no rhyme or reason

Lately I suck at blogging so here's the latest in no particular order:

Me--Um, recovery so far is pretty good. I'm off pain meds and have been for over a week. I'm still making about a gallon of milk more than Simon needs and freezing it. I took a couple gallons worth over to a friend's, because my freezer ran out of space. I'm slowing down though, which is good. I've lost 15 pounds of the 30 this pregnancy gained, and am fairly positive that the remaining weight is residing in my butt. I'm tempted to bust out the yoga dvd from college days, but somehow I know it isn't going to be as "fun" without Jenny and Mel mocking Denise and saying things like "squeeze that hiney baby!" ....definitely not fun without them.

Chris--is being amazing. He comes home and plays with Ava for 2-3 hours in a feeble attempt to wear her down--there is no end to her energy. tonight he made dinner even. He helps when I need him during the night, and even gets to work on time, without any help from me. He makes sure that Ava doesn't mawl Simon, and that I'm getting the nutrition that I need. I'm not sure how he does it. Super man for sure!!

Simon-seizure free for almost 2 weeks. Tested his pheno level Saturday--doc called today and said it's right where it should be. HORRAY! He's getting his circumcision tomorrow. They opted not to do it last week, because he had a rather horrific pheno level blood draw--which proved to be useless, because they didn't draw enough blood--hense the draw on Saturday. Foot pricks are better than Head blood draws anyday! He weighed in at 8 pounds 6 ounces last week. Will update with new stats tomorrow. There should be more for me to write here, but he's going to wake soon for a feeding...it's karma.

Ava--still full of energy that seems to never end. Thanks to Glitter books from Angie, we now have a bed time routine though, and she's falling asleep almost on her own. If we could just get that on her own sleeping time from 11:3o to 9:30 my life would be a lot more coherent. Chris and I alternate nights of putting her down. She was staying up until 1:30am when I first got home from the hospital, so we are making progress.

Weather--dear snow storms, I hate you. I'd like that gorgeous spring weather that appeared when I was in the hospital to return. Thanks. Snow storms after the spring equinox are unacceptable.

Basement--supposedly the tile and carpet will be going in this week, as well as the bathroom vanity and other fixtures. It should be finished this week. should. I am not sure I'm going to believe it until I see it. We fired RNR carpet, because they back ordered us twice--even though we paid for the carpet in advance--and then they lost our measurements....and were just overall not very impressive. Hopefully Giant Carpet will be better--but I'm not getting my hopes up. My experience with this whole ordeal is that the renovation/construction business is full of really poorly run businesses--with even worse organizational skills due to not utilizing today's technology...but that's another rant entirely. I'm sure once it's done, I'll be glad that we did it...but lately, I'm over it.

Ok well Simon is not yet awawke, so I'm going to lie down, because this will...of course, cause him to wake and his hungar to be greater than Ghandi's. Hope you enjoyed the randomness that wasn't as random as it could have been.

Ava is so funny! She has this obsession with makeup--and believes that it all is for the mouth. She found my mascara today, and applied it like lipstick. Then she went to use some on the wall--I said "no no!" and she wiped it off, and then said "shhhhh" and ran to the back door, hid behind the curtain and laughed. She also paints her nails with mascara, and her eye brows. Her joy is to make everything "go-geous." She is an amazing artist in the works!

Simon did well last night. I pumped before bed, and took a bottle with 3 ounces up with me. When he woke up, I just fed him the entire bottle and he slept for 3 hours. It seems to be that he sleeps an hour for every ounce during the night. Chris let me sleep in this morning. He took Ava downstairs and fed her breakfast and colored and watched Sleeping Beauty, all while Simon and I snoozed. I got up pretty late, about 11:30 and made us french toast and starting eating everything in site. Love those days.

Chris is off doing homework now. He is so stressed about the end of the semester. He's been a bit of a zombie the last week or so. I hope his anxiety lets up so that he can actually make progress. He's so intelligent, but that stupid anxiety locks up his mind and he becomes mentally paralyzed. I can't imagine how frustrating that must be for him. I wish there was more that I could do to ease his mind and stress.

Bath time!!!

great evening

Simon+Aves+ Chris+ Caramellos+ Redvines+ Rootbeer and Twilight on blu-ray.

3 days and everyone is still alive!

so we are on day 3 of being home. I now understand why my brother's blog isn't updated very often. Having a 2 year old, and a baby who needs constant observation, leaves zero time for fun things like blogging. Simon went from eating 3 ounces every 4 hours while in the hospital, to eating like 1-1.5 ounces every hour during the night. This has created quite an interesting milk supply situation. The last two mornings, I have pumped 12-15 ounces. I read that it's best to drain completely when you pump, but after 15 ounces, I'm so bored and somewhat mystified that I usually quit. I'm almost healed enough to nurse him exclusively, which is good, because he seems to hate all the bottles we have been given. He loved them at the NICU, but the ones we have here, don't seem to do it for him. It's definitely been an adjustment.
I'm so glad the weather rocks! Yesterday, Ava went outside to play 3 times. Twice with Hayden and Co. and once with Madison. She was super tired last night though, due to no nap, and so much play time...and had to go for a car ride to get put to sleep. She was out by 10pm though and up at 8am, so we're making good progress on getting her schedule back to normal. While I was in the Hospital, she was staying up till 12:30 or 1 and sleeping in until 11:00. Sandi has been coming over after work this week and helping me make it to bed time. She's headed to St. George today and so I'm on my own--but not really...because tons of people have offered to help should I begin to lose my mind or become overwhelmed.
We're still receiving yummy meals from our ward--which has been a daily miracle. Thank you!! Chris left this morning with a small laugh and "well, good luck hun!" Thanks to prayers and priesthood blessings, I know we're going to make it....day by day....hahaha sometimes hour by hour.

simon is home!

