On Wednesday Feb. 2nd Ethan used his little potty for the first time. He has sat on his potty several times, but when it has come to sitting on it to use it he has wanted nothing to do with the potty. Ethan been vocalizing about going to the bathroom a lot more letting us know when he is going or right afterwards. He has also become really curious about the bathroom itself. If you do not remember to lock the door he will follow you right on in and the entire time ask questions. So with all these cues he has been given us we have left the potty out in plain sight, but have not pushed the issue with him.
This day in particular we were coloring at the dining room table and Ethan was sitting in his chair. I had to leave to deal with Owen and then hear Ethan saying he had pee-peed on the floor. I thought he was saying Sadie had peed on the floor, but when I turned around the corner there was a puddle all on his chair and some on the floor. How he managed doing this with a diaper on is beyond me. So I got him off his chair stripped him and sent him upstairs to his room so I could change him. While I finished cleaning up the mess in the dining room and start to make it up the stairs there is Ethan standing at the top of the steps saying he peed again. This time it was all on the banister, down the wall, and on the steps. I have no idea what he was doing. At this point I was getting annoyed cleaning up pee and told Ethan to go sit on his potty while he waited for mommy to put a new diaper on him that way if he peed again it would be in his potty. With the amounts of pee that I cleaned up I did not think he had anything left in him, but he proved me wrong on that one.
When I went in to tell him to come into his room he stood up and said so proudly that he peed in his potty. He had such a look of accomplishment on his face. I was so excited for him that I clapped and made a big deal about it for him. He just grinned from ear to ear. He helped empty his potty into the toilet and then flushed it. He then got on his stool and I helped him wash his hands. Ethan was so into the whole thing he had to move his stool himself over and get the hand towel himself to dry his hands. He acted so grown up. Since then we have asked if he wants to sit on it and he doesn't seem interested. We did buy pull ups to have on hand if by chance Ethan decides he really wants to try using his big boy potty.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Ethan's adorable sayings.
Ethan is vocalizing more and more as he matures into a little 2 1/2 year old. Sometimes this leads to battles and assertions of independence, but for the most part it is true what they say that kids say the darnest things. These are just a few of the things he has been saying lately.
"I okay" - Typically when he is asked how he is doing.
"You want some too?"- He is very concerned about sharing.
"Yeah sure" or "Okay" - Usually his response to anything.
"I okay" - Typically when he is asked how he is doing.
"You want some too?"- He is very concerned about sharing.
"Yeah sure" or "Okay" - Usually his response to anything.
"Ethan don't like that right now" - The phrase heard many times a day if he is redirected. If we are eating dinner and he is corrected at the table he will say this about his dinner because he is upset that he was corrected.
"We go to the mall and get a Starbucks?!" - This cracked me up. We went to get in the car and go somewhere and this was what he asked.
"Yay, we made it!" - On several occasions he has stated this once we have arrived someplace.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Owen's First Month
From the moment of Owen's birth he has definitely given us some excitement in our lives. His first month was filled with doctor's appointments at least twice a week. Although for being a month early his weight was fairly good at 6 lbs. 2 oz. His first doctor's appointment he had dropped down to 5 lbs. 11 oz. and pretty much stayed at that weight for 3 weeks. So we were going to the doctor's almost every 3 days to check his weight. Finally right before his one month check up he began to gain weight. We dealt with jaundice and a trip to the hospital for blood work to check his bilirubin levels. We had to fend off the stomach virus that hit Ethan then Jarred. Luckily both Owen and I remained free and clear from all the illness. Owen developed a clogged tear duct and was given medicine that after spending half the day going to multiple pharmacies it was concluded that they no longer make the medicine prescribed so I had to go back and have the doctor write a new prescription. On top of everything else going on Owen had colic fits. Finally after 3 weeks of medical hiccups, Owen began to settle down for us and things have been going smoothly ever since.
On the non-medical side of things Owen has been a true blessing. He is a very good baby, despite some issues of not wanting to be put down. We were told that he may have that problem with being early and not getting that extra snuggle time in the womb. For being so little he is a strong fella and pretty early on he started holding his head up high and moving it all around. The pediatrician was very impressed with his legs and arm muscles with being early and how strong he was; this of course was wonderful to hear that he is moving in the right direction.
