If you'd like to be added to the party, it'll be a fb group so let me know and we'll get you on the list. If you want to check out the designs before the party, the website is jamberrynails.net. Easy enough, right?
Eden's Medical Fund
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Fundraiser!
We're having a little fundraiser for Eden! A friend I met through MOPS, Melissa Lemmons, is a Jamberry consultant. What is Jamberry, some of you may ask? Well, they're vinyl nail wraps that use a heat activated adhesive and they last up to two weeks. They have TONS of designs that are super cute, even some for kids (those are pretty darn adorable). So rather than a solid color like you'd typically get at a salon, or spending $5-15 extra for a design, you can get awesome designs for less than $15. One sheet costs $15 and you get two manicures and two pedicures out of it. Not too shabby! Melissa's going to host a fundraiser for us this week to help with Eden's medical costs and 25% of the proceeds will come to us. Every little bit helps!
If you'd like to be added to the party, it'll be a fb group so let me know and we'll get you on the list. If you want to check out the designs before the party, the website is jamberrynails.net. Easy enough, right?
Eden's Medical Fund
If you'd like to be added to the party, it'll be a fb group so let me know and we'll get you on the list. If you want to check out the designs before the party, the website is jamberrynails.net. Easy enough, right?
Eden's Medical Fund
Thursday, May 21, 2015
I survived the interview!
The interview yesterday morning went well! I was nervous, but I didn't have enough time to get sick, so that was a bonus. Eden was sweet and content and smiley during it, so that was good. She interviewed me for about a half hour, then took footage of me interacting with Eden and was gone after about 45 minutes total. She didn't know when it'll air but said she'd email me when she got a date, so that's exciting. I'm kinda hoping it'll be sooner rather than later.
Y'all, I even did my make up and took a stab at my hair, though that ended up not holding. I was conscious of how often I said "like" unnecessarily (once). I tried REALLY hard to stay on topic even though I ramble when I'm nervous. I was dedicated to this interview.
Eden had her monthly check up this morning and she's doing so well with most everything we didn't even have an echo (yay!), just an EKG and checking her vitals. I don't remember exactly why, but they want to have a 24 EKG reading, so she's currently hooked up to a little portable EKG unit and wearing a stretchy holey tank top like thing to keep the leads on. They're massive on her tiny chest and she's not a fan.
She's grown another inch, but her weight is still a concern. She's not gaining like anyone would like her to, in spite of how much she eats. She's not crazy about the formula/milk hybrid bottles so we're uping the percentage of milk in the bottle for now and will gradually get back to a 50/50 mix. She's currently up to 11 pounds, which isn't bad for a 4 month old, but it's also not great. Ideally she'll be 14 pounds at 6 months and while 3 pounds in 2 months isn't unheard of, it's unlikely given her weight gain history.
So, our new task is to weigh her weekly and fax her weight and ox levels in every week. Luckily we have a baby scale here at home from Mom's office and we can use that. We weighed her as soon as we got home to compare the scale at home and the scale at the hospital and got the same weight, so that's good. We'll also have a weekly consultation with the nutritionist from Children's to check and see how she's doing and what, if any, steps we need to take. If there's a formula that's better for weight gain, we'll be buying that.
I'm really hoping we can get to six months without any horrible effects of slow weight gain. I really thing once she's old enough for solid foods, we'll see a significant improvement there. The boys both struggled with weight gain as infants on breast milk and as soon as we put them on formula they gained and when food came into the picture they got right chunky. The next two months might be a little stressful as we try to get her full and fat, but I'm hopeful for the introduction of food.
Everything else seems to be about the same. Elijah's having mini-melt downs on a daily basis, mostly because he's tired and won't nap. Asher's having some difficulties with potty training, but we're getting there. I hope. Austin and I are doing fine, I'm just exhausted most of the time from lack of a good night's sleep and constant pumping, nursing, diaper changing, refereeing, etc. Oh, the life of a SAHM with three young children!
Y'all, I even did my make up and took a stab at my hair, though that ended up not holding. I was conscious of how often I said "like" unnecessarily (once). I tried REALLY hard to stay on topic even though I ramble when I'm nervous. I was dedicated to this interview.
Eden had her monthly check up this morning and she's doing so well with most everything we didn't even have an echo (yay!), just an EKG and checking her vitals. I don't remember exactly why, but they want to have a 24 EKG reading, so she's currently hooked up to a little portable EKG unit and wearing a stretchy holey tank top like thing to keep the leads on. They're massive on her tiny chest and she's not a fan.
She's grown another inch, but her weight is still a concern. She's not gaining like anyone would like her to, in spite of how much she eats. She's not crazy about the formula/milk hybrid bottles so we're uping the percentage of milk in the bottle for now and will gradually get back to a 50/50 mix. She's currently up to 11 pounds, which isn't bad for a 4 month old, but it's also not great. Ideally she'll be 14 pounds at 6 months and while 3 pounds in 2 months isn't unheard of, it's unlikely given her weight gain history.
So, our new task is to weigh her weekly and fax her weight and ox levels in every week. Luckily we have a baby scale here at home from Mom's office and we can use that. We weighed her as soon as we got home to compare the scale at home and the scale at the hospital and got the same weight, so that's good. We'll also have a weekly consultation with the nutritionist from Children's to check and see how she's doing and what, if any, steps we need to take. If there's a formula that's better for weight gain, we'll be buying that.
I'm really hoping we can get to six months without any horrible effects of slow weight gain. I really thing once she's old enough for solid foods, we'll see a significant improvement there. The boys both struggled with weight gain as infants on breast milk and as soon as we put them on formula they gained and when food came into the picture they got right chunky. The next two months might be a little stressful as we try to get her full and fat, but I'm hopeful for the introduction of food.
