The Daily Hailey

I slept much better last night than I had the night before, which was a relief. It helps when one isn’t up from 4:00am on. The kids were pretty cute, and played well. We ate yummy snacks and had a pretty relaxed day of learning the names of all of Laela’s princesses, and watching some Friends on Netflix.

The kids went down for their nap really well. I wasn’t sure they would, as Laela seemed really energetic still, and squealed at Dekker the whole time I was tucking her in. But they were both asleep in less than ten minutes. While they napped, I rested up as well, watched a bit of YouTube, played Free Cell, and texted a friend or two. Just relaxed. When my mom finally called to say she was on her way over, I decided I should get myself together and look like a human. I had a half hour.

And I accomplished nothing. I put on deodorant and brushed my teeth, and I put my pants back on, haha! But that was it! I found myself sort of running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Yet by the time she arrived, the whole place (and myself) still looked a mess. Luckily, not a drop of judgement dripped off of her. I haven’t had her over in over a month, so we ran around and I showed her everything she’s “missed,” like the paint colors swatched on our walls, my fun little makeup corner I’m putting together, and all the fun new shoes we bought yesterday. I decided to stop showing off our random crap when we started discussing our new sheets. C’mon Hailey, its sheets.

We had a ridiculously yummy supper of perogies and wings, with a cucumber salad on the side. Cucumber salad has turned into my latest cottage cheese concoction, but everyone approved it first, and I made a bit bowl. It was so yummy. We watched a bit of a show, played with the kids, and painted nails. It took a bit to get the kids down, but they eventually did, and we all visited a bit more before mom had to go home. I miss her.

But its time for a soak and a snack. I’m loving these brownies, and can’t wait to eat them again!!

Tomorrow, all I have written in my day planner is “make honey mustard dressing” and “laundry day.” Both are easy and decently enjoyable tasks. I’m looking forward to my cozy day at home 🙂

I was awakened at 4:00 this morning to Dekker sobbing. He never wakes up or cries in the night anymore, so if it spontaneously happens, we go to him immediately. I rushed into their room and found him sitting on his bed, shrucking. I climbed up the stairs and held him for a few minutes until he calmed down. When I asked him what was going on, he asked me for a different blanket. I’ll admit that I immediately lost some compassion for him. Instead of a stuffed toy or something of the sort, Dekker likes to hold one of his old receiving blankets when he sleeps. Doesn’t matter which one, just some flannel to hold beneath his quilt. These days, asking for a new blanket is a stall tactic. I responded with “No, no new blanket right now. Its bedtime, you can finish off the night with this blanket.” I went to grab it and for the life of me, I couldn’t find it. Oh. I guess that was the issue. I couldn’t find it anywhere and wasn’t about to turn on any lights, so I grabbed him a new one, got him a drink of water, and put him back down.

For the next two hours, he proceeded to talk, sit up, play, wake his sister, and general act up. It was infuriating. I was wide awake, desperately trying to shut him down. On a normal night, I would have likely given up and left him to his own devices, knowing Laela would possibly go back down once he woke her, and that life would go on, and thats just what happens when little kids share a bedroom. But we had plans to go into the city later in the day and I needed the kids to not be totally shot. They were eventually both back to sleep around 6:30. My poor body. It seems to kind of depend on those nighttime hours to make it possible for me to walk the next day without excruciating pelvic pain and the sort, and I lost many of those hours. I have no idea how you mothers of non-sleepers do it. I did get another hour in before we were all up for the day, but very literally all day, I felt as though I could (and likely would) burst out into tears at any moment. Suuuper unstable and emotional. Hormones! Yay!

 *merp*

I was fading badly in the morning while the kids played, and knew I wouldn’t make it through the day with the way I was feeling, so I put the kids down for their nap about a half hour early, in hopes that they would actually fall asleep and sleep for a couple of hours before we left, so we could all be a little bit refreshed. Magically, it worked! Both kids were asleep within minutes. I gathered up a big bowl of cucumbers and tomatoes, threw some cottage cheese and sunflower seeds on top, and wolfed it down in hopes that it would bring energy. It was delicious, but I knew it wasn’t enough, so I indulged in a brownie. Then I lay in bed and dozed a bit while Friends played on Netflix. When it was about 2:30, I got myself ready at a nice relaxed pace. I got dressed and put my makeup on, and made a bit of noise to lull the kids. Right around 3:00, it was their turn to get up.