On the non-medical side of things Owen has been a true blessing. He is a very good baby, despite some issues of not wanting to be put down. We were told that he may have that problem with being early and not getting that extra snuggle time in the womb. For being so little he is a strong fella and pretty early on he started holding his head up high and moving it all around. The pediatrician was very impressed with his legs and arm muscles with being early and how strong he was; this of course was wonderful to hear that he is moving in the right direction.
Jarred and I hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the first time at our new house with Owen only being a week and a half old. I was super excited to use our china for the first time since Jarred and I got married. It was nice too having everyone over and not having to run around with a toddler and newborn.
Ethan has been great with his new brother and trying to help out in any way possible. With that comes some tantrums and seeking for attention. Ethan quickly learned he could get into things while I was nursing. The biggest incident was when he sneaked away upstairs and got into a bottle of nail polish. I heard a crash from him knocking over a 3 drawer cabinet and found Ethan with nail polish on his feet, lips, and tongue. This ultimately lead to a phone call to poison control with not knowing how much he got in his mouth. We have yet to find the nail polish bottle that he had gotten into.
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| Owen's first Thanksgiving. |
Owen finding his hands.
Over the last week Owen has started to find his hands and discover the world around him through touch. He is starting to consciously reach for his toys and hold on to them. Today especially he was using his hands to feel around my face and study it. It melted my heart having him look at me and touch around my cheek and chin and lips. Owen has also been finding his thump and hand to suck on, but he gets pretty frustrated when he realizes it is not his pacifier. He does this cute thing with his arm that looks like he is waving. On a few occasions as well he has put his pacifier back in his mouth, which hopefully will continue to improve because that will really help when he learns to soothe himself.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
The Day You Were Born: Ethan
Being woken up at 6am in the morning thinking you peed the bed is not a very fun feeling, but that was my morning on Friday July 25th, 2008. I rolled myself out of bed and made it to the bathroom just in time for my water to completely break. I calmly walked into the bedroom and woke Jarred up telling him he was not going to be going into work. We then called the on call doctor and was told to take our time and make our way into the hospital to be checked. Since I didn't have any discoloration and was not having any full on contractions there was no need to rush in with morning work traffic. I was suppose to go into work myself for my last day before maternity leave, but instead called my boss waking him up saying I would not be in.
Jarred and I got ourselves ready and put all our belongings for the hospital in the car. We began our trip to the hospital, me of course sitting on several towels. We checked into the hospital around 9:30am and they had to make sure that my water actually broke since I was not feeling any contractions. I already knew I was dilated some since I had started with that a month prior. The doctor did their exam and I was around 3 centimeters dilated and only 50% effaced so they were going to start me on Petocin. What fun!?
I was doing pretty well for awhile with contractions talking through most of them. Jarred had a nice habit of pointing out to me that I was having a contraction from what he saw on the monitor. This got pretty old real fast. Family just chuckled every time Jarred would say something knowing that this would not last for long if he wanted to remain in the room. During a shift change the new nurse noticed that there was a kink in my Petocin line. They had already pushed more cc's of Petocin 4 times prior to finding this kink. So the kink was fixed and I got hit all at once with an abundance of Petocin. Needless to say I proceeded to get really sick. I began throwing up, could not sit on my own, and had the shakes. As quickly as the surge of Petocin hit the nurses were coming in every few minutes it seemed to turn it back down since my contractions had decided to intensify. I was trying to brave through the contractions, but it was advised that I get the epidural while I could in order to have the strength to push later on.
Around 4pm I was checked by the doctor and was at 6 centimeters. I then got my epidural to get some rest and regain some strength. Once the doctor came back from doing a c-section I was checked again and everything had progressed along to fully dilated and ready to push. This was around 7pm and at 8:45pm after lots of pushing Ethan Nathaniel was born. Ethan was 7 lbs. 11 oz and measured 20 1/4 inches long. Jarred got to cut the umbilical cord and then I got to hold our precious little baby boy. All I could do was cry. I was so happy and could not believe that Ethan was here. He has a very special birthday sharing the day with my mom, his Mia.
Jarred and I got ourselves ready and put all our belongings for the hospital in the car. We began our trip to the hospital, me of course sitting on several towels. We checked into the hospital around 9:30am and they had to make sure that my water actually broke since I was not feeling any contractions. I already knew I was dilated some since I had started with that a month prior. The doctor did their exam and I was around 3 centimeters dilated and only 50% effaced so they were going to start me on Petocin. What fun!?