Everything else seems to be about the same. Elijah's having mini-melt downs on a daily basis, mostly because he's tired and won't nap. Asher's having some difficulties with potty training, but we're getting there. I hope. Austin and I are doing fine, I'm just exhausted most of the time from lack of a good night's sleep and constant pumping, nursing, diaper changing, refereeing, etc. Oh, the life of a SAHM with three young children!
Making sure I won't embarrass my soul mate with my appearance. She approved.
Sleeping finally. She's not a fan of her new temporary accessory.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
We're gonna be stars! Sort of.
We're gonna be on tv!
We were contacted Monday night by a PR person from GoFundMe saying that we were great candidates for press interviews and were we interested? At first, I thought it was a form email they probably sent to everyone but then the second paragraph stated that Fox Abilene was interested in interviewing us! So I responded that we were definitely interested and what did they need from us?
Long story short (not super long, but still): we have an interview at 8am Wednesday morning with the local Fox affiliate! I have no idea when it'll air or anything about it really, so check back here for more information.
On an Eden note, her weight gain has slowed again, so the doctor and nurse from Children's asked a nutritionist from Children's to discuss options. I told her that we'd already increased the concentration of the formula powder in the expressed milk and that was a temporary fix but that she still seems to be hungry a lot more than she should be. So she suggested we up our number of bottles to 3 a day. I said that though I'm producing enough milk for a normal baby, I just can't seem to keep up with a baby with higher dietary needs. So she said we should mix up a concentrated formula (8 oz with 5 scoops instead of 4) and do a half and half with the fortified breast milk. So that's three bottles a day, but only half of that will be milk, which means I'll actually be using less every day than I am currently. Hopefully I can pump the same amount so I can maintain my supply in the freezer. I'll see what I can do to naturally increase my supply to give her as much milk as possible but we're still going ahead with the formula.
Also, she got to be a mini-guinea pig for a friend of a friend who's training to be a midwife and needed practice taking vitals on a baby. So that was fun, too. lol The boys of course wanted to hear her heart and her breathing and their own hearts and the woman was very accommodating.
Thursday we go see the cardiologist again and I'll write up another blog with whatever they tell us and more info on the interview. Some exciting times around here!
Eden's Medical Fund
We were contacted Monday night by a PR person from GoFundMe saying that we were great candidates for press interviews and were we interested? At first, I thought it was a form email they probably sent to everyone but then the second paragraph stated that Fox Abilene was interested in interviewing us! So I responded that we were definitely interested and what did they need from us?
Long story short (not super long, but still): we have an interview at 8am Wednesday morning with the local Fox affiliate! I have no idea when it'll air or anything about it really, so check back here for more information.
On an Eden note, her weight gain has slowed again, so the doctor and nurse from Children's asked a nutritionist from Children's to discuss options. I told her that we'd already increased the concentration of the formula powder in the expressed milk and that was a temporary fix but that she still seems to be hungry a lot more than she should be. So she suggested we up our number of bottles to 3 a day. I said that though I'm producing enough milk for a normal baby, I just can't seem to keep up with a baby with higher dietary needs. So she said we should mix up a concentrated formula (8 oz with 5 scoops instead of 4) and do a half and half with the fortified breast milk. So that's three bottles a day, but only half of that will be milk, which means I'll actually be using less every day than I am currently. Hopefully I can pump the same amount so I can maintain my supply in the freezer. I'll see what I can do to naturally increase my supply to give her as much milk as possible but we're still going ahead with the formula.
Also, she got to be a mini-guinea pig for a friend of a friend who's training to be a midwife and needed practice taking vitals on a baby. So that was fun, too. lol The boys of course wanted to hear her heart and her breathing and their own hearts and the woman was very accommodating.
Thursday we go see the cardiologist again and I'll write up another blog with whatever they tell us and more info on the interview. Some exciting times around here!
Eden's Medical Fund
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Short and Sweet
When I was a kid, 7 years seemed like a long time and 31 seemed really old. Well....here I am, 31 years old and celebrating my 7th wedding anniversary.
We've been through a lot these past seven years. Moving, job changes, pregnancies and three crazy labor and deliveries, cats coming and going, car accidents, sicknesses, financial windfalls and difficulties....I feel like we've already hit all the "for better and for worse" stuff in our vows. And it's only been seven years.
I always knew I wanted to be a stay at home mom, and I'm very lucky to be with a man who values that and works hard to make it our reality. I always had a thing for musicians and for blue eyes, and he's both. I always wanted a husband who would love our kids and want to spend time with them and he does.
I got me a good one.
So happy anniversary, Austin! I hope the next seven years are maybe not as crazy as the last, but I say that every year and it so far hasn't happened. If I have to be on a roller coaster of crazy with someone, I'm glad it's you.
We've been through a lot these past seven years. Moving, job changes, pregnancies and three crazy labor and deliveries, cats coming and going, car accidents, sicknesses, financial windfalls and difficulties....I feel like we've already hit all the "for better and for worse" stuff in our vows. And it's only been seven years.
I always knew I wanted to be a stay at home mom, and I'm very lucky to be with a man who values that and works hard to make it our reality. I always had a thing for musicians and for blue eyes, and he's both. I always wanted a husband who would love our kids and want to spend time with them and he does.
I got me a good one.
So happy anniversary, Austin! I hope the next seven years are maybe not as crazy as the last, but I say that every year and it so far hasn't happened. If I have to be on a roller coaster of crazy with someone, I'm glad it's you.
No kids and a night out? I'm wearing a dress, heels and lipstick!
First stop, Little Italy for yummy appetizers.
We got a late start so our planned dessert location was closed. We ended the evening with entrees and dessert at Bonzai. It was delicious.
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