a nice step at the Mexican restaurant that we frequent. They love her there! She puts on a nice show and they give her a free ring pop as we leave.

I have a good story about her daycare...but this post is getting long enough...so on to the pictures

Kaitlyn meeting up with her cousin at the zoo







Kaitlyn enjoying the misting fan


Kaitlyn finally crashing at the penquin house


Kaitlyn's "i'm not happy with you" look


Kaitlyn REALLY LOVING the water


My big "helper"




Watching daddy play guitar hero



Big girl at the park


YAY FOR BBQ

This coming weekend

So this weekend (the July 4th weekend) we are heading back to St. Charles for some good ol' fireworks and hopefully some family time. We are leaving tonight after Jim gets off work and hopefully will be in town around 9 pm...but we will see about that. Friday we have a party to go to followed by the fireworks on the river front. Saturday we hope to get to the zoo! Our friends and their youngest are coming with us. I hope they enjoy it! Yes, there will be pictures of this, I promise.

I have to tell you all about my day yesterday. I sign on to our bank account to find that I am -$300. Now, if you know me, you know that I am good with money. I watch our account deligently. SOOOO...what happened? I will tell you...

Our apartment complex took TWO months rent from our checking account...because, well you all know we have an extra $750 that we can just hand out like that :insert angry face: So I call the office. Seems like this happened to everyone who had automatic withdrawl. The corporate office has to write a PAPER CHECK and MAIL it to us. They cannot explain why they can make automatic withdrawls but cannot put money into the account. So after explain how "not pleased" I was, they figured out a way to overnight the check. It should be at my mother in law's house sometime today.....let's hope that happens.

So then I go off to get the oil changed in the Jimmy (not in Jim silly, our SUV). Come to find out we need ALL NEW TIRES...yep, all four. So that was another expense we aren't quite expecting. But we have new tires and that makes me feel a bit safer on the road. What a way to end that day.


Here is the pretty sky a few weeks ago















Here is Kaitlyn , completely exhausted

And here is my girl just being cute