I was doing pretty well for awhile with contractions talking through most of them. Jarred had a nice habit of pointing out to me that I was having a contraction from what he saw on the monitor. This got pretty old real fast. Family just chuckled every time Jarred would say something knowing that this would not last for long if he wanted to remain in the room. During a shift change the new nurse noticed that there was a kink in my Petocin line. They had already pushed more cc's of Petocin 4 times prior to finding this kink. So the kink was fixed and I got hit all at once with an abundance of Petocin. Needless to say I proceeded to get really sick. I began throwing up, could not sit on my own, and had the shakes. As quickly as the surge of Petocin hit the nurses were coming in every few minutes it seemed to turn it back down since my contractions had decided to intensify. I was trying to brave through the contractions, but it was advised that I get the epidural while I could in order to have the strength to push later on.
Around 4pm I was checked by the doctor and was at 6 centimeters. I then got my epidural to get some rest and regain some strength. Once the doctor came back from doing a c-section I was checked again and everything had progressed along to fully dilated and ready to push. This was around 7pm and at 8:45pm after lots of pushing Ethan Nathaniel was born. Ethan was 7 lbs. 11 oz and measured 20 1/4 inches long. Jarred got to cut the umbilical cord and then I got to hold our precious little baby boy. All I could do was cry. I was so happy and could not believe that Ethan was here. He has a very special birthday sharing the day with my mom, his Mia.
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| Moments after being born, Ethan Nathaniel. |
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| Our little family of three. |
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| Our precious angel. |
Thursday, February 3, 2011
The Day You Were Born: Owen
On November 15th, 2011 began a day that changed our lives. Jarred was in California for work and Ethan had spent the night at Grampa and Nana's with his cousin Liam. I was home alone with Sadie. I started waking early in the morning almost every hour with the need to pee. I was so exhausted that it did not fully hit me until around 10 am that this was not pee that I had to keep using the restroom for, I was leaking amniotic fluid. I was also having a lot of cramping and discomfort. I immediately called the doctor and made an appointment to go see my doctor. I was full of so much emotion, but tried to remain calm. I called and talked with Carol and told her what was going on. She of course tried to keep me calm and on track. Jessica was on her way already to pick me up, but to her surprise it would be to the doctor's not our dad's house.
I called Jarred whom was preparing for his big lecture at his work conference. He thought that I was calling to wish him luck, but actually it was to tell him that I was pretty sure I was going into labor and had an appointment to see the doctor. Jarred was rather taken back from this information and truly thought I was playing a joke on him. As he quickly came to realize that it was no joke he asked for me to keep him updated as he rushed off the phone to make flight plans and talk to his boss.
Jessica arrived at the house a little after 11am and she helped get my bags in to the car as well as water proof her front seat of the car. Haha. We began the journey to the doctor's office and all the mean while I was having minor contractions and leaking more fluid. Jessica in order to relieve the stress was trying to keep me in good spirits. As soon as we got to my doctor's and I stepped out of the car my water completely broke in the parking lot. It felt like a scene right out of the movies. So I waddled into the office and was checked and sent straight to the hospital. I was already 4 centimeters dilated and 75% effaced. My doctor clearly stated to me "You need to go directly to the hospital, do not pass go, do not collect $200 dollars, do not stop for anything, go right to the hospital."
We arrived at the hospital greeted by my mom and dad and we made our way up to labor and delivery. Just the same as when I was there with Ethan, the nurses station did not seem to think I was in labor, especially this time with Owen. They were going to put me in a room to be checked out and sent home until a nurse who had information from my doctor spoke up and said that I was in active labor and was having this baby today.
As I got settled into my room around 1:30pm I was started on antibiotics and petocin. I had my consult with the anesthesiologist and was trying to get some rest. Jessica was doing a great job keeping Jarred updated and he luckily was able to get a flight back home, but would not get into BWI until around 10pm. After a few hours on petocin I was starting to have pretty regular contractions under a minute apart and they were beginning to become intense. I asked for the epidural. They checked me and I was at 6 centimeters and 85% effaced. Everyone was asked to leave the room and they began to prep me for the epidural. As I tried to sit still on the edge of the bed I felt the urge to push and kept telling the nurse that I could not sit still any longer. Needless to say that as soon as they could get the needle out of my back and check me I was fully dilated and they could see Owen's head. There was no time to push meds this baby was ready to come out and fast.