Dekker was ready and excited to get up. Laela, on the other hand…

…was trashed in the cutest little stretched out position that there ever was. I got Dekker ready and dressed first as Laela slowly woke up. Dekker woke her with his sweet little high-pitched call, and I got her all cute and ready as well. We hit the road right around 3:30, which had been the original goal. Yay for getting two kids out the door on time!

We met Brady in a parking lot near his work and left his work van there so we could run all of our errands together, which we all prefer. We started at Dr. Mikes office, where he assured me I was in better shape than the last time he’d seen me, and then proceeded to hurt me anyway. My poor pelvis. Just a few more weeks of the craziness! Brady entertained the kids in the van while I was in my appointment.

Then we hit the mall nearby, which was by far our most successful chunk of shopping day, in my opinion!

My mom had tipped us off that Dawgs was having a really good sale on everything in the store, including the cute little slip on shoes for kids. I loved the idea of getting Laela some cute sparkly slip ons and something new for Dekker as well, since he hates sandals and is in runners all summer. Brady could also use a pair of something to wear through the houses he works in once the flooring is installed. He currently rocks slippers, which works, but we figured some Dawgs would be nicer on his back. So all of that considered, we figured we’d duck in and see if we found anything. We got to the mall right as Jerilee got off of her shift at work, so she met us at the store and we all shoe shopped together. Best. Haul. Ever.

Besides the two pairs that Jerilee bought, our little family ended up with seven new pairs of shoes, and we paid $50. Unbelievable. Of all the shoes though, Dekker LOVED his blue ones! He ended up wearing them out, and he ran instead of walked for the rest of the evening. He was invincible, and he loved it. Seriously, a HUGE win! I’m just kicking myself a little bit that I didn’t inquire more about colors for Laela. I tried to get her another color or two, but out of what I asked for, this is all they had for her. But I should have asked about the more neutral ones. Oops. Oh well, pink is cute!

After Dawgs, we parted ways with Jerilee, and we hit up Superstore. I bought a few new products that I’m really anxious to try over the next little while, as well as some much-needed groceries. It wasn’t a big shop at all, but big enough to justify cookies for the kids. As per usual, they were very happy to get their treats. While we waited in line to pay for our stuff, I crouched down for some face time with my son, and he gave me a big kiss before sticking his cookie into my mouth. Now, my boy is a very sweet boy, but sharing a cookie is a pretty big deal. I made a really big show of it and gave him lots of hugs and kisses. What a generous soul.

Since they were already eating, Brady dropped me off at a different mall to take advantage of a great deal that Thyme Maternity had, and he drove to a nearby restaurant and grabbed some food for all of us. They came back and picked me up, and we ate in the van. I had bought three shirts at Thyme and paid $30. A VERY good deal!

Our last stop was Costco, and the kids were fading pretty hard. Also, I was really feeling my chiropractic treatment, and was having trouble walking without walking the wrong way, which does more damage in the end. No waddling for me. So I stayed in the van, but Dekker really wanted to do Costco, so he and Brady did it together while Laela and I hung out in the van and ate a few more french fries.

The kids slept the whole way home and cried through us putting them in jammies. Poor tired kids. But they are now down, and I am more than ready for a soak in the tub! My poor aching body, haha! I have a co-dependant relationship with my bathtub.

And as I previously mentioned, I have the same relationship with the brownies on my counter. Yum…

I can honestly say that today was probably my favorite Tuesday out of all of my recent Tuesdays. We went to bed early last night so I felt pretty rested this morning, and the kids were super cute and did great at breakfast. Laela had been a bit moody yesterday and it seemed like she and Dekker traded off, so Dekker was a bit twitchy after breakfast, but nothing that cuddling wouldn’t solve. They did well over lunch, and went down for their nap very well. Apparently, they were more than ready. Maybe they party all night and we just don’t know about it.