Simon was discharged today about noon. I'll blog more later, hahaha when I figure out this whole...toddler with endless energy + 2o hour sleeping infant scenario that is now my life.

quick update

I went to the rounds this morning--which is when all the NICU doctors meet to discuss each patient and decide the game plan for them. I was able to attend while they discussed Simon. I have to take a moment to thank my mom, dad, Ben and Johannah for teaching me everything they know about Simon's genetic condition. The doctors were very impressed that we had such a grasp on the situation, and how it runs its course. They did decide, however, to monitor him an additional 24 hours, due to the 2:10am seizure to make sure that his current dosage of phenol barb (moved from 15-17 on the 15th) is a good enough dose to control the seizing. They also decided, that since this seizue did not affect his vital signs, that we would not need to have the home care come set up a monitor for him at our house. YEAY!!! He can be monitor free when he comes home.
Simon was awake quite a bit today!! He was up from about 10-12pm while I was with him, and it was so fun to talk to him, and watch him absorb his surroundings.
Chris came and got me, and we headed over to Sandi's to see Ava. She was in the tub, and Sandi had her laptop on the bathroom counter, approving fundings, and watching Ava from the mirror. YEAY for multi-tasking. Ava was pretty excited to see us. Chris made me lunch, and then headed off to study. Sandi insisted that I take some time to rest, as I had not slept much at all. I passed out on the couch after pumping 8 ounces, and woke up to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. Ava was playing barbies, and brought some over to me. She loves to play barbies man! Chris came back about 3 and we went outside to play. I took some pictures of them playing ball. I'm more of an observer these days, as my energy level has not returned. Dang, just watching Ava play and run exhausts me. Will I really get to the point that I can participate again? We went home about 5pm, and Mary brought dinner over at 6:30. I'm pretty sure to told the Shwann man to buzz off for me, and if so...THANK YOU! The dinner was sooooooo yummy. rolls, brocolli chicken and rice casserole. It even was a winner with Ava. Thank you so much~!!
I locked Chris's keys in his trunk....GO ME! Fortunately, his window was open just enough to get a plastic hanger in, and we were able to unlock the driver's door and pop the trunk with the button under the dash. We really need to make extras and stash them with neighbors. I have too great of a history of locking my keys in the car to not have done this already. We came back to the hospital about 8. Sandi and Dave had been here visiting little man, and said he was awake and ready to eat. He ate all of 5 minutes--I guess he had just eaten an hour ago--and really just wanted to be sure I hadn't abandoned him all together. I've never gone 8 hours away from him before. It was really hard! (I pumped 16 ounces between 12pm-8pm!) We stayed in with him until he fell asleep and then headed back to the room they have me borded in so Chris could do some homework. He just got an email responce from his EET professor that he can have an extension on the assignments and tests due this week--horray! Chris has been burning the candle at every angle, and it's wonderful that they are going to help him succeed and are willing to see that his family is a greater priority than an assignment. So, thanks to that professor. He is still hoping to hear from his CALC professor to see if he will allow some additional deadline time as well. Many great blessings!
Well, tonight's game plan is that I go home with Chris and Ava--help him to get her to bed while the hour is still PM (as she's been pushing 1-1:30am bed times since I've been in the hospital) and then fill my tire on the saturn and drive back here. The rounds for Simon should be first tomorrow, as they moved him to pod 1 in the NICU and they get first dibs at rounds. I'm hoping that if I'm there, that I can go first, and then can get back to Ava in time for Chris to get to work...still trying to figure out how that's going to work. nerve wracking. We'll figure it out. Ok well off to get Aves. I repacked Simon's diaper bag in hopes that he will be released tomorrow--but the Lord knows best, and will guide the doctors to what will be best for our little man. I am striving to keep that attitude. We have been so fortunate through this ordeal.

I headed over to the NICU at 12:30 am to feed Simon. He fed for 25 minutes, awake. Then, fell asleep and was woken by his very unskilled mom as I struggled to get his legs back into the sleeper-wires and all after changing his diaper. He woke back up and for about 20 minutes was up looking around. At 2:10am, he had a 10 second seizure. As he turned his head to the far right, I wanted to scream NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but instead called out for Nicole-his NICU nurse. As he started to seize, I looked up at the clock to begin counting the seconds, and continued to call out for Nicole who was briefing another nurse on how he hadn't had a seizure in 34 hours ironically. I finally spit out--he's having one RIGHT NOW!!! By the time she got to the room, he had just finished, because it was such a short seizure. His vitals remained uneffected and in the normal levels. I'm not sure what this means as far as his ability to come home. I'll find out in a few hours. I just wanted to post while this was fresh in my mind.