Weekly Goodies!

Jane might be the most angelic child ever. The last couple of weeks she has been in so much pain with teething and she's been a champ through it all. Poor girl has developed a blood blister on her back molar because it's been trying to break through for a solid two weeks now. It's cool, we're on an all ice cream diet now.

Anyhow, with Jane she can't just cut one tooth, she likes to make it a teething party, and one of her many teeth finally cut through today! woohoo! Pictures to come later.

WEEKLY GOODIES:
Jane spent a considerable amount of time this morning trying to get Zebra to fit in her trunk.

I caught Jane sharing her milk with her bear yesterday. I melted. What an awesome big sister she is going to be!

Jane has gotten really good at creative problem solving. She looks out the window with ease now.

Nothing like balancing on one foot on a good set of wheels on hardwood to keep you up. No fear in this girl.

We eat everything with spoons now. Even oreos.

Jane is doing her share of chores around the house.

I made salsa and Jane just about lost her mind with excitement. When I gave her some on a chip she looked at me like I was ridiculous and handed me a spoon. She then proceeded to eat about 2/3 cup of salsa. From a spoon. I would find this strange but the Brunson grandkids do it all of the time. Apparently it's genetic because even in Wisconsin she figured it out.

Apparently my taking pictures of her being awesome was insulting.

Jane's hair is at an awkward length where it can't really stay down but it's tricky to put up. Then I realized that it actually fits in a ponytail! Adorable.

Jane crawled into the cupboard. No big deal.

This is Jane's top secret hiding spot. She regularly hides treasures or herself back here and then giggles with excitement over her ingenuity.

treasures.

12-Week Ultrasound

This morning we were able to go in for my 12-week scan. We are happy to report that we saw a perfect, wiggly little baby! We saw no blood and one perfect little placenta. The ultrasound gave us an awesome picture of our little one (who actually looked like a baby this time!) but unfortunately the pictures didn't come out as clear as I had hoped. Anyhow, here is proof of our cute little bundle of joy:

Plus I was measuring a three days ahead of schedule (at 12.3 measuring 12.6), woohoo!

Thank you for all of your prayers. We are so excited to have no more bed or pelvic rest. I've been super sick and had lots of migraines, but those are absolutely preferable to the stress of not knowing if our baby would make it. We are so, so grateful and can't wait for Jane to be a big sister!

Things That Make Me Happy

My greatest internet finds of the week:

"My Life and Kids"

—specifically http://mylifeandkids.com/2012/09/annoy-your-husband/ 

--- http://mylifeandkids.com/2012/01/five-ways-to-be-a-great-friend/

"How To Be A Dad"

— The site in it's entirety is pretty awesome, but after an especially stressful week I came across this post http://www.howtobeadad.com/2013/14437/likey-monday-1 and I laughed out loud for the first time in too long. Mainly because I was sleep deprived and Jane mildly worships Curious George.

— I'm sure you've seen it circulating on Facebook, but in case you haven't  http://www.howtobeadad.com/2012/10327/1-10-baby-sleep-positions-collectio 

Surviving Almost Bed Rest

After my last bleed I really tried to take it easy. Things still weren't feeling "right" and I tried to do my best to listen to my body. Scott is now scary good at reading my body by looking at me. This is good because there are days when I'm so sick of being stuck on the couch, but when he knows I'm not doing well he makes me lay down anyway.

Scott has been Superman. Not only is he waking up early (and quietly so I can sleep) but he heads off to work 9 hour days only to come home to play with Jane, make dinner, clean up, make sure Jane gets down to bed, makes sure I'm taken care of, and then he irons all of his clothes for work, makes his lunch, and studies like a champ. I cannot give him enough praise, he has been amazing.

Our little family has been so blessed by an outpouring of concern and blessings from friends and family. We hadn't told many people what was going on before my post, but I felt like it was important to document. We have received countless offers of assistance. THANK YOU. Even though we only took a few of you up on them, every offer helped. We still are keeping you in mind in case we need anything.

Saturday morning was especially hard and I was blessed to have my good friends Katie and Steve kidnap Jane for the morning. Jane had a blast and took the best nap of her life following the visit. While Jane was gone my neighbor Janey showed up at my doorstep and cleaned my bathrooms. Talk about a Saint. Seriously, only true friends would watch a crazy toddler or clean a dirty bathroom.

When Scott got home that afternoon (he had meetings all morning) he cleaned the rest of my house. It was amazing. It's been a while since my house was clean and it's hard knowing that I can't do anything about it.

For the last several weeks Jane has been dressed like a ragamuffin. This particular day I could hardly function and Jane somehow managed to access a banana (from our high kitchen table), brought it to me, and signed "please". It was adorable. I was so grateful for her independence at that moment because feeding her has been a challenge.

Jane and I have both been loving the electric blanket I got for Christmas.

Here is superman. Jane has tried to go with him to work every morning since we got back.

Daddy dressed Jane.

Jane dressed herself.

We don't normally watch much TV in our house. Jane watches Curious George while I cut her fingernails or if I need to buy a few minutes to take out the trash and that's ordinarily about it. She has been seriously enjoying screen time while I am out of commission. We literally watch Tangled every day. We limit it to one movie and I've been incredibly grateful for the time that it buys. Here she is dancing to the music.

Jane has been such a helper. I have never met a child so young who is so good and obedient. She is always looking for ways to help me so I try to do my best to find ways she can help. Last night we ran out of diapers in her "diaper drawer" in the living room. I gave her a package of diapers and showed her how to put them in the drawer. One by one she filled the drawer until it was overflowing and the package was almost empty. She truly is the sweetest, kindest, most loving kid I've ever met.