After they went down for their nap, I did some stuff on the laptop before making myself look like a human. Brady and Jerilee both texted from roughly the same place around the same time to tell me they were on their way over, so I washed my hair and finished up my makeup. Brady beat Jerilee by less than five minutes and came bearing noodle bowls for supper. The kids got up and we all ate supper together. However, we couldn’t stay to play, and Jerilee and I left the moment supper was done.

We drove about 50 minutes north and hit up our former bible school. We have officially joined their concert choir!! They put on a performance twice a year, and any community members/alumni/students are welcome to participate. Sadly, this is the last year that the school will be open, and we thought it would be really special to be part of it, sort of as a last hurrah. We made it just a few minutes early and found spots with some people Jerilee knew. I was surprised to see such a small group, to be honest. I thought there would be many more people who wanted to be part of the last concert choir, but I’m still very happy we went. Every song we sang was beautiful, and I know they’ll all flow together beautifully when the time comes to actually perform. It was also really, really fun to sing in a group with strong four part harmony in a big room with good acoustics. Its been a while.

One of the best things about practice tonight was that it ended exactly on time! We were nice and out of the building and on the road by 8:20. We stopped and visited with my mom for a short time along the way, but ultimately, arrived at home around 10:00. Brady has busied himself beautifully! All of the furniture in our living room was moved into the middle, ready for puttying and painting to begin. AND he baked brownies. So the three of us gathered up some snacks and headed downstairs for our weekly viewing of the Bachelor. Yes, it got pretty late, especially for poor Jerilee who had to drive back to the city around midnight, but it was fun, and a really good ending to my day!

I feel refreshed, albeit tired and like my pelvis is going to come apart at the seams. It’ll be good to see Dr. Mike tomorrow and have him put me back in place! Tomorrow should be another good day, with plans later in the day, and the same story for Thursday! I’m loving the fact that I’ve been able to keep a slightly busier schedule these last couple of weeks. It makes me feel more accomplished, and I also appreciate my quiet, home days more than I used to. Friday will be so nice, as I have nothing currently planned. It will probably be a laundry day.

Ok, time for bed. Poor Brady gets up in five hours, sooo…

I was going to save blogging for the evening, since I have a fun outing that I’m really looking forward to, but after a texty date with my sister, Grace, I realized that what we were talking about is something I’d love to just briefly touch on today 🙂 I’ll leave the stories of eating chocolate and having my feet rubbed for tomorrow maybe.

Roles within the family. I won’t go too terribly in depth, because I don’t feel like they’re very specifically defined in our house. We all fit into lots of places. But Gracey and I were talking about birth order and things like that, and it made me think about how having a third child will be a whole new cup of tea! Even though I have had a couple of kids already, and yes, I know the ropes of a couple different courses, no two kids are the same, and their order is part of that! So, just for fun, here is a breakdown of my views of how and where our kids fit into our home 🙂

Dekker Thomas is our oldest, and it shows. He’s had the most one on one time, so he’s a bit more hesitant around groups of people, having been alone with me so much, but he’s learning. He doesn’t like having his stuff messed with. He likes order, and for things to remain where he last put them. He is mommys big helper. He pulls his weight around (literally) by carrying his dishes to the sink, putting them in the top of the dishwasher even, unloading the dryer, bringing diapers and wipes when I ask, and feeding Laela snacks. This morning, Dekker was playing with his tea set, and was “stirring soup” in one of the cups. He carried the spoon all the way across the basement to feed Laela a taste, and came back to share some with me too. He also took it upon himself to comb Laela’s hair and admire it afterwards, telling her she looked so pretty, complete with a hug and kiss. I am confident he will be protective of Laela as they grow up together, and be the classic big strong brother who teases her about boys until she cries. He is a doting older brother to his younger sister, and seems to be genuinely anticipating his little brothers arrival. He even asked me if I thought the baby would tickle his tummy. He is so ready to have another little one around to play with and care for. He is incredibly sensitive, and has a very gentle soul.