The nurse called in my mom and said that I was ready to push. In under 10 minutes with just a few good pushes Owen Bradley Nicholls was born at 6:29pm weighing in at 6 lbs. 2 oz. and measuring 19 3/4 inches long. After having the cord unwrapped from his neck he finally let out a scream and my little bundle joined the world a month early. I was able to hold Owen for a few minutes and they took him up to NICU to check his lungs and he had low blood pressure and low blood sugar.
After I got settled into my new room, several hours later, Jessica wheeled me upstairs to the NICU to check on Owen. When we got back it was not too long after that Jarred arrived at the hospital and we made our way up to the NICU for him to meet his new son. We were greeted with great news that Owen was going to be released to the well baby nursery, so we got to stay with him until then. It was a very long, emotional, and chaotic day, but the end result was an absolute miracle.
I called Jarred whom was preparing for his big lecture at his work conference. He thought that I was calling to wish him luck, but actually it was to tell him that I was pretty sure I was going into labor and had an appointment to see the doctor. Jarred was rather taken back from this information and truly thought I was playing a joke on him. As he quickly came to realize that it was no joke he asked for me to keep him updated as he rushed off the phone to make flight plans and talk to his boss.
Jessica arrived at the house a little after 11am and she helped get my bags in to the car as well as water proof her front seat of the car. Haha. We began the journey to the doctor's office and all the mean while I was having minor contractions and leaking more fluid. Jessica in order to relieve the stress was trying to keep me in good spirits. As soon as we got to my doctor's and I stepped out of the car my water completely broke in the parking lot. It felt like a scene right out of the movies. So I waddled into the office and was checked and sent straight to the hospital. I was already 4 centimeters dilated and 75% effaced. My doctor clearly stated to me "You need to go directly to the hospital, do not pass go, do not collect $200 dollars, do not stop for anything, go right to the hospital."
We arrived at the hospital greeted by my mom and dad and we made our way up to labor and delivery. Just the same as when I was there with Ethan, the nurses station did not seem to think I was in labor, especially this time with Owen. They were going to put me in a room to be checked out and sent home until a nurse who had information from my doctor spoke up and said that I was in active labor and was having this baby today.
As I got settled into my room around 1:30pm I was started on antibiotics and petocin. I had my consult with the anesthesiologist and was trying to get some rest. Jessica was doing a great job keeping Jarred updated and he luckily was able to get a flight back home, but would not get into BWI until around 10pm. After a few hours on petocin I was starting to have pretty regular contractions under a minute apart and they were beginning to become intense. I asked for the epidural. They checked me and I was at 6 centimeters and 85% effaced. Everyone was asked to leave the room and they began to prep me for the epidural. As I tried to sit still on the edge of the bed I felt the urge to push and kept telling the nurse that I could not sit still any longer. Needless to say that as soon as they could get the needle out of my back and check me I was fully dilated and they could see Owen's head. There was no time to push meds this baby was ready to come out and fast.
The nurse called in my mom and said that I was ready to push. In under 10 minutes with just a few good pushes Owen Bradley Nicholls was born at 6:29pm weighing in at 6 lbs. 2 oz. and measuring 19 3/4 inches long. After having the cord unwrapped from his neck he finally let out a scream and my little bundle joined the world a month early. I was able to hold Owen for a few minutes and they took him up to NICU to check his lungs and he had low blood pressure and low blood sugar.
After I got settled into my new room, several hours later, Jessica wheeled me upstairs to the NICU to check on Owen. When we got back it was not too long after that Jarred arrived at the hospital and we made our way up to the NICU for him to meet his new son. We were greeted with great news that Owen was going to be released to the well baby nursery, so we got to stay with him until then. It was a very long, emotional, and chaotic day, but the end result was an absolute miracle.
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| Daddy meeting Owen after a long flight home. |
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| Transferring Owen from the NICU to the well baby nursery. |
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| Ethan meeting his baby brother. |
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| Then there were four! |
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| Getting ready to head home. |
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