July 14th

Krystal and I went to see fire works on the fourth of July. Aric and Sean stayed home because we spent the day at the water park and Aric had enough heat and sun. Krystal and I had a nice time just the two of us. She is still doing extremely well with Sean. She even asked me to teach her how to put the diapers on him. She can undo every buckle and latch, so we have had to tell her not to take him out of the crib or car seat. She is also not allowed to walk with him. Aric is terrified that she will fall and hurt them both. I've spent my first days at home alone with two children now. It's to hot outside to send Krystal to play so she has been watching TV and playing the Wii with me. There goes another idea that I will not let my child watch TV all day. Sean is to little to handle the heat for long, but we did have a nice trip to the zoo last week. Our family is settling in nicely. Sean is sleeping in the crib in his room and I am getting up two or three times a night to feed him. He is still a pretty calm baby. I look at him and am so thankful to have a healthy little boy after all we went through.

Sean changed the birth plan

Well, true to form Sean changed the birth plan. Less than twelve hours before our c-section he decided that a normal birth would be better. Krystal was in the room with me when my water broke and it scared her. She has seen way more than any child should during this pregnancy. Aric made it from Arlington to Grapevine during rush hour in 13 minutes, good thing I was in to much pain to complain. It happened so fast it was over in less than three hours. I was completely unprepared for how painful labor pains are. He had the cord wrapped around his neck twice, but it did not cause any problems because it was over so quickly. I pushed less than 30 minutes. I think even the doctor cheered when Sean was safely delivered and the pregnancy was over. My recovery is so much better with Sean. I guess I was not exaggerating how painful it was with Krystal. I feel like dancing this one is so much easier. So far Sean is completely different than Krystal. He eats and sleeps like a champion. He does have day and night reversed, but I'm so happy to have a good eater that I don't mind. Krystal is the best big sister I could possibly ask for. She even helps with the diaper changes and laughed when he peed on her during a bath. She gets up in the middle of the night and helps burp him without complaint. I'll be surprised it this continues, but its nice that she is not fighting for our attention.

21 days and counting.

We get to deliver Sean by c-section on June 19th. He weighed 5 pounds 10 ounces at my last doctors visit. I'm so ready. My car seat/stroller was delivered yesterday. Now they will let us leave the hospital. We had to custom order his crib bedding because of the round crib. It should be ready in 2 weeks. We did not have enough going on in our lives, so we scheduled surgery on both of Aric's feet last Wednesday. It was much more difficult than we thought and the anesthesia made him sick. His pain was more than we remembered the last time he had the procedure done on the left foot. He is over the worst of the pain now, but still uses my wheel chair to get around the house during the day. It's a toss up on which one of us looks more pathetic at the moment. The day before the surgery we had to put Tux to sleep. I was to upset to handle going to the vet's office. Thank God Aric's cousin Shannon volunteered to do it and we took her up on it. We are now pet free and it feels strange. Needless to say, Krystal has been a bit emotionally unpredictable. She's had a lot of things to deal with for someone so young. She is still very excited about meeting her brother and talks to him every day. I am ready to be no pregnant any more, but have three long weeks to wait.

On Friday we all went to the doctor. the sonogram estimated that Sean weighs 4-9 now. He refused to let us get a good look at his face. The previous sonogram we got a picture of his face with his eyes open. It was very cute. Aric went to the doctor after my appointment and we are going to try to schedule foot surgery before my c-section on June 19th. Exercising really hurts his foot and we want to try to help him get better before he has to carry more weight. Krystal decided that she wanted to get her ears pierced. We took her Friday evening. She did great, I cried like a baby because she jumped. I had to use the pregnant emotional card to cover my tears when she asked why I was crying. The truth is I tried to leave the store and would have cried anyway. She's my baby and we just passed another milestone. She says her ears are "piered" now. We have had one minor mishap when one came out on Saturday and we had to push it back through with some difficulty. I actually helped then. I'm good in a crisis, just not voluntary pain. We had pictures taken Saturday as a family. My friend who is an excellent photographer came to our house. We did lots of fun poses that I would never have done in public. I think we got some really neat belly shots. I cannot wait to see the one where I am wrapped in red satin fabric. Needless to say.. those will not be posted here. But I will post some of the less exposing pictures when I get them back in a couple months. I hope everyone is doing well and avoiding flying pigs. Ta ta for now.

Tamara

week 31

Today marks 31 weeks gestation. We are all very excited and wondering just how much bigger I can possibly get. My doctor lifted the wheel chair requirement as long as I'm not up for to long. I've had to figure out the hard way that more than an hour out leaves me drained. I am learning so many things that are very humbling at the moment. We had some bushes removed and now I'm wondering how and when someone else is going to be able to plant flowers in the large area. Aric cleared the garden in the back yard and my urge to get out there and plant is very strong. Maybe I will just throw some seeds down and see what happens this year. I have had some pleasant surprises. I was able to register for baby items from home. The Wal-Mart site was the most difficult and time consuming to navigate. Those of you who know me, know my bias against the chain, but I promise their site was the most difficult compared to Target and Babies R Us. Target was the easiest and most fun. It still took all morning and left me very tired. Krystal is doing very well patiently awaiting her brother and the opening of the Hawaiian Falls water park. I think she is more excited for Hawaiian Falls. Aric's school semester just wrapped up and he will start an online class soon. We are down to one vehicle at the moment, so it will be nice for him not to have to be gone from early morning to late night. My last doctors visit had Sean weighing 3-7 on the 60th percentile. The doctor thinks he will weigh between six and seven pounds. I'm pleased to hear that I might be able to use a receiving blanket. Krystal came home at nine pounds and 21 inches long, receiving blankets did not work well with her. I have another doctors appointment on Friday, I'll post more then.

Tamara

week 29

I have had a wonderful week at home. The new pictures are when Krystal saw me at home. Sean weighed 3-2 last Friday and is in the 66th percentile. He continues to have a great heart rate and is very active. We go to the doctor for a sonogram once a week on Fridays. I have been behaving well most days laying around and letting Aric push me in a wheel chair. I got to go to church on Easter which was very nice. It feels weird being in a wheel chair and knowing that I am physically able to stand up. Aric has a fit when I stand to long. My nesting instincts are at war with my brain. I have three people helping me stay in line with my doctors recommendations.

We purchased a monopoly game for the Wii that takes considerable time. Krystal enjoys it.. she's a miser ( it makes me proud). It helps pass the time that I have to be sitting or laying down. I'm so ready to start exercising to get rid of some of this weight, but I have to be patient. Not my strong suit prior to this experience. Just 9 weeks to go before my doctor will deliver Sean. We are tentatively looking at June 17-19 sometime. I will post when we are sure.