Laela Hazel is the second child, and she is completely different from Dekker! She is always on the move, and is very very brave. She is the one who can smack her head against the couch and not miss a beat. She is the daredevil that makes me almost poop my pants on a somewhat daily basis. Yet, being that she is our second child, and I am considerably less afraid of everything, she also takes more spills because I rush to catch her less. When Laela falls off of the couch, she turns it into a superman dive roll and makes it look intentional. She is a mimic, which I actually quite enjoy. Her “monkey see, monkey do” mentality is endearing to Brady and I, and luckily, Dekker still thinks its fun. He isn’t always happy when she follows him like a shadow, but when she imitates his movements and we applaud, he loves it then. Dekker has taught Laela peek-a-boo, clapping, and the “sooo big” motion. Laela loves to be tickled and played with, but plays beautifully by herself. That being said, when she is upset and lets fly, you know she means it. She also loves to help, because Dekker does. If he retrieves a diaper, you can be confident that she is not far behind with a diaper of her own. She will throw her dirty diapers away in the diaper genie, and put her laundry into the hamper. She is incredibly clear in her communication, which has been probably one of the best things (in my opinion) about having her around. She has nodded “yes” for probably a good couple of months already, and its usually accompanied by a “ya.” She now shakes her head “no” too, and waves, points, and is just starting to utter a few small words, like cup, boo- for book, and wow 🙂 My heart shivered just days ago when she crawled up the stairs and upon arriving at the top, screeching “mommy mommy!!” I melt.

Dekker and Laela have a very special thing going, and while I hope no one is excluded or ignored, they have been together for a while now! They talk to each other in the car, share toys back and forth, and tease and tease and tease. They have a fabulous thing going!

Baby boy is our third child, and while I don’t know too terribly much about him just yet, I’m going to try and let you in on the few things that I do know, or suspect. Being that he is down the list in the birth order, there are almost no belly shots of him. We feel a bit guilty, but I don’t think its uncommon for this to be the case. He still makes himself to be noticed, so I wouldn’t say he’s neglected. He is quite unpredictable, and hasn’t been exactly like one pregnancy or the other. He is definitely an original. We think he will want to be noticed amongst his siblings. Currently, his way of doing this is by sleeping very, very lightly. If I roll over in the night, so does he. Over and over again. He has big opinions about what I eat, but almost all are positive, so he will likely be a tank who loves to eat. No purees or baby food for this boy! As for him being third in line, he has a brother and a sister waiting for him, and he adores them both already. When they are both sitting on my lap, he manages to nudge them both practically the whole time. Dekker thinks its funny, while Laela hasn’t noticed too much yet. She prefers to contact him through my belly button. I’m very curious to learn more about him, and to be able to share his name and stats with everyone else who is anticipating him. The biggest stereotype that I want to fight against for him is that babies get less and less exciting the more you have. Guys, he will be making his appearance in FIVE WEEKS, and I couldn’t be more floored and thrilled out of my face to meet him! I hope you feel the same, to the sane and appropriate degree that people should care about someone elses baby, haha! But let’s not let him be the random forgotten third child.

I can’t wait to fill in these gaps a bit more and get to know our baby boy so soon. These kids are spectacular.

The kids woke up with a vengeance maybe around 8:00. They played loudly for a little bit before Dekker climbed back up onto his megabed and they both went back to sleep. No word of a lie. No one got sad first or anything. They just went back to bed until shortly before 11:00!!! It was pretty insane, actually. To celebrate, Brady made us a delicious brunch of pancakes and bacon, and the kids were thrilled.

Because of the ridiculously long night, we knew they wouldn’t nap well, if at all, and we had come to terms with that. But at or around their normal nap time, Laela was rubbing her eyes and Dekker was picking fights. So they both were tucked away for some quiet time. Laela slept, and Dekker rested quietly for about an hour before they were both up again. It was fine though. Better than we had expected.

We didn’t do much else today. I know we’re a couple of years late, but we finally finished up the dvd series of The Office. It was a really good ending, and we were both really happy at the end 🙂 Lame to be excited about a tv show maybe, but its been a long time coming. So that was a significant highlight from the day.