A Less Than Welcome Womb Buddy (SCH)

I realized later I never revealed on our blog that we are pregnant. Sorry about that. We are, but it's been a scary experience so far.

We found out we were pregnant while I was in Utah visiting my sister for Thanksgiving. We were elated. Plus we had an answer for why I had been so sick (which I'm sure was a relief for my sister and her preemie twins).

A week later I started bleeding. After a less-than-ideal visit to the ER we were basically told that we should follow up with my OB that week and she would give me answers then. In the mean time, I was put on bed rest. When I arrived for my appointment a few days later I saw that the ER had schedule it as a "follow-up miscarriage". Apparently their "wait and see" was "wait and miscarry". My OB did an ultrasound and found this:

Blood in my uterus. You'll notice the baby is not in the sac (as it should have been) and blood 3x the size of the sac. It didn't look good. BUT my doctor told me that my cervix was still closed and the baby survived the initial hemorrhage, which was a good sign. Unfortunately the blood (a sub-chorionic hemorrhage) was really large and my odds still weren't great of this baby surviving. One of the biggest concerns was that I should have been 7.5 weeks and as you can see in this picture... I was measuring barely 6 weeks. No heartbeat. We still didn't know whether we were dealing with a baby who was just waiting to pass or a baby who was just conceived on a weird cycle. I made an appointment with my doctor for the following week and prayed A LOT. We told our family what was going on and asked for prayers. I was kept on pelvic rest and doing as little as possible. I cannot thank our friends enough for helping with Jane during this time.

The next week at my OB we saw this:


 A baby AND a heartbeat! We were so relieved. Med school was even kind enough to excuse Scott for the morning so that he could be there with me. The blood was still present, but there was MUCH less than the week before and the SCH seemed to be resolving. Somehow our sweet little fighter made it through this. It was our very own Christmas miracle.

The only downfall (as you might have noticed on my ultrasound) is that after a week I was STILL at 6 weeks. This marks 3 consecutive appointments where I was told I was six weeks along. I'm not sure how that happens. But I'm on my third due date of August 4, 2013.

Unfortunately during Christmas break I bled twice and right after getting home I bled again. This time a lot. On Jan. 2nd I had another appointment and we saw this:

One perfect baby. One perfect heartbeat. No more blood. Our best guess is that I had finished bleeding out the hemorrhage. Somehow we had made it through this.

Then last night I bled again. I'm still bleeding today whenever I'm upright. Good thing toddlers don't require any attention and I can lay in bed all day (...right?)

I'm sorry this wasn't a very happy post... we are extremely grateful that our baby (at least as of our last appointment) is doing well, but it's extremely scary to bleed at any point of pregnancy. Especially regularly. I can't seem to make it more than a week and a half (in order to be off of pelvic rest and being told to do as little as possible I need to make it three weeks without blood).

Please send prayers.

Christmas in California (aka A Gazillion Pictures)

For Christmas this year we decided to go to California. We kept it pretty low key considering I was stuck on the couch for most of the trip. Jane learned some important lessons:
Climbing on antiques is fun.

A Grandma is a lot like a Mama, except she will give you sugar.

Windows are infinitely cooler when they are low enough for her to look out.

Things found in low drawers are fair game for toddlers. Also everything is a hat.


Dogs are absolutely worth obsessing over.

So much that Grandma bought her her own "Woof Woof" to take home.

If you sit on the island, Grandma will bring you all of your favorite foods.



Toys are not as fun as the containers they come in.

Baths in the sink are terrible.

But when your grandma knows you well... she knows just how to cheer you up.

All you can really depend on is bananas.

Christmas trees seem like fun, but you aren't allowed to touch them.

Christmas dresses make all of the ladies at church swoon over how cute you are.


One time, Mom put Dad in charge of me so she could change into sweats. Dad made the mistake of setting me in my crib. It was terrible.

The best toy in the house.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Grandma always has juice and she always shares. This cannot be said for Mom.

Grandparents are the best. Good thing I have like a hundred of them.



Grandpa got Grandma bullet earrings. Clearly she was thrilled.


The only thing stranger was mom's gift.

For some reason the woof woof wasn't invited to Christmas dinner. I spent the evening petitioning on her behalf.

For Christmas Mom told Dad she wanted a microplane. Dad heard "small plane" and not "handheld grating device". On the bright side, I have a new toy now.

Sleeping dogs are the best. When their eyes are shut, they don't see you coming and you can lay right on top of them.

——
On Christmas day we went to Grandma Beth and Phil's for lunch.

Four generations.

Jane was glad on the good days when I could get off the couch and play with her.

Christmas is Grandpa Roy's birthday so we headed to Santa Monica for the festivities.


Every year Grandpa has a pinata. The tradition is that the youngest gets to swing first. Last year Jane was too little, so she was excited to finally be able to participate.

Scott and Rick had been looking forward to go-kart racing. They had a great time. Unfortunately I was on try-not-to-puke-while-you-chase-the-toddler-for-two-hours-in-a-hazardous-place duty. Sometimes being pregnant has it's downfalls. Next year.


Jane has her grandpa wrapped around her finger. It was adorable. She followed him around and was always wanting hugs or whatever food he had. When he would leave she would sit at the baby gate and yell, "gwapa! gwapa!"

We were blessed to be able to attend Scott's Aunt Cathy's wedding. She looked radiant and her husband was really nice.

Jane was mostly in it for the cake pops.



Overall it was a wonderful trip. Nice and relaxed, which was exactly what we needed. Rick and Janet were SO much help with Jane, but alas in the end, the cold white north called us home.