Deja Vu Roller Coaster - The Grand Finale

I debated for several days about how to approach this post, and in the end decided that honesty is always the best policy.   A blog, by definition, is an online journal, and journals are where you can freely state your thoughts.  Though the ending is a happy one, this post comes with a very different side of my life, which includes rare glimpses into a difficult few days.

Before I began we are happy to announce that our beautiful second son was born at 9:20 am on Friday, February 21st, weighing 6 lbs and 11 oz, and stretching 19 inches long.  Welcome, with love, Cameron James.

Now I know some of you are searching your memory right now to figure out why these pics seem familiar.  Well as many of you know our oldest son, Little Pope, was born at 33 weeks due to preeclampsia, and spent 3 weeks in the NICU getting healthy enough to come home.  When I blogged about his arrival the posts included many of these same pics.  The day he came home was one of the happiest days of my life.  We were so thankful for the wonderful care he received and said good-bye to the wonderful NICU staff, or so we thought.

With my second pregnancy there was so much more monitoring to make sure that the previous issues were headed off, including seeing a perinatal specialist.  In January it was discovered that the baby had low amniotic fluid, and it continued to decrease until delivery.  At my last appointment I was told that the baby had a 1% chance of any breathing issues by the perinatal specialist, and my OB told me that they were not having the neonatology group attend the delivery because they were hoping for a normal delivery.

So Friday comes and we are so excited to meet our new little one.  Everything seems to be going really well and I was super excited to get to hold Cameron.  I wasn't sure how long it would take because Brady's delivery was not normal.  The Nutrition Nazi was going between the baby and myself giving updates, and then about twenty minutes in I heard the words that broke my heart.  My OB had been giving direction on how to help the baby because he was having some breathing issues, but when she asked the nurses to call the neonatologists my heart sank.  Though everyone assured me the neonatologists were just going to try and suction him a little deeper and they would only have him for a few hours, I knew better.  Unfortunately I, as well as our family, had been here before.

I was basically inconsolable for the next couple of hours because I knew the battle that lie ahead in getting him home, and honestly did not want to re-live the experience, especially with a toddler at home.  A few months ago I promised myself if I had to face the NICU ever again that I would be a force to be reckoned with, and I spent the days after Cameron's arrival making sure that everyone in the NICU was working for my son and not just going through the motions of their job each day. Cameron spent six days in the NICU while he worked on getting the excess fluid off of his lungs and learning to feed.

I am not sure how many people go through the NICU more than once, but it is definitely a club I could have skipped joining.

We did, however, get a chance to re-connect with some of Little Pope's nurses.  He apparently left an impression judging by the number of people that remembered him.  Cameron was fortunate enough to have Tanya as his primary nurse as well, which was a ray of sunshine at a very difficult time.

Little Pope was excited when we finally did get to bring Cameron home.

We will see if he still feels this way in a few months!

The family could not be happier that the Littlest Pope is home and doing well!

Like I said in the beginning the ending was ultimately happy, but the journey was not as smooth as we had hoped.  We find closure in knowing that we will never be faced with the NICU again since Cameron is lovingly referred to as our Grand Finale. We feel very blessed to have our sweet little one home and thriving.  All's well that ends well.

Maybe Next Year

I didn't have very high hopes for Little Pope trick-or-treating this year, but still we went out with the hoards of kids in our neighborhood.  My main goal was to get him to wear the costume and not rip it off.

This was the best picture of his costume I took all night.  He refused to wear the fireman hat from the start.  His hi-top converse completed his ensemble nicely.

We went to Uncle Bret and Sarah's for a pre-party, and Little Pope spent a lot of time feeding Paw Paw chips.

And then we attempted to trick or treat.  At our neighbor's house he was more interested in their gardening equipment in their garage than the candy.

We continued on a little further, but it was very clear this was not going to be the year he fell in love with Halloween for the candy explosion.

He was much more interested in playing in his car while Gramma followed as the safety police.

On a different note Little Pope is test driving daycare as our schedules allow.  He is starting daycare in January, but we are trying to get him used to his new surroundings to hopefully minimize the potential separation anxiety.  It is a little grainy, but take a look at how he faired.

Riding the Team Leader like a horse is frowned upon

We will get to the riding the dog thing in a minute, but for now this your friendly reminder that Valentine's day is this coming Thursday, if you choose to celebrate the Hallmark Holiday, as the Nutrition Nazi affectionately refers to the day.  If not, lucky you! 

So I promised I was going to get back to posting recipes, and since I am not one to break promises here you go...Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips or Raisins depending on your preference.

This is a basic Oatmeal Raisin Cookie dough that can be found by clicking here, which will take you to the Quaker Oats website and a recipe called Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.  I have used this recipe for 10 years or so and it remains one of my favorite go-to recipes. 

What's that you say?  You don't like raisins?  Have no fear I have a solution because raisins are not well-liked by the Nutrition Nazi either.  Simply separate the dough into 2 equal portions once you have mixed everything in, but the raisins.  Then add the desired amount of raisins to one of the batters (like I did for my father-in-law) and then add the desired amount of chocolate chips to the other batter (like I did for NN).  Killed two birds with one dough!

Speaking of occasionally difficult/needy... Little Pope always has to be part of the action even if he has no teeth and can't eat cookies yet!  At least he isn't screaming, though.

This past weekend we went to my parents' house for my dad's birthday, but the bigger reason was so that they could spoil our little one even more.  I am quite convinced the look on Little Pope's face was no accident.   My mom is holding him up so he can 'practice' walking and he is smiling because he owns her just like he owns all of his other grandparents.

One final picture I thought I would share...riding the Team Leader like a horse is very frowned upon in this establishment, but we need a break sometimes.  We had to give her chips to get this pic and even then she still is not very happy about it all.  He on the other hand could not be any happier!  The Team Leader definitely earned her keep on this particular day.

Have a great week and a happy Valentine's Day!

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out, God Help Me

I wish someone would have told me that once you have a baby that time starts moving at ten times the speed it used to before you had children.  I have been thinking about posting pics from Christmas for a couple of weeks, but sometimes, ok most days, things go differently than planned.  Mom stop nodding your head at me.  Yes I have learned to appreciate you even more now!  Anyway I digress, so here are a few belated pics from our Christmas.

Little Pope started getting in the Christmas spirit early on!

This was a project I wished I had just left on my Pinterest board instead of actually spending several frustrating hours assembling them.   I think next year someone else can bring the creative aspect to the place cards.                                

                                                                                                                                                              

There were LOTS of cookies and other sweet treats!

Christmas at our house in the morning before grandparent chaos began was nice and subdued.  Afterwards not so much.  We are still cleaning up the toy explosion that belongs to BOTH children.  

Little Pope loved every one of the 15 stuffed animals that he received, but especially the big ones he got from Santa.

Shoes, really?  I tried pointing out that they were really cute, but he wasn't buying it.

Hanging with Grandad.  

Picking up ladies...just kidding.  Posing with his only girl cousin!

Awww!

K has been wanting to hold him for soooo long, and finally got his chance at Christmas!  He was so cute with his really tight grip on Little Pope. 

And the creme de la creme.  Formerly Soon-to-be Grandpa Pat, now known as Grandpa Pat decided Little Pope needed a Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air riffle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time.  This little gem has been safely put away for many years from now, like when he starts college.

Have a great week!