Also today, we dug through our tub of baby boy clothes to see what we could reuse from Dekker for the new baby. I know its still a little early, but since Dekker was born mid-August and Jim will be born in March, the seasons are pretty opposite, and I wanted to have an idea of what we have that we can use, and what gaps we sort of need to fill. We’ve already bought a few sleepers, since you can never have too many, and a couple of other tiny little things, but from the tub, we got five sleepers, one pair of dressy pants, a sweater, two hoodies, six long sleeved shirts, and two tshirts. It sounds like a lot as I type it out here, but it actually isn’t much, considering how much our children barf. I know every kid is different, but we have rocked two barfers so far and I won’t be surprised if we have a third. That being said, we threw away quite a bit of clothing that we had saved to reuse, that turned out to be incredibly stained. Like, yellow aaaaall down the front and aaaaall the way around the neck. Pretty nasty. But it was fun to dig back into it all and reminisce a little bit, while anticipating the future. Five more weeks until I have my third baby in my arms. Its finally starting to feel like its coming up soon, and not months away. Its pretty much just month away 😉

AND! This next month is really big for us! For us, February is our anniversary (7th), Valentines Day (14th), and this year, we add the one year anniversary of Dekker’s eye surgery!!! Hopefully, among all the celebrating, we’ll find time to paint our house, and potentially get things organized-ish in the way of listing/moving/building/who knows. Its both an exciting and chaotic time, and I’m looking forward to getting the ball rolling!

Remember yesterday, when I said we weren’t super productive? We were even less productive today. While I feel like we’ve been a bit sluggish maybe, I’ve also really enjoyed the last couple of days, so that is that. Happy me.

The kids were really happy this morning but were really edgy before lunch already. Usually food helps, but today, it did not. So they went down for their nap a half hour early and both fell asleep pretty quickly. While they napped, I watched a bit of YouTube, and Brady wrote up all the relevant numbers and sent them to our mortgage guy. Now we just wait for him to get back to us. We wait on pins and needles, probably with some sweating and over-eating. We wait to see what we qualify for, and to learn whether or not its enough to move us on to our next adventure.

Once the kids started to lull, Brady jumped in the shower and I headed over to my beautiful place to play in my makeup for a bit. I’ve sooo enjoyed my new products, and I feel like I have a new one to try out every day. I didn’t use one old product today! Fun stuff.

We got the kids up and dressed, which is always a big indicator that we’re going somewhere. They cooperated beautifully and were ready to get out and in the van. Thankfully, the freezing rain from the morning had subsided and the highway was nice and cleared. The same can’t be said for our driveway or sidewalk but we were all very careful and no one went down.

We got to my parents place around 4:30 I think. Ish, anyway. I’m not positive. The kids beelined for the toys and settled in immediately. We played hard and chatted and watched a few cute videos of the kids for a while, until supper time. We had sausage and rice, gravy, and green bean casserole for supper. I love this meal, and its mostly because I LOVE green bean casserole!! Dekker ate his body weight in sausage, as well as some of everything else, and Laela ate everything. She was refusing to eat any more until I offered her more green beans, which seemed to open up that hollow leg. It was a very successful supper.

Dekker reappeared at the table to claim his pumpkin cream cheese cupcake, and then was off for toys, after a very endearing thank you to grandma, assuring her that the cupcakes were his favorite cupcakes.

Brady and my dad did a bit of work on the computer, setting a couple of things up, while my mom and I puttered around “doing dishes” but mostly just playing with the kids and visiting. We stayed a bit longer than we expected to, but its so hard to leave when everyone is still happy.

We finally piled out just after 7:30, and thankfully, the kids stayed awake the whole drive home, so we had high hopes for a smooth transition to bedtime. It was actually probably the most fun we’ve had with them at bedtime in a long time, with TONS of tickling and munching and teasing and chasing and partying. It was awesome. Of course, they’re now solidly riled up and who knows when they’ll fall asleep but it was worth it. We truly have the best kids on the planet.

Today really felt like a Saturday, which is sooo nice, because we get another Saturday tomorrow! Except that at one point, I thought today was Wednesday, but I’m going to blame that one on baby brain. Anywho…

Brady had yesterday and today off, and today was the first day in a good handful of days that we haven’t taken the kids anywhere, so it was a well deserved jammie and downstairs day. However, we did get a few things accomplished, which felt great. I didn’t do anything too crazy, but I did do laundry, so thats all caught up, which is nice to go into the weekend. No laundry tomorrow! Also, Brady worked a bit on our taxes. As an update on that, we did a couple of hours each evening for a little while and got everything organized, added up, and entered into the program a while ago, but lots of places that we need specifics from haven’t sent out their letters yet. Today, Brady took that job on and called each place this morning, and got every single number for us!!! Ok, there’s one more, but mostly we’re just waiting to know if we actually need a number from them. We didn’t think of it last year or the year before, and if its something important, we don’t want to miss it again! Yikes! So, waiting to hear back from one place, but all of the big ones are taken care of 😀 YAY! Yay for finding out our possible mortgage numbers soon!

Other than that, we played with the kids, and watched a bit of tv while they napped. Or half-ass napped. Laela slept less than Dekker did, and then they were both ticked to be woken up when they fell asleep too late and hadn’t rested enough. So the evening was a bit rocky. Our yummy supper plans flew out the window, since they never eat much when they’re tired and grumpy, and grilled cheese sandwiches and fruit cups became the new plan, and seemed to go over well enough.

While we accomplished a couple of important things, I feel like it was kind of a sluggish day, and my body feels a bit restless. I’m looking forward to getting out of the house again tomorrow and going to my parents for the evening. Its so nice to have things to look forward to. But until then, Brady and I need to come up with some supper for ourselves, and have a soak in the tub. Even being lazy seems to do a number on my silly ailing pelvis. One day it’ll operate correctly again, right?

Brady was expecting to work this morning but as I so often say, he worked his butt off the last few days so he could spend a full day with us instead of just a few extra hours. Thats always so nice on prenatal visit days! I just had one last week, and my doctor and I had discovered that for some reason, I was already being booked for weekly appointments instead of bi-weekly, so we agreed to cancel this one. But as my pregnancy brain would have it, I forgot, so instead of bailing last minute, I decided to just go anyway. It never hurts me to hear my babys heartbeat!

Before my prenatal, though, Brady and I booked appointments with Dr. Mike. We were both feeling pretty rough, so we were greatly anticipating our visit. Brady went first, and Dr. Mike confirmed that he was definitely in need of a treatment, and got him all back to where things belonged. For my turn, I told him that my right leg was giving me the worst time of it. I can’t stand on it to pull on a pair of pants, much less walk correctly. I’ve been using all the tools he’s given me, and genuinely following the rules. He really spent a lot of time with me and my gimpy leg today, checking my pelvis and back, stretching my leg, and pulling it around a bit. He had to help me up at the end, not going to lie. It was not the worlds most enjoyable treatment at all, but those always leave me confident that he did lots of work and it will feel better soon. I’ll see him again in a week, and Brady probably in a couple. The kids were cute and quiet the whole time. Yay kids!

Once getting back to the van, Dekker and Laela appeared to be right at the end of their ropes, so Brady agreed to drop me off at Dr. Guselle’s office and go get good with them. My appointment was the first one after her lunch break, and I had pretty much just been there, so we knew it would be a quick visit. I waited for just a few minutes but was in a room nice and quick. While she is a doctor who is DEFINITELY worth the wait, its always nice when she’s running on time.

I updated her a bit on how my prescription for acid reflux isn’t cutting it anyway, and she told me all the information I need to know about how much of what I can take, so if things keep worsening in the next two weeks where I won’t see her, I know my limits. That was really the only change I had to report, so we went through the routine of blood pressure, measurements, and heart rate. It all checked out, until she couldn’t find the babys position right away. She’s so calm about it, but finally says “Where’s that head?” I know he had a head last week, so I didn’t panic too fast, knowing it was in there somewhere. I’m actually pretty happy to say that his head is nice and low! She just had to go a bit lower than she expected, which is pretty great! I know anything can happen at any moment, but its a nice confidence booster that he’s getting all set up for delivery in there, and that he’d have to work a bit harder against gravity to flip around now. Yay baby!

I was really happy when she looked at her schedule and said excitedly, “Oh! We had our group meeting tonight! Its really good that you came today, so I’m all up to date.” She basically told me that the doctors all really try to respect the schedule, so if I go into labor before I’m induced, and someone else is scheduled, technically I am their case. Makes sense, of course. But she said that she really tries to get in with her patients who have had chaotic deliveries in the past, for their peace of mind, so she said she would put my story out there and just ask that, if someone so desired, they could call her to take my case if I came in spontaneously. She was very clear that there is no guarantee with that, and her family and activities do come first, and I LOVE that! Because they do!!! But she wants to know whats happening with me, and if she can be there, she will be. I love her.

I felt really uplifted after my appointment, as I pretty much always do. I went back to the van and was greeted by yummy food and happy people. We did a quick Superstore trip afterwards for some groceries and cookies for the cookie faces, and then went home.

The kid missed their nap and are in pretty rough shape. At least Dekker is. Laela slept a bit in the van but Deks didn’t and he is something of a crazy person, so they went down a half hour early. Supper was leftover macaroni, and even that wasn’t especially well received by the tired kids. Brady and I had big bowls of fresh veggies with some cottage cheese and bacon bit on top. My gosh, it was delicious!

I can’t wait for a soak and a snack. Tims coffee is waiting in the fridge to be reheated, and my achy leg is anxious to be soaked and babied a little bit. Should roll out to be a pretty good night!

With my previous pregnancies, I have experienced a lot of acid reflux. I truthfully have no idea what heartburn feels like, so I can’t compare the two or state the differences, but I know they’re often treated with the same stuff. With Dekker’s pregnancy, I ended up taking Zantac twice a day every day by the end, and it was the perfect amount. I never took another after the day he was born. I love that part of delivering a baby. So many of the uncomfortable symptoms are gone in that one moment! Of course, you are met with all kinds of other things to deal with, but the ones you’re really tired of are gone. With Laela’s pregnancy, I was on Zantac much sooner. I didn’t waste time trying to suppress my reflux with Tums, and I knew what dosage I was allowed from last time, so I just went for it. Towards the end of that pregnancy, I remember starting to kind of lose it. I know people deal with all kinds of illness throughout pregnancy, and my acid reflux sounds pretty petty, but do you know that feeling you get in your head when you’re about to puke? Not quite a headache, but almost? Its a very specific feeling, and I get it when I have acid reflux. So it prevents me from sleeping, or eating, or whatever else I kind of need to do, because my body things its going to throw up. Its gross. So in the last weeks of Laela’s pregnancy, I remember having a lot of trouble, having my two doses of Zantac not being enough but not being allowed to take a third.

This time around, my Zantac came on a bit later, but much harder. After being on Zantac for less than two weeks, I was up to the full two doses. That quickly became not enough. I had purchased a bulk amount of Zantac from Costco earlier in my pregnancy, knowing this is just something that comes with it for me, and I asked Dr. Guselle if I could just take three per day. She said if I needed something stronger, she would just give me a prescription. I explained to her that I have no health coverage, and already have a stupid amount of Zantac in my house, so if I was allowed to take more Zantac, I’d rather do it that way, even if taking just one pill is more convenient. Unfortunately, she said that three Zantac could be safe, but it is an “unstudied dose,” therefore making it “unsafe.” I agree with this, and would hate to take the risk. So she prescribed me the pill I’m taking now. One pill every morning, and I’ve been untouchable for weeks.

Until now. I wake up in the morning with that terrible burn in my throat and ache in my head. I woke up at 7:00 this morning, which is a solid 1.5-2 hours earlier than usual for us, and took my pill immediately, but it was too late :/ That lurking grossness still surfaced, and I felt sick to my stomach.

A couple of hours later, it still wasn’t gone. So I am officially that person who is taking The strongest Zantac available as well as my prescription. Yes, its doctor approved, I promise. Its just a bit annoying. How can my baby already be huge enough to caught this much of an issue in my digestion?? Bah. Lame.

At least I’m finally getting some use out of the massive quantity of Zantac I bought…

We finally got Laela in for her one year vaccines today. I always hesitate to write about shots, since I know they’re such a touchy subject, but we’re confident in our well-researched decision, just as I’m sure many who are against vaccinations are, so let’s just all respect each other. Deal? Deal.

We don’t run on a delayed shots schedule or anything, but we aren’t too hellbent on getting them done on the exact dates either. When Dekker’s eyes crossed without any warning, all the doctors that he saw boiled it down to the fact that his immune system was fighting too many things at once, and his body reacted in this way. Thinking about how and when my eyes crossed as a kid, I think a very similar thing happened to me. So because of that, I wait until my kids are in perfect health (to my knowledge, anyway) before taking them in for their vaccines. Some people may disagree with that, and thats fine, but its what we’ve chosen to do, after much research and prayer. Each time I had a plan for taking Laela in for shots, she would get a cold, cut a bunch of teeth, or get a rash. When she was finally in decent health, it was Christmas, and now it is finally the new year and I decided to just bite the bullet and take her in. So yes, we are late, but she’s in decent health and its getting too close to her 18 month shots to hold off any longer, haha!

Brady met me at the clinic and hung out in the van with Dekker while Laela and I went in. We had a really friendly nurse who ran through all of the long awaited measurements. I dont have recorded measurements for her past six months, which is strange, but I think I had her weighed around nine or ten months maybe, and she was around 21 lbs. Now, at just about sixteen months, she weighs 22 lbs. Thats it! I was pretty surprised, but on another hand, not at all. She’s so petite, unlike her brother who surpassed 22 lbs in his fourth month of life. Crazy kids. Just to have it on here somewhere, she is 31″ tall, and while I didn’t hear her head circumference, the nurse commented that it was “above average,” which I am not even slightly surprised by.

I won’t pretend it was a smooth appointment otherwise. Laela was pissed the second I tried  to hug her to my body so she couldn’t wiggle away from the needle. She wailed for the rest of our visit, but I hate needles too, so I can’t blame her. While we gave her a bit of time to recover, the nurse and I discussed a few different things about her, all of which she was happy about. How much she eats and drinks, talks, comprehends, walks, etc. She was very intentional about explaining why she was asking each question, and eventually asked me if I was a nurse, too. I said I wasn’t, and she acted surprised, saying I seemed to know my stuff pretty well, and that I was so relaxed about everything. I just laughed and told her I had done this before, and I’m a bit braver than I was the first time. But I took it as a bit of a compliment, honestly. Whether it was meant as one or not. If I were to go back to school at this point, I’m pretty sure it would be for something in a medical field anyway. Glad I fit the bill in even just a little way.

Laela wouldn’t relax until we left the exam room. When we finally left, she had worked herself into quite a tizzy and was just red in the face and hot to the touch, so we walked out to the car without her jacket. The wind caught her by surprise and she was immediately full of giggles. She was pointing at all the signs and squinting in the sun. She was sooo relieved!

She slept the whole way home, but Dekker didn’t sleep at all. However, he was quite a grump, and I knew a nap would be in order, assuming she would let him sleep. Its always hit and miss when one of them sleeps in the van. As soon as I got them home, Laela was wide awake, laughing at Dekker and eager to play, and Dekker was pretty ticked after slipping outside and getting a couple handfuls of snow. I brought them to their room and tucked them both in. Dekker was still all growly, and Laela was wide-eyed, but neither has made a sound in a solid 45 minutes so I am not complaining at all! I’m so pleased to be able to tucked away in my own bed, even for just a short time, and rest my legs.

Brady will be home in a couple of hours, and Jerilee is coming over for another night of the Bachelor! I love Bachelor night. Its been a pretty decent day already, and its only going to get better!

Maybe it sounds crazy that I say its been a good day. Who likes needles?! But I felt good to finally get them done. I felt confident in my parenting, and the fact that Laela is reaching milestones as she should. That being said, I’m happy that I no longer put so much stock in what public health has to say about my kids. I am a more confident parent this time around, and while I’m sure I mess stuff up all the time, and I’ll look back at lots of decisions I made and shake my head, I am confident now.

It would appear Laela thinks she’s had enough rest, which apparently means that I have too! Have great evenings